Belfast Telegraph

The debate on when, and how quickly, to exit the lockdown has been posed as a choice between health and wealth. But that is the wrong way of looking at it.   For a start, the longer the lockdown persists, the more negative the health impacts for some people. There has been an increase in […]

The global economy will almost certainly not grow this year and may go into recession as a result of coronavirus. We know from the 2008/9 financial crash that the weakest economies are likely to be hurt the most. So parts of Northern Ireland could have a tough time this year. Brexit provides additional challenges for

Subject to the t’s being crossed and the i’s being dotted, Wrightbus is to be saved. A rather ill-tempered negotiation between Jo Bamford’s company Ryse Hydrogen and the Wright family appears to have ended with smiles rather than tears. Bamford said that while the deal was not yet concluded with the administrators, terms had been

Twenty one years on from the Good Friday Agreement it is clear that Northern Ireland does not have the settled and just peace that we expected.  This was clear before the terrible killing of Lyra McKee, but it is even more clear now.  That tragedy has amplified the sense in which progress has stalled or

Whatever happens now with Brexit seems bound to make Irish reunification more likely.  A bad Brexit, perhaps with controlled borders, would create economic damage sufficient to encourage voters in Northern Ireland to look south with envy, as the Republic carries on with its fundamentally sound economy.  On the other hand, Theresa May’s negotiated Brexit deal

Apparently it doesn’t much matter whether we have a functioning Executive to govern us – at least as far as the economy is concerned.  Invest NI told the Belfast Telegraph last week that its ability to promote Northern Ireland is not being hindered by the absence of an Executive. “Our international proposition is based on

In June last year, the respected economist David McWilliams wrote in the Belfast Telegraph how the changing demographics of Northern Ireland create the likelihood of a united Ireland.  Those from a Protestant/unionist background are now less than half the population and people from a Catholic background will probably be in the majority within a decade.

“Money, that’s what I want.”  It’s a Beatles song from 1963, though originally a Tamla Motown track.  It is also probably a fair indicator of what is on the script for the DUP’s negotiations with Theresa May.  Whatever else Arlene Foster and her colleagues are looking for, it is a fair bet that more finance

Northern Ireland’s best hope for the Donald Trump presidency is probably that he didn’t actually mean what he said to get elected.  If he did mean it, there could be seriously bad news ahead. For many, the United States’ key role in Northern Ireland has been its support for the peace process.  But in the

Britain was known as the ‘Workshop of the World’ during the Industrial Revolution.  For generations since, Northern Ireland has been one of the UK’s own workshops, manufacturing goods for export around the world.  But in recent years, something has changed.  The potential loss of 1,080 jobs at Bombadier, plus 870 from JTI Gallaher and 860

For millions of fans the Game is almost up – the Game of Thrones that is.  HBO has announced that the programme will end after Series Eight in 2018 – Series Seven is currently being filmed in Northern Ireland and will air next year. Northern Ireland has hit the screens for all the right reasons

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, or IICSA – is in crisis.  Its third chair, New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard, has just resigned and a replacement, Professor Alexis Jay, appointed.   Dame Lowell and her predecessors were appointed by Theresa May, in her previous role as Home Secretary, to chair the Inquiry examining