In Northern Ireland, where the Irish language is a proxy battleground between Unionists and Nationalists, dual-language signs have become a “key point of contention at Stormont”, said the BBC.

In October, Belfast City Council approved a draft policy to promote its use in public life, with bilingual signs across its facilities and official buildings. Sinn Féin hailed it as a “historic milestone” for a long-marginalised language.

But unionists objected, triggering a mechanism to “scrutinise the legitimacy of the decision”, said the Belfast Telegraph. Communities minister Gordon Lyons claimed some were using the language as a “weapon of cultural dominance”. The legal action has now arrived at the High Court.

A ‘greening’ of Ulster?

“What was once dismissed as a fading tongue is undergoing an exhilarating and vibrant revival”, said The Irish Times. North of the border, Belfast is leading the way. Bilingual street signs, permitted in Northern Ireland since the peace process, previously required approval by a two-thirds majority of residents. That was typically reached only in majority-Catholic neighbourhoods. But Belfast reduced the approval threshold to just 15% in 2022.

The dual-language signs are sparking anger in some areas “badly scarred by the Troubles”. “In a land where territory has long been marked by murals, flags and kerbstones daubed in national colours, they see the rollout of Irish signs as a ‘greening’ of Ulster by nationalists.” Existing bilingual street signs in the capital “have been vandalised more than 300 times in five years”, according to the BBC.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill and her deputy have been “unable to agree a joint position” on the latest Belfast policy, and won’t mount a challenge to the High Court action, said Irish News. Justice McLaughlin has reserved judgment on the legality of the policy, saying: “I’ve got an awful lot to think about.” Until then, the draft proposal remains on hold.

Irish language ‘imposed’

Irish was declared the first official language of the Irish Free State in 1921, but in the six counties that remained in the UK as Northern Ireland, the language continued to be suppressed and treated with suspicion by the authorities. Less than 2.5% of the population in Northern Ireland speaks it daily, according to 2021 census figures.

However, the government, which “suppressed Irish for decades, is now openly boosting it”, said The Washington Post. The Identity and Language Act of 2022 bestowed official, protected status on the Irish language in Northern Ireland and overturned a ban of almost 300 years on its use in court.

Last year, Stormont appointed Northern Ireland’s first Irish language commissioner to promote its use across public bodies. Irish-language schools and classes are growing in popularity, “even among Protestant parents”, marking a “stark shift in attitudes about culture, identity and heritage that are gaining pace throughout Belfast”.

The language has “scored cultural breakthroughs”, said The Guardian. Popular Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap, who sing primarily in Irish, “have given the language a punk cachet” and are credited with sparking increased uptake in classes.

“However, beneath all this buzz lies a battleground,” said The Irish Times. The Irish language remains “highly politically charged across Northern Ireland”. Unionist leaders reject “what they see as an erosion of their identity and traditions”.

“There are some who wish to see Irish imposed on the whole society,” Clive McFarland, a spokesperson for the Democratic Unionist Party, told The Washington Post. They are “trying to make Northern Ireland less like the United Kingdom and more like the Republic of Ireland”, with the goal of a referendum on reunification.

There is growing pressure on the government to formally name an MI5 spy who operated at the heart of the IRA for decades.

Freddie Scappaticci, known by his codename “Stakeknife”, was outed in an investigation into the actions of Britain’s security services during the Troubles.

Scappaticci was recruited by the British Army in the 1970s, working until the 1990s as a mole within the IRA’s internal security unit tasked with identifying and killing informers. The West Belfast man, long suspected of being a British agent, was unmasked by the media in 2003, although he denied the allegations and went into hiding. He died in 2023.

Why is this coming out now?

Scappaticci’s alleged activities and the efforts of MI5 to protect his identity have been set out in the damning 160-page Kenova Final Report. It details the findings of a nine-year, £47.5 million investigation into Stakeknife’s alleged crimes.

The investigation revealed evidence of Stakeknife’s involvement in “serious and unjustifiable criminality, including kidnap, interrogation and murder”, said Kenova. He has been implicated in 14 murders and 15 abductions, while working in a notorious IRA unit known as the “nutting squad”, whose aim, ironically, was to flush out spies within its ranks.

An interim report last year found that Stakeknife’s actions probably “resulted in more lives being lost than saved”. Now the full report says he was “improperly protected by the British security services because they believed him to be a more valuable asset than he was”, said Max Jeffery in The Spectator.

It is “one of the Troubles’ most macabre twists that Scappaticci was secretly working for British security services and that his handlers allowed him to act as executioner to preserve his cover”, said The Guardian.

What did MI5 know?

In the past, MI5 has said its involvement with him was “peripheral” but the report clearly states the security services were “closely involved in his handling”.

“Everything done in respect of Stakeknife was done with MI5’s knowledge and consent; and MI5 had an influential role”, a member of the Army’s agent-handling unit told investigators. They concluded that “MI5 had automatic sight of all Stakeknife intelligence and therefore was aware of his involvement in serious criminality”.

Stakeknife submitted 3,517 intelligence reports during his time under cover. He was paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for his services and even had a dedicated phone line he could call at any time to contact his handlers. Senior Army figures treated him as the “crown jewel” of British intelligence, and he had a reputation as “the goose that laid the golden eggs”.

Yet the report says protecting his identity became “more important than protecting those who could and should have been saved”.

What have MI5 and the government said?

Despite Scappaticci being outed by the press in 2003 and even telling his family his true identity, the government has “stuck to its routine practice not to identify agents, a principle known as NCND, an acronym for Neither Confirm Nor Deny”, said the BBC.

Iain Livingstone, head of Operation Kenova, has said that Stakeknife should now be named. Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn told the Commons that he would respond to Livingstone’s call at the conclusion of an ongoing case in the Supreme Court, which, Benn said, had implications for NCND. “The government’s first duty is, of course, to protect national security and identifying agents risks jeopardising this.”

This stance was backed by Benn’s Tory counterpart Alex Burghart, who said guarantees would be needed that the naming of Stakeknife would not impact on current security operations.

While Burghart admitted “people within” MI5 and the Army had “absolutely crossed the line in a way that wasn’t acceptable”, ultimately, the murders carried out by Stakeknife would have been signed off by the IRA Army Council. “If one is going to start pointing fingers, the first finger should be pointed in that direction.”

Fifty years ago this week, one of Ireland's most popular music groups became the target of a terror attack in which three of its members were killed by loyalist paramilitaries posing as British Army soldiers.

A "controversial" parade due to take place in Northern Ireland this weekend "risks stepping over the line into the glorification of terrorism", said the BBC. Fifteen bands and hundreds of people are expected to take part in the Harris Boyle 50th Anniversary Memorial parade in County Armagh, in memory of one of the perpetrators of the Miami Showband Massacre.

Who were the Miami Showband?

The Miami Showband were a touring cabaret band formed in 1962, who became one of the biggest stars of Ireland's showband scene. An evolution from the travelling big bands of the 1940s and 1950s, showbands offered a more contemporary pop and easy listening sound, playing to packed houses across the length and breadth of the island of Ireland.

The Miami Showband's name was inspired by the first venue they played, the Palm Beach Ballroom in Portmarnock, north of Dublin. They had seven number-one hits in Ireland and performed Ireland's entry in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing joint fourth. They also played in Northern Ireland, and had also appeared on UK television programmes.

What happened?

On 31 July 1975, the band were travelling home to Dublin after a concert in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, when they were stopped by a group of around 10 men in uniform at what appeared to be a British Army checkpoint. In fact, the "soldiers" were all members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary group. Four of them were also serving in the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment.

The attackers ordered the band members to line up at the side of the road while they attempted to place a bomb on the tour bus. It's believed that the plan was for the bomb to detonate once the van passed into the Republic of Ireland, framing the band members as IRA bomb smugglers, attracting bad publicity for the Republican cause and prompting stricter security measures at the border.

However, the explosive detonated prematurely, killing two of the paramilitaries, including Harris Boyle. The surviving gunmen then opened fire on the band, murdering lead singer Fran O’Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty and trumpet player Brian McCoy. Two other members of the band, Des McAlea and Stephen Travers, were injured but survived.

Were the killers brought to justice?

In 1976, two men were jailed for 35 years in connection with the murders. Imposing the longest life sentences in Northern Ireland history, the judge said "killings like the Miami Showband must be stopped" and hinted that the death penalty would have been imposed had it not been recently abolished.

A third attacker, former British Army soldier John James Somerville, was convicted in 1981 for his involvement in the killings, as well as a separate sectarian murder. All three declined to name their accomplices and their identities remain unknown. They were released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

In 2019, Netflix documentary "ReMastered: The Miami Showband Massacre" brought the killings back into the public eye, following survivor Stephen Travers' fight to bring the killers to justice and keep the memory of his bandmates alive.

"There's not much that the Conservatives, the SNP and Labour agree on", but the band Kneecap has "pulled off the improbable and united political opponents against them", said The Spectator.

Criticism of the Irish rappers has been mounting after video footage emerged of a 2023 gig, appearing to show one member of the trio saying, "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP." The band has issued an apology but several of their gigs have now been cancelled amid what their manager has called a wave of "moral hysteria", said the BBC.

A Downing Street spokesperson called the apology "half-hearted" and condemned "in the strongest possible terms" other comments Kneecap appear to have made "about the situation in the Middle East". The Metropolitan Police has said its counter-terrorism unit is assessing both the alleged call to murder MPs, and other footage apparently showing a band member shouting, "Up Hamas, up Hezbollah."

From Belfast to Baftas to backlash

The Belfast-based group was formed in 2017 by friends Liam Og Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Caireallain and JJ Ó Dochartaigh. They rap in both English and Irish about working-class Belfast culture and post-Troubles Northern Ireland. (Their name is a reference to the punishment Republican paramilitaries would inflict, during the Troubles, on people they believed to be drug-dealers and child molesters.)

After the success of their second studio album, "Fine Art", their semi-autobiographical film, in which the band members played themselves alongside established actors like Michael Fassbender, won the 2025 Bafta for Outstanding Debut.

Kneecap's "punky attitude, fondness for coke and ketamine, anti-coloniser stance on British rule and defiant refusal to let the English language drown out their native tongue has made them social-media folk heroes", said The Scotsman. It has also made them "targets for right-wing tabloids and the British government".

Coachella censorship

Earlier this month, the group's set at US music festival Coachella "caught the attention of the world", with its "heavy political messaging" about Israel's bombardment of Gaza, said Business Insider. Organisers "attempted to censor the band" by removing their second set from the livestream, but this "only increased interest in the performance".

Former "The X Factor" judge Sharon Osbourne called for their US work visas to be revoked, saying they "openly support terrorist organisations". Kneecap's visa sponsor subsequently dropped them, meaning they'll need a new sponsor to be able to play their sellout North America tour in October.

'Coordinated smear campaign'

On Monday, after the daughter of MP David Amess, who was killed by an Islamic State fanatic in 2021, said that "this kind of rhetoric" should not be tolerated, Kneecap posted their "heartfelt apologies" to the families of Amess and Jo Cox, the MP murdered in 2016. "We never intended to cause you hurt," the band said in the 500-word statement on X. "We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever."

Nevertheless, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said Kneecap should be prosecuted and "banned full stop", as their "glorification of terrorism and anti-British hatred has no place in our society". Badenoch and Kneecap are "already known to each other", said Sky News. When she was business secretary, she blocked a £14,250 government arts grant the group had won; last November, Kneecap won a discrimination challenge over that decision.

The group maintain that they are facing a "coordinated smear campaign". They said the footage about MPs was "deliberately taken out of all context" and "is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action. This distortion is not only absurd – it is a transparent effort to derail the real conversation."

And, although they "won't be silenced" about "the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people", they have said, "Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah."

'Incarcerated women deserve a second chance'

Heather Rice-Minus and Hillary Blout at The Hill

Despite their "unique needs, criminal justice policy has largely overlooked incarcerated women, partly because they are significantly outnumbered by men in the prison system," say Heather Rice-Minus and Hillary Blout. This "requires collective action from all of us" to "help women heal and to safely bring them home." Culture "tends to shame women more than men for incarceration, since women are expected to be virtuous and wholesome." Once "rehabilitated, women should have the opportunity for mercy and redemption."

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'America needs more living kidney donors. Here's how we achieve that goal.'

Steven Levitt and Ruby Rorty at the Chicago Tribune

America's "organ shortage is a perplexing public health problem," say Steven Levitt and Ruby Rorty. There are "simple steps we can take to radically increase the number of kidneys available for transplant, but political and institutional inertia has stood in the way of these changes." By "changing incentives for prospective donors and transplant centers, we could save thousands of lives." Policy reform "would also help tackle a persistent disparity: the disproportionate impact of kidney disease on low-income Americans."

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'From presidents to hillbillies, Northern Ireland wants more recognition in the US'

Jude Webber at the Financial Times

The U.S. "celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence from Britain next year and Northern Ireland wants pride of place at the party," says Jude Webber. Northern Irish Americans have "helped shape the world's most powerful nation," and "leaders in Northern Ireland believe it is now time for that shared heritage to receive greater recognition." But "historically, Northern Ireland's influence on America has played second fiddle to that of émigrés from what is now the Republic of Ireland."

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'Dining in'

Henry Grabar at Slate

As "virus fears faded and health restrictions fell away, many big-city residents watched outdoor dining disappear too," says Henry Grabar. What "separated New York was the program's scope, popularity, and political support." The "question is: Who is ready to design a new, more lenient law to facilitate outdoor dining, without the 'seasonal' requirement that analysts have described as a poison pill." But the "urgency of the post-pandemic period has faded, and larger problems loom."

Read more

2025 is looking good for travelers ready to check into someplace new. That might mean heading to Rome to see how the Orient Express handles luxury accommodations off the tracks or trekking to Uganda for an unforgettable stay among the gorillas. Whatever the type of hotel experience, you should be able to find it at one of these eight fresh properties.

One&Only Moonlight Basin, Montana

The first One&Only resort in the United States is coming to Montana. The hotel, located on the northwest side of Lone Mountain, will offer "direct gondola access to Big Sky's 5,800 acres of piste, as well as top-tier mountain golf," Elite Traveler said, in addition to kayaking, biking and other outdoor activities. Guests can expect comfortable rooms with fireplaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, leather furnishings and local art, with amenities like a hidden whisky shack in the forest and wellness treatments inspired by the wilds of Montana.

Orient Express La Minerva, Rome

When it opens this spring, Orient Express La Minerva will technically be the newest hotel in Rome, but its roots were planted long ago, in the 17th century. La Minerva, built for a wealthy family in 1620 and turned into an inn 200 years later, is the first hotel under the Orient Express brand. The "meticulously curated" property "highlights Rome's rich history," CNN said, and is steps from the Pantheon. Rooms feature king-size beds and marble bathrooms, and for a treat, book a signature suite with a private terrace, turntable and vinyl record collection.

Portrush Adelphi, Northern Ireland

Renovations are in full swing at Portrush Adelphi, a boutique hotel opening in April next door to the storied Royal Portrush Golf Club. Now part of Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts, the seaside property will "cater to golf enthusiasts," the Belfast Telegraph said, with fully revamped guest rooms and common areas. An on-site Italian grill and bar and concierge who will set up tee times round out the hotel's updated offerings.

Salterra, Turks & Caicos

Salterra offers a new way to experience Turks & Caicos. The property, scheduled to open in February, sits on South Caicos, far from the most populous areas of the archipelago. Each room is decorated in muted tones, with wood finishings and large windows to soak up the views. The nearby Salinas salt flats inspired the hotel's design, and an in-house "saltmelier" will be on hand to take guests to the Salinas boardwalk to learn about the island's history of salt production and guide them through a sea salt tasting.

Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Lodge, Uganda

Prepare to be awed when Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Lodge opens in May. Deep in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, this luxe 10-tent property is not only a great base camp for gorilla trekking but is often a stop for gorillas passing through the area. The comfortable accommodations include en-suite bathrooms with a bathtub and shower and private decks, where you can relax after a day of adventure, like taking a game drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park or hiking through the forest to meet members of the Batwa tribe.

Skyridge, Alberta, Canada

Glamp your way through all four seasons inside one of the micro-cabins at Skyridge, opening in January. This year-round, adults-only resort in the town of Canmore has two types of accommodations: the Sky Box and SkyGlass, an innovative structure with floor to ceiling windows for unobstructed views of the stunning Canadian Rockies. At 302 square feet, the cabins are designed for two guests and have everything necessary for "roughing it" in style, including a plush king-size bed, bathroom, kitchen with stovetop and microwave, and heating and air conditioning to keep glampers warm during the winter and cool during the summer.

The Sundays, Hamilton Island, Australia

The Sundays, opening in April, embraces its prime position in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. The hotel's 59 rooms have been "conscientiously designed," Vogue Australia said, and the "calming combination of ocean and sand tones" act as an "extension of the beach surroundings." An oceanfront swimming pool and water's-edge restaurant and bar add to the "laidback lavishness" of the property.

Veranó San Juan, Puerto Rico

A 1950s office building in San Juan's vibrant Santurce neighborhood is getting a second act as Veranó, a stylish boutique hotel. Set to open its doors in April, Veranó will have 40 sleek rooms and suites, the City House restaurant and a rooftop bar perfect for grabbing a drink to enjoy at sunset. The property sits on the Avenida Ponce de León, amid shops, restaurants and art galleries and close to several beaches.

Getting from your hotel room to the links in a matter of minutes is everything a golfer on vacation could ask for, especially when the courses offer views so incredible they might distract you from the game itself. Here are 10 beautiful hotels with golf courses on property — or a few steps away — that will thrill any player. 

The Bushmills Inn, Northern Ireland 

The area around The Bushmills Inn is a golfer's dream. Historic clubs are abundant, from the Royal Portrush and its two majestic championship courses to the Portstewart with three emerald courses boasting views of the Atlantic Ocean, Donegal hills and River Bann. The inn offers transportation to the courses, among other amenities like a boutique cinema and traditional Irish breakfast served in the morning. The rooms and suites are charming, with features like four-poster beds and heated towel racks. After a day on the green, unwind at the legendary Bushmills Distillery for a tour and whiskey tasting.

Cabot Cape Breton, Inverness, Nova Scotia 

High on the cliffs above the Gulf of St. Lawrence stands Cabot Cape Breton and its three exceptional golf courses. Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs both made Golf Digest's World's 100 Greatest Golf Courses list, thanks in part to their stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and rolling fairways. The newer Nest is a 10-hole, par 3 course designed for a quicker game. Stay in one of the comfortable rooms at the Cabot Links Lodge — each one has an ocean view — or upgrade to a plush golf villa overlooking the greens. 

Coeur d'Alene Resort, Idaho

This is a golf course with a twist. At the Coeur d'Alene Resort, the 14th hole is a floating green, with a tee that changes positions every day. You get two opportunities to land the ball on the island (if you miss, it gets dropped down) and then hop on an electric-powered boat to finish the hole. The views as you play are just as memorable, with Lake Coeur d'Alene in the background and geraniums, petunias, wildflowers and junipers dotting the landscape. The resort has five different kinds of accommodations; the 2,500-square-foot Hagadone Penthouse, complete with two private terraces and a glass-bottom swimming pool, is the most impressive. 

