As £2 a litre diesel looms, Northern Ireland is more vulnerable than any other UK region - and Stormont is making things worse. NI is effectively dumping a quarter of all green electricity yet Stormont is refusing to face the reality of its actions.

Colm Tóibín’s generous 4,800-word New York Review of Books essay on For And Against a United Ireland: "O’Toole and McBride...enact in their writing the idea that easy divisions and stark binaries make no sense in Ireland now".

The man who until recently was my boss's boss's boss - Peter Vandermeersch - has been exposed for using AI to generate fictitious quotes. This speaks to something far deeper, more dangerous, and unnerving about AI. To be human is to think for ourselves. We lose that at our peril.

Juries are critical to our justice system, as we saw this week, but for years they've been treated shamefully in NI. They're trusted to convict murderers, yet refused food & told even toasters are too dangerous - while £1.2m can be found to hike MLA pay.

Stormont’s extreme censorship of Famine remarks – and how we unravelled it www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/podcasts/sto...

This has been a good week for unionism, while Sinn Fein seriously blundered - as I saw with my own eyes. In failing to distinguish between the American government and the American people, the party boycotted people who have nothing to do with Donald Trump.

If you're anywhere in the vicinity of Princeton on Friday please join us arts.princeton.edu/news/2026/03...

The response to this book has been genuinely shocking. It's gone through multiple print runs, a US edition, taken us from Jaipur to New York, engaged remarkably diverse live audiences & now won this prestigious award. In an age of anger, people can still disagree agreeably.

Great event on “For and Against a United Ireland” this morning in DC with the Washington Ireland Program and authors @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social. Special guests included Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland @little-pengelly.bsky.social and @reptimkennedy.bsky.social. 🧵

Sumo wrestlers, stupid politicians & Mr Bean: How Stormont is struggling to undo its own bungling. Days ago, MLAs voted to fast-track a new law to delay an existing law they made just four years ago which they’ve already had to delay with yet another law.

ARINS is in New York! We are delighted to be at the Irish Arts Center this evening for For and Against with @fotoole.bsky.social and Sam McBride. Thanks to the IAC for hosting us - looking forward to an interesting conversation. @notredame.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie

After finding a declassified government file in London which wasn't censored as it had been in Belfast, I investigated the reason - and found Stormont is now undertaking extreme censorship of these files. That means we'll understand NI's past less fully.

We kicked off the US tour of “For and Against a United Ireland” last night in Chicago w/ authors @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social. Next: NYC, DC, Boston, Princeton The book has inspired dialogue in Ireland and the UK. It’s a thrill to discuss it on this side of the Atlantic.

I'm so immensely grateful to be given the time and resources to research and write. Journalism matters, yet is being deliberately undermined globally. The judges described the Belfast Telegraph's journalism as "world class". Thanks to our bosses, our sources, & you the readers for whom we work.

A top US bank had agreed to create 300 jobs in Belfast... until Stormont’s Economy Minister arrived in New York, new documents show. A rare insight into the sometimes awkward realities behind those PR photos of NI ministers in the US for St Patrick's week.

Had the young John Taylor been able to read the octogenarian John Taylor’s comments last weekend, he’d have snorted in scornful derision. One of the biggest beasts of 20th century unionism, he was no cuddly liberal - but now he's lost his political faith.

"At the heart of this technology is a black box into which questions go & out of which answers are given —but we’re not allowed to see what precisely goes on inside". Sobering piece by @sjamcbride.bsky.social on how Musk's Grokopedia is rewriting knowledge www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/comment/opin...

Judging from the prose, the Pentagon appears to be using AI to announce the death of soldiers. If it’s not AI, it’s a person who simply does not care.

The world’s most unreliable encyclopaedia: Elon Musk’s AI Wikipedia alternative is dangerously distorting the truth about Northern Ireland, defaming & perversely altering history. It smears Troubles victims, lauds a paramilitary force & libels politicians.

Join us in Chicago for an event with @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social — authors of the acclaimed book “For and Against a United Ireland.” 🗓️ Thursday, March 12 🕟 Reception @ 4:30 pm | Event @ 5:30 pm 📍 The Chicago Club, 81 E. Van Buren St. ✅ Register here: go.nd.edu/for-against-...

Under Claire Hanna, the SDLP is the nationalist party with energy, confidence, ideas, leadership and a sense of purpose to an extent reminiscent of an early John Hume - and which increasingly exposes Sinn Fein as central to the failing NI establishment.

Profs @katyhayward.bsky.social , @jontonge.bsky.social & @stephenfarry.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social, @markdevenport.bsky.social & Allison Morris will reflect on the political implications of Brexit Get your tickets imaginebelfast.com/event/10-yea...

Andrew has exposed the monarchy’s central weakness more devastatingly than any republican: This despicable man could still in theory be head of the Church of England, have the title ‘His Majesty’, and have people grovel before him. This is obscene.

🎧Podcast (no paywall) with @ciarandunbarrach.bsky.social Revealed: How NI celebrity libel lawyer Paul Tweed was key to 2011 fightback by Jeffrey Epstein, threatening journalists who'd called him a paedophile - long after Epstein's first conviction for soliciting under-age sex.

Cheering the departure of a unionist is a profoundly illogical approach to saving the Union. A recently-departed UUP politician saying Irish unity is ‘inevitable’ ought to have prompted introspection. Instead, it led to widespread sneering & jeering.

