The real political damage for the DUP has barely begun - and the crisis ahead is about far more than Jeffrey Donaldson. Flaws in Gavin Robinson's leadership are now evident but the party's critical problem is a deep rot which it's not confronting.

For and Against a United Ireland reviewed by Patrick Cockburn in the London Review of Books: "lucid and highly informed" (and 4,132 other words).

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has now confirmed to the Policing Board the accuracy of the Belfast Telegraph's reporting. At the time, the PSNI said it had no evidence that loyalist paramilitaries were orchestrating last month's race riots. We said they were. 1/2

The senior PSNI detective, the MI5 sting operation, international gun-running and how Jeffrey Donaldson’s gay sauna visit emerged: As conspiracy theories about ex-DUP leader swirl, senior officer explains real story behind extraordinary encounter.

It's highly significant that Sinn Féin is now calling on Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots to stand aside, and that the SDLP & Alliance are openly asking him tough questions. The catalyst is what he knew about Donaldson, but the backstory involves weeks of concern about another matter...

The story the DUP is telling the public about its knowledge of Donaldson’s behaviour doesn’t add up. The party is renowned for slippery language and not being fully candid with voters; despite its claims to have changed, that seems to be happening again.

Donaldson’s faith helped him evade justice for child rape, through alternative structures outside the state justice system. The impact on NI Protestant churches, and especially its evangelical subculture, will be far more dramatic than has been appreciated.

If you're around Co Meath this weekend, I'll be at the Hinterland Festival in Kells with Fintan O'Toole. Still a few tickets: www.hinterland.ie/p-669-fintan... Lots of other writers from or about NI are on: John Ware, Stephen Walker, Martin Doyle, Glen Patterson...

In October 2023, the DUP did something which at the time was exceedingly odd. Now it appears positively sinister. At its heart: Jeffrey Donaldson secretly sought to retain a law which could have hidden his identity when police began investigating his rape.

They came to see a 15-year-old wonderkid cricketer but left seeing another piece of history: Ireland humbling mighty India. Just up the road from racist riots a fortnight ago, this represented the best of Belfast, of Northern Ireland, and of Ireland.

Three years before Jeffrey Donaldson was arrested, DUP MP Ian Paisley said he had spoken to someone he said was a “victim” of Donaldson - and he tried to use that information for political ends. The Belfast Telegraph has obtained the evidence.

Jeffrey Donaldson's huge continued income from the public purse: @jamesmcnaney.bsky.social examines Donaldson's finances, finding that his complex pensions from the House of Commons & Stormont will be worth between £41,000 and £61,000 a year for the rest of his life.

Former DUP spad David Graham reveals he was involved in a Jeffrey Donaldson backchannel to the Irish Government in 2018 as Arlene Foster's leadership floundered. He says Donaldson told Irish minister he wanted move from “Ulster unionism to Irish unionism.”

Just in: Jeffrey Donaldson has written to the Cabinet Office, seeking to hand back his knighthood - and has asked to leave the body on which he sat which formally advises the King. These honours were clearly going; he's jumped before being pushed.

Was Jeffrey Donaldson protected by powerful unseen forces? There’s a sense among a section of unionism that the story doesn’t quite add up, breeding deep suspicion. There are odd elements to the timeline — yet they don’t prove what some are claiming.

Depraved Donaldson claimed to be on a mission from God, with ‘an unusual spiritual sixth sense’, while assaulting tiny children: Long read on a degenerate political leader whose double dealing was on a scale few human beings could imagine.

Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is a paedophile, a jury has unanimously found: Guilty on all 18 counts, including rape of a primary school girl. Judge says jail is "inevitable" and ex-MP immediately remanded into custody. Full breaking coverage:

Sharp criticism of BBC NI from an ex-insider: He says it has "sucked money away from" in-depth journalism to online stuff, much of which is "news generated from pressure groups...producing the ever-present headline of 'X has called on the Executive to’."

The Assembly Speaker has performed a massive U-turn on a decision which caused consternation around Stormont — but has refused to give any explanation for an episode which has eroded confidence in Edwin Poots’s decision-making.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's KC urges jurors not to convict his client, saying the allegations against him involve a “misunderstanding of a young girl who at the time, from her own account, was troubled and suffering nightmares...a very unreliable witness”.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s wife Eleanor “was aware her husband had a sexual interest in pre-pubescent girls” and "must have known her husband was going to sexually abuse” Complainant B, his trial heard today.

Long read on Northern Ireland’s week of chaos: What it’s like inside a riot, being threatened by paramilitaries at a 'peaceful protest', being assaulted by a masked man, and why we can expect this to return again and again and again.

The Stormont Executive is far more to blame for this week’s chaos than it wants to admit. While happily debating immigration - which isn’t their job - ministers aren't so keen to admit where their failures have encouraged the thuggishness we've seen.

When asked was he a “deceitful person” Sir Jeffrey Donaldson replied: “Not by nature”. Ending her cross examination the prosecutor said, “The only person telling lies is you, sinful and deceitful lies”. “Not true” , the former DUP leader responded.

Belfast knife attack suspect Hadi Alodid was granted asylum under a fast-track application scheme introduced by two of Nigel Farage's senior colleagues. It meant he'd only to complete a Home Office questionnaire rather than attend a face-to-face interview.

