Newton Emerson

3 weeks ago | irishnews.com | Newton Emerson

Objectors to the new pollution controls proposed by Alliance minister Andrew Muir are resorting to whataboutery. Farming produces over 60 per cent of the nitrates poisoning Northern Ireland’s waterways, with a large fraction of that due to illegal spreading or dumping of slurry. Farmers, food processors, industry groups and their political supporters, who include the DUP, UUP and Sinn Féin, all realise this is indefensible.

3 weeks ago | msn.com | Newton Emerson

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3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Newton Emerson

The defamation case between Gerry Adams and the BBC has many points of interest, legally and politically, but its implications for journalism have been vastly overstated. The former Sinn Féin president won in Dublin’s High Court last week because the BBC broadcast a serious allegation against him in a programme that cited only one anonymous source, with no corroboration. Every news organisation would aspire to do better than this under almost all circumstances.

3 weeks ago | irishnews.com | Newton Emerson

The SDLP had great hopes for its assembly motion on Monday, which declared that “Northern Ireland’s best long-term future will be achieved by re-joining the European Union, an outcome that the people of Northern Ireland can only decisively effect via a vote for a new Ireland”. The motion was widely publicised by the party in advance, much of it through warnings that Britain is heading for a dark, Faragist future. This synthesised and affirmed the SDLP’s pro-European nationalist position.

4 weeks ago | irishnews.com | Newton Emerson

The awarding of intimidation points for social housing applicants was scrapped in January by DUP communities minister Gordon Lyons. He shared the widely-held view that the system was open to abuse, especially by paramilitaries. People forced from their homes for sectarian or racist motivations still receive extra points, but only the same as those facing any form of violent intimidation, such as domestic abuse. This is rarely enough to move them to the front of the queue, as had been the case.