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Alex KaneThe Irish News |
When John Manley – from this parish – mentioned on last week’s Sunday Politics that there was an ‘outside chance’ that Jim Allister might...
By the end of the first week of the Ulster Workers’ Council (UWC) strike, on May 22 1974, an impasse had been reached. The power-sharing executive...
Sometimes even atheists feel the need to look skywards and yell, ‘Thank God!’ That’s what I was doing on Wednesday evening when Rishi Sunak...
Writing in this column on February 5, just after the assembly had been rebooted and the Command Paper published, I wrote: “The biggest headache for...
Rishi Sunak must have bought his electoral sat nav from Del Boy Trotter. There is, in fact, no possible route from last Thursday’s polling meltdown...
It suits Rishi Sunak to have a row with the Irish Government right now, particularly on the subject of immigration policy – a policy on which he has...
I got quite excited when the phrase ‘dysfunctional b*****ds’ flashed across my timeline on Tuesday. So excited, in fact, that I didn’t bother...
“If unionists have trouble holding a constituency like East Belfast, then it won’t be long until they’re having problems in places like North...
Let me begin with three tweets which arrived on my timeline this week. “Why does it look like every facet of government-run services here are just...
The more I hear the border poll lobby talk about the need for a border poll, the more I’m persuaded it will probably take much longer to call than...
What is now the Republic of Ireland will become different – quite different – if it includes what was Northern Ireland. And it will become...
Fifty years ago today, loyalists in the Assembly opposed to the Sunningdale Agreement formed themselves into the United Ulster Unionist Assembly...
The DUP had begun to hope that the deal to restore the assembly a few weeks ago had bedded in well enough to secure it from serious...
There is, usually, a game plan for a political crisis. But there wasn’t one for the crisis which engulfed the DUP in the early hours of Good Friday,...
As soon as Leo Varadkar announced his resignation, the debate immediately shifted to what he would do next. He’s only 45, after all, which is,...
I fully understand Jim Allister’s concerns about the NI Protocol and Windsor Framework. Indeed, I share some of those concerns. And while I accept...
Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley got on perfectly well for a year. So well, in fact, that the DUP toppled him and replaced him with Peter Robinson....
When Alliance was founded in April 1970 it was an unambiguously pro-union party. Not a unionist party as such, even though most of its original...
The result, said Brian Faulkner, “represents the fears of the unionists of Northern Ireland: fears about the unknown and the unknown expressed in...
Annex B of the command paper (Strengthening Northern Ireland’s Place In The Union) begins with an unambiguous statement: “The government is...
Flatpack assembly can be a bit of a nightmare. No matter how good you think you are at it, it is often the case that when you’re “finished”,...
One man has difficulty remembering names and events. The other tends to make up names and events. One is 81. The other is 77. Neither of them, albeit...
I wonder, Brian, if there is a sweet spot in the middle at which all of the parties could meet and agree to govern in common cause? It seems a fair...
Last Monday was – so far – the most important day in Jeffrey Donaldson’s political career. I don’t think there was ever much doubt that he...
“What do the rules say?” That was my reply to an anti-deal loyalist I was speaking to on Wednesday morning, when he asked me if I was bothered by...
I’ve seen far too many “breakthroughs” come and go in Northern Ireland to abandon my usual pessimism just yet. Just because we seem to have a...
My immediate reaction, on hearing that Chris Heaton-Harris had chosen February 8 as his latest deadline (I wonder how many minutes have passed since...
On the basis that it’s never a wise move to disturb your electoral opponents while they’re making life easy for you and difficult for themselves,...
This time 50 years ago the United Kingdom was preparing for a general election, called by Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath on the issue of...
Almost fifty years ago to the day, Monday January 7, 1974, Brian Faulkner resigned as leader of the UUP. It followed a meeting of the Ulster Unionist...
Brian, it wasn’t just Ian Paisley — always in an “Ulster says snow” frame of mind back in the day — who was angered by Lemass’s visit....
On April 10th, 1998, just hours before the Ulster Unionist Party endorsed the Belfast Agreement, Jeffrey Donaldson left the party’s negotiating...
At the beginning of 2023 I made a resolution. Rather than my usual relentless negativity about political progress, I would look for even the smallest...
Christmas, even for atheists, is a time for reflection. So, let me tell you something about my friend Alan, who died a few weeks ago. Apart from my...
It’s almost Christmas in Northern Ireland, which means that the ghosts of politics past, present and future have been bumping into each other at...
FIFTY years ago – almost to the day – the Sunningdale Agreement was published.
FIFTY years ago – almost to the day – the Sunningdale Agreement was published.