The Catholic primate of Ireland says he did not assist in covering up investigations into sexual abuse in the...

Northern Ireland's chief constable compares dissident republican terrorists to criminal street gangs he encountered in...

A man is shot in both legs during a robbery attempt at a house in Meigh, County Armagh, on Saturday...

Two men in their 20s are charged with possession of explosives after a police operation against suspected dissident...

Two people escape injury after a shot is fired at the window of a house in the Caulside area of Antrim on Friday...

Is the UUP prepared to allow Sylvia Hermon, unhindered, to engage in electioneering at its expense? The North Down MP hit out at Ulster Unionists over policing and justice. taking particular umbrage at remarks levelled at the secretary of state, Shaun Woodward, which she claimed were 'bewildering'. Clearly she believes that the UUP's dalliance with Conservatives entitles her fellow champagne socialist, and Tory turncoat, to exact any punishment he sees fit. The party responded with the following statement:“The Ulster Unionist Assembly Group took its decision to oppose the devolution of policing and justice at this time with the full support of the Ulster Unionist Party Officer team and with the full support of the Party Executive Committee. This is how the UUP make democratic...

Good start...In what has been the worst postwar parliament...And that worst postwar parliament is where exactly boys and girls?Montgomery has come up with one of the rather more intuitive analysis of the UUP decision this week to take a stand for democracy in a place where the vast majority of dishonourable members struggle with its basic concepts:Is the party in the grip of liberal...

An inquiry into the murder of Robert Hamill urges the PPS to reconsider a decision not to prosecute a retired RUC...

Four NI Water board members are dismissed after an investigation into how the company awards...

A number of houses have been evacuated in Armagh due to a security alert, the police have...

The Tyrone Crystal factory near Dungannon is to close with the loss of 31 jobs, after 40 years in...

A man and a woman are rescued from a first floor flat in north Belfast which is destroyed in a...

There is a renewed threat to the Tyrone Crystal factory in Dungannon, County Tyrone, according to...

Liam Adams, 54, appears in high court in Dublin after handing himself in to police over alleged attacks on daughterThe brother of Gerry Adams, who is wanted on child sex abuse charges in Northern Ireland, will lodge an appeal against his extradition from the Irish Republic, the high court in Dublin heard today.Liam Adams faces of charges of sexually abusing his daughter Aine when she was a child.He was due to appear in court in Northern Ireland in November 2008 to face 23 charges relating to the alleged abuse, but he failed to turn up. The alleged offences date from March 1977 to March 1983.Adams, 54, handed himself in to Irish police last week after a European arrest warrant was served.His alleged victim, Aine Tyrell, waived her right to anonymity last year to allege that her father had...

The Tory electoral alliance with the Ulster Unionists was part of an ambition to “normalise” politics in Northern Ireland, so that it isn’t dominated by issues of sectarian identity.It’s a very noble ambition: it’d be great to see Catholics switching to the DUP because of their transport policies, or Protestants voting for Sinn Fein because of their plans for education.But the Tories don’t want to risk the electoral chances of their historic allies in the UUP by standing against them – hence the joint ticket. And here’s where the risk comes in.If the Tories become participants in NI politics as well as playing the more neutral brokering role of a UK government, such a pact could make things difficult.Of course, if NI politics has indeed become ‘normalised’, then the...

Original Home Page Current Latest Page All Contents of Site – Index All Links to ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’ posts Sign the Ban Blair-Baiting petition here. “He’s not a war criminal. He’s not evil. He didn’t lie. He didn’t sell out Britain or commit treason. He wasn’t Bush’s poodle. He hasn’t got blood on his hands. The anti-war nutters must not be allowed to damage Blair’s reputation further. He was a great PM, a great statesman and a great leader.” Comment at end Ban Blair-Baiting 10th March 2010 Sky’s Dominic Waghorn: “We can expect to see more of the former prime minister here. Despite scepticism about his commitment at the beginning of his appointment he has stuck with it and is to be rewarded for his efforts. The Obama Administration wants to...

The News Letter carried a lengthy interview last week, in which former communications director Alex Kane explained his departure from the Ulster Unionist party. Branching out, to speak about unionism more broadly, he declared its “vision, strategy and promotion … a mess”. One comment from Kane, which does not appear online, struck me as a very self-evident, but entirely pertinent piece of analysis. Contemplating the post Belfast Agreement landscape, Kane implies that the core of political instability in Northern Ireland, the reason that a ‘centre-ground’ is prevented from emerging, lies with nationalist parties.Both Sinn Féin and, more importantly, the SDLP, each view the Good Friday accord as ‘a staging post’ on the road to eventual dismantlement of the border. Well...

State department makes a point of thanking Conservatives as well as Brown government for role in transfer of policing powers to StormontDavid Cameron has been praised by the US administration for giving "strong support" to the deal between the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin that will see policing and criminal justice powers devolved to Belfast next month.In an important boost for Cameron, who has faced criticism for forming an alliance with the anti-agreement Ulster Unionist party, the US state department made a point of praising the Tory leader for his constructive role.Philip Crowley, a spokesman for the US state department, said last night: "Obviously, for a milestone like this, a number of players have played significant roles. We, the United States, including Secretary [of State...

Former UTV Reporter Fearghal McKinney is expected to announce later that he wants to be the next MP for Fermanagh and South...

Three men have been charged in connection with a pipe bomb attack on a house in Larne seven years...