For the third consecutive day, Northern Ireland's public transport company Translink is pulling services over fears of further rioting. There'll be no bus services in Belfast after 5.30pm. For all the latest, follow the comprehensive @belfasttelegraph.co.uk live blog:

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson begins giving trial evidence in his defence: “Around 2008, I had a very brief affair with a lady, a divorcee, in London. Afterwards I told my wife about it...Eleanor didn’t have the support of a husband and that caused tensions."

This is pathetic: As I was covering a riot last night, the Home Office emailed (unrequested) its migration policy "to inform your reporting", but trying to hide behind "a government source". Why not just say this openly on the record, given that it's issued by a publicly-funded civil servant?

A really ominous sign about the capabilities of the PSNI, whose Chief Constable has for years been begging Stormont to properly fund it: Just hours after serious racist violence broke out, already the PSNI can't cope and is requesting mutual aid support from GB police forces.

Months after Sinn Féin defended the erection of a statue of an IRA man without applying for planning permission, multiple SF figures are engaged in organised opposition to planning permission for a Stormont stone commemorating Northern Ireland’s centenary.

The party that built Northern Ireland is in revolt over the leadership of the most popular man in unionism. This is about far more than the UUP. The centre in NI politics is getting softer - but the DUP & SF aren't gaining from their rivals' woes.

Inside the moral quagmire of Troubles spying: How two informers expose State dishonesty at the heart of agent-running. Long after the Troubles ended, there’s a grim paradox about agents which society still hasn’t faced up to.

Woman who says former DUP leader raped her as primary school child told police: “I remember I couldn’t tell anyone...I remember telling my imaginary friend”. When asked the name of the man, she paused before saying: “Jeffrey Donaldson MP”.

Sam McBride and I will be at Hinterland in Kells on June 28th. www.hinterland.ie/p-669-fintan...

Sinn Féin has become the Northern Ireland Civil Service Party, rubber stamping recommendations and not rocking the boat. The reason for SF's abandonment of radicalism, especially on economic matters, is genuinely baffling - and isn't working in NI or RoI.

Edwin Poots is refusing to explain a highly irregular decision which makes little sense & has tens of millions of pounds riding on it. Stormont's Speaker says we've no right to know why he acted as he did. Amid growing questions, this may end up in court.

Jeffrey Donaldson sent a letter to a woman he is accused of abusing as a child asking for forgiveness “for the hurt and pain I have caused”, jury hears. He referred to “sinful and selfish actions” and said he took “full responsibility for all I have done”.

Witness B claimed that she was sexually abused by Jeffrey Donaldson as a child, claiming Donaldson would put his hand in her pants “a lot”, Allison Morris reports from Newry Crown Court. Donaldson denies all 18 charges against him.

Why you can’t comment on Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s trial: Sometimes we try to stop you commenting on our reports; sometimes we don’t. Why the difference?

Sixty years after being jailed with Ian Paisley, veteran Free Presbyterian minister the Rev Ivan Foster dares clerical colleagues to expel him, accusing senior figures within the church of breaking its own rules in a disciplinary case against him.

The new Irish Language Commissioner Pól Deeds is only months in post but has repeatedly bungled. In one instance, he told his Stormont scrutiny committee the Belfast Telegraph had published a "bad translation" of his words in Irish. In fact, the translation was accurate.

Free Presbyterians have long protested against others; increasingly they’re protesting against themselves. Rev Ivan Foster was jailed with Ian Paisley 60 years ago; now his outspokeness is being disciplined by clerical colleagues whose "sin" he denounced.

Tickets for 2026 Hinterland Fest now on sale at www.hinterland.ie Guests include @mcculld.bsky.social @miriamocal.bsky.social @fotoole.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social @cwallacedublin.bsky.social @patrickfreyne.bsky.social @edelcoffey.bsky.social @liznugent.bsky.social @rusbradburd.bsky.social

Deligjted to be taking part in two panels at the inaugural Jaipur Literary Festival on May 30th in TCD. Talks are free, register at www.jlflitfest.org/ireland

The NI Civil Service has got even worse in at least one key area since a damning Audit Office report in January, its boss Jayne Brady has admitted. Brady - who costs £290,000 a year - evaded simple (but awkward) questions, providing long jargon-heavy answers.

Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's wife has been ruled unfit to stand trial next week in what was to have been a joint trial involving allegations of serious sexual abuse by the former MP, which he denies.

A few days ago, I was on a panel at an event when a distinguished individual, from the floor, said something astonishing. The man was a senior Irish diplomat who helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement - but didn't understand one of its key provisions.

The breathtaking Jaipur Literature Festival is coming to Ireland next week. I'll be debating the case for and against Irish unity with Fintan O'Toole (and myself) in: ✝️ Armagh, 20th May ☘️Dublin, 24th May Both free, but register here: jlflitfest.org/ireland

🎧 Talking to @ciarandunbarrach.bsky.social about a movingly stark example of how by small actions government can do great good or great harm: 'Buried for decades, a mother’s harrowing letter amid officials’ Bloody Sunday papers'.

While this might look like Dubai, it is in fact Downpatrick: Talking to former Irish News editor Martin O'Brien about life, journalism, books and various other meanderings...