The Editor

WE SAY: Fuel protesters must exercise caution

BELFAST’S not renowned for its large farming community, and since the protests that took place across the north this week consisted almost entirely of farm vehicles, disruption in the city was kept to a minimum. Sydenham in East Belfast saw a small convoy of tractors cause disruption around the City Airport, but not only was the Westlink kept open, even the usual rush-hour traffic jam failed to materialise.

WE SAY: When 300 cars are more important than 300 new homes, we really are in dire straits

Back in 2015, the late Pope Francis, upbraiding US politicians, insisted that "there is no social or moral justification, no justification whatsoever, for the lack of housing".

WE SAY: Is it the same old depressing story again?

WE’RE off again – and it’s still only March. The crazy flags, marches and bonfire season is well and truly under way and in the time since the last one nothing has been done to suggest that things are about to change any time soon.

WE SAY: Only DUP could snatch DC diplomatic defeat from jaws of victory

It was an open goal for deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly in Washington DC this week.

WE SAY: About time we raised our voices for our music ambassadors

With every passing day, the evidence of two diverging economies on the island becomes all the clearer - a Southern Government awash in money looming over a Northern Executive which is effectively bust.

WE SAY: Latter-day conversion is a blessing on St Patrick's Day

WE don't know as much about St Patrick as one might think considering he is our national saint.

WE SAY: St Patrick’s Day picture poser for unionists

THE White House will once again have a peculiarly unionist feel on St Patrick’s Day as the DUP and UUP cross the pond to accept a bowl of shamrock from President Donald Trump in a green tie.

WE SAY: Jesse Jackson legacy lives on in Irish Language civil rights cause

IT'S a striking reflection of this era of misinformation, disinformation and non-information, that, in their reporting of the death of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, none of our mainstream media reported on several consequential visits he made to this benighted backwater.

WE SAY: Time to kick the bigots into touch

BUILDING the infrastructure of bias and discrimination which continues to permeate every aspect of our lives was the work of several generations of unionist and British administrations. It stands to reason, therefore, that undoing the damage wrought by countless decisions made by blinkered mandarins and bigoted ministers will also take time.

WE SAY: Disassociating a proud academic institution from a disgraced Chancellor

WHEN news filtered through on Tuesday that Queen's University had cut all links with an American politician of international renown, it's fair to say that many folks in these parts thought, “About time they dismissed Hillary Clinton.”

WE SAY: Time for those with broadest shoulders to bear more of rates burden

COMPLAINTS this week from some of the biggest hospitality operators in town over soaring rates bills are easy to dismiss as more whining from the usual quarters.

WE SAY: UUP leader faces many challenges

AS FORMER senior PSNI officer Jon Burrows prepares to take over the leadership of the UUP uncontested, he will be fully aware of the huge challenges that face him. Or at least we think he will be, because Mr Burrows is so fond of an arresting soundbite and accompanying picture that it is sometimes hard to tell what lies beneath the bluster and blow.

WE SAY: Flag row – time to call in the optometrists

THE vacuous debate involving the Communities Minister over the flag to be used to represent these benighted six counties in the Commonwealth Games speaks to a wider problem: the nationalist community of the North is simply still not seen by our former masters.