Ideologies are not issued self-developed and completed into the aether of the idea rather they are generated by the development of specific historic processes in the real world. Ideas are not primary but secondary reflections back into reality through the mediation of the mind. Material reality is primary in the evolution of thought just as [...]

In 2003 the Bare Necessities report by independent think-tank Democratic Dialogue revealed that nearly 30% of Northern Ireland’s households were poor. According to the report, in 2002-03 half a million people in Northern Ireland were living in poor households of whom148,900 were children (37.4 per cent of all children).According to the report, “based on the [...]

Sunday’s news that SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, would stand aside if he was re-elected as the MP for Foyle came as a surprise to almost everyone. It was assumed by many that his time as leader would be soon coming to an end, but the timing and the nature of his announcement to Mark Devenport [...]

Speaking in relation to loyalist paramilitary decommissioning, First Minister, Peter Robinson, stated recently that devolution should benefit working class loyalist communities as much as it does the ‘business community’.
According to Mr Robinson “Devolution isn’t there to help the business community alone. It’s there to help every section of our society.” (Newsletter, 19th June) How does [...]

In May 2007 a 25ft-high peace wall was erected through the grounds of an integrated primary school in North Belfast because houses in the adjacent housing estate had been attacked by youths of the ‘other’ religion. There are now 57 peace walls here, mostly in North and West Belfast but they can also be [...]

The news that between 450 and 600 jobs are to go in Derry at call centres operated by US-owned outsourcing firm Stream has come as another blow to the economy of Northern Ireland. According to the local press, Stream’s decision to cut back on its Derry operation stems from the loss of an important Post [...]

Gerry Adams outlined Sinn Féin’s new campaign for a united Ireland in the Guardian yesterday. The London launch of the campaign took place on Tuesday evening, following a similar event in New York. If I understand the strategy correctly, SF intends to build a broad campaign in Britain and the USA in order to change [...]

So the Romanians intimidated out of their homes in South Belfast have decided to leave Northern Ireland. No surprises there.
Of course the majority of people in Northern Ireland are ashamed and disgusted by this episode, which has put us back in the news for the wrong reasons. Politicians tell us that the incidents brought people [...]

Daniel Finn, who has interviewed Gilbert Achcar and Patrick Cockburn for Irish Left Review has an excellent Diary piece in the latest London Review of Books. It deals with the recent CIRA and RIRA killings, the current state of Northern Ireland politics and responses to what is happening in the North in the South [...]

Robin Wilson is an independent policy analyst based in Belfast. He is co-leader of the Northern Ireland devolution monitoring team-part of a UK-wide project co-ordinated by the Constitution Unit in London-which provided the Northern Ireland input to the democratic assessment of the two jurisdictions in Ireland conducted by the think tank TASC. He was part [...]