The prolonged countdown to the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has thrown the Conservative government into a profound crisis. Ciaran Mulholland explains that the chaos is such that an anonymous European source has compared the UK to a “failed state”, and that the EU was able to impose its own terms when May came cap in hand seeking an ...

By Kevin Henry As we go to press, it is over 750 days since the Stormont institutions collapsed in the wake of the RHI. This figure is likely to rise considerably, given the sectarian games of both the DUP and Sinn Féin and the lack of any serious efforts to restart the institutions. Brexit and the uncertainty about the border ...

The scale of the defeat in Westminster of Theresa May’s UK/EU withdrawal deal, by 432 votes to 202, was devastating. According to the Daily Telegraph it was a “complete humiliation”. The Guardian referred to it as a “historic defeat”, while the Mirror summed it up with “No deal; no hope; no clue; no confidence”. The deal was only supported by ...

In the aftermath of the Eleventh Night bonfires last year, Belfast City Council passed a Sinn Féin motion authorising the forced clearing of bonfire sites. When this policy was implemented against an anti-internment bonfire in the Divis area of west Belfast, it led to small-scale rioting. If there is an attempt to do the same this year in Protestant areas ...

The following article was first published in Socialism 2000, the precursor of Socialist Alternative, in the immediate aftermath of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that was signed 20 years ago today.  By Peter Hadden Around the world the Good Friday Agreement may have been trumpeted as an “historic compromise”, an “exercise in reconciliation” and a “step to a final ...

Article written by Peter Hadden in 2008  Death on the rock of Gibraltar – 20 years since SAS killing of three IRA volunteers It is twenty years since the execution style killing by the SAS of three IRA members in Gibraltar. In Northern Ireland these deaths sparked a brief but particularly bloody upsurge in violence. Over the next thirteen days ...

By Kevin Henry The current political impasse in the North continues in the wake of two election campaigns which have been described as the “mother of all sectarian headcounts.” Both Sinn Féinand DUP have consolidated their positions as the largest political force in their respective communities.  The current stalemate in terms of talks is a reflection of increased sectarian polarisation ...

Nationalise Bombardier! A brewing international trade dispute is threatening thousands of jobs in Northern Ireland. One thousand workers at Canadian aerospace company Bombardier’s Belfast plant are engaged in building wings for its new C-series passenger jet. Last year, Bombardier secured a major order for the planes from US airline Delta but that has now been put in jeopardy by a ...

By Stephen Boyd In the wake of last year’s “Brexit” vote and the demand of the Scottish National Party (SNP) for a second independence referendum in Scotland, Sinn Féin first and now the SDLP also, have raised the call for the holding of a border poll. Stephen Boyd outlines the socialist case for opposing a border poll and what’s needed ...

The failure of the economic recovery in Ireland to deliver for the needs of working-class people is becoming increasingly clear, if anything living standards are worsening.