The media are at a crossroads, with fears over the future of some of Northern Ireland’s best known newspapers. Existing trends favouring social media over print newspapers have been accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis, with additional financial pressures from a collapse in advertising revenues. This is an appropriate moment to reflect on the future …
Mental health is a global challenge, but poor mental health is at crisis levels in Northern Ireland. That crisis is in part an ongoing impact from the Troubles, Siobhan O’Neill, professor of mental health science at Ulster University, says in the latest Holywell Trust podcast. “We’re seeing a rise in mental health problems in …
Government in Northern Ireland needs reform, but the fact that it works at all is actually impressive given the past, says Jess Sargeant of the Institute for Government, a London-based think-tank. She was speaking in the first of a new series of podcasts produced by the Holywell Trust, which feature opinions from policy experts who …
“Unionism needs to look and recognize that the environment around us is changing,” says former Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt MLA. He adds: “I would like to see civic unionism becoming more active… Perhaps we need to build civic society that goes beyond the division and the politics of unionism and nationalism”. The call …
Christians should take a leading role in healing Northern Ireland, says Bishop Ken Good, the Church of Ireland bishop for the cross-border diocese of Derry and Raphoe. He also says that politicians should speak less and that civil society should find its voice. Bishop Ken Good was interviewed in the first of a series of …
‘Christians should lead in healing Northern Ireland’ Read More »
To mark 21 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, an important new initiative begins on Good Friday, 19th April, 2019. A series of podcasts will be broadcast twice a week, seeking answers to questions about the future of Northern Ireland and the border counties. The objective is to promote a wider, more …
The killing of young journalist Lyra McKee on the streets of Creggan overshadows everything in Derry at present. And there has been widespread speculation that dissident republicans have been energised by Brexit. Certainly dissident republicans supported Brexit. They believed it created opportunities for them, including making a united Ireland more likely. (The actions of the …
So the UK is staying in the EU until Halloween. Or maybe not as long as that. Or maybe we will stay longer. Perhaps we even have another vote and pretend this has all been some kind of nightmare we should forget. It’s all a bit like some weird version of Groundhog Day. Except this …
It now looks as if Brexit will not happen on 29th March, as repeatedly promised. Theresa May has reluctantly agreed that if her withdrawal agreement is not approved by the House of Commons in the middle of March, then MPs will be given two new votes. The first, on 13th March, will be to allow …
The prospects for a no deal Brexit have become widely discussed in the last few days, not least with Theresa May’s proposed withdrawal agreement having been decisively defeated in the House of Commons. Her approach is to propose something which is more acceptable to Brexiteers in the Conservative Party and the DUP – but this, …
With just three months to go before the UK leaves the European Union, the politics of Brexit have heated up. Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement was to have been voted on by the House of Commons earlier in December, but the vote was instead delayed to the end of January. While May defeated a no confidence …
Two and a half years after the Brexit referendum vote, Prime Minister Theresa May has agreed a draft withdrawal deal with the European Union. It is important to stress two points: first that it only considers the withdrawal terms, not the future trading relationship with the EU; and secondly that for the moment it is …
The Brexit withdrawal deal – drafted, but not yet agreed Read More »