Half Moon Montego Bay, Jamaica

Golf carts are available to rent, but you are going to want to walk this one. The 18-hole championship Half Moon Golf Course stretches across the grounds of a former sugarcane estate, surrounded by native trees that almost always seem to be swaying in the breeze. Guests also have access to the nearby Cinnamon Hill and White Witch courses and can book private lessons with visiting pro instructors. All of Half Moon's rooms, suites and villas come with private balconies or patios, and there is an option to book a dining plan that lets you explore the hotel's 11 restaurants and bars.

Kawana Hotel and Golf Course, Shizuoka, Japan

You have two courses to choose from at the Kawana Hotel: Fuji and Oshima. The challenging Fuji Course is legendary, with 18 holes surrounded by deep bunkers. It is in a picturesque setting above the Pacific Ocean and in sight of Mount Fuji and must be walked with a caddie. Oshima, one of the oldest golf courses in Japan, is just as gorgeous, but golfers are allowed to use carts, do not need caddies and can play at their own speed. The hotel's spacious rooms make it easy to unwind after a day of golf, as does the Main Bar, where guests can enjoy a drink in a moody space filled with leather and wood.

The Lodge at Sea Island, Georgia

Sea Island entices golfers not only with three championship courses but also enchanting accommodations. Serious players can hone their skills with expert help at the state-of-the-art Golf Performance Center, while those looking to spend quality time with their kids will find it at the 18-hole Speedway putting course. A boutique experience awaits at The Lodge, with its 43 elegant rooms and suites that come with 24-hour butler service and nightly turndowns. The highlight of every evening occurs at sunset, when a bagpiper serenades guests from the Lodge's veranda, heralding the transition from day to night. 

Marine Troon, Scotland 

Put your golf skills to the test in Troon, Scotland, where the rugged Old Course at Royal Troon Golf Club awaits. A striking spot to play, with 18 holes that get more and more challenging, this is one of several courses near Marine & Lawn's Marine Troon. The property makes golfing easy, offering club storage and rentals, an expansive putting green for practicing and a concierge team ready to assist with scheduling tee times. Rooms here are warm and inviting, with colorful wallpaper, traditional artwork and velvet touches.  

Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa, Whitefield, New Hampshire

Make Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa your family's summer playground. Covering 1,700 acres, this immense property in the White Mountains offers a little bit of everything. The lovely nine-hole Mountain View Golf Course, originally built in 1900 and redesigned in 1938, can be played by novices and pros alike. To switch approaches, hang up your clubs and try your hand at disc golf. Afterward, visit the Mountain View Farm and its goats and llamas, play a round of tennis on one of four clay courts with views of the Presidential Mountain Range or jump in the outdoor pool. To ensure there is room for all your guests, book the Presidential Suite with a sleeper sofa and two bathrooms.

The Resort at Pelican Hill, Newport Beach, California

When designing the Ocean North and Ocean South Golf Courses at The Resort at Pelican Hill, architect Tom Fazio wanted every round to feel like "once in a lifetime, every time." He succeeded, as all 36 holes perfectly complement the majestic scenery, with the Pacific Ocean or lush greenery viewed from every tee. For a memorable experience, book a time early in the morning and another at sunset, to see the courses through fresh eyes and at golden hour. Accommodations at the resort include bungalows outfitted with limestone fireplaces and terraces and fully furnished villas featuring gourmet kitchens and marble bathrooms.

Villa del Palmar at the Islands of Loreto, Mexico

Perched above the largest marine preserve in Mexico, Villa del Palmar at the Islands of Loreto seems unreal. Dazzling views of the Sea of Cortez and Sierra de la Giganta mountain range are two perks of staying at this all-inclusive resort, with another being able to play on the 18-hole TPC Danzante Bay Golf Course. It is a remarkable spot, with valleys, dunes, foothills, cliffs and arroyos. Choose one of the resort's premium suites to get a view of the course plus amenities like a mini-bar stocked daily and access to the spa's hydrotherapy circuit.

The Irish government is under pressure to come clean about a decades-old secret agreement with the UK for RAF aircraft to defend Irish airspace in an emergency.

Although "never officially confirmed", the Anglo-Irish deal is understood to allow UK jets to "intercept threats" in Irish airspace, said Sky News.

Sinn Féin, the main opposition party in Ireland, is now demanding more transparency on the precise nature of the arrangement to ensure it's not in breach of Ireland's neutrality. Independent senator Gerard Craughwell, a veteran of both the British and Irish armed forces, has also launched a High Court case that would force the government to put the details before the Irish parliament.

'Naval chokepoint'

It is official policy in Dublin "to refuse to publicly discuss" Ireland's air defence arrangements with the UK or the presence of RAF interceptors in Irish airspace, said The Irish Times. But interviews with political, diplomatic and military figures suggest that the agreement "goes back over 70 years to the early days of the Cold War".

The first agreement was drawn up in the early 1950s, when tensions between the USSR and the West were "near boiling point". Although neutral, Ireland was concerned it was "wholly unequipped" to detect or intercept any Soviet airborne threat. That threat was more than theoretical, because Ireland was next to the waters known as the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom gap, a "naval chokepoint" that would be "vital to control if hostilities broke out between the two superpowers".

So, in 1952, Irish officials signed an agreement that would allow the RAF to enter Irish airspace if it detected a Soviet threat, formalising a similar arrangement in place during the Second World War. However, Ireland's neutrality and its location on the west of Europe meant "the threat of Russian bombers rarely kept politicians or civil servants up at night".

During the Troubles, a second secret agreement was drawn up, allowing British helicopters to travel up to three miles into the Republic of Ireland for counter-terrorism surveillance and pursuits of suspects.

Then, after the September 11 attacks, Ireland "woke up" to the fact that commercial aircraft could potentially pose "just as much of a threat as a hostile power", so it was agreed that RAF jets could intercept and shoot down aircraft in Irish airspace.

That dimension of the agreement was crucial because the only aircraft Ireland had that were capable of air-to-air defence was the Pilatus PC-9, a propeller-driven trainer acquired by the Air Corps in 2004. It had much in common with aircraft used as far back as the Second World War.

'Effectively defenceless'

In addition to demands for increased transparency, there are also calls for Ireland to become more self-reliant in the air. A report from the Commission on the Defence Forces in 2022 found that Ireland was effectively defenceless on land, sea and in the air and it called for a new air squadron that would give Ireland its own "quick reaction alert" system, allowing it to respond to threats in its own airspace without relying on London.

But it is "not as easy as just buying aircraft", said The Irish Times. "Vast infrastructure" would be needed, including ground controllers, primary radar and a completely new training regime.

After decades of "chronic underinvestment" in its military, Ireland lacks a primary radar system capable of detecting military aircraft once they turn off their transponders, said Sky News.

In 2020, Russian Tupolev TU-95 "Bear" aircraft twice entered Irish-controlled air space before being escorted away by RAF jets, said the BBC. This "type of provocation" has "become more and more common in recent years", said The Irish Times.

"In the face of an increasingly belligerent Russia" the nation's air defence capabilities are "at their lowest point in decades".

Parts of Rishi Sunak's Rwanda deportation act should be "disapplied" in Northern Ireland because they undermine the province's human rights protections, a high court judge has ruled.

Belfast High Court Justice Michael Humphreys said the Illegal Migration Act, a crucial element of the "Rwanda plan", conflicts with the Windsor Framework, the arrangement agreed with the EU to regularise Northern Ireland's status after Brexit.

The framework "deals mostly with trade issues", said the BBC, but also includes a commitment to the "human rights provisions that flow from the Good Friday Agreement".

Justice Humphreys found in favour of a legal challenge brought by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and a 16-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, ruling that multiple elements of the Act "infringe the protection afforded" by the Good Friday Agreement.

The judgment is significant because it could make deporting migrants to Rwanda impossible if they travel to Northern Ireland. 

"Oh, dear!" said Sky News's chief political correspondent Jon Craig. Sunak's Safety of Rwanda Act was "supposed to prevent this sort of legal challenge". But with the "ink barely dry on the act", Humphreys's ruling "bodes ill for the PM" and "potentially opens the door to more legal challenges".

The DUP warned that the ruling could make Northern Ireland a "magnet" for migrants. Gavin Robinson, the party's interim leader, called on the government to "assert the sovereignty of parliament and ensure that we have a UK-wide immigration system".

A "clearly annoyed" Sunak said that the judgment would not prevent the first flights to Rwanda taking off as planned this summer, Craig wrote for Sky News. The government is considering an appeal.

Although this case dealt specifically with provisions relating to Northern Ireland's legal framework, the challenge is "likely to form part of a wider attack" on the Rwanda plan, the BBC said, as critics believe it relies on laws that "breach basic safeguards for all refugees in the UK".

A new BBC documentary tells how in 1972 the Irish Republican Army (IRA) allowed an American TV crew to film the inner workings of "Europe’s deadliest guerrilla force".

It's "The Troubles meets a Tom Clancy novel", wrote Ed Power in The Irish Times.

The background

In 1972, during the "darkest days of the conflict in the North [of Ireland]", John Bowyer Bell, an American academic sympathetic to the IRA, persuaded its leadership to allow him to film its "bloody campaign from the inside, for a project he titled 'The Secret Army'", said Power.

Some of the scenes are "chilling", he added. For example, there is a sequence in which the crew accompanies IRA members as they plant explosives in central Londonderry – part of a bombing blitz that would claim eight lives.

Why did the IRA allow such access? They "must have imagined they were carefully stage-managing a propaganda coup that would loosen the purse strings of the US's millions-strong Irish community to donate to the Republican cause", said Oliver Harvey in The Sun.

The film showed "remarkable scenes never seen before or since", including the "nuts and bolts" of how IRA men and women "went about planning and unleashing mayhem, and what they thought about it", said Rory Carroll in The Guardian. But then it "vanished for almost 50 years".

The latest

The new feature-length documentary follows reporter Darragh MacIntyre as he attempts to "unravel the mystery" surrounding the making of Bell's film, said the BBC.

MacIntyre travelled "from Derry to Arizona seeking out documents and anyone still alive" who featured in the film, said James Jackson in The Times. "Intrigue led to further intrigue" because the film's director, Zwy Aldouby, was a Nazi hunter linked to Mossad and the Israeli intelligence agency itself was "snooping" on Muammar Gaddafi's links to the IRA.

In "another twist", said Carroll, a producer of the film said British intelligence viewed the documentary while it was being developed in London and before it was sent to the States. "Which raises another question," he added: "why did the spooks not pounce on material that incriminated [Martin] McGuinness and other IRA commanders?"

The reaction

MacIntyre's documentary has been well received by the critics, despite some challenging scenes. "As murky as this Le Carré-esque stuff was," said Jackson, there was "something fascinating simply in watching the former IRA guys remembering it all. Because it can be hard to know how to feel when seeing the elderly talk about their days supporting terrorism."

MacIntyre is the sort of investigative journalist television producers "adore", said Power, because "he isn't opposed to inserting himself into the action", and there will "always be a scene or three" in which he "huffs about, chasing a lead like Hercule Poirot hunting down a murderer".

The programme "points to the complexity of Northern Ireland's conflict" and its "continuing capacity to raise more questions than we are able to answer at this time", said Martin Duffy for E-International Relations. And it appears that British intelligence made a "deliberate decision to cultivate Martin McGuinness".

The BBC film is "astonishing", said the Belfast Telegraph, and it may not be the end of the matter. It was a "tangled, murky tale", said Jackson, and it's "not hard to think a movie is waiting to be made of it all".

Today marks four years since the UK formally left the European Union. Back then, Boris Johnson, who had just won an 80-seat majority promising to "get Brexit done", hailed the date as the start of a new golden era for Britain.

Turning rhetoric into reality has proved much harder, however. Johnson is gone, as is his successor Liz Truss. Rishi Sunak has adopted a more pragmatic approach and sought to mend ties with Europe, but several issues remain as "divisive as ever", said The Times, "including the UK's ability to control its own borders, British economic interests, the Northern Ireland protocol and freedom of movement in Europe".

The impact of leaving the EU has "not perfectly matched initial perceptions", agreed Sanjay Vallabh, managing director of Vallabh Associates, on Insider Media. While some pro-Brexit supporters looked forward to a "smoother transition to new trade relationships, the reality has been marked by complexities and disruptions". At the same time, "some of the dire predictions of economic collapse did not materialise".

Economy

The economic impact of Brexit has been a "subject of much debate", said Vallabh.  But the Office for Budget Responsibility's own forecasts suggest the post-Brexit trading relationship between the UK and EU, as set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) that came into effect on 1 January 2021, "will reduce long-run productivity by 4% relative to remaining in the EU".

Brexit contributed to Britain's "particularly high inflation" by "introducing friction into the country's most important trading relationship, and hitting the value of the pound, which has made imports more expensive", said CNN. A study by the London School of Economics found that Brexit was responsible for about a third of UK food price inflation since 2019, adding nearly £7 billion to Britain's grocery bill.

In August, the government announced that it was delaying health and safety checks on food imports from the EU for the fifth time in three years. The latest "foot-dragging demonstrates that Britain is still struggling to come to terms with the painful consequences" of leaving the EU, which has "piled costs on UK businesses and weighed on trade, investment and, ultimately, economic growth", CNN added.

Taken together, said John Springford of the Centre for European Reform think tank, the missed growth in goods and services trade account for "about a £23 billion quarterly hit" to UK exports,  which is consistent with a GDP reduction of 4%-5% compared to a Britain that had remained.

But because the EU is still by far the UK's largest trading partner, "we must keep on making piecemeal repairs to the EU-UK relationship, while accepting that Brexit is a fact of life", said historian David Reynolds in The New Statesman. 

New trade deals

The UK has also struggled to secure much-vaunted free trade agreements with some of the world's biggest and fastest-growing economies – what Boris Johnson famously described as the "sunlit uplands" for Britain outside EU "bondage".

A deal with India, which Johnson vowed to conclude by October 2022, is still pending, while negotiations with the US have been shelved until after the presidential election in November.

The UK has now "signed trade deals and agreements in principle with about 70 countries and one with the EU", said the BBC, but "the majority of these are simply 'rollovers'". That means the terms are the same as they were before Brexit. "And some of them are with countries with which the UK does very little trade."

Immigration

Immigration was a key factor for many who voted to leave the EU, but since coronavirus restrictions lifted, Britain has recorded huge hikes in net legal migration – the number of people who arrived, minus those who left. The population was boosted by nearly 750,000 in 2022, more than double the number in the year before the Brexit referendum.

"Immigration is replenishing Britain's labour force and deepening the diversity of its cities – a deliberate, if largely unspoken, strategy that is perhaps Brexit's most tangible early legacy," said The New York Times. "But it has come as a shock to people who voted to leave to make the country's borders less porous."

The reality proved "very different", said Jonathan Portes in The Guardian. Yet the migration statistics "reflect something that is rare indeed in the UK right now – a successful policy implemented efficiently and effectively and, even rarer, the crystallisation of a genuine 'Brexit opportunity'."

Northern Ireland

The Irish dimension was "another blind spot in the mindset of most English Leavers", said Reynolds. While Johnson effectively put a trade border down the Irish Sea, Sunak's Windsor Framework, concluded in February 2023, established notional "green" and "red" lanes to ensure a lighter touch for goods from Britain that would stay in Northern Ireland, compared with the tighter controls and checks on goods intended for the Republic.

"Irish backstop. Max fac. Settled status. Windsor Framework. Over the years, Brexit has spawned its own wide and weird lexicon," wrote Joel Reland of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank. Looking ahead to 2024, "'trivergence' is the next new word which could be on the tips of Brexit-watchers' tongues", he added, referring to the scenario where Northern Ireland "diverges from the regulations of both the EU and UK – creating three separate sets of rules and leaving itself adrift of both".

Regulatory divergence also left Northern Ireland politically deadlocked, with the DUP refusing to return to power-sharing at Stormont in protest at what it saw as the deliberate undermining of the union – a boycott that may finally be coming to an end.

What next?

Polls conducted over the past four years have shown a slow but steady move towards supporting a closer alignment with the EU. A recent YouGov survey found that around half of Britons (51%) now favour rejoining the EU, followed by 42% who said they would support joining the EU Single Market. By comparison, just three in 10 (31%) would support maintaining Britain's current relationship with its largest trading partner.

Keir Starmer has promised to seek a major renegotiation of Britain's TCA trade deal with the EU in 2025 if the Labour Party wins the next general election. He has, though, ruled out both rejoining as a full member or even returning to the Single Market.

As the Financial Times journalist Peter Foster observed in his 2023 book "What Went Wrong with Brexit", for whoever wins the next election, "fixing Brexit" will not be primarily about the exit itself, but about "putting the UK's house in order" – an imperative from which leaving the EU has "proved a colossal distraction at a crucial juncture".

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has agreed to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland, ending two years of political deadlock.

In a press conference in the early hours of this morning, the DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said his party's executive had voted to end its boycott at Stormont after agreeing a legislative package with the Westminster government that addresses unionists' core complaints about the Windsor framework.

The DUP collapsed the Northern Ireland Assembly in February 2022 in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements that it said undermined Northern Ireland's position in the UK. The impasse left civil servants to run the country "on a form of auto-pilot amid a fiscal crisis, crumbling public services, strikes and doubts about whether devolved government would ever return", said The Guardian.

Tuesday morning's breakthrough paves the way for Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill to become first minister (the first Irish republican to hold the top position), with a DUP member appointed to the less prestigious post of deputy first minister.

'About 10 things that could still go wrong'

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, who presided over months of tense negotiations with the DUP aimed at restoring power-sharing, called the move "a welcome and significant step".

But for others in London, Donaldson's statement was viewed with a "touch of caution", reported Politico. "This is obviously good news, but this is only one step and there are about 10 things that could still go wrong," one UK official told the news site. "Put it this way, we were expecting a statement at 10.30pm and it didn't come until nearly 1am. That says something about what the people in the room think about the deal."

What looks to have finally swayed the DUP executive was not the issue of Brexit but rather the damage continued obstruction of democracy was doing to the unionist cause. "We must not allow republicans to perpetuate the myth that Northern Ireland is a failed and ungovernable political entity," Donaldson said, arguing that an empty Stormont fuels republicans' demands for a referendum on unification.

'DUP sellout'

There remains "deep divisions" within unionism, said the Belfast Telegraph. Donaldson's victory, "and possibly his leadership", said The Guardian, will "be tested in the coming days by hardliners who consider the deal a betrayal that will weaken the union, raising the prospect of a party split".

Around 50 protesters waving Union Jacks picketed Monday's meeting with signs reading "Stop DUP Sellout".

Mel Lucas, from the Traditional Unionist Voice party, told the Belfast-based News Letter that Jeffrey "seemed to be very angry in Westminster last week about other unionists holding him to account". 

"But he really needs to be angry with the British government for betraying unionist people and not having the unionist people as equal citizens in the UK," Lucas said.

Another prominent loyalist, Jamie Bryson, appeared to have had sources at the supposedly confidential gathering of the executive, during which he live-tweeted: "There's only one betrayal, and it is of the mandate given to the DUP."

The Irish government has launched legal action against the UK in a bid to reverse a law that provides immunity for Troubles-related offences.

