With notable exceptions, including the old NI Labour Party, Northern Ireland's politicians have a long history of talking at each other rather than to each other. For the first 50 years of the state we had a one-sided parliament, and since then we've struggled to have an enduring form of government. The Good Friday Agreement (or Belfast Agreement) of 1998 inspired a new dawn and fresh hope. But the Assembly it created has operated intermittently, with suspensions on five occasions.
A House Divided
With notable exceptions, including the old NI Labour Party, Northern Ireland's politicians have a long history of talking at each other rather than to each other. For the first 50 years of the state we had a one-sided parliament, and since...