I'm a committed integrationist; I believe the devolution experiments in Scotland and Wales have weakened the Union. I believe the devolution settlement in Northern Ireland has not only institutionalised sectarian division, but has delivered also a dysfunctional form of governnment seen nowhere else in Europe bar Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Devolving of...

• Power-sharing finalised as assembly agrees to first justice minister since Troubles• Ulster Unionists oppose measure but Hillary Clinton welcomes assembly's yes voteA 15-year search for a political settlement in Northern Ireland cleared its final hurdle today when unionists and nationalists voted to transfer policing and criminal justice powers to Belfast, creating the province's first justice minister since the Troubles erupted four decades ago.Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), who were barely on speaking terms a few years ago, joined forces with the nationalist SDLP in the Northern Ireland assembly to endorse a deal on policing, hammered out last month.The justice minister will be appointed on 12 April and is likely to be David Ford, the leader of the centrist...

Members of the assembly voted in support of a motion to devolve policing and justice powers to Northern...

A second man has been charged with raping and sexually abusing a 15-year-old schoolgirl over a three-day...

I think I best put this situation this way.First of all I never thought I'd agree with George W. Bush over a Foreign policy initiative and secondly I never thought I'd agree with Ian Paisley, or for that matter Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, over a stance taken by the Ulster Unionists which (whilst perhaps understandable) is not the way forward.The Ulster Unionists are entitled to make such a decision, but most N.Ireland people are behind this imitative and to not do so shows a chink in a fragile armour that needs to strengthen if Northern Ireland is to have a future (irrespective of sovereignty) where it's communities are encouraged to live at peace with each other and in an atmosphere of mutual respect.As it was, perhaps it was not wise for Bush to speak out, for dear of...

I recently took part in a debate, part of the Exchange Mechanism project at Belfast Exposed, which asked whether the current system of power-sharing in Northern Ireland offers a democratic future or peace at any price. Although the panellists had different opinions about the best way forward, there was consensus that the current dispensation, as it is operated by the DUP and Sinn Féin, is not working. A week later the Platform for Change initiative launched. The faces, at that event, were different, but the sense of frustration with politics here was precisely the same. In Northern Ireland an ever swelling chorus of voices is singing from the same hymn sheet – our politics are a mess and the Assembly needs to work more effectively. When Sir Reg Empey described the Executive as a...

Ian Paisley jnr will contest his father's North Antrim seat in the general election after being selected by his...

Ex-US President George W Bush asks David Cameron to try to get the UUP to back devolution of justice and...

The Ulster Unionist Executive endorses the party's decision to vote against the devolution of policing and justice powers to Northern...

Detectives from the Serious Crime branch have arrested four men in connection with serious crime in north...

A UUP delegation claims Martin McGuinness asked them to leave his office after an argument over policing and justice...

The reality:"They have enough votes, Sinn Fein and the DUP to get us through this and this is all just hype, it's just fabrication."The fact that Republican Congressman Peter King is amongst those expressing "deep disappointment" at the UUP stance also won't cause them too much angst I'm...

A quick further mention of the Cobden Centre's scheme to reimburse Presybterian Mutual investors. The discussion has continued apace over at the organisation's blog. Toby Baxendale, who outlined the plan initially, explains in detail the reasons why the measure would not create inflation.the loans will recover £200m to £250m according to the Administrators.At the moment the demand deposits of £300m still exist in the UK money supply M4 definition which is not only money, but money and other near money substitutes. With our definition of Actual Money Supply, this is still the same.Once the PMS has been wound down and all loans collected, there will be a shrink of the money supply to the exact tune of this loss. So anywhere between £50m and £100m. This is deflationary and will happen...

In this morning's Belfast Telegraph I make a rather belated intervention in the debate about Conservative involvement in Northern Ireland. This is a response to the hoopla which graced comment pages in the Times and the Guardian a few weeks ago. The gist, however, certainly remains relevant.Shadow Secretary of State Owen Paterson has reacted with annoyance to Labour attacks on the Tories' involvement in Northern Ireland politics.His exasperation is understandable. The current Government took Britain to war in order to impose its favoured system of government on distant parts of the globe.Yet Labour implies that the Conservatives have overstepped their mark by expressing an opinion on the system of devolution employed in a region of the United Kingdom.I continue:Admittedly, the Hatfield...

US congressmen add their voices to that of US Secretary Hillary Clinton in urging the Ulster Unonists to back Tuesday's Assembly...

Hillary Clinton conducts telephone diplomacy with NI politicians ahead of Tuesday's vote on the devolution of...

Over at Forth I lament the circling commentators preparing to blame the UUP for any collapse at Stormont. if power-sharing is working so badly, why does prevailing wisdom insist that it must be preserved at all costs? Sinn Féin and the DUP will be the chief beneficiaries of maintaining the sectarian carve-up, and whilst they can, between them, carry more than enough votes to impose the Hillsborough settlement, it is they who should be expected to promote its merits.The current situation is that the Democratic Unionists, on one hand, champion their bright new deal, yet on the other, insist that the UUP must support it too, or else the bigger party will bring Stormont crashing down! It is a perfect reflection of the state of democracy in Northern Ireland. ‘The peace process’ has...

A memorial service will be held later to mark the first anniversary of the deaths of two soldiers shot dead by dissident...

A vehicle possibly linked to the Newry court bomb was left for two days and then removed before it could be...

Gerry Adams praises the deal on transferring policing and justice powers to Belfast, at Sinn Fein's annual...