The controversial act, formally known as the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, was introduced by the British government in September despite opposition from politicians in Dublin and Belfast and from the families of victims. 

Ireland has initiated an "interstate" lawsuit against the UK government in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar saying his country had been left with "no option".

The act "effectively prevents prosecutions for serious crimes of soldiers as well as paramilitaries on both sides", said The Telegraph, with the British government giving amnesty for those who cooperate and provide information to an independent commission. It also ends any new inquests or civil actions related to the Troubles.

Ireland's subsequent legal action – which had received "the blessing" of US President Joe Biden – to challenge the bill has "plunged" the two nations into a "bitter diplomatic row", the paper added.

What the papers said

The UK government's position is that any prosecutions over the Troubles are "unlikely to succeed", said the Daily Mail, and an "independent body should be set up instead". 

But Ireland is to argue that the new act is "incompatible with the UK's obligations" under the European Convention on Human Rights, and there is "consensus from both governments and parties in Northern Ireland" to push ahead with legal action.

Critics claim the act "removed access to justice" for victims' families, some of whom have "already taken action against the UK government at Belfast's High Court", said the BBC. But despite victims' groups and the Irish government opposing it "right from its conception", the move to instigate interstate legal action is a "big step", said the BBC's Julian O'Neill, and it "will not have been taken without evaluating political implications". 

The UK government has persistently defended its decision to "legislate unilaterally", said the Financial Times, and has argued that it is "time to be realistic" about pursuing prosecutions. However, some human rights groups have said the law is a "barely concealed attempt to shield soldiers from prosecution". 

The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, said the lawsuit was "misguided" and the government would "continue robustly to defend the legislation". He added that the Irish government had not made a "concerted or sustained attempt" to pursue prosecutions and it had been "inconsistent" – something "Dublin disputes", said the FT.

The legal action has also sparked "renewed calls by the Right of the Conservative Party" for the UK to "reconsider its membership" of the European Convention on Human Rights, said The Telegraph. That is a response that Rishi Sunak has "tried to stave off while he tries to force through his Rwanda Bill". 

European Research Group chair Mark Francois told the paper the bill had been "exhaustively debated" before being passed and should not be "overturned by an appeal to an activist foreign court".

What next?

A tense legal battle could have significant implications for relations between the UK and Ireland, and the prospect of "consequences for UK-Irish relations cannot be ruled out", said The Independent. 

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told the BBC that it was difficult to see how the legal case would improve relations between the nations and accused the Irish government of double standards, saying it had "no proposals to deal with the legacy issues".

The UK government is adamant that it will successfully defend the legislation in court, but doubts have been cast over whether the ECHR will agree with its legitimacy. Law professor Kieran McEvoy of Queen's University Belfast told the FT that he could see "no way" and "no chance" that the European court would "find that amnesty to be lawful".

The lawsuit may end up not being necessary, the paper added, as Labour leader Keir Starmer has "vowed to repeal" the law "if the party wins the UK general election expected next year".

The High Court in Belfast is hearing a legal challenge against a controversial new act of parliament that will stop future prosecutions regarding crimes committed during the Troubles. 

When the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill was announced in July 2021, the then prime minister Boris Johnson said it would allow Northern Ireland to "draw a line under the Troubles". 

But the country's main political parties, the Irish government and families of Troubles' victims believe it will only cause further harm.

What does the act say? 

The act, which received royal assent in September, is an "attempt to resolve" the ongoing open investigations into murders committed during the 30 years of conflict between 1968 and 1998, Samantha Twietmeyer, of Queen's University in Ontario, wrote on The Conversation. More than 3,500 people died during that time.

Police investigations into Troubles-related crimes will be transferred to a newly created Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). The legislation will prevent victims' families from seeking further inquests or civil cases.

The ICRIR will also have the power to grant perpetrators immunity from prosecution on the condition they cooperate with the commission's investigations into events under review. 

Why has the legislation proved controversial? 

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland's Historical Investigations directorate currently has "around 450 Troubles-linked complaints on its books", said The Irish News. "It estimates that it may only be able to report on up to 70 of those by May", when the ICRIR will take over managing investigations.

Hundreds of Troubles victims' families have this month been informed by the ombudsman that the investigations into their cases will be brought to an end before the change comes into effect.

The Council of Europe, which monitors its 46 member states' compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights, has warned that providing immunity from prosecution "risks breaching obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention to prosecute and punish serious grave breaches of human rights". It has "strongly urged" the government to reconsider the condition. 

British military personnel are also "subject to a number of open investigations" in relation to the Troubles, said Twietmeyer on The Conversation. "In simultaneously applying amnesty and closing investigations", the act could "prevent the truth of  government's culpability coming out".

What has the reaction been?

The act has been "strenuously opposed by victims' groups", said The Irish News, and – "in a rare display of unanimity" – by Northern Ireland's main political parties. 

In August, Sinn Féin's deputy leader Michelle O'Neill described Westminster's proposed legislation as a "denial of human rights of victims and their families". Last month, the DUP's Emma Little-Pengelly described the act as an "affront to justice". 

The legislation also faced "significant opposition" in Westminster, and from the Irish government. Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, has said the UK government's plan is "the wrong way to go about dealing with legacy issues in Northern Ireland". But the Conservatives "pressed ahead" with what many considered a "deeply flawed plan", said The Irish News. 

Speaking in the House of Commons in September, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said: "We must be honest about what we can realistically deliver for people in circumstances where the prospects of achieving justice in the traditional sense are so vanishingly small."

What will happen next?

Mr Justice Colton has said that Belfast High Court's "primary focus" during the hearing, which is expected to last five days, will be on the assertion that parts of the act violate the European Convention on Human Rights, said the Belfast Telegraph. The judicial challenge will also examine the creation of the ICRIR, and the end of police investigations, inquests and civil proceedings.

The Irish government has sought legal advice on raising a further judicial challenge against Westminster in the European Court of Human Rights. Should it choose to pursue such action, it "could put a vastly improved bilateral relationship under strain" once again, said the Financial Times.

In January, Labour leader Keir Starmer said that the then draft legislation indicated "how far this Conservative government in recent years has moved from a genuine understanding of the principles of the Good Friday Agreement". 

Hilary Benn, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said in September that Labour would repeal the legislation if it were to win the next general election. "It would be useful," said The Irish News, "to hear more from Mr Benn about what that will mean in practice."

It was confirmed this week that dissident republicans had obtained reams of sensitive information about the staff of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), following a major data breach.

As a result of a botched response to a Freedom of Information request, the surname, initial, rank or grade and department of 10,000 PSNI employees was briefly published online last week. Chief Constable Simon Byrne warned the data could be used for “intimidating or targeting officers and staff”; and this week information from the breach was posted on a Belfast library wall, along with a threat. The Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, urged them to “exercise maximum vigilance”.

Separately, analysts warned that data stolen in a cyberattack on the Electoral Commission could be used to target voters with disinformation. Data relating to some 40 million people is thought to have been compromised in the cybersecurity breach, which came to light last week, in which hackers gained access to copies of electoral registers containing the names and addresses of all registered UK voters.

What did the papers say?

It is hard to imagine a “more serious data breach” than the leak of PSNI officers’ details, said The Daily Telegraph. A spreadsheet that included officers’ places of work and the identities of staff based with MI5 seems to have been published in response to an innocuous request about the total numbers employed by the organisation. PSNI blamed “human error”, but it seems more systemic than that. Why wasn’t the data more carefully guarded, and encrypted? Why was it so easy to publish it in error? PSNI staff are now in real danger, said the News Letter (Belfast). Republican dissidents have been “trying to kill officers for more than a decade”. This is “a blunder” that should never have happened”.

The threat posed by the hack targeting Britain’s elections watchdog is less immediate, said The Guardian. But it, too, is serious. Blamed on a “hostile actor” such as Russia, the breach happened in August 2021, but was only discovered after an “alarming” 14-month delay. Fortunately, most of the data leaked is publicly available and wouldn’t enable hackers to influence an election, said the Daily Mail. But this breach nonetheless shows that “all our democratic institutions must be constantly on their guard”.

The dark days of the Troubles, during which 302 Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were killed, are mercifully behind us, said Kate Devlin in The Independent. But the threat faced by officers of what is now the PSNI remains all too real: three officers have been killed in the 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed; and in February, an attempt was made on the life of a third, Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, who was critically wounded. PSNI officers are still obliged to check for explosives under their cars, and often keep their occupations a secret from neighbours and even relatives.

Northern Ireland’s terror threat level had already been raised to “severe” before this fiasco, said John Mooney in The Sunday Times – meaning an attack by republican dissidents is “highly likely”. Now that information from the breach has been “shared widely”, the outlook appears worse still. There will be security reviews and office transfers: some officers will have to move house.

It has been clear for a while that the PSNI is no longer “fit for purpose”, said Andrew McQuillan in The Spectator. The force faces a £38m funding gap, its leadership is viewed with suspicion by the rank and file, and public trust in it is low. It won’t be increased by the discovery that the police cannot safely “manage an Excel spreadsheet”.

The Electoral Commission hack could also conceivably have “lethal” consequences, said Edward Lucas in The Times. In that security breach, it seems that foreign spies “ran riot” in its networks for more than a year. “The kneejerk reaction was to blame Russia.” But China may be the more likely culprit. Beijing’s hackers have been “stealing big databases for at least a decade”, and a list of 40 million voters would be very helpful in their efforts to identify British intelligence officers. It could allow them, for example, to search for people who have dropped off the public electoral roll. “Cross-check that with academic records showing who studied Chinese (or Russian or Arabic), and you are well on the way to spotlighting our spooks.”

What’s next?

The PSNI is also investigating a second data breach, in which a spreadsheet naming more than 200 staff was stolen last month. The force could face a “multimillion- pound” class action lawsuit from officers affected by last week’s leak, reports The Mail on Sunday – as well as a substantial fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK data regulator.

Separately, it has emerged that 1,230 people, including witnesses and victims of crime, have had their data leaked by Norfolk and Suffolk police forces. The forces said that the data was erroneously included in Freedom of Information responses, owing to a “technical issue”.

The remains of a miniature dachshund-like dog have been found at what was once the villa of a wealthy family, suggesting that people kept pets during the Roman era. The 1,800-year-old remains, among artefacts recovered from a nature reserve near Oxford, suggest that it was 20cm tall at the shoulder, making it one of the smallest Roman dogs found in Britain, said The Times. “We can’t imagine it being used for anything other than a lap dog,” said Maiya Pina-Dacier, an archaeologist at DigVentures.

‘Haunted’ rocking horse sold

A “haunted” rocking horse that is believed to have moved itself from room to room over the years is going up for sale. The wooden toy is being sold by the great-granddaughter of a medium named Dick Godden, who is said to have used it to help summon spirits. Her great-grandmother told stories to people of leaving the house with the rocking horse on the landing but returning to find it in a completely different room, though no one else was in the house at the time, noted Fox News.

Man bids from drum record

A musician in Northern Ireland tried to reclaim a Guinness World Record by playing the drums for more than 150 hours. Allister Brown, 45, has held the record twice in the past, and was attempting to beat the current record of 134 hours and 5 minutes, which was set by Canadian Steve Gaul in 2015. His bid raised money for NIPANC, a Northern Ireland charity dedicated to pancreatic cancer awareness, and Mind, a mental health charity, noted UPI.

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“It’s quite a feat to leave the viewer feeling simultaneously galvanised, reflective and wrung-out, but the new five-part James Bluemel docuseries ‘Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland’ (BBC Two) manages it,” said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. Bluemel made a celebrated 2020 series about the Iraq War, and here he uses the same technique, allowing “ordinary people” to talk about their own experiences to powerful effect.

Aided by archive footage, the story is told chronologically, and “all sides and viewpoints are represented and carefully calibrated”: so we hear from ex-IRA members and loyalist paramilitaries as well as former British soldiers. It rushes a bit towards the end, but it’s a “stark masterclass in history, memory and emotion”.

“It’s the small things – the human, intimate things – that bring you to tears,” said Rachel Cooke in The New Statesman. Particularly moving is the interview with John, a Protestant who recalls being told as a boy that his mother had died in a car crash, only to find out later that she was alive, but had been driven away because she was (unbeknown to him) a Catholic. “His story is unfathomable, but it was the way he smoked that set me off, his body wrapped around his cigarette as if in an embrace.”

The series gets “sidetracked” at points, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times – there’s a “sentimental digression about a record shop in Belfast”, for instance, that we could have done without. Mainly, though, it is brilliant storytelling: ”diligent, unsensational, modest”.

Where to watch: BBC Two/BBC iPlayer

Joe Biden’s visit to Ireland this week to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement has been closely watched by politicians both in Stormont and Westminster.

The Democratic Unionist Party refused to end its power-sharing blockade ahead of the US president’s arrival in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, resulting in a scaled-down visit. Biden had hoped to deliver a speech to members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, but instead made just one brief public appearance in Belfast before travelling south to the Irish Republic.

Biden yesterday met his Irish counterpart, President Michael D. Higgins, before delivering a speech to the parliament in Dublin. The US leader told lawmakers that Westminster “should be working closer with Ireland” to break the deadlock in Stormont.

His call for cooperation has been interpreted as a rebuke to Rishi Sunak that may leave a sour taste in the prime minister’s mouth as Biden’s visit concludes today with a trip to the town of his ancestors, Ballina in County Mayo.

To find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week

1. What is the name of the new Covid variant triggering a surge of infections in India?

• Arcturus
• Sirius
• Betelgeuse
• Vega

2. How many mobile phone thefts were reported in London last year?

• 25,000
• 50,000
• 91,000
• 104,000

3. Which new Channel 4 series has provoked almost 1,000 complaints to Ofcom?

• Naked Education
• Naked, Alone and Racing to Get Home
• Naked Attraction
• Naked and Invisible

4. The US and which other country this week launched their largest joint military drills in decades in the South China Sea?

• Taiwan
• Japan
• Philippines
• South Korea

5. What percentage of the UK’s public toilets do experts estimate have closed in the past ten years?

• 18%
• 25%
• 40%
• 50%

6. Researchers have discovered a “hidden chapter” of which religious text?

• The Bible
• The Koran
• The Torah
• The Gita

7. Which icon fashion designer died this week at the age of 93?

• Paco Rabanne
• Mary Quant
• Vivienne Westwood
• Issey Miyake

8. New York City’s new “rat czar” Kathleen Corradi previously worked as what?

• Zookeeper
• School teacher
• Plumber
• Bin collector

9. The risk of lightening strikes delayed this week’s launch of the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission, which is due to reach the planet when?

• 2025
• 2027
• 2029
• 2031

10. King Charles’s coronation procession route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey covers a distance of how much?

• 1.3 miles
• 2.4 miles
• 3.1 miles
• 4.5 miles

1. Arcturus

Omicron subvariant Arcturus was first detected in late January and is being monitored by the World Health Organization as a variant of concern. Cases have been reported in at least 27 countries, including the UK.

2. 91,000

Newly released Metropolitan Police data has revealed that an average of 248 phone thefts a day were reported in 2022 in the English capital. The boroughs with the most thefts were Westminster (25,899), Camden (7,892), Southwark (5,690) and Hackney (4,618).

3. Naked Education

The six-part show, hosted by Anna Richardson, features adults removing their clothes in front of teenagers, sparking criticism from viewers and Conservative MPs.

4. Philippines

More than 17,600 military personnel are taking part in drills including live-fire exercises and a boat-sinking rocket assault, amid fears that China may be preparing to launch an offensive against Taiwan.

5. 50%

Raymond Martin, managing director of the British Toilet Association, told The Guardian that the closure of half of the UK’s public loos in the past decade was resulting in street urination, also known as wild toileting, “everywhere now”.

6. The Bible

The missing section dates back almost 1,500 years and is one of the earliest translations of the Gospels, according to scientists who used ultraviolet photography to find the chapter hidden beneath three layers of text on a manuscript in the Vatican Library.

7. Mary Quant

Fans worldwide have been paying tribute to the British designer, who pioneered the miniskirt. “Only the Beatles are more closely tied to the legend that is London’s swinging 60s than Mary Quant,” said The Guardian.

8. School teacher

Announcing the appointment, Mayor Eric Adams said former elementary school teacher Corradi “has the knowledge, drive, experience and energy to send rats packing and create a cleaner, more welcoming city for all New Yorkers”.

9. 2031

Juice is due to spend at least three years exploring Jupiter and three of its moons. “Perhaps the most exciting information” that the mission will provide relates to the “underground oceans of liquid water” on these moons – Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – which “could support life”, said Mike Sori, assistant professor of planetary science at Purdue University.

10. 1.3 miles

The distance is far less than the nearly 4.5 miles covered in Queen Elizabeth II’s procession in 1953, triggered concerns that well-wishers hoping to line London’s streets to welcome the king may struggle to find space.

A drama about the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement – 25 years ago this month – might sound a dry affair. But Owen McCafferty’s “searing” new play is anything but that, said Jane Coyle in The Irish Times. Agreement is a “compelling political thriller with echoes of Greek drama”, in which the playwright “peels away interlocking layers of compromise, dislike and distrust to reveal a fraught, painstaking journey towards an acceptable solution to a stubbornly intractable problem”. Featuring as characters all the main players – John Hume, David Trimble, Gerry Adams, Bertie Ahern, George Mitchell, Tony Blair and Mo Mowlam – the play unfolds in a circular space, with a single round window to the sky, that becomes a “goldfish bowl of feverish political manoeuvring”.

If you think you might get lost in the finer points of what was at stake during the negotiations, fear not: “Mo Mowlam will helpfully turn to the audience and explain them”, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times. McCafferty clearly realised that covering the complexities of the three days of talks would be impossible. So his “bustling yet lucid” play rejects “conventional storytelling” and instead “embraces bittiness”. Characters stand at the front of the stage and introduce themselves. Scenes are mostly “secluded tête-à-têtes”, including a “memorable chat between Adams and Trimble at the urinals”. And the staging is inventive and unconventional; at one point there’s an Ethel Merman-style dance routine. It all adds up to a “vivid” tribute to the power of compromise, “outstandingly well-performed”.

This important play has been given a suitably first-rate cast and Charlotte Westenra directs them “superbly”, said Jane Hardy in The Irish News. Rufus Wright is “brilliant”, and often extremely funny, as Blair. Packy Lee is terrific as Adams, torn between the need to represent his nationalist constituency and his desire to make history. Patrick O’Kane is a “tortured, clever” and notably sweary Trimble. And Dan Gordon captures well the humanity of Hume, the calm voice of moderate nationalism.

Lyric Theatre, Belfast (028-9592 2672). Until 22 April; lyrictheatre.co.uk

Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time in what has been described as a “hugely significant and historic moment”.

Results from the 2021 census released yesterday showed that 45.7% of Northern Ireland’s population are Catholic or from a Catholic background, compared with 43.5% from Protestant or other Christian backgrounds.

The census was carried out 100 years after Ireland was partitioned to create a Protestant region in the north committed to union with the UK. At the time of partition, Protestants made up about two-thirds of the population of Northern Ireland and it was expected that they would always constitute the majority.

Therefore, said The Guardian, the new census will “deliver a psychological hit to unionists”, who for decades have relied on a “supposedly impregnable Protestant majority to safeguard Northern Ireland’s position in the UK”.

