Newton Emerson

Belfast

Columnist at Irish Times

Co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement

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Articles

Newton Emerson: The contrast between Kneecap charges and flag-festooned Northern Ireland is absurd

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Newton Emerson

Under the UK’s main counter-terrorism legislation, the Terrorism Act 2000, it is an offence to arrange, assist or attend a meeting with knowledge that it will be addressed by a member of a proscribed organisation. This is a serious offence, punishable by up to 14 years in jail. The maximum sentence was raised from 10 years in 2021, so it is supposedly becoming more serious.
Newton Emerson: Let’s not be imprisoned by outdated thinking on sentencing

1 week ago | irishnews.com | Newton Emerson

Northern Ireland’s prison system is in good shape by British and Irish standards, so there is little of the urgency driving sentencing reform in England. It would be a pity if that caused Stormont to ignore some of the ideas the government is proposing. Shabana Mahmood, the justice minister for England and Wales, is planning dramatic changes first and foremost as an emergency measure to reduce inmate numbers, due to overcrowding, chaos and squalor inside jails.
Kneecap charge exposes the legal fudge in terrorism laws

2 weeks ago | msn.com | Newton Emerson

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Newton Emerson: Kneecap charge exposes the legal fudge in terrorism laws

2 weeks ago | irishnews.com | Newton Emerson

Terrorism legislation has been the same across the UK for a quarter of a century, yet it is enforced very differently in Britain and Northern Ireland, and to some extent is barely enforced in Northern Ireland at all. This vast legal fudge has crept up on us and it goes remarkably unnoticed most of the time.
Newton Emerson: EU-UK deal is a gift to unionists. Shame so many want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Newton Emerson

The UK’s “reset” agreement with the EU, unveiled on Monday, lowers the Irish Sea border much further than many observers had expected. It commits both sides to an agri-food deal with dynamic alignment to the EU’s rules and primacy for the EU’s court, two features controversial in British politics, or at least in Westminster politics.
Newton Emerson: Mike Nesbitt may turn out better at politics than people think

2 weeks ago | irishnews.com | Newton Emerson

Stormont health minister Mike Nesbitt has levelled some serious accusations against the British Medical Association (BMA). In a statement to the assembly, the UUP leader described his frustration at trying to engage with the BMA’s Northern Ireland General Practice Committee – in effect, the trade union for GPs.Most general practices are private businesses, owned by GP partners. They provide their services to the Department of Health under a standard contract, renegotiated every financial year.
Inflated public sector workforce is suffocating Stormont finances

2 weeks ago | thetimes.com | Newton Emerson
Why not give everyone in Northern Ireland the right to vote in the South’s presidential elections?

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Newton Emerson

Who exactly are the Irish citizens in Northern Ireland? The question arises from a Sinn Féin motion in Stormont last week and an Aontú Bill submitted to the Dáil last month. Both propose enabling Irish citizens in Northern Ireland to vote in presidential elections. Restricting the franchise to Irish citizens could be seen as respecting British sovereignty and unionist identity, although many unionists see it otherwise.
Newton Emerson: Why can’t the public be recruited to inform on polluters?

3 weeks ago | irishnews.com | Newton Emerson

We all have our part to play in saving the putrid puddle in the middle of Northern Ireland, according to a campaign by the Lough Neagh Partnership, which comprises councils and other stakeholders. Actions listed include maintaining septic tanks and not pouring cooking oil down the sink. But the campaign omits one glaringly obvious way to help: by reporting farmers spreading slurry in winter, or near watercourses, or in wet weather throughout the year.
Newton Emerson: Anyone got any ideas how to spend £30m in Newcastle?

4 weeks ago | irishnews.com | Newton Emerson

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council believes it has only weeks to come up with a replacement to the Mourne Mountains Gateway Project or it will lose £30 million in city deal funding. The controversial plan to build a cable car on Slieve Donard was scuppered last month by the National Trust, which withdrew permission to use its land. The council is so desperate that SDLP chair Peter Byrne is asking “anyone who has ideas or alternatives for the project to contact senior management”.