The Policy Exchange “History Matters Project” which is to be chaired by Trevor Philips is a hopeful sign of an intelligent response to the historical literacy in public education and, on the streets, in social…
Long essay
The UK’s forgotten frontier?
When we think of devolution, it is not unusual for the Scottish independence referendum or the bloody struggle over Northern Ireland to spring to mind. Wales, by contrast, is often treated as an afterthought –…
Devolution is not the Solution
The biggest challenge facing the next generation of unionists will probably not be a direct separatist challenge to the Union. Scottish capital-N Nationalism has stalled as Brexit pulls the rug from beneath ‘independence in Europe’;…
The Emotional Case for The Union is Just as Important as the Economic Case
The Brexit imbroglio has encouraged separatists in Northern Ireland and Scotland to intensify their attacks on the Union, as fundamental constitutional issues have become the focus of UK politics. A little ironically, their short-term goals…
Lessons from elsewhere.
I have had the privilege to live and work in one of the presently most vibrant and exciting cities in Europe, Budapest. It is not only now apparently “Party Central” for every Northern European waif…
The Case for the Union – A Personal Perspective.
The union for me has always been defined by what is best for the people of Northern Ireland. And one can at least measure this practically. The United Kingdom offers Northern Ireland the best advantages…
Foundering on the Rocks of Reality
Republicans and nationalists call for a United Ireland, yet the thinking on what that might look like has to date seems crude, naïve, or non-existent. Irish mist-ical aspiration is…
Forwards into the past, backwards into the future.
For a post-Truth Past; an Inverted Present? There is genuine frustration within what might be described as ‘Middle Ulster’ – a term of art which includes both Unionists and those…
The End isn’t nigh
Back in 2008 Arthur Aughey wrote of “Endism” as a radical version of Hegel’s Philosophy of History, the appeal of which is its suggestion that ‘the good is already fulfilled just in virtue…