The “demographic tilt”, as the paper described it, was expected, with higher birth rates among Catholics – who tend to identify as “Irish” while Protestants tend to think of themselves as “British” – closing the gap. In the census, the percentage of people who said they only identified as British sank from about 40% in 2011 (the date of the last census) to 32% in 2021, while those who said they were just Irish increased from 25% to 29%.

Noting that the results come soon after the elections in May in which the nationalist group Sinn Féin became the largest party in Northern Ireland for the first time, the FT said the census “could increase calls for a referendum on the region’s constitutional future”.

The Irish Times agreed that the census results are likely to “fire up those pushing for a united Ireland poll and dishearten an already insecure unionist population”.

Enda McClafferty, the BBC’s Northern Ireland political editor, described the census results as a “hugely significant and historic moment”, adding that “those pushing for a border poll and united Ireland” would be “energised” by the figures.

But Irish unity may take a back seat as the region tackles the cost-of-living crisis. Before May’s assembly election, the deputy leader of Sinn Féin, Michelle O’Neill, said that people in Northern Ireland were not “waking up” thinking about Irish unity but rather “the pressure they feel right now” over rising prices.

Charles III has become the first British king in almost 80 years to visit Northern Ireland as he embarked on the next leg of his royal tour of the home nations.

The King and Queen Consort visited Hillsborough Castle, the monarch’s official residence in Northern Ireland, where they met new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and Sinn Féin First Minister-designate Michelle O’Neill, before receiving a message of condolence led by the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. They were then due to travel onwards to Belfast, for a memorial service for the life of the Queen in the Church of Ireland St Anne’s Cathedral.

The King is not a stranger to the region, with his arrival in Northern Ireland marking his 40th visit, “but [it is] his first as monarch and the first time a British king has visited in almost 80 years”, said The Daily Telegraph.

Nevertheless, with Sinn Féin now the largest party in Northern Ireland’s assembly, commemorations for the Queen “put into sharp focus the rapid evolution of Irish republican politics” and its relationship to the crown over the past decade, said Politico.

What did the papers say?

As a “potent symbol of the union”, the Queen became a “major force” for reconciliation with Irish nationalists when she made a state visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011, the first monarch to do so in “almost century of independence” from Britain, said Reuters.

The monarch made “two striking gestures on that trip” that “transformed her relationship with Ireland”. The first was laying a wreath alongside the then Irish president, Mary McAleese, in honour of the Irish people killed while fighting for independence from Britain. The Queen then spoke a few words in Irish in her address at Dublin Castle, greeting her audience of Irish politicians and diplomats with: “A Uachtaráin agus a chairde (President and friends)”.

The state visit was widely touted as a “triumph”, which proved the “power of a mostly symbolic role” can nevertheless produce “measurable results”, said The Sunday Times. And Sinn Féin has since sought to “build on that moment” – despite initially boycotting the visit – which began a “transformation” of its relationship with the monarchy.

This was perhaps most memorably symbolised by a “four-second handshake” that took place between the Queen and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, then Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, in 2012, said the BBC.

What next for UK-Ireland relations?

With Sinn Féin now Northern Ireland’s largest party and effectively a government-in-waiting, it finds itself a party seeking to “mirror the sombre public mood” in the wake of the Queen’s death, said The Guardian.

The BBC added that Michelle O’Neill had “typified” her party’s new relationship with the monarchy when, “dressed in black, she reflected on the Queen’s contribution to peace and reconciliation”, before she led tributes to the Queen in the assembly chamber where she described the late monarch as “courageous and gracious”.

O’Neill has since further underlined her party’s willingness to build on the reconciliation process with the new monarch, telling reporters she looked forward to working with King Charles III as she signed a book of condolence at Belfast City Hall yesterday. “I’m sure that he will carry on the legacy of building relationships between our two islands,” she said.

The simple fact that the party “has to remind the public where the boundaries are reflects how far its relationship with the Royals has travelled,” said Enda McClafferty, the BBC’s Northern Ireland editor, with the party choosing to replace royal boycotts with “a maturing relationship with the monarchy”.

Nevertheless, as a republican party, Sinn Féin’s “ultimate aim is taking Northern Ireland out of King Charles’s realm”, said Chris Page, the BBC’s Ireland correspondent. Should there come a referendum on Irish unity, “the King will not be able to express an opinion”. But his decision to visit Northern Ireland and the other devolved home nations of the UK “will be seen as demonstrating his commitment to the union”, said Page.

The new King is hardly a stranger to Northern Ireland’s finely balanced political dynamics, said The Guardian, noting that during his time as Prince of Wales he made many visits to the region, where he sought to “reassure unionists that they were a cherished part of the UK while reaching out to republicans”, even shaking hands with alleged former IRA member and one-time Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in 2015.

It is a role the Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin was keen to highlight as he told the broadcaster that the Queen’s death was a reminder to the UK and Ireland that they need to “proactively nurture” the relationship between the two nations.

The Taoiseach also “pointed out” that the Royal Family “had suffered their own hurt with the killing of Lord Mountbatten, the Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle, in an IRA bombing”, said the BBC.

“All of that has helped the cause of reconciliation – the basic idea we have a lot in common now,” said Martin.

Political leaders and media outlets around the world have been paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, who died yesterday at the age of 96.

After reigning for 70 years, Her Majesty died peacefully on Thursday afternoon at Balmoral, her Scottish estate, where she had spent much of the summer.

Newspapers and broadcasters in the UK have been providing blanket coverage of the story, but it is also being followed across the world, not least because of the Queen’s extensive travels during her remarkable reign.

UK’s ‘biggest strength’

“Queen Elizabeth II rarely had a misstep,” said the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper, recalling that “she would tell Canadians she was happy to be ‘coming home’”. It added that “her endurance has been her greatest gift to Canadians and her passing a great sadness, but hopefully for many Canadians, it will not be the end of the story about Canada and the Crown”.

Her long reign “straddled two centuries of seismic social, political and technological upheaval”, said The East African, as “the last vestiges of Britain’s vast empire crumbled”, “Brexit shook the foundations of her kingdom, and her family endured a series of scandals”. But “throughout, she remained consistently popular”, it said.

The UK “has lost its biggest strength – the glue that for so long has bound together the union – just as it is trying to define its place in the world for the decades ahead”, said The Sydney Morning Herald. The Australian paper noted that “in many parts of the Commonwealth, demands are mounting for a re-evaluation of Britain’s colonial past, for apology and atonement”.

The New Zealand Herald said that the island nation will now “move into a state of national mourning”. It noted that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had discovered the Queen had died when she was “woken by a police officer shining a torch into her room at 4.50am”.

An ‘unemotional sovereign’

In France, Le Monde said that the Queen was “revered by the British public” and “the unemotional sovereign who left a lasting imprint on the monarchy”. Le Parisien described the Queen as the “cement, the reassuring figure who embodied the unity of the kingdom”.

German broadcaster DW said that the Queen was “particularly partial to Germany and visited it more often than almost any other country”. It said that the monarch was “marvelled at, criticised, occasionally mocked, but always respected”.

According to The Irish Times, the monarch’s death is an “earthquake” for Northern Ireland’s unionists, a century on from the formation of the province.

“To lose her just as a humiliating centenary year is limping to its end, with the last UK prime minister ostentatiously disregarding them, and Irish nationalists and republicans getting more confident by the day, is just a disaster.”

‘But never Israel’

“Britain prepares for a new era after the Queen’s death,” said The New York Times, recalling that she was “unshakably committed to the rituals of her role amid epic social and economic change and family scandal”.

The New York Post talked about her relations with the US, noting that she “ultimately rubbed shoulders with 13 US presidents, starting with Herbert Hoover”.

In Israel, the Jerusalem Post pointed out that during her 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth “travelled widely and visited many countries” including Jordan, Egypt and others in the Middle East and North Africa – “but never Israel”.

“Her majesty and the Kingdom are a fabric of Iraq’s history,” said Iraqi News, adding that Iraq has a “long and complicated history with the United Kingdom”.

The state-owned Russian news agency Tass recalled that when the Queen met with the first person in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in 1961, she was “easy-mannered and informal during the meeting and did not stick to the strict protocol.

“When Gagarin ate a piece of lemon out of his cup of tea in breach of the protocol, the Queen supported him by following the suit,” it said.

1. Scrapping the NI protocol is just the start. Johnson’s trade wars are Trumpism in action

Simon Jenkins in The Guardian

on populist policies

Britain’s foreign policy is “at the mercy of Boris Johnson’s reckless quest for survival”, says Simon Jenkins in The Guardian. Every trip abroad “is treated as a photo opportunity” as he promotes “the most intense economic disruption” in Europe’s peacetime history, Jenkins says. An “absurd ‘bromance’ is even staged” with Emmanuel Macron; “never was machismo so synthetic”. Yesterday’s vote on a bill that would permit the scrapping of the Northern Ireland Protocol “was a classic”, being “motivated by a desire to appease the province’s fast-disintegrating Unionist majority”. Johnson’s suggestions for “a ‘soft’ border with Ireland are actually quite sensible. But Downing Street’s three years of anti-EU rhetoric have exhausted any wish in Brussels to be co-operative.” The prime minister is “set on” a trade policy that is “not Toryism but Trumpism”. As a “populist” leader, Johnson “measures success in biceps rather than brain power”. This, says Jenkins, “is not democratic government”.

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2. Cutting literature degrees is cultural vandalism

Melanie Phillips in The Times

on concerns about courses

Sheffield Hallam University has suspended its English literature course due to graduates’ difficulties in securing high-earning jobs. The news “follows a threat by the Office for Students” that universities face penalties for courses with low rates of graduate employment, writes Melanie Phillips in The Times. When this writer studied English, she assumed it would equip her “for nothing practical and everything that mattered”. Studying literature “was in essence a moral project”. Vocational skills are “vitally important”, says Phillips. “Britain has always shamefully neglected them, largely through its identification of social status with a university degree.” Phillips says it was “snobbishness, masquerading as a drive to improve social mobility” that led to polytechnics becoming universities, with “the doubly unfortunate result” of reducing high-value vocational course numbers and lowering the standards of degrees to accommodate many students “unsuited to academic study”. Sheffield Hallam’s decision may be “cultural vandalism”, she concludes, but universities “have already long vandalised themselves”.

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3. Questioning Nato relevance is misguided and dangerous

Tom Røseth and John Weaver at The Hill

on international allies

Nato leaders are gathering in Madrid this week for the alliance’s annual summit. “Despite its longevity and success – or perhaps because of it – many people question NATO’s relevance today,” write associate professors Tom Røseth and John Weaver at The Hill. Some have even called for the US to withdraw from the alliance. “These attitudes are misguided and dangerous,” the writers say. Nato is “not only still relevant” to its members, “it’s necessary”. It has been “a key pillar in the fight” against Islamic State, and the alliance “came to the aid” of America following 9/11. Today, Nato’s contributions of weapons and training to Ukrainian forces “have been a testament” to its “resolve”. Nato’s allies “would be better served by using the summit as a means to strengthen their purpose”, particularly given the “shifting” geopolitical landscape. And allowing Finland and Sweden membership would “send a strong message to other would-be aggressors, that NATO is alive and well”.

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4. Our Auntie BBC loves all 150 genders… but not the over-60s

Clemmie Moodie in The Sun

on audience demographics

The BBC is “the most inclusive state broadcaster in the world”, says Clemmie Moodie in The Sun. China’s citizens “would kill for such diversity”. The Beeb recently hired non-binary inclusion consultants “to teach staff there are at least 150 different genders”. Staff “are being urged to declare their pronouns on emails with a list which has expanded to include newly invented ones such as ‘xe, xem, xyrs.’ Really,” says Moodie. “So far, so ‘inclusive’… unless, that is, you’re edging towards a bus pass”, in which case “watch ya back, you senile, lumbering ol’ lump of lard!” The BBC “goes all-out to be all-things to all-people” but “the one demographic it appears to despise is the very one it should be nurturing”. DJ Tony Blackburn has “hinted at ageism” after his Radio 2 show was moved from a Friday to a Sunday, and learning that “some employers were not considering over-55s for jobs”. Moodie says that “woke Aunty needs to start rewarding” audiences’ loyalty – “quickly”.

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5. Keir Starmer’s stance on the strikes is a betrayal of the people who need Labour

Simon Fletcher in The New Statesman

on political positioning

“Keir Starmer’s handling of the rail strikes has taken a wrong turn,” writes Simon Fletcher, a former adviser to the Labour leader, in The New Statesman. A “monumental battle is underway” over incomes and “plummeting” living standards. Labour “cannot afford to stand on the sidelines”. When rail strikes were announced, the party’s transport team started out with a “creditable” position – that the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps should “take responsibility for the dispute”. That “shifted”. Starmer said he was “against the strikes”, and instructed frontbenchers “to stay away from picket lines”. Political management, says Fletcher, “is not just ordering people about”. And “a public bunfight between the party, the unions, the left, the party’s membership” and Labour voters is “what the Conservatives want”. These “new and extreme” economic times “demand a new political approach”. Just as the government “is not neutral over the strikes, neither should Labour be”. The party “has a rare opportunity to forge a new consensus” and unite “everyone who needs an alternative”.

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1. Macron’s nightmare is complete

Jonathan Miller in The Spectator

on new coalitions

The results of the French parliamentary elections have been “much worse” for Emmanuel Macron than “almost anyone anticipated”, writes Jonathan Miller in The Spectator. The French president “has been humiliated by voters, weeks after being re-elected by an unenthusiastic electorate”, he says. “The hyper-president with ambitions to lead Europe looks like he will not even be able to lead France,” and the country “looks more ungovernable than ever”. Having lost his parliamentary majority, Macron “must now hope to create ad hoc” coalitions to pass reforms, “but he has few allies and will pay a high price”. And he “is not only incapable of uniting the country, he bears heavy responsibility for dividing it” too. Macron “commands little to no affection” and is now “doomed to preside over escalating chaos” as France faces cost-of-living, law and order and energy crises.

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2. I’m a trans athlete too – banning swimmers like Lia Thomas completely misses the point

Kylie MacFarquharson in The Independent

on questions of fairness

Fina, swimming’s world governing body, has voted to ban transgender women from elite women’s competitions. People who support the move “sometimes argue that segregation between trans and cisgender women in sports is regrettable, but necessary for fairness”, writes Kylie MacFarquharson in The Independent. They think the performance gap “is so large” that a cisgender woman would “be unlikely to ever win against a trans woman”, a sentiment MacFarquharson would “entirely agree with” if it were “true”. Evidence for trans women’s sporting performance “is sparse at best”, and this writer thinks it “ironic” that people often point to Lia Thomas as an example to “justify their position” given her recent results. Thomas did indeed win the NCAA 500 yard freestyle finals in Atlanta in March “but she didn’t set any records”. This policy “creates a situation where trans women are allowed to compete in name only; never fairly”, and “we can do better”.

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3. I negotiated a Northern Ireland deal that worked. Johnson’s Putinesque strategy will wreck it

Peter Hain in The Guardian

on political motivations

Peter Hain thinks there is “something Putinesque about the government’s framing of its Northern Ireland protocol bill”. Writing in The Guardian, the former secretary of state for Northern Ireland says: “Never mind that it breaks an international treaty the UK signed. Forget very old-fashioned notions of truth.” The “real purpose” of this bill is “dog-whistling to Johnson’s base by triggering a humongous row with the old villain Brussels because that worked so well in the 2016 Brexit referendum”. He says it’s “not the EU that has been gridlocking the negotiations” but the prime minister’s “failure along with first [David] Frost and now Liz Truss to negotiate seriously”. What “pains” Hain is “that the current batch of Tory leaders don’t really give a fig for Northern Ireland” or “even understand it” – and they “don’t know how to play the ‘honest broker’ role John Major extolled and Tony Blair exemplified”.

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4. Humour in the office matters, but can a boss be funny?

Emma Jacobs in the Financial Times

on careers and comedy

Workplace comedy PBC is “niche material for a select audience”, writes Emma Jacobs in the Financial Times. This writer says the accountancy mockumentary “was not LOL-tastic” but it highlighted “a number of issues”. And one is “can a boss be funny?” A CEO once told Jacobs that the higher he climbed up the career ladder, “the funnier and better looking he became. Everyone laughed at his jokes and no one told him he looked rough.” In TV dramas, typically the boss is “a figure of fun rather than great wit”. But this writer wonders “if climbing the corporate or political ladder requires the power hungry to take themselves so seriously that it chips away at their funny bone”. Although Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are examples of success thanks “in part” to their “comedic skill”, perhaps, says Jacobs, “the truth is that to be truly successful you must also know when to turn the humour off”.

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5. Why I wanted to work with The Big Issue

The Duke of Cambridge in The Big Issue

on homelessness

Prince William says he was 11 when he first visited a homeless shelter with his mother, “who in her own inimitable style was determined to shine a light on an overlooked, misunderstood problem”. Writing for The Big Issue, he says that in the decades since he has seen “countless projects in this space grow from strength to strength”, and the publication is “perhaps now the most immediately recognisable”. Despite the progress, “homelessness is still seen by many as some entrenched phenomenon over which we have little power”. And the duke says there are “worrying signs that things might soon get worse”. He counts himself “extremely lucky” to “meet people from all walks of life” in his role, and he commits to “shine a spotlight on this solvable issue” in the years to come. Princess Diana “instinctively knew” that “the first step to fixing a problem is for everyone to see it for what it truly is”.

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1. Charles should ask: Do you want me as king?

James Kirkup in The Times

on the monarchy’s future

“One of the many services the Queen has done her country is to spare us from thinking too much about the constitution,” writes James Kirkup in The Times. “Her enduring constancy means most people don’t give any thought to the monarchy and its future.” But one sad day “that will end”, he writes. The royal succession will “convulse Britain in emotional turmoil beyond anything the past few years have conjured”, and our next king should be “ready to act, boldly, to meet that moment”. Although Charles “will take the throne by accident of birth” he will “still need a mandate”, suggests Kirkup. And one of the “boldest” ways Charles could take the crown with “the active support of the people” would be with a “public vote, either among the whole country or the citizens’ juries”, says Kirkup. “Either way, he should ask the people: Do you accept me as your king?” When the Queen dies all the “old certainties” over the continuation of the monarchy “will crumble”. The “only way” a “fundamentally anachronistic” institution such as royalty can survive that upheaval is to “accept the spirit of the age”, he writes. “Britain needs a democratic monarchy.”

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2. Farewell to the brilliant iPod, doomed for doing one thing

Jemima Lewis in The Telegraph

on a technological icon

“I belong to Generation Mixtape, so I feel no nostalgia about the death of the iPod,” writes Jemima Lewis in The Telegraph. Nevertheless, “it changed the world, and Apple’s fortunes, selling 400 million and paving the way for the iPad and iPhone.” Now, these technologies have “superseded their parent gadget, and made its very purpose seem quaintly old-fashioned,” she continues. “Who needs a device solely for listening, when the phone in your pocket can do that plus every other thing?” Smartphones have now “gobbled up” many functions other gadgets once served, and the more they gobble up, the more we will “come to mourn” these now-defunct devices. But in its simplicity was the iPod’s “brilliance” and also its doom – “precisely because it can only do one thing”.

