The Editor

WE SAY: Preventing the truth from coming out places the PSNI in the dock

THE trouble with political accommodations is that they require a degree of accommodation on both sides. 17 years ago when nationalists and republicans took the historic decision to throw their lot in with a policing service and justice system from which they were thoroughly estranged, the hope was that a new era of cooperation and respect would open up.

WE SAY: Health is the real loser in UUP drama

THE decision of Health Minister Robin Swann to step down from his Executive position as soon as the Westminster election is called later this year is just one of a couple of worrying indicators of the sorry state of the UUP – and therefore of unionism more widely.

WE SAY: Another day, another insult from An Taoiseach

IF YOU thought that new Taoiseach Simon Harris was finished with us Nordies for a while when he said on taking over the top job that the unity of the island would not be on his list of priorities then think again. One insult to the people that his predecessor Leo Varadkar vowed never to leave behind again might have been put down to a rookie error – a second in a matter of days suggests that he may think there’s political mileage in it.

WE SAY: New Taoiseach's indifference is no big deal

IT WAS disappointing that outgoing Taoiseach Leo Varadkar left it to the last minute of his time in power to issue his most passionate and stirring statement of support for a united Ireland. The departing Fine Gael leader, responding to a recent debate about the cost of reunification, said no price could be put upon the desire of the Irish people for independence.

WE SAY: Time for Belfast City Council to host Easter Rising commemoration

ANOTHER Easter, another celebration of the most important week in the republican calendar. The Easter Sunday setpiece event is a Falls Road institution, and even as we cherish our annual carnival of pride and history, we should consider ways in which we can polish the diamond in our hands so that it glitters for others outside the traditional republican community.

WE SAY: PSNI are protecting and serving former officers, not the victims

THE PSNI is sorely testing the patience and goodwill of the nationalist people when it comes to the dark and dirty history of police involvement in the death of innocents.

WE SAY: Let the DUP fight their ‘sham fight’

SINN Féin MLA Philip McGuigan has described Tuesday’s attempt by the DUP in Stormont to stop a new EU law from being implemented in the North as “a sham fight”. He’s right, of course, but it’s a sham fight that perhaps party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson should be allowed to dress up for – and win.

WE SAY: Forget the rehabilitation of loyalist thugs

ANOTHER day, another well publicised attempt to move loyalist paramilitaries away from criminality. The latest episode of BBCNI’s Spotlight programme this week quoted a source as saying that “highly sensitive” talks with the South East Antrim UDA have persuaded mediators of good faith on the part of the gang.

WE SAY: Casement – the union’s final test?

THERE are those naive enough to believe that for the nationalist and republican people of West Belfast and beyond, the Casement Park project is only about infrastructure.

WE SAY: BBCNI continues to function from a unionist baseline

THE revelation this week by a former BBC Controller and two noted BBC journalists that BBCNI hid the truth about the North in the 1960s has come at a curiously apt time.

WE SAY: DUP quickly reverting to type over Casement

EVEN for seasoned political pollsters, the speed with which unionism got behind DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s decision to return to Stormont was quite something.

WE SAY: Tories value their precious union (but just don't ask them to pay for it)

IT'S only a few weeks since the DUP and Tories were whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears as they celebrated the consummation of their two-year courtship, which resulted in the DUP jumping back into bed with previously-jilted local political partners.

WE SAY: Let’s get serious about Stormont

THE low-level chaos that has accompanied the return of the political institutions is not of sufficient import to threaten the newly-minted Executive and Assembly, but it is indicative of a pressing need for all of the parties to take a deep breath and approach the weeks and months to come with a little more care and thought.

WE SAY: Grim DUP charade is taking its toll

ANOTHER day, another wait for a DUP decision. Tuesday evening’s meeting of senior DUP figures – like the same meeting last Friday – produced absolutely nothing by way of a decision on the Stormont stand-off. But at least this time we were spared the toe-curlingly embarrassing intervention of the self-styled ‘Biggest Show in the Country’.

EDITORIAL: Latest Stormont charade will have its price

WITH clanging inevitability the DUP on Wednesday once again foiled attempts to elect a Stormont Speaker and get the politicial institutions up and running.

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