‘Life is slow dying’ said Larkin, the maudlin old git, in his poem Nothing to be Said, but I think of this sentiment often if I’m in a particularly gloomy mood. Personally I think this line sums up most of ‪Radiohead’s recent output, and no one does existential angst better. To counter this misery…

    In recent days the debate around dual Nationality and dual citizenship has been re-ignited, following revelations that BBC presenter Stephen Nolan has obtained an Irish passport to compliment the British one already held. This issue goes much wider than dual Nationality, which was freely available prior to the Belfast Agreement. This poses the…

  There was a wedding photographer at work in the grounds of Stormont on Friday – in this place of politics now waiting for the autumn not knowing whether the story then will be a wake or a resurrection. Several phases of negotiations have delivered nothing; no change in the standoff that reads back to…

  When I googled ‘abortion Northern Ireland’ this statement was top of the search results; “Health policy is part of the devolved powers transferred to the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA) by the Northern Ireland Act of 1998 in the frame of the devolution in the United Kingdom. Abortion Law in Northern Ireland falls within the…

  For now, everything is broken – the politics of the present and the plan to address the past. The shambolic end to talks on Tuesday means a proposed legacy consultation is left languishing in that Stormont limbo. It was Secretary of State James Brokenshire’s hope to lift the arguments of the conflict period out…

  A very special speaker will be in Northern Ireland next week. Munira Subašić is President of the Mothers of Srebrenica.  She campaigns for an end to prejudice to make sure atrocities like the genocide at Srebrenica never happen again. Her story shows how great strength can come from unimaginable pain. As the president of…

  ‘Cultural Supremacy’: we’re finally at the nub of the problem, a time of opportunity or missed opportunity. Will it be breakthrough or stalemate? Our seemingly endless series of interrupted talks has now been put in limbo. Your guess and mine about how long our stay in limbo will be are probably as valid and…

    You read in some of the statements and words of this political play an attempt by some to wash failure from the face of these talks. But those who have been watching closest and closely will not have their eyes wiped. They can see through the spin and the meaningless and muddled sentences.…

  Another Talks deadline has come and gone. Warnings of profound consequences ring hollow and political stalemate prevails. Why are we here again? Because the DUP and Sinn Féin are crisis junkies. We lurch from one political crisis to another because the DUP has never accepted the Good Friday Agreement and its principles of power sharing.…

  A negative feature of political unionism since the establishment of Northern Ireland has been the way in which it has locked itself into narrow cultural terrain that is both defensive and closed. This is not reflective of all unionists. It is opportune to recognise this and widen the terrain. There is some evidence of…

  It was an incredible sight. The likes of which none of us could ever have imagined! And I still can’t understand why I seemed to be the only one there to see it! Arlene and Michelle, accompanied by the better known of their party colleagues, approaching the microphones and cameras. Each of them with…

  Three thoughts offered by a source from inside the DUP tell us just how stuck the Stormont Talks have become. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source described as “the height of stupidity” the decision of Irish Minister Simon Coveney to raise a flag for an Irish Language Act. Sinn Fein was being “100%…

    When the Northern Irish artist Colin Davidson embarked on his project Silent Testimony he could not have anticipated the remarkable response to this work. He knows now. On show in 2015, it became the most-visited exhibition in the history of the Ulster Museum with more than 80,000 people viewing it. Davidson’s 18 portraits…

  It was the time on the political clock when yet another supposed deadline passed. Remember, this time, things were going to be different. This was meant to be the deadline of all deadlines. The one that really mattered. Yet, as the clock struck 4, Stormont did not stand still. The rain continued. The talking…

  The above thought is the polite way of describing these talks at the Castle. Unless there is some dramatic development in the hours ahead, then another deadline will fall and these negotiations will fail. We are not at that point just yet, but we are very close.     Secretary of State James Brokenshire…