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3. The Tesco chairman is backing a windfall tax. This is not business as usual

Zoe Williams in The Guardian

on retail reality

“It’s a delicate moment for a chairman of Tesco, trying to describe reality while maintaining the brand-boosterism that someone in some distant MBA hell decided the shareholders demand,” writes Zoe Williams in The Guardian. But in an interview with the Today programme, John Allan, who is a former president of the CBI, “dispensed entirely with the second imperative”. He described what cashiers were telling him: “that customers were asking them to stop when they’d rung through £40. People are out of wriggle room.” It was a “crunchy, evocative description of how skint people are already, a tacit emphasis that this is everybody’s business, and a hint, if you chose to hear it, that this is unprecedented,” continued Williams. “Even more striking, though, was that he went on to endorse a windfall tax on oil and gas companies,” wrote Williams, who said it was “not a controversial point of view”. While it is possible to “split hairs” on whether energy companies’ profits are “obscene”, the “entire fossil fuel industry combined wouldn’t deny that it’s all been a bit of a lucky strike, and that they’ve been half-expecting a windfall tax since their bonanza began”.

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4. Threatening to break the Northern Ireland Protocol plays straight into Putin’s hands

Ian Dunt for the i news site

on another false alarm?

“The threat to tear up the Protocol is to the post-Brexit world what no-deal was for the Brexit one,” writes Ian Dunt for the i news site. “It is a constant threat which can be realised at any moment. Will they ever do it? No one really knows. Perhaps even they don’t know. Maybe this really will happen next week. Or maybe it’ll be like all the other false alarms,” he continues. But “what we do know for certain is that it’s often an empty threat”. The government has been “making belligerent threats about Article 16 for over half a year, and yet there was no legislation to implement it in Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech”. It suggests that Boris Johnson’s government has a penchant for threatening “serious action without the intention of seeing it through”. “We also know one other thing for certain: each time the Government makes this threat they undermine the UK’s global credibility,” says Dunt.

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5. After Starmer: what’s next for Labour?

Katy Balls in The Spectator

on succession

“Sometimes a plan can be too successful,” writes Katy Balls in The Spectator. When Durham police announced on the day of the local election results that they would investigate Keir Starmer over ‘beergate’, “Tory MPs were delighted”. But now “Tory strategists have started to worry”. “What if Starmer actually resigned, as he has promised to do if he is fined? That would raise awkward questions about Johnson clinging on.” Starmer, in turn, by putting his job on the line, “has forced his party to think about successors, whether now or later”. Both of Britain’s main parties are “stuck with leaders being investigated by police for breaking Covid rules, but neither party has an obvious candidate for succession”, Balls continues. When it comes to a potential Labour leader, Lisa Nandy is “the option that Tories fear most”, with Conservative MPs believing “she has more bite than her boss”. When Durham police conclude their investigation, “the Prime Minister and his opposite number may both have reason to hope that they find Starmer not guilty”.

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1. Why you should visit Belfast

Northern Ireland’s capital used to be “once synonymous with bomb explosions, gun battles and sectarian assassinations”, said The Guardian. But now, post-Troubles Belfast has “reinvented itself as one of the top-rated tourist destinations”.

In 2018, Lonely Planet named Belfast and the Causeway Coast as the No.1 region to visit in the world thanks to a “remarkable” transformation over the past two decades. The city is “full of hip neighbourhoods that burst with bars, restaurants and venues” while its old docklands are now the vibrant Titanic Quarter, “home to fancy apartments and a sensational museum”. Beyond the city, the “timeless beauty” of the Causeway Coast offers walking, golf, whiskey and some of the world’s most famous rocks.

Belfast “continues to thrive culturally” and a couple of days are “enough to get a feel for the city”, said Rough Guides. Its theatre and visual arts scene are “flourishing” and there are “plenty of places to catch the city’s booming traditional-music scene”. In November, Belfast was awarded the “City of Music” status by Unesco.

Movie and television fans are also flocking to the city. Titanic Studios were used as a filming location for Game of Thrones, while Kenneth Branagh’s film Belfast was nominated for seven Oscars. Branagh’s “ode to his childhood” is “a beautiful story about a beautiful city”, the BBC said.

2. Top attractions: things to see and do

Titanic Belfast

Belfast is the “home of the Titanic” and home to the world’s largest Titanic visitor experience. Located beside the Titanic Slipways and the Harland & Wolff Drawing Offices – the very place where the ship was designed, built, and launched – Titanic Belfast relays the story of the doomed ocean liner and its subsequent place in history. Visitors can trace the ship’s journey through time and the role Belfast played in the wider shipbuilding industry.

The Troubles ‘tourism’

Troubles “tourism” is “booming” and the city’s “formerly most notorious areas” are becoming flooded with international visitors, said the Belfast Telegraph. The Crumlin Road Gaol, a 19th century Grade A listed jail, is open to the public for tours and is the No.1 attraction to visit in Belfast, according to Trip Advisor. It offers guided and self-guided experiences of the jail as well as “The Troubles Tour” via black taxi or on foot.

Ulster Museum is one of Belfast’s must-see attractions, said PlanetWare.com. This impressive national museum “should be high on the list for any visitor for a number of reasons”, not least of all that it “doesn’t shy away from the city’s recent troubled past”.

Taking a tour of the Belfast Peace Walls is now a thing or a tourist attraction of sorts, said the Brit On The Move blog. The peace walls – or peace lines as they are sometimes known – are a series of barriers in Northern Ireland that separate republican and nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods from loyalist and unionist Protestant areas. “It’s a deeply moving tribute to both sides.”

The Belfast Experience also offers walking tours and taxi tours of Shankill Road, which gives visitors the chance to “integrate themselves into historical events with a hands-on and thought provoking approach”.

Great outdoors: walking, golf and sailing

Just north of the city, a ten-minute drive from Belfast Zoo and a 20-minute drive from Crumlin Road Gaol, you’ll find Cave Hill Country Park, which offers “hands down one of the best walks in Belfast”, said James March on The Irish Road Trip. Deemed as Belfast’s top park by Lonely Planet, the panoramic view from the summit of Cave Hill (368m) “takes in the whole sprawl of the city, the docks, Belfast Lough and the Mourne Mountains – on a clear day you can see Scotland”.

Northern Ireland is a golfer’s paradise and offers around 100 courses for players to enjoy. If you’re in Belfast, “and have your clubs handy”, then make sure you play the “immaculately conditioned” Malone Golf Club, said Top100GolfCourses.com. “You’ll be hard pressed to find a better parkland course.”

For sailing enthusiasts, the spectacular sea inlet of Belfast Lough offers thrilling water adventures. Following Seas has a one-day “Sailing in the Wake of Giants” tour costing from £125.

CS Lewis Square

The Chronicles of Narnia author CS Lewis was born in Belfast and the square named after him is a public space featuring seven bronze sculptures from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It is a “stunning display of public art”, said VisitBelfast.com.

Game of Thrones

Northern Ireland’s “coastal roads, craggy castles and sprawling glens” were used as a backdrop for the Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones, said VisitBelfast.com. As well as film locations and driving routes, fans can also visit the official Game of Thrones studio tour at Linen Mill Studios in Banbridge, a 30-minute drive from the city down the M1 and A1.

3. Hotels and accommodation: where to stay

The best three hotels in Belfast, according to expert ratings on The Telegraph, are The Merchant Hotel, Europa Hotel, and Ten Square Hotel. While Trip.com ranks the Maldron Hotel Belfast City, The Fitzwilliam Hotel Belfast, and The 1852 as the top places to book.

For somewhere on the outskirts of the city, the 19th-century Culloden Estate and Spa was “originally intended as an abode for the Bishops of Down”, said The Luxury Editor. “The historic grandeur of the building is contrasted with a modern extension, in the form of the ESPA spa with steam room and hammam.”

4. Restaurants, pubs and markets: where to eat and drink

Belfast has been experiencing a “real renaissance from a food perspective”, said The Foodellers blog. “What was previously considered a dull and uninviting city for those who love food, is now one of the most exciting destinations if you travel to discover the flavours of the places you visit.”

In the 2022 Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland it was announced that Belfast restaurants Eipic, OX, and The Muddlers Club had retained their Michelin one star for another year, RTÉ reported. Two other restaurants – Deanes at Queens and Home – were also awarded a Bib Gourmand by Michelin for “good quality, good value cooking”.

Aside from the restaurants, there are many “unmissable” pubs and bars in Belfast, said The Foodellers. “Highly recommended” places for a drink and a bite include the Duke of York, Kelly’s Cellars, and Crown Liquor Saloon.

If you prefer food stalls to dining out, then St George’s Market is where to go to find the finest fresh local produce. One of Belfast’s oldest attractions, there has been a Friday market on the St George’s site since 1604.

Northern Ireland restaurants and pubs: best places to eat

5. Transport: how to get there

Airports

Belfast International and George Best Belfast City are the two airports serving the city. Belfast International is Northern Ireland’s main airport and located a 30-minute drive from the city centre. Visitors can travel between the airport and city on the Translink Airport Express 600 bus service.

Located just three miles from the city centre, and named after the Northern Irish football legend who was born here, is the George Best Belfast City Airport. Visitors can travel between the airport and city on the Translink Airport Express 300 bus service.

Ferries and cruises

As a port city, Belfast is an ideal destination for visitors travelling via the sea. There are ferry crossings to Belfast from Cairnryan in Scotland and from Liverpool in England, while cruise ships also dock in the city’s harbour. Cruise Belfast, the partnership between Belfast Harbour and Visit Belfast, announced that the city is expecting to welcome 130 cruise ships during the 2022 season, which runs to November. More than 50 different vessels from 33 cruise lines are due to dock with up to 340,000 visitors expected to come ashore.

6. What the locals say…

You may not go to Belfast for the weather, but there are “plenty of other reasons” to visit, said Northern Irish writer David McElhinney in Lonely Planet. A “thriving” performing arts scene and a nightlife culture “fuses haute cuisine with cozy pubs and Irish folk music”. And though locals “might bemoan the rising price of a pint”, Belfast “remains an affordable travel destination” for most budgets. “This small, idiosyncratic city has long punched above its diminutive weight in terms of cultural impact.”

When asked by Conde Nast Traveler why people should come to Belfast, singer and local Naomi Hamilton said: “I think it’s one of those charming, really friendly places that you can explore pretty quickly. It’s almost like a little pocket city – in 24 hours you could get a real sense of what it’s like, so it’s a great weekend city break.”

For the final word, who better to pick than Kenneth Branagh, who said that Belfast – “about a place and a people, I love” – was the most “personal film” he had ever made. Upon receiving his first Academy Award, for best original screenplay, he added: “It’s a great tribute to an amazing city and fantastic people.”

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped wherever you get your podcasts:

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In this week’s episode, we discuss:

Taliban vs. the World Bank

The World Bank has suspended four aid projects in Afghanistan, worth a total of $600m (£460m) after the Taliban reversed an earlier decision to allow girls to attend school. The Islamist group blamed problems with the national school uniform, but it is widely believed that the group is divided along ideological lines about whether girls should ever be allowed to return to high school. Is the Taliban slipping back into its old ways, and is there anything the West could or should do in response?

‘Don’t say gay’

This week the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, signed into law what has colloquially become known as the Don’t Say Gay bill. The new law, which forbids forbids teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to third grade (covering children aged five to nine), has drawn intense scrutiny and criticism, including from Joe Biden. But with DeSantis expected to run as a Republican presidential candidate for 2024, is it a sign of things to come?

Troubles trials

A former British soldier has gone on trial in connection with the death of Aidan McAnespie in Northern Ireland in 1988, in what could be the last prosecution before a proposed amnesty on Troubles killings comes into effect. The accused, David Holden, does not deny that he shot and killed McAnespie, an unarmed civilian, at a border checkpoint in Tyrone – but says he fired his weapon accidentally. What can this trial teach us about the state of the Northern Irish peace process?

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

In this week’s episode, we discuss:

Fossil fuel revolt

The giant oil company Exxon Mobil was dealt a big blow by a tiny hedge fund last week, when it replaced two board members in a bid to force the company’s leadership to face up to the issue of climate change. The move was more than just a symbolic protest: the fund managers say Exxon is risking financial as well as ethical consequences of failing to act. And that wasn’t the only blow for fossil fuels in the past week.

Danish spies

Denmark’s national intelligence agency has been caught red-handed helping the US National Security Agency snoop on high profile European figures, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The disclosure is the latest fallout of former NSA contractor Edward Snowdon's earth-shattering 2013 leaks. But as revelations continue to surface, what does it say about the relationship between international allies? And does it suggest spooks are getting less able to hide their sleuthing?

Living life to the full

A study released this week suggests that humans could live to the age of 150 - almost double our current life expectancy. The report generated equal measures of enthusiasm, incredulity and horror. But what would be the implications of such a long life? Could we cope with it, either financially or psychologically?

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped on the Global Player, Apple podcasts, SoundCloud or wherever you get you get your podcasts.

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

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In this week’s episode, we discuss:

Fashion for rent

A company which rents out clothes instead of selling them is experiencing a surge in demand as lockdown comes to an end. Is fashion about to undergo the sort of cultural shift as music, with people subscribing to subscribing to a library instead of owning individual outfits or tracks? And if people really are willing to borrow clothes, how will this affect what we wear?

Microchip shortage

A surge in demand for consumer electronics, combined with disruption to supply chains and a combination of freak circumstances has led to a severe shortage of microchips. The knock-on effects has resulted in delays to production lines building everything from cars to games consoles - and is likely to lead to higher prices

Assisted dying

A private member’s bill which received its first reading in the House of Lords this week proposes legalising assisted dying in England and Wales for adults who are terminally ill, mentally competent and in the final six months of their life. It’s the first time the issue has been debated in Westminster for more than five years - and while it is unlikely to become law without government backing, it restarts the debate at a time when public opinion appears to be shifting.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped on the Global Player, Apple podcasts, SoundCloud or wherever you get you get your podcasts.

Olly Mann and The Week delve behind the headlines and debate what really matters from the past seven days.

In this week’s episode, we discuss:

Toxic study

Research carried out in the US suggests that polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or simply “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down, can be passed from mother to child via breast milk. While the EPA says exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse human health effects, there's limited research on this for newborns.

Abortion laws

As Roe vs. Wade, the US court decision which forced states to decriminalise abortion, faces its most serious legal threat, the UK government is coming under increasing pressure to open up access to abortion in Northern Ireland. The procedure was illegal in the province until last year, and is still difficult to arrange in many areas.

Bottom breathers

A recent discovery that pigs can absorb oxygen into their bloodstream via their rectums has raised hopes that a similar technique could be used in humans. As the Covid pandemic has shown, mechanical ventilation is a risky and traumatic operation - and one which is not always possible with frail patients. The possibility of a bottom-up approach to breathing could eventually help save lives.

You can subscribe to The Week Unwrapped on the Global Player, Apple podcasts, SoundCloud or wherever you get you get your podcasts.

Arlene Foster has resigned as DUP leader and Northern Ireland first minister after three-quarters of her party’s Assembly members and half of its MPs signed a letter of no confidence in her.

She said “she would step down as DUP leader on 28 May and as first minister at the end of June”, reports the BBC.

Foster told Sky News that serving the people of Northern Ireland had been “the privilege of my life” and added: “The future of unionism and Northern Ireland will not be found in division. It will only be found in sharing this place we are privileged to call home.”

The Belfast News Letter reported this morning that as many as 23 of the DUP’s Northern Ireland Assembly members, as well as four of the party’s eight Westminster MPs, had put their names to a letter which signalled a lack of faith in their party leader.

The letter has not been made public, but DUP sources told the paper the wording amounted to “very clearly” saying that “we have no faith in the leadership”.

A source told The Belfast News Letter that unionism was “crying out for leadership” and that the party needed “clear direction” after a series of U-turns on key issues.

There had been “mounting discontent” over Foster’s leadership amongst the party grassroots and the wider unionist community in recent months, reports The Irish Times.

Much of the anger has been over Foster’s handling of the Northern Ireland protocol and the DUP’s part in creating the Irish Sea border.

Foster “briefly endorsed the arrangements” in January, “only to row in behind outspoken MPs like Ian Paisley and Sammy Wilson who urged a campaign of resistance”, reports The Guardian.

The DUP, and in particular Foster, have been “haunted” by the “rousing welcome” they gave Boris Johnson at their party conference in 2018, when the then foreign secretary promised to fight any attempt to impose a border in the Irish Sea, says the newspaper. “The DUP smoothed his subsequent path to Downing Street by rejecting Theresa May’s Brexit deal,” the Guardian reports.

But the party argues that it has never supported the Northern Ireland protocol and has tried to have it overthrown.

There was also upset among the party’s Free Presbyterian religious base that Foster abstained on an Assembly vote to ban gay conversion therapy.

Several DUP constituency associations wrote letters expressing concern at her decision to abstain on the vote, along with two of her ministers.

That so many DUP members signed a letter of no confidence was “a bold and unprecedented move within the Democratic Unionist Party”, reported the BBC’s Enda McClafferty earlier today.

The DUP does not usually depose its leaders and its voting system to select a new leader has “never been used”, said The Guardian. A tiny pool of just a few dozen DUP assembly members, MPs and peers will be able to select their next leader in the event of a contest, but there is no “obvious” successor to replace Foster, it added.

Rising tensions between loyalist and nationalist groups have triggered some of the worst violence seen in decades on Northern Ireland’s streets recently.

The unrest has been fuelled by a string of rows, including loyalist opposition to the Irish sea border imposed as the result of the UK's Brexit deal. Alleged Covid rules-breaking at the funeral last year of former IRA intelligence chief Bobby Storey has caused widespread anger too.

And as this anger bubbles over, many clashes have taken place along so-called peace walls in Belfast and other cities.

What are peace walls?

Peace walls - or peace lines as they are sometimes known - are a series of barriers in Northern Ireland that separate republican and nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods from loyalist and unionist Protestant areas.

Built in a bid to protect people from violence during the 30 years of conflict known as the Troubles, they remain in place today despite the signing of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, or Good Friday Agreement.

Constructed from brick and iron or steel, some of the walls stand up to 20ft high and extend for miles through residential areas. Perhaps the most prominent peace wall is that which has divided the nationalist Falls Road and unionist Shankill Road in West Belfast for some 50 years.

Temporary peace walls have stood in Northern Ireland since the 1920s, but the majority were built after the events of August 1969, when intense sectarian violence broke out in Belfast and Londonderry, with days of rioting.

Temporary barricades put up to quell the violence eventually “hardened into permanent lines of demarcation” and became “the so-called peace walls which still divide Belfast’s streets”, said The Irish Times in a 2019 article on why some Belfast residents “want to keep their peace walls”.

While attitudes to the barriers are mixed, “individuals and families living in communities dominated by peace walls tend to be amongst the most socially and economically deprived in Northern Ireland”, according to the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure.

Official data shows that in Belfast, communities living close to peace walls account for 14 of the 20 most deprived wards in Northern Ireland.

How many are there?

Peace walls extend for a total of some 20 miles across Northern Ireland, with most located in Belfast, and others in cities and towns including Derry, Portadown and Lurgan.