More guest announcements for #DromoreBookFestival. On Tues 5th May, Sam McBride is joining us to talk about his book, For and Against a United Ireland. Then, on Friday 8th, John Ware, investigative journalist, reporter, and author will be chatting about his new book, Neither Confirm Nor Deny.

Don’t dare call Jeffrey Epstein a paedophile: The inside story of Northern Ireland celebrity lawyer Paul Tweed's work to clean up the vile billionaire’s image, threatening the media on his behalf. Neither man would ever have thought we'd get to see this.

In Saturday's Belfast Telegraph: An important and unusually long read on Jeffrey Epstein and a highly significant link to Northern Ireland. I've been working on this all week and it involves a matter of substantial public importance.

🎧 Podcast (no paywall) with @ciarandunbarrach.bsky.social: How Frank Cushnahan was cleared after four-month Nama fraud trial - and what comes next.

Weeks into Nama trial, Frank Cushnahan and his lawyers took a big gamble which can only now be explained - but the former top business figure's legal problems aren't yet over.

Breaking News: Four months after his fraud trial began, a jury has cleared veteran Belfast business figure Frank Cushnahan of dishonestly failing to disclose he was in line for millions of pounds from the sale of Nama’s Northern Ireland loans in 2014.

There is a compelling practical case for an Irish passport office in Belfast. None of the historic objections endures to any significant extent. It is increasingly hard to explain this situation when there is such an office in Dublin, in Cork & in London.

Stormont can’t go on like this. It is a broken and a hapless administration whose rambling incoherence is now excruciating. The Executive is at open war with itself. The 'legislative' Assembly has spent just 9 minutes this year discussing NI legislation.

After almost two full days of deliberations, the jury in the Nama fraud trial - now just involving one charge against Frank Cushnahan - still hasn't been able to reach a verdict. Madam Justice McBride has sent them home for the weekend.

Frank Cushnahan has “a big mouth” and “builds himself up into something that isn’t true”, his lawyer has told a jury as the senior business figure’s defence came to a close in Belfast Crown Court.

The Belfast Telegraph - read and appreciated far beyond Belfast. Thanks, @thejeremyvine.bsky.social.

On 16 February, I'll be discussing the arguments for and against a united Ireland in Drumalis - a fascinating place in Larne which once was a grand home owned by Ulster Scots Presbyterians & from where the 1914 UVF gun-running was organised, but now is a Catholic retreat centre.

Ex-Nama adviser Frank Cushnahan ‘spouted nonsense’, his lawyer tells jury, because ‘he can’t help himself’ – but case against him is ‘hopeless’. Barrister asks why his elderly client would go into the witness box against Crown KC ‘at the top of his game’.

The NI civil service is going backwards, costing vastly more and employing more staff while outcomes get worse, a devastating audit report reveals. After RHI, Jayne Brady was appointed to reform & costs £290,000 a year - but a key failure is leadership.

Despite the DUP's deception, the Irish Sea border is hardening — and the Stormont committee it trumpeted is excruciating to behold. EU rules are neither being enforced strictly nor removed. The situation remains a mess that's awkward for everyone.

NI public sector workers could share in up to £100m in compensation – but have just days to apply for potentially getting it, a senior solicitor has said. The case centres on 'hurt feelings' over how super-generous final salary pensions were ended.

Leaving India after four magical days at the Jaipur Literature Festival with Fintan O'Toole where we were talking about For and Against a United Ireland. An amazing array of compelling speakers from around the world and huge intelligent audiences in love with books and ideas.

The Irish unity dilemma almost no one has considered, but which would impact everyone

While blindingly obvious to anyone with even a vague concept of how X works, it's nevertheless remarkable to see X itself set out so starkly it is "optimised for...hatred & calls to (or justifications of) violence...the design isn't neutral — it's profit-optimized for emotion": x.com/i/grok/share...

Why doesn't Sinn Féin want to tax the rich? A once-radical party which had a quasi-Marxist economic policy is now getting the poor to subsidise the rich. SF not only won't target wealthy people or huge corporations - but is making clear it doesn't want to. What's going on?

@fotoole.bsky.social discusses the preconditions surrounding the possability of a border poll. You can watch the re-broadcast of #RTÉTwip at 11:05pm on @rteone and at 6:30 and 10:00pm on the RTÉ News Channel 📺

Journalist @fotoole.bsky.social speaks on the financial factors involved with a United Ireland. You can watch the re-broadcast of #RTÉTwip at 11:05pm on @rteone and at 6:30 and 10:00pm on the RTÉ News Channel 📺

Journalist @fotoole.bsky.social on the possible benefits that a United Ireland could bestow on future generations. You can watch the re-broadcast of #RTÉTwip at 11:05pm on @rteone and at 6:30 and 10:00pm on the RTÉ News Channel 📺

@sjamcbride.bsky.social's thoughts on potential reignited violence as a result of discussing a United Ireland. You can watch the re-broadcast of #RTÉTwip at 11:05pm on @rteone and at 6:30 and 10:00pm on the RTÉ News Channel 📺

Journalist @sjamcbride.bsky.social speaks about the possibility of Northern Ireland's secretary of state calling for a border poll. You can watch the re-broadcast of #RTÉTwip at 11:05pm on @rteone and at 6:30 and 10:00pm on the RTÉ News Channel 📺