In considering the article by academics Christopher Kissane and David Kenny (one from London School of Economics and the other from Trinity College Dublin) in today’s Irish Times (18 August),…
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Opportunity knocks
We don’t yet know how Brexit will affect Northern Ireland exactly, but the referendum result certainly revived the nationalist trope that Irish unity is ‘inevitable’. The Republic’s national parliament recently published…
Cultural effrontery
On 9 August there was an interesting and revealing article in The Irish Times by Rosemary Jenkinson, artist-in-residence at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. The title was: ‘I’m a Belfast Protestant…
Academic jargon, propaganda and agitprop…
It is often the absence of critical thought in the academic world which continues to shock. It is hard sometimes to avoid the conclusion of those like Roger Scruton that…
Irish problem with border is an EU one
Over at the Policy Exchange, Ray Bassett has some interesting points on the recent hissy fit from Varadkar and Coveney on the Irish land border with the UK.
A United Ireland: why unification is inevitable…. Likely not.
Kevin Meagher, A United Ireland: why unification is inevitable and how it will come about (Biteback, London, 2016) Book Review The only thing ‘inevitable’ about this book is its failure…
David McWilliams is wrong to say demographics will deliver a United Ireland
The history of the twentieth century dictatorships, whether of the extreme left or extreme right, proves that when anyone claims something is historically ‘inevitable’ we should be extremely cautious.
The (long) culture war
The emergence of an Irish Language Act as a ‘red line issue’ for Sinn Fein may be deemed to have its origins in the St. Andrew’s Agreement, indeed, under ‘Annex…
Use a position of power wisely, with caution.
The election results of the 8th June came as shock to many. The Governing party, the Conservative & Unionist (the Unionist being something people seem to forget) Party was short…
Why Ruth Davidson et al are wrong on the DUP and gay rights
Ruth Davidson and others have taken fright at the idea of the Conservatives doing a deal with the DUP — because of its record on gay rights and social…