Disputes over exactly what constitute a peace wall means that the number still standing can only be estimated, but the total is believed to be more than 60.

While most of the peace walls are a legacy of the Troubles, “several more have been erected during the last 20 years of relative peace”, the BBC reports.

“In fact, there are now more peace walls across Northern Ireland than there were before the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.”

Several have become tourist attractions, with visitors coming to view vivid murals painted on the barricades.

What do people in Belfast think of them?

In 2019, the International Fund for Ireland’s Community Attitudes to Peace Walls Survey found that 76% of residents in Belfast were strongly in favour of the barriers being removed “within the lifetime of their children or grandchildren” - up from 69% in a 2017 poll.

Most of the respondents said that the removal of peace walls should happen gradually, however. Just 19% quizzed in 2019 wanted the barrier to be removed “now”, although that total had risen from 13% in 2017.

The existence of peace walls is still strongly linked to safety and security for many Belfast residents, with 58% in the more recent survey viewing this as the main function of the barriers.

Will they ever be removed?

In 2013, the Northern Irish executive launched a strategy to remove all peace walls “by mutual consent” within the following decade. But as the target date of 2023 approaches, only a small number have been removed.

One key reason for this slow progress was the three-year suspension of Stormont from 2017, when power-sharing collapsed during a row over the Democratic Unionist Party’s handling of a green energy scandal.

1. Naive home workers are in for a rude awakening

Kate Andrews in The Telegraph

on working from home

“According to a survey published by Deloitte, over a fifth of workers have little to no interest in returning to the office,” writes Kate Andrews in The Telegraph. For many who had office-based jobs pre-Covid, the “perks” of working from home are “not contentious: no commute, home-cooked lunches, and, for those already established in their careers, a mortgage-free work space. What’s not to like, in a world with no trade-offs?” But “the trouble, of course, is that there are trade-offs”, Andrews continues. “Major tech giants, including Facebook and Slack, started talking about a ‘salary-by-location’ shift months ago, which would mean a lack of commute is reflected in one’s pay packet.” Given this trend, “it would be naive to think those benefiting from a surreal, locked-down year will continue to do so at no cost: a reality it would appear millions have yet to accept”.

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2. Britain’s falling birthrate will damage our society – and it’s not just Covid to blame

Polly Toynbee in The Guardian

on Britain's baby problem

“Britain’s birthrate is plummeting,” notes Polly Toynbee in The Guardian. “The already fast-falling rate has sunk into yet steeper decline during the pandemic, as people stop having babies when times are hard - and there may not be a bounceback.” The various reasons “for this are depressing, signifying hardship, insecurity and anxiety”, she writes. “But worse than that, an ageing society is a declining society, in outlook, creativity and inventiveness.” And contrary to what some argue, fewer babies being born won’t solve our climate worries. “An ageing electorate already shows itself less environmentally concerned than younger voters,” Toynbee warns. “In the end, survival will depend on enough people willing to do what it takes - and they are the young.”

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3. Why talking about football is a feminist issue

Ailbhe Rea in the New Statesman

on football and feminism

“Football is treated as a subject of universal interest, and the patterns of exclusion it creates in social and professional settings are accepted as a simple fact of life: some people are football fans, some people aren’t, it isn’t a big deal,” writes Ailbhe Rea in the New Statesman. “But, even though it feels old-fashioned and embarrassing to state it, the patterns of those who play, watch and follow it are highly gendered.” And “the people most often left out of these conversations are women”, says Rea. “I don’t hate football. But I do hate the boys’ club that football creates in workplaces, I hate the continued gender disparity in terms of who profits from that industry”. Not least, she continues, I also “hate the fact that it is accorded a prominence, a respect and seriousness of coverage that we don’t accord to something like fashion” or any other “gendered” interests.

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4. Want to keep the peace in the North? Elect more women

Emma DeSouza in The Irish Times

on women in Irish politics

Women make up more than half of the population of Ireland, “yet the impact that generations of conflict have had on women is all too often absent from peace processes and post-conflict monitoring”, says Emma DeSouza in The Irish Times.“The Belfast Agreement includes the right for women to avail of full and equal political participation”, and while women have made “significant gains”, including now holding the positions of first and deputy first minister, “this representation within leadership does not trickle down the political ladder”. Only 26% of councillors here are women, “the lowest figure in the whole of the United Kingdom”, writes DeSouza. “Female peace-builders remain an underutilised resource in advancing the peace process and tackling institutionalised sectarianism.”

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5. I’m serving this country, and this is how I’m treated?

Theodore R. Johnson in The New York Times

on being black in the US military

“Watching the video of Army Second Lt. Caron Nazario being pulled over, held at gunpoint, pepper-sprayed, and handcuffed - all while in his military uniform - was a stark reminder that not even a willingness to die for the country can protect you from it,” writes retired Navy commander Theodore R. Johnson in The New York Times. “For longer than there’s been a United States, two things have been true: black Americans have served in all their country’s wars, and racism has prevented them from tasting the fullness of the very freedom many of them died fighting for.” It could be argued that “the violation of a black American in uniform can be instrumental”, Johnson continues. Would the US “care about the video of Lieutenant Nazario, causing a cop with poor judgement to be removed from the force, if he hadn’t been a military officer in uniform?” But the incident is ultimately a “sober reminder” that for too many people in the US, “the uniform matters more than the black life it clothes”.

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1. Certainties of the postwar world are ending

Daniel Finkelstein in The Times

on a post-Covid world

The death of Prince Philip is a reminder we are “coming to the end of the postwar era and are entering the post-postwar world”, writes Daniel Finkelstein in The Times. “The assumptions of postwar politics are crumbling,” he says. As a description, “postwar” denoted the world order and was synonymous with modernity, but these are “no longer universal assumptions”, writes Finkelstein. “In particular they are not the assumptions of new generations of voters.” There are examples of this, “big and small”. Firstly, “American power” and the country’s “status as a success story that demanded emulation” is “much more widely questioned”. As the Cold War recedes in memory too, those “wishing to associate capitalism with prosperity and freedom” are no longer able to “rely on the immediate postwar experience of communism to make the argument for them”, says the writer. “All these changes mean that it no longer makes sense to talk with ease about our era as postwar,” he adds. “Maybe we need a new term. Post-Covid?”

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2. Brexit isn’t the cause of the Belfast riots – but it is harming political reconciliation

Matthew O’Toole in The Guardian

on Northern Ireland violence

“Contrary to some excitable hot takes, Belfast is not in flames, nor are the riots all about Brexit,” writes Matthew O’Toole in The Guardian. “But what has happened is contextualised by Brexit and the sharpening of sovereignty that is demanded by that project,” says O’Toole. “Brexit is the opposite of reconciliation: it means standing apart rather than coming together, asserting distinctiveness over finding common ground.” And for those who “still question the damage that the UK leaving the EU has done to the architecture of the Northern Ireland settlement” just “look at the difficulty the two governments now have in simply agreeing to convene a formal meeting to discuss what is happening in Northern Ireland,” he adds. “For more than four decades, the margins of European council meetings offered a place for UK and Irish ministers to engage without formality and pressure. Not any more.”

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3. How the Greensill scandal has become more dangerous for the Conservatives

Stephen Bush in the New Statesman

on Conservative conduct

The Greensill affair is in danger of turning from a story “about a former prime minister’s texts to one about how a government that has been in power for more than a decade conducts itself”, writes Stephen Bush in the New Statesman. After all, “Boris Johnson’s biggest political success since becoming Tory leader has been in imbuing his party with the impression that it is fresh and different: that this isn’t an 11-year-old government,” he writes. However, “a scandal stretching right across the lifetime of the Conservative government may well be more damaging than one that implicates ministers in the present day.”

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4. Will Boris the liberal ever return?

Nick Tyrone in The Spectator

on Johnson's liberal instincts

“As Prime Minister, Boris’s liberal side has barely reared its head,” writes Nick Tyrone in The Spectator. “Of course, a big reason for this is the pandemic”, writes Tyrone, which has required “big government with a slight authoritarian bent.” “But when Covid finally goes away, can carefree Boris make a comeback?”, he asks. It seems likely “we will soon reach a point – and it’s probably not far off – when the libertarian wing of the Conservative party comes to the end of its patience with authoritarian measures that seem increasingly harsh against the background of low and falling infection rates”, says Tyrone. Johnson’s popularity “relies on his ability to move us on from this crisis and back to some semblance of normal”. It’s time for Johnson to look back on his two-term career as Mayor of London, a man who then “understood how to balance liberalism and statism to create a winning formula”.

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5. The domino effect of working from home could be disastrous

Jonathan Saxty in The Telegraph

on the work-from-home revolution

“The shock therapy of the work-from-home revolution could destroy any hope of a great economic comeback”, writes Jonathan Saxy in The Telegraph. “If millions of us remain reluctant to flood back into workplaces and urban areas, the impact could be catastrophic for sectors banking on commuters and consumers returning in large numbers,” he writes. “The Government may now be panicking about this domino effect. Eased in gently, working from home could be a very good thing. But brought in overnight – and without mitigating strategies in place – it could be devastating.” But with home working, “the genie” may already “be out of the bottle,”, Saxy writes. “If so, we need to get real about the ramifications of such a massive cultural shift.”

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Northern Ireland may be renowned for its landscapes, coastlines, golf and Game of Thrones but for foodies it’s also a magical place.

The AA Restaurant Guide 2020 includes 18 establishments from Northern Ireland on its shortlist and across the country there are also many amazing pubs, shacks and eateries to dine in.

Here we pick out some of the best places to eat when you visit Northern Ireland.

OX - Belfast

Michelin-starred restaurant OX offers relaxed dining overlooking the River Lagan in Belfast. With their combined wealth of experience in fine dining, co-owners Stephen Toman and Alain Kerloch aim to provide the same quality of food and attentive service, but in a more relaxed, simple environment. Each dish on the menu is thoughtfully and creatively designed so every element of the dish has an integral role in showcasing the best quality seasonal produce.

1 Oxford Street, Belfast BT1 3LA; oxbelfast.com

Harry’s Shack - Portstewart, Co Antrim

The natural scenery at Harry’s Shack is as memorable as the food. The rustic seafood restaurant is situated on the fringes of Portstewart Strand beach and has stunning views of the Causeway Coastal Route. Fish fresh from local boats, local beers, quality wines and fabulous views make it unique and a favourite amongst locals and visitors.

118 Strand Road, Portstewart, BT55 7PG; resdiary.com

Brunel’s - Newcastle, Co Down

Brunel’s is in the seaside town of Newcastle, situated on the coast of Northern Ireland with the stunning Mourne Mountains standing tall over the town. Head chef Paul Cunningham has ensured that the restaurant’s menu focuses on bold and creative gourmet dishes using the freshest regionally sourced ingredients, really showcasing seasonal produce at its best.

32 Downs Road, Newcastle BT33 0AG; brunelsrestaurant.co.uk

Walled City Brewery Restaurant - Derry-Londonderry

The Walled City Brewery is a multi-award winning restaurant and brewhouse based in Ebrington Square, Derry-Londonderry. By having a fully operating brewery and accompanying restaurant in the same building, it is the first of its kind in the country. Guests can get a real “taste of the North West” with some incredible beer and food on offer. Those wanting to find out more about the brewery can take part in the Beer Masterclass, a 1.5-hour interactive experience where beer enthusiasts will learn all about the history of brewing whilst tasting the ten craft beers on offer.

70 Ebrington Square, Derry-Londonderry; walledcitybrewery.com

Fullerton Arms - Ballintoy, Co Antrim

The Fullerton Arms is a fantastic pub in Ballintoy that serves authentic Irish cuisine using incredible local produce, and visitors should be sure to try the famous Strangford Rope Mussels available in a range of different sauces. Ballintoy was also used as one of the filming locations for smash hit TV show Game of Thrones, with some of the scenes in the Iron Islands shot in the harbour. Visitors to the Fullerton Arms can sneak a peek at the stunning carved wooden door that is on display at the pub, created as part of a campaign to commemorate season six of Game of Thrones. With only ten on display around Northern Ireland, it makes a visit extra special.

22 Main Street, Ballintoy, Ballycastle BT54 6LX; fullerton-arms.com

Mourne Seafood Bar - Belfast

This busy restaurant located in Belfast has a superb menu featuring fresh shellfish carefully hand-selected from its independently-run shellfish beds. Mourne Seafood has been praised by top critics including the Observer Food Monthly Awards and was also voted as a “top choice” by Lonely Planet.

34- 36 Bank Street Belfast, BT1 1HL; mourneseafood.com

Sleepy Hollow - Newtownabbey

If you’re looking for some place warm and cosy, then Sleepy Hollow may be the perfect choice. One of the 18 Northern Irish establishments shortlisted by the AA for its Restaurant Guide 2020, this Newtownabbey favourite is renowned for its modern Irish food as well as serving classic dishes using new innovative techniques.

13 Kiln Rd, Newtownabbey BT36 4SU; sleepyhollowrestaurant.com

Deanes EIPIC - Belfast

Located in the heart of Belfast, Deanes EIPIC serves the best of local ingredients cooked to award-winning standards. The restaurant retained its Michelin star last year and in May head chef Alex Greene scored a double win during finals week of the Great British Menu. He cooked two of the courses (starter and dessert) in this year’s banquet.

28-40 Howard St, Belfast BT1 6PF; deaneseipic.com

The Welsh first minister has suggested that the country may ease coronavirus lockdown measures ahead of the rest of the UK, amid growing frustrations with Westminster.

Mark Drakeford warned that Wales would go its own way if Boris Johnson’s government did not begin working more closely with their Welsh counterparts.

So will Wales lift lockdown early?

In an interview with The Guardian, Drakeford said that the Coronavirus Act 2020 allows devolved nations to enact their own plans - and that it may now be in the best interest of Wales to take a separate path.

“We have the power to do it, definitely. I’d rather we did it together. If we can’t get to that point and we think there are things that are right to do for Wales then we will go ahead and do that, but my ambition is that we do things still together across the United Kingdom,” the Labour politician said.

“The Coronavirus Act does respect devolution. It puts the solution in our own hands, and we have already done things differently in a range of different matters where that’s been right for us.”

In a bid to boost communications between Johnson’s government and the leaders of the devolved nations, Drakeford “has requested Michael Gove, the de facto deputy prime minister, speak with them early this week and then invite them to a Cobra meeting before the weekend”, the newspaper reports.

The Welsh leader added that he had not spoken to Gove for at least ten days.

Wales has already shown willing to go its own way in the coronavirus battle. It was the first UK nation to offer testing to hospital staff and postpone routine operations.

And Wales has also put into law the two-metre physical distancing rule, whereas in England the measure is only included in government advice.

Drakeford’s plan for easing lockdown measures in Wales is to lift the restrictions in stages if there is clear decline in new cases of the coronavirus over the next fortnight.

The phased traffic light system for exiting the lockdown would begin with a “red light” stage that would not look very different to the current situation, he said.

“Drakeford denied he was undermining a UK-wide response, saying his plans could and should contribute to what is being worked on in Westminster,” adds The Guardian.

What about Scotland?

Drakeford has been in regular talks with his Scottish counterpart, Nicola Sturgeon, and both countries have now outlined plans for their own routes to ending lockdown.

By contrast, while Johnson said on Monday that he would provide more details of his lockdown plans in the “coming days”, his government has yet to provide any more information.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s first minister has laid out a blueprint for lifting social distancing restrictions north of the border.

However, Sturgeon has not offered specific dates for the easing to begin, with a strategy plan published on the Scottish government’s website stating that “now is not the right time”.

The Scottish leader has also warned that the measures may be reimposed multiple times with “little notice”.

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And Northern Ireland?

Northern Ireland ministers have been discussing “a path back to normality” for weeks.

Speaking in mid-April, First Minister Arlene Foster said that the executive and NI Civil Service were considering how the nation’s lockdown might be eased, once the first wave of the pandemic has passed, as the BBC reported at the time.

“We will return to something resembling normality, school corridors will eventually bustle again again, and restaurants, bars and sports grounds, concert halls and theatres will entertain once more,” said the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader.

But she added: “Change is going to have to be very delicately handled and our response will be a graduated one.

“Given this may be the first wave of this pandemic and no vaccine is as yet readily available, we will be very much guided by scientific advice and the experience of other parts of the globe where they have relaxed their restrictions.”

On Sunday, Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Robin Swann warned that the biggest threat in the fight against Covid-19 was complacency, as five more deaths were reported by his department.

Echoing similar messages from the Westminster government, Swann said that that talking about an end to lockdown and setting out any timetable could see a reduction in compliance.

“It will encourage a greater sense of ease and complacency if people think, ‘well, if it’ll be all right in two weeks so it'll be alright today’,” he told the BBC.

“We don’t have a medical cure for cabin fever but we are asking people for goodwill and determination over the next few weeks to help save lives and to help our health service.”

The UK has slipped down the list of countries ranked by the freedom of their press, partly because of a rise in intimidation and violence against journalists in Northern Ireland.

The annual World Press Freedom Index, compiled by the Reporters Without Borders campaign group, surveys the “state of the media in 180 countries and territories”, The Guardian says.

In the newly published 2020 edition, the UK falls two places to No.35 in the wake of threats and assassinations aimed at reporters in Northern Ireland.

The murder in April last year of journalist Lyra McKee, who was reporting on unrest in Derry when she was killed, appears to have been a key factor in the decision to move the UK down the list.

The Guardian adds that police inappropriately obtaining warrants to raid the homes of investigative reporters in Northern Ireland also had an impact on the ranking.

The UK now sits below countries such as Costa Rica, Ghana and South Africa in the World Press Freedom Index.

Top spot went to Norway, for the fourth consecutive year, while in last place was North Korea, having taken the dubious honour from last year’s lowest-ranked country, Turkmenistan.

Responding to the UK’s fall, Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland programme director, said the news “comes as no surprise”, adding: “The tragic death of Lyra McKee at the hands of republican paramilitaries 12 months ago is a reminder of the risks that reporters face in Northern Ireland.

“Northern Ireland continues to be the most dangerous part of the UK to be a journalist, threatening press freedom daily. In the year since Lyra’s death, reporters have continued to receive threats of violence and death on a regular basis and two reporters have had to defend their freedom in court after groundless arrests by the police.”

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Reporters Without Borders’ UK director, Rebecca Vincent, said: “We were shocked by some of the reports we received from journalists in Belfast and Derry, who are clearly among the most at-risk reporters in the UK.

“These issues must be addressed by the UK authorities as a matter of urgent priority to prevent further acts of violence.”

Here are the best and worst countries for press freedom in the world:

Top ten

1. Norway2. Finland3. Denmark4. Sweden5. Netherlands6. Jamaica7. Costa Rica8. Switzerland9. New Zealand10. Portugal

Bottom ten

171. Cuba172. Laos173. Iran174. Syria175. Vietnam176. Djibouti177. China178. Eritrea179. Turkmenistan180. North Korea

Sinn Fein has spent the final week of the Irish general election campaign dogged by calls for its leader Mary Lou McDonald to apologise to the family of a man allegedly murdered by the IRA.

Paul Quinn, 21, was beaten to death in a barn near Oram, County Monaghan, in 2007. His family have always maintained that the republican terrorist group was behind the murder, the BBC reports.

However, speaking to the BBC shortly after the killing, Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy claimed that Quinn was linked to “smuggling and criminality”.

The murder has become a major issue in the run-up to tomorrow’s Irish general election, prompting Murphy to apologise for his previous comments about Quinn.

But with Sinn Fein’s associations with the IRA back under the spotlight, how could it impact on the vote?

What are the IRA's links to Sinn Fein?

Sinn Fein was founded in 1905 and has historically been regarded as the political wing of the IRA. Its name means “We Ourselves” or “Ourselves Alone” in Irish, and the party has vocally supported the IRA in the past.

Throughout the 1960s, Sinn Fein members were split over supporting the IRA’s use of violence.

“Whereas the ‘Official’ wing of the party, which was later renamed the Workers’ Party, emphasised political and parliamentary tactics,” Encyclopaedia Britannica says, “the ‘Provisional’ wing, or Provos, believed that violence – particularly terrorism – was necessary and justified.”

This split was mirrored in the IRA, which also divided into official and provisional factions.

As a result of its ties to the IRA, Sinn Fein was banned in the United Kingdom until 1974. It has been widely reported that senior members of the party, including its former president, Gerry Adams, have in the past sat on the IRA Army Council. Sinn Fein and Adams deny these allegations.

Since the 1990s both the IRA and Sinn Fein have insisted that they are no longer linked. But this has been rejected by some observers, and just this week a Sinn Fein canvassing van was spotted in the Cavan/Monaghan constituency playing a pro-IRA song.

“There is no escaping the fact that Sinn Fein’s links to the IRA… has frequently made government in the North difficult, and sometimes impossible,” The Irish Times reports.

The paper adds that a string of former IRA members, including one who called himself Adams’s most trusted adviser, have “appear[ed] to wield considerable influence” in Sinn Fein.

How could the Quinn row impact the election?

On Monday, Sinn Fein was polling at 25%, ahead of favourites Fianna Fail on 23% and Leo Varadkar’s governing Fine Gael party on 20%, according to an Ipsos MRBI poll.

As the party is fielding only 42 candidates (compared with Fianna Fail’s 84, Sinn Fein will at best secure a quarter of the seats in parliament. But, The Guardian reports, the breakthrough could “realign Irish politics after a century of domination” by two centrist parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

With her party rocketing in the polls, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald is being touted as a potential kingmaker if neither Fianna Fail or Fine Gael get enough seats to form a government. But Fianna Fail has ruled out “a grand coalition” with Fine Gael, while both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have ruled out a coalition government with Sinn Fein. This could potentially cause political gridlock in Dublin.

As the BBC reports, the two main parties are concerned about “shadowy figures” behind the scenes at Sinn Fein, “often [including] former IRA prisoners”.

The reigniting of the row over Paul Quinn’s death – just days before Ireland heads to the polls – has placed attention back on those links, further reducing the likelihood of post-election talks.

Dissident republicans in Northern Ireland tried to use a truck bomb to blow up a ferry sailing to Scotland on Brexit Day, claim local police.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland discovered the device on a lorry at a commercial premises in Lurgan.

They believe the Continuity IRA, a splinter group that rejects the peace process, had planned to detonate it on a crossing of the Irish Sea on 31 January.

George Clarke, assistant chief constable, said that a phone call was made to a media outlet on 31 January warning that there was a bomb on the trailer of a lorry at Belfast port that was due to sail to Britain.

He said it was a “viable device” that “could have caused death and very serious injury and harm to members of the public. Those who planted this device were reckless or intended to cause that level of harm.”

Det Supt Sean Wright, from the PSNI’s terrorism investigation unit, added: “Had this vehicle travelled and the device had exploded at any point along the M1 [in Northern Ireland], across the Westlink or into the harbour estate, the risks posed do not bear thinking about.

“The only conclusion that we can draw is that once again dissident republicans have shown a total disregard for the community, for businesses and for wider society.”

In a statement to the Irish News the republican group said the device was timed to coincide with Britain’s exit from the EU.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein’s policing spokesman Gerry Kelly has condemned those behind the bomb, which he said could have caused “catastrophic loss of life”.

“The fact is this could have ended up on a ferry,” he said. “If it had exploded, you are talking about catastrophic loss of life, and whoever planted this bomb needs to know that.”

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The Week’s daily round-up highlights the five best opinion pieces from across the British and international media, with excerpts from each.

1. Jo Wilding in The Independent

on migration

Expect more bodies after the 39 in a truck in Essex. EU desperation to keep out migrants has left it in a helpless position

“In the determination to stop ‘unlawful’ immigration, instead of creating safe, legal routes, Europe tightens up security and people take a longer way around, a more dangerous way around. People don’t stop moving. They will never stop moving. And until we recognise that, and address it with humane policies, we will continue to find lorries full of dead human beings. No doubt, in the coming days, we will start to hear the names and life stories of some of the people who died. Important as those are, we should not let that distract us from the most important matter: that their demise, and the deaths of so many like them, is the fault of the British government, the British Home Office, British foreign policy, and our counterparts across Europe.”

2. David Aaronovitch in The Times

on the monarchy

Prince Harry and Meghan can’t have it both ways

“I just can’t see how our unconscious public sadism and love of celebrity can be accommodated by the monarchy once Elizabeth II has passed from our lives. It is horribly obvious that for their own sakes Harry and Meghan should renounce their titles and become private citizens, rather than vainly attempt to bend the institution to suit their psychological needs. Someone needs to show that it can be done. The truly modern monarchy is one you can leave. One where Edward VIII did the right thing. I’m not a republican because I think a modern constitutional monarchy is something that fits in with our idea of ourselves as Britons. But after the Queen it needs pruning and decelebritisation. It needs bicycling princesses and princes who teach in primary schools. It needs people we can relate to and empathise with, not suck up to, envy and secretly wish to destroy.”

3. Owen Jones in The Guardian

on an early general election

It’s time for Labour to bite the bullet and embrace an election

“Labour should shake off any self-destructive gloom. It should confidently trumpet its ‘let the people decide’ Brexit policy, offering the only plausible route back for remainers: a compromise position between hard Brexit and the Lib Dems’ arrogantly undemocratic revoke. It understandably fears an election defined by Brexit, but offering clarity about a genuinely uncomplicated position gives it permission to talk about the issues it cares about, as well as winning back supporters who have fled to the Lib Dems and Greens. It must put domestic issues – taxing the rich and big business, public ownership, solving the housing crisis and a real living wage – centre stage, in part by emphasising that such ‘burning injustices’ led to Brexit in the first place and offering optimistic can-do solutions.”

4. Roy Greenslade in the New Statesman

on the Belfast blindspot

How Britain still doesn’t get Northern Ireland

“Despite sporadic sectarian clashes, the British media largely reverted to the pre-1966 habit of ignoring Northern Ireland. It was left to deal with its deeply divided society, where religious ghettos exist behind ‘peace walls’, schooling is separated by religion, and passionate disputes over language rights, same-sex marriage and abortion are unresolved. Northern Ireland in 2019 is not as it was in 1921, nor as it was in 1969. But its society remains broken, a situation exacerbated by the failure of the British media to report honestly, fairly and consistently on a part of the United Kingdom that demands much greater journalistic attention.”

5. Philip Stevens in the Financial Times

on Europe

Thatcher’s fear of an overmighty Germany lives on in Brexit

“As it happens, unification did indeed mark the return of the German question — in the simple sense that Germany’s preponderant economic power is once again an unavoidable fact of life. What the Brexiters miss is that the EU was designed as a strong countervailing force. The US security guarantee embedded in Nato serves the same purpose — underpinning the democratic foundations of a European Germany in place of a German Europe. Brexit upends the big-power balance within the EU. France finds itself alone as a counterpoint to Germany. This at a time when US president Donald Trump is doing his best to weaken Nato. A charitable interpretation of Thatcher’s performance in Moscow would say she wanted to preserve the security offered by the status quo. Brexit marches in the opposite direction. If there is any risk of an over-mighty Germany it lies in the collapse of the present European order.”

The UK is the sixth most popular tourist destination in the world, attracting over 40 million visitors a year.

It may not have the best weather or flashiest food, but it has some of the most remarkable natural beauty on the planet, and an endless collection of historic sites.

And for those of us lucky enough to call it home, there has never been a better time to swap an overseas visit for a domestic getaway.

So grab some Great British Pounds before they lose their value, and enjoy what the UK has to offer.

Bath

Bath is one of the UK’s standout cities, offering a taste of true history and some of the most impressive and iconic architecture the country has to offer.

One of its main attractions is the Roman baths, the well-preserved thermal spa used by the people of Bath - then “Aquae Sulis” - in Roman times.

The city itself is a Unesco World Heritage Site, an honour it shares with the Great Barrier Reef and the Galapagos Islands.

The “beautiful surroundings attract creative types and there is a wealth of independent shops, markets and eateries”, says The Telegraph.

And The Guardian calls Bath “a style statement to the rest of the nation... Bath, so cool in many ways, has something volcanic about it.”

Cornwall

Cornwall is home to the UK’s wildest coastline and some of its most beautiful beaches. It is a mixture of the rugged and the refined, boasting everything from choppy seas perfect for surfing, to restaurants, galleries and coastal walks with stunning views.

The harbour town of St Ives is one of Cornwall’s best and most famous places to visit. On top of boats and beaches, it has plenty of excellent restaurants worth a visit after a trip to Tate St Ives, a modern art collection by the sea.

On the opposite coast, Trebah Garden “has the appearance of a Himalayan cloud forest transported to Cornwall”, says The Telegraph. “Camellias, magnolias, azaleas and hydrangeas flood the 25-acre garden with colour”, at the end of which sits a perfect, secluded beach only accessible to visitors of the gardens.

Best of all, Cornwall is the birthplace of the Cornish pasty. What more could you want?

Skye

The Isle of Skye is where you will find Scotland’s most iconic landscapes alongside picturesque fishing villages and medieval castles.

There is breathtaking scenery everywhere you look. The Times refers to its “gobsmacking beauty”, adding “Skye has suddenly become sexy”.

It’s also great for fans of wildlife. Otters, seals, whales, dolphins and red deer can all be seen, and bird watchers may be able to spot the White Tailed Sea Eagle.

Skye’s history can be traced through millennia-old Pictish towers, clans and castles - including Dunvegan Castle, the oldest inhabited castle in Scotland, plus historic churches and abandoned villages.

Going further back, would-be palaeontologists can spot dinosaur footprints on the shore at Staffin, and see a host of fossils from Skye at the nearby Dinosaur Museum.

Peak District

The natural serenity of the Peak District offers a pleasant contrast to the industrial bustle of the surrounding cities of Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and Sheffield.

The Peak District National Park covers 555 square miles of natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage. There is an extensive network of public footpaths and cycle trails for a range of abilities, plus opportunities for rock climbing and caving for the more adventurous.

Booking a hotel in one of the Peak District’s charming towns and villages gives visitors the opportunity to extend their trip if camping doesn’t appeal. Hope Valley, High Peak and the Hayloft are all recommended as bases for further exploration.

London

No visit to the UK is complete without seeing its famous capital.

London has something for everyone and truly does cater for every taste, budget and individual. As the writer Samuel Johnson said, and many social influencers have repeated, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”

It has some of the world’s best and most famous hotels: The Savoy, The Ritz, The Dorchester, The Langham, The Connaught, The Lanesborough, The Goring and Claridge’s can all be found in London.

The restaurants are equally good - from celebrity hangout spots like the Chiltern Firehouse to the modern classics like Bob Bob Ricard, and “almost faultless” arrivals like The Ninth.

And for the quintessentially English experience, indulge your sweet tooth with the traditional treat of afternoon tea.

Historical attractions sit moments away from modern bars, shops and clubs, while the public transport system will get you around the city easily and quickly - though the best way to see London is definitely by foot.

Cambridge

Home to the best university in the country, Cambridge is the perfect location for a day trip.

The Backs - an area of Cambridge city centre - is where many of the oldest and most impressive university colleges back onto the River Cam, and is a perfect place to take in some of the city’s stunning sights.

Punting tours run regularly down the Cam, and brave visitors can even opt to hire a punt unsupervised and have a go themselves - watching tourists fall in is a favourite past-time of students.

There’s plenty of indoor activities too. The Fitzwilliam Museum is full of remarkable art and objects from the ancient world, and it is free to visit. There are plenty of pubs, restaurants and hotels worth your time - not least the University Arms, a former coaching-inn turned luxury hotel.

Most university colleges will allow entry for a reasonable price, and if you happen to be a guest of a student or alumnus, you get in for free.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is steeped in history, most notably the skyline-dominating Edinburgh Castle, and the Queen’s official Scottish residence, Holyrood Palace.

For a cultural coffee, visit The Elephant House cafe, the so-called “birthplace of Harry Potter”. JK Rowling wrote much of the early Potter canon in the eatery, which now features a wall of photographs of the author writing longhand in cosy corners.

If you do venture in, then “a visit isn't complete without a trip to the restrooms. The white walls are covered in Harry Potter-themed graffiti - everything from raunchy HP jokes to heartfelt odes to Rowling”, says CNN.

By the time Rowling was finishing the last Potter book, she was approaching billionaire status and holed-up in the iconic Balmoral Hotel, adjacent to Edinburgh Waverley Station. The nearby - and equally luxurious - Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel offers a boutique feel with all the mod cons of a high-end chain.

InterContinental's Edinburgh The George hotel captures the history and charm of the city, and is housed in a listed building near Edinburgh Castle and the Scott Monument.

There are plenty of places to eat and drink in the Scottish capital, and nearly half of Scotland’s Michelin-star restaurants can be found in the city.

Holyrood Park - a short walk from Edinburgh’s impressive Royal Mile - is a 640 acre Royal Park that is home to Arthur’s Seat, a dormant volcano that gives excellent views and is accessible thanks to a gentle incline.

And once in Edinburgh, visiting the Scottish Borders is simple. An hour way from the city is the historic SCHLOSS Roxburghe, a country house hotel with golf club and myriad outdoor activities.

Oxford

Even Cambridge students would admit that Oxford is among the top two universities in the country.

And the city is certainly among the best. Like the home of its East Anglian academic rival, Oxford boasts some of the most impressive and aesthetic buildings in the country.

“Its rival Cambridge may win on wide open green spaces, but Oxford has imposing spires and picture-postcard cobbles that few cities can match,” says Time Out.

It draws visitors from around the world eager to get a look at the halls and towers that inspired Harry Potter’s Hogwarts.

The cobbled Radcliffe Square is well worth a visit, says The Telegraph. It sits at “the heart of the university, formed by a trio of great architectural gems: the medieval University Church of St Mary the Virgin, the 15th-century Bodleian Library and the Palladian-style Radcliffe Camera”.

But Oxford is far more than just its academic institutions. It has all the things you would want from a city break: museums, charming pubs, top hotels and even a few Michelin-star restaurants. Raymond Blanc’s world famous Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is a stone’s throw away in the Oxfordshire countryside.

Giant’s Causeway

Sitting at the base of volcanic cliffs on the Northern Irish coast, Giant’s Causeway boasts a unique and dramatic landscape, and is considered one of the world’s most impressive natural phenomena.

Around 40,000 huge black basalt columns stick out of the sea thanks to a volcanic eruption that happened 60 million years ago.

The Causeway received a boost in visitor numbers after the coast was used as a backdrop for numerous Game of Thrones scenes set on House Greyjoy’s Iron Islands. “The shoreline can feel part madness, part alien world – thousands of interlocking basalt columns, unmoved by wave after crashing wave,” says The Guardian.

For the most spectacular views, visitors can hire a helicopter and enjoy the 40,000 interlocked basalt columns from above, before taking in the nearby sites of Rathlin Island and Binevenagh's cliffs.

Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, which despite being a well-kept secret in much of the UK, welcomes 15 million visitors a year.

The idyllic town sits on the Severn, the country’s longest river. Its preserved medieval streets boast 660 listed buildings, including timber framed structures from the 15th and 16th centuries. Shrewsbury Castle and Abbey date back to 1074 and 1083 respectively and welcome visitors.

Shrewsbury also acts as a hub from which visitors can venture out to Shropshire’s other standout sites.

Nearby Ironbridge is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and was one of the first World Heritage Sites to be designated in the country, while Much Wenlock is home to the Wenlock Olympian Games, the forerunner to the modern Olympics.

The Shropshire hills are classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and envelope small towns such as Church Stretton, dubbed “Little Switzerland” because of its exceptional landscape.

Snowdonia National Park

Snowdonia is the highest mountain in Wales and perfect for everything from gentle walks to lengthy treks and high-octane adventures.

Those in need of a thrill after the calming influence of the Snowdonia landscapes can have a go at the world’s fastest zip wire at Zip World.

There’s also great opportunities for coasteering, the mountaineering-cum-swimming that involves participants swimming and scrambling up and around coastline rocks - and occasionally leaping off into the water.

Mountain biking, abseiling, canoeing, climbing and canyoning are also all on offer, as well as fishing, horseback riding, golf and sailing.

“It's the perfect location for five star accommodation, grand country house hotels, small cosy rural Inns, self catering cottages, bed and breakfasts, caravan parks, bunkhouses, hostels of all kinds, glamping sites and much more,” says Visit Snowdonia.

A general rule of thumb is, if you can do it outside, you can do it at Snowdonia.

Three police officers have been injured in violent clashes at the site of an anti-internment bonfire in Belfast.

Trouble erupted in the city’s New Lodge estate on Thursday after a major bonfire was set up to mark the 48th anniversary of the introduction of internment without trial for people suspected of being involved in paramilitary groups during the Troubles, reports The Irish News.

More than 150 officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) deployed to the scene were forced to withdraw after missiles were thrown at them as “youths protected pallets stacked up in a large pile”, says The Guardian.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd later said the officers left the site of the bonfire because of the “risks to innocent by-standers” posed by their presence, adds the BBC.

Residents in nearby tower blocks were also advised to leave their homes as the Housing Executive authority warned it could not “guarantee their safety” due to the proximity of the bonfire.

The blaze went ahead as planned despite criticism of the “unwanted” event by politicians from both Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly said that “the vast majority of the community have told [Sinn Fein] they do not want this bonfire”, which had been built “by anti-social elements who torture this district throughout the year”.

What is the significance of bonfires in Northern Ireland?

Bonfires are used across Northern Ireland to mark political events or anniversaries, and are frequently a highly provocative gesture by both loyalists (those who support NI remaining in the UK, mostly Protestant) and republicans (who want NI to become part of the Republic of Ireland, mostly Catholic).

The most significant of these bonfires are those lit each year in loyalist areas on so-called Eleventh Night - the eve of 12 July - to celebrate Protestant William of Orange’s victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Supporters insist the bonfires are an important part of their culture, but critics claim they pose health and safety dangers and ignite sectarian strife.

This latter criticism mainly focuses on the use of provacative signs and effegies by rival sides, including slogans such as “KAT” - “kill all Taigs”, a slur used against Catholics.

A republican bonfire held in a different part of Belfast this week featured signs mocking 18 British soldiers who died in an IRA bomb attack in 1979, triggering widespread condemnation, reports the BBC.

Why are the anti-internment bonfires particularly controversial?

Each year on the night of 8 August, bonfires are lit in some republican-leaning areas of Belfast to pay tribute to republicans interned without trial during the Troubles, a measure introduced by the British government on 9 August 1971.

At total of 342 people were detained on the first day alone of what was termed Operation Demetrius.

Internment without trial was introduced under the 1922 Special Powers Act, and was deemed to be the only way to restore order as conflicts raged across Northern Ireland. However, the operation backfired spectacularly, as The Irish News notes.

Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, a Stormont civil servant at the time, told a subsequent BBC documentary “it soon became clear that far from quelling the uprising, the policy hugely increased recruitment into the IRA”.

Westminster MPs have voted overwhelmingly to extend same-sex marriage and access to abortion to Northern Ireland.

The devolved Northern Ireland government at Stormont collapsed in 2017, and repeated talks have failed to repair the breach. Under the amendments approved by the Commons, the changes will come into effect if a new power-sharing executive has not been created by 21 October, the date by which Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley must call a new election.

The amendments voted on were part of a Commons debate aimed at keeping Northern Ireland running in the absence of devolved government and extending Whitehall’s legal power to delay a fresh Stormont election.

The BBC points out that “few had anticipated that the amendments would even be selected for debate, given how much controversy they had the potential to stir up”.

Northern Ireland is currently the only part of the United Kingdom where abortion is illegal in almost all circumstances and where same-sex couples cannot marry. Gay and lesbian weddings were legalised in England and Wales in 2013 and in Scotland in 2014. The first same-sex marriages in the Republic of Ireland took place in the following year.

The Guardian says the results were “greeted ecstatically by equalities campaigners” as MPs broke with protocol to clap in the Commons.

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP who led the fight for abortion rights, said that “everyone in the UK deserves to be treated as an equal”.

During the Commons debate, Nick Herbert, a former Tory minister, told MPs that he was backing the gay marriage amendment, saying: “There is a very simple remedy if you don’t like the idea of same sex marriage - don’t enter into one, it is not compulsory.”

He added that it was wrong that people in one part of the UK “cannot avail themselves of something which many people regard to be a matter of their fundamental rights, which is to be able to enter into a marriage with a person they love”.

However, The Times points out that “Democratic Unionist MPs, on whom the government relies for its Commons majority, accused Westminster politicians of ignoring the concerns of people in Northern Ireland”.

Indeed, “there are two ways to read what just happened in parliament”, says the BBC’s Jayne McCormack.

“The first, how many campaigners see it, is that this is a watershed moment towards legalising same-sex marriage and liberalising abortion laws in Northern Ireland.

“The other take is that this is the biggest step yet by Westminster when it comes to implementing direct rule in NI.”

Donald Trump has raised eyebrows by comparing his planned wall between the United States and Mexico with the post-Brexit border situation in Ireland.

Speaking about the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, alongside Irish premier Leo Varadkar yesterday, the US president said: “I think that it will all work out, it will all work out very well and also for you, with your wall, your border.”

He added: “I mean, we have a border situation in the United States. And you have one over here, but I hear it’s going to work out very well.”

Varadkar quickly reminded Trump that Ireland wants to avoid a hard border with Northern Ireland after Brexit. Trump replied: “The way it works now is good and I think you want to try and keep it that way.”

The Irish Times says there was a “Melania-like quality” to Varadkar’s “sangfroid in face of Trump’s witless remarks”, while Irish News said the “gaffe” came because Trump was “badly briefed”.

Later, Varadkar said he had explained to Trump the “different nature” of the two border debates. He said: “I explained... that everyone in Ireland - north and south, unionist and nationalist - want to avoid a return to a hard border, but that Brexit is a threat in that regard and an unintended consequence that we can’t allow.”

He added: “There are nearly 200 countries in the world. I don’t think it’s possible for him to have an in-depth and detailed understanding of all the issues in every single country.”

Meanwhile, Trump has denied that his two-day visit to Ireland is purely a public relations exercise for his golf resort in Doonbeg, County Clare, saying he is “honoured” to be in the country. He added that the relationship between Ireland and the US is “as good as it’s ever been, maybe better”.

He said that there were “millions” of Irish people in the US and added: “I think I know most of them because they’re my friends. We love the Irish, so it’s an honour to be here.”

The issuing of warrants used to arrest two Belfast journalists has been criticised as “inappropriate” by the most senior judge in Northern Ireland, in a case that has highlighted growing concerns about threats to press freedom worldwide.

Northern Irish police raided the homes and offices of award-winning journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey last August over the alleged theft of a police watchdog report.

The unredacted document “was obtained by the journalists as part of their investigation into the murders of six Catholic men by masked gunmen in a pub in Loughinisland, County Down, in 1994”, reports The Guardian. Birney and McCaffrey’s work “named alleged murderers and highlighted collusion between the police and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)”, and was used in the 2017 documentary No Stone Unturned, directed by Oscar winner Alex Gibney, the newspaper adds.

No one has been convicted of the murders, despite claims that police know the killers’ identities.

Concluding a judicial review into the journalists’ arrests, Lord chief justice Sir Declan Morgan, along with two other high court judges, this week stated that “we are minded to quash the warrants on the basis that they were inappropriate, whatever the other arguments”.

Lawyers for Birney and McCaffrey had told Belfast High Court that their clients had been targeted in “the kind of operation more associated with a police state than with a liberal democracy”, reports The Irish News.

The case is a “potential embarrassment” to the British government “at a time when Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, has asked Amal Clooney, the human rights lawyer, to head a review into threats to media freedom around the world”, says The Times.

The review will include a ministerial conference hosted by the UK and Canada in London in July that is intended to draw attention to such attacks on journalists.

Following her appointment, Clooney said: “It has never been more dangerous to report the news. Targeting journalists undermines democracy and impedes our ability to hold the powerful to account and it allows countless human rights abuses to take place in the dark. Those with a pen in their hand should not feel a noose round their neck.”

So is press freedom under attack? The Week looks at the evidence.

‘Climate of impunity’

Last year is reported to have been the deadliest yet for journalists across the globe, with 99 killed, 348 detained and 80 taken hostage by non-state groups.

Although the majority of incidents occurred outside the Continent, the attacks have “started to spread to Europe, including Malta and Eastern Europe”, says The Guardian.

Indeed, the latest annual report to the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, published in February, warned that a “climate of impunity” has taken hold in parts of Europe.

In Malta, journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was investigating Maltese money laundering and corruption when she was killed by a car bomb near her home in October 2017.

Three men charged with her murder have still not faced trial and could be released in two months, according to Press Gazette. The Council of Europe report listed “serious concerns” about the investigation into her murder and said that “weaknesses of the rule of law in general and the criminal justice system in particular” were directly relevant to worries about the authorities’ response.

In Slovakia, investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova, were shot dead after reporting on “corruption, tax fraud and links between high-ranking Slovak politicians and the Italian mafia”, says Euronews. In September last year, police charged four suspects in relation to the murder, with a trial due to be held later this year.

Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) claims that one of the suspects, a woman named Alena Zs, worked for a Slovak businessman who placed Kuciak under investigation because he was taking too much interest in his affairs.

Other interventions against press in Europe have been more discreet. Recently, the French government has interviewed eight journalists over the case of presidential bodyguard Alexandre Benalla, who beat up a protester while dressed as a police officer.

“Journalists who make a habit of poking their noses into police and judicial affairs are more likely than their colleagues to be called in for a little talk,” legal specialist Renaud Le Gunehec told French newspaper Le Monde.

The case of Julian Assange

Worries about press freedom have been fuelled by the high-profile case of Julian Assange, who this month was indicted on 17 new counts of violating the US Espionage Act for receiving and publishing information from former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

Assange’s supporters note that his WikiLeaks website revealed details of alleged war crimes in places including Afghanistan and Iraq “that were unlikely to have been exposed otherwise”, says Jonathan Turley, a law professor at Washington D.C.’s George Washington University, in an article for the BBC.

“If it was a crime for Assange to receive and publish such information, much of the journalism in the US would become a de facto criminal enterprise,” Turley argues.

However, John Demers, who leads the US Justice Department’s National Security Division, insists there is a clear distinction between Assange and traditional media outlets.

“Some say that Assange is a journalist, and that he should be immune from prosecution for these actions. The department takes serious the role of journalists in our democracy,” Demers said. “It is not and has never been the department’s policy to target them for reporting. But Julian Assange is no journalist.”

“Unfortunately, that distinction doesn’t matter in the eyes of the Espionage Act”, says Wired’s Brian Barrett. “A successful prosecution of Assange would establish a precedent that publishing sensitive national security materials is a crime, full stop.”

Former Department of Justice spokesperson Matthew Miller told Wired that the Barack Obama administration had chosen not to charge Assange for that reason.

“The department ultimately made the decision that it wasn’t appropriate to charge Assange for publishing classified information,” Miller said. “Not because he’s a journalist - we didn’t believe he was - but that the same legal theories you would apply to him could be used against a reporter for any major media outlet. That was the driving force.”

A global trend

Experts say the intrusions on media freedom in Europe are part of a global trend. Panelists from Asia at the recent Global Media Forum “agreed that even democratically elected governments are imposing curbs on media as the space for dissent is increasingly shrinking in Asia”, reports Deutsche Welle (DW).

In the case of India, “progressive journalists are alarmed” by the resounding victory of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 general election, says the German newspaper. “They fear that the premier would now try to tighten his administration’s grip on the South Asian country's media even more,” DW adds.

Pakistani journalist Shahzeb Jillani told the panel that press freedom is also being threatened in his country. “In the past two years, Pakistan has witnessed a creeping coup. If you analyse our media, you will find it quite free actually. You can criticise politicians and even the prime minister, but you can’t say a word against the army,” Jillani said.

But Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star newspaper in Bangladesh, said that some of the blame for the increasing intrusion into press freedom lay at the door of journalists themselves.

“Trump dubbed mainstream media the ‘enemy of the people’. We need to analyse what has happened. Journalists have lost their credibility because they have forgotten about their readers and viewers. We give more importance to advertisers now,” Anam concluded.

British troops facing investigations over alleged historical offences committed during combat will get greater legal protection under new laws proposed by the defence secretary.

Penny Mordaunt is to announce plans for a presumption against prosecution for offences committed more than ten years ago during conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and anywhere else in the world - with the exception of Northern Ireland, The Guardian reports.

Under the proposed law, historic prosecutions dating back more than a decade would also be allowed in “exceptional circumstances”, such as if compelling new evidence emerged, says Sky News.

In a statement ahead of the official announcement, Mordaunt - who took office at the start of May following Gavin Williamson’s sacking - claimed the legislation will “provide the right legal protections to make sure the decisions our service personnel take in the battlefield will not lead to repeated or unfair investigations down the line”.

The move comes three years after Theresa May said the government would end the “industry of vexatious claims” against veterans, by taking advantage of a right to suspend aspects of the European Convention on Human Rights at times of war.

However, the BBC reports that there are “still dozens of investigations ongoing” from both Iraq and Afghanistan, and “some will question whether they should be abandoned”. Critics of the amnesty plan are warning that “if the law is changed to protect troops, it could be used by terrorists too”, adds The Sun.

What is the new law?

Mordaunt is seeking to ensure that both veterans and serving troops are not subjected to repeat investigations into historical operations.

The Guardian notes that banning prosecutions over alleged crimes that go back more than ten years would rule out “future claims dating from the Iraq wars”, which technically ended in 2009.

The proposals will be subject to a public consultation before being brought to the Commons, the paper adds.

Mordaunt said this week that “we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to our Armed Forces, who put their lives on the line to protect our freedom and security”.

“It is high time that we change the system and provide the right legal protections to make sure the decisions our service personnel take in the battlefield will not lead to repeated or unfair investigations down the line,” she continued.

Why has it been introduced?

Both the defence secretary and the prime minister have faced significant pressure from fellow Torys in recent months to provide protections for veterans.

Last week, Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, a former Army officer, warned that he would “no longer support the Government” in the Commons unless the historical prosecutions of ex-military personnel ends.

In an open letter to the PM published on Twitter, Mercers said that he found the repeated investigations into allegations “personally offensive” and that he would refuse to vote with the Government in Parliament - except on Brexit - until “clear and concrete steps” were taken to end the “abhorrent process”.

The Tory government has taken action in the past to halt some historical prosecutions for suspected battle crimes. In 2017, it closed down the Iraq Historical Investigations Team amid claims that a number of the allegations against soldiers were “found not to be credible and that unscrupulous law firms were bringing forward a large number of claims”, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Why is Northern Ireland not included?

As many as 200 British former military personnel are reportedly under official investigation for alleged offences during the conflict in Northern Ireland, also known as the Troubles.

When the amnesty system was first proposed by the government, Irish republican party Sinn Fein - which played a major role in the Troubles - warned that there should be “no immunity or impunity for British forces guilty of crime, collusion and murder in Ireland”.

According to the Telegraph, ongoing tensions over the conflict in the province had made the issue “too difficult to resolve”.

This inability to provide protections for Northern Ireland veterans is problematic for Mordaunt, says BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale.

“It is the prosecution of veterans who served during the Troubles that has so incensed Tory backbench MPs,” Beale writes. “And on that issue she has not been able to offer any solution.”

The New IRA has admitted responsibility for the killing of journalist Lyra McKee, which it describes as a case of accidental cross-fire.

The 29-year-old reporter was shot in the head on Thursday night while covering rioting in Londonderry's Creggan estate.

Using a recognised code word, the New IRA offered “full and sincere apologies” to McKee’s family and friends, in a statement given to The Irish News.

“In the course of attacking the enemy Lyra McKee was tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces,” the paramilitary group said.

The statement added: “We have instructed our volunteers to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy, and put in place measures to help ensure this.”

McKee’s death has united the normally polarised Northern Irish political scene, with “ordinary people in Derry expressing shock and revulsion at the killing” and politicians from loyalist and republican factions condemning the violence, The Guardian reports.

Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, said: “The murder of this young woman is a human tragedy for her family, but it is also an attack on all the people of this community, an attack on our peace process and an attack on the Good Friday agreement.”

Yesterday, McKee’s friends staged a protest outside the Derry offices of Saoradh, a republican party that reflects New IRA thinking. Several protesters smeared red handprints on the walls.

Tributes have been paid to McKee, who was catapulted into the public eye following a 2014 blog called Letter To My 14-Year-Old Self in which she spoke about the struggle of growing up gay in Belfast. The blog was later turned into a short film. In 2016, Forbes Magazine named her one of their “30 under 30 in media”.

Two men in their late teens who had been arrested over the killing were released without charge on Sunday. The investigation continues.

Three teenagers have died following a suspected stampede by people pushing to get into hotel hosting a disco in County Tyrone.

The victims - a 17-year-old girl and two boys aged 16 and 17 - are believed to have been crushed when a “large crowd” surged forward to get into the St Patrick’s Day party, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

“Our preliminary investigations show there was a crush towards the front door of this hotel, and in that crush people seem to have fallen,” said PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton.

“There seemed to be a little bit of struggling going on to get people up off the ground and that might explain also why there was a report of some fighting.”

Three other teens, all under 18, were taken to hospital with injuries following the incident at the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown at around 9.30pm on Sunday. A 16-year-old girl is in a stable condition, while the two other injured youngsters were treated and released, reports the Belfast Telegraph.

Emma Heatherington, whose two teenage sons were at the event, said she had “felt sick” after police contacted parents asking them to collect their children from the disco, reports the Irish Independent.

“[My sons] say there was a huge crowd waiting to get into the venue and then a lot of commotion up near the front of the queue, then they said the emergency services arrived and they were all asked to leave,” she said.

“They came home very, very shaken, with rumours that some people had died.”

Police are interviewing witnesses in an attempt to establish exactly what happened, and are urging everyone who was there to contact them, the BBC reports.

“Please do not post photographs or videos online. Please share them with the PSNI,” said Hamilton.

A suspected New IRA car bomb that exploded outside a courthouse in Londonderry on Saturday has prompted widespread condemnation and fears it could be a prelude to renewed violence in Northern Ireland after Brexit.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) claim at least two armed men hijacked a pizza delivery car and installed a bomb inside, which was then driven to the location before it was detonated.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that, “a bomb warning phone call was made to the West Midlands Samaritans who then informed West Midlands Police who in turn passed the information to the PSNI.”

The PSNI managed to evacuate the surrounding area within 30 minutes of the car being left outside the court house. No one is believed to have been injured in the attack.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton confirmed that two men in their twenties had been arrested in connection with the bombing. He told reporters: “For this investigation, our main line of inquiry is against the ‘New IRA’. The New IRA like most dissident Republican groups in Northern Ireland are small, largely unrepresentative and just determined to drive people back to somewhere they don't want to be.”

The New IRA was formed in 2012 after a number of dissident republican groups said they were unifying under one leadership.

The attack was condemned by policians from across the political spectrum. Gary Middleton, the Democratic Unionist Party former deputy mayor of Londonderry, described the incident as a “disgraceful act of terrorism” and “a throwback to the past”.

Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the nationalist Irish Republican Army, also condemned the bombing, with MP Elisha McCallion saying it had “has shocked the local community.”

CNN’s international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, tweeted the explosion was a “level of violence unseen here in years”.

CNN reports that “the bombing raised fears that sectarian violence might be revived in Northern Ireland, which has been split over the question of whether to remain part of the United Kingdom or become part of Ireland”.

The Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998 ended nearly 30 years of conflict between protestant loyalists and catholic republicans, in which more than 3,500 people died.

Since then the country has made huge strides towards reconciliation, yet there are growing fears the return of a hard border between north and south after Brexit could see renewed violence. Police in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic have warned that a return to a hard border, complete with customs and other checks, could be a target for militant groups.

Reuters reports that the New IRA, which is one of a small number of militant groups opposed to the Good Friday peace agreement, has carried out “sporadic attacks in recent years”. The last was back in 2016 when a prison officer was killed after a bomb exploded under his van in Belfast.

Last July, tensions flared again when police and fire officers came under petrol bomb and missile attack for a number of nights from Catholic youths in the Bogside area of Londonderry.

Police have arrested two men in connection with the murder of a father-of-two outside of a west Belfast school.

Jim Donegan, 43, was waiting for his son outside of St. Mary’s Grammar School when a gunman approached his vehicle and opened fire on Tuesday afternoon. Donegan was shot eight times, including in the head and died instantly.

More than 1,000 pupils were exiting the school at the time of the attack, including Donegan’s 13-year-old son.

Detective Chief Inspector Pete Montgomery told the Irish Independent that it was fortunate that nobody else was shot.

“It is utter madness, as any one of these bullets could have ricocheted, and having been at the scene I cannot emphasise enough that it is sheer luck I am not investigating multiple fatalities,” he said.

Progressive advocacy group People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll told Irish News the attack was “deeply concerning and should be condemned by everybody”.

“It is especially worrying given the children and young people in the area at the time, that somebody sees fit to pull a gun and open fire in the middle of the day.”

Sources told the Irish News they believe the killing may be linked to the Dublin gang war between the Hutch and Kinahan families. Donegan reportedly had business links in the Republic.

The gangs, led by Gerry Hutch and Christy Kinahan, have been at war since 2015, when Hutch’s nephew was killed in Spain on the orders of the Kinahan cartel, according to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

The gang feud has already been linked to 18 deaths.