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Local Politics
528 posts
Historic election marks new era of crisis for ‘peace process’
By Kevin Henry This year’s Assembly election was historic with Sinn Féin emerging as the largest party, the…
As rents sore we need emergency action on
housing
By Roise McCann THE cost of surviving is heightening before our eyes while wages remain stagnant. The cost…
Solidarity with LGBTQ community against homophobic & transphobic violence
The horrific murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in Sligo this week — crimes that appear to…
Assembly elections: We need a socialist alternative to sectarian division
By Daniel Waldron THE OVERARCHING nature of the Assembly election on 5th May will, unfortunately, be deeply sectarian.…
Cost of living crisis: workers not to blame for inflation
Here we carry the editorial from Socialist Alternative our sister organisation in England, Wales and Scotland Prices are…
“The cost of living is increasing very rapidly, and our wages are not keeping up!” Interview with a striking council worker
Council workers took strike action in Northern Ireland this week against a real-term pay-cut amidst a rising cost of living. The Socialist spoke to Cassie, an admin worker at Belfast City Hall organised in Unite the Union, about why she decided to take strike action.
Review: Belfast directed by Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh's biopic, Belfast, released in January 2022 to much applause. But for many Belfast natives, it fell flat. The film opens like an on-screen city break brochure, with all the modern visual icons, before fading to black and white and scenes of a typical Belfast street in 1969. Here we are introduced to a nine year-old Kenneth Branagh, "Buddy", as he naively navigates Belfast at the outbreak of the 30-year conflict which became known as "the Troubles".
Stormont Embroiled in Crisis: We need a Socialist alternative
Jeffery Donaldson, the leader of the DUP, has been threatening to collapse the institutions, by removing executive ministers if article 16 is not triggered by the British government. A threat that he has now backed down on after assurances from the Brexit Secretary that she will suspend aspects of the post-Brexit deal if agreement with the EU cannot be reached.
Bosses face wave of workers action across Northern Ireland: Trade unions must coordinate action
In this “post-lockdown” economy most of the developed world is facing the worst labour shortages since the late 1990s. Workers are facing rapidly rising inflation and huge increases in the cost of living beginning to bite into workers’ pay; along with a continuation of over eighteen months of exhausting pandemic working conditions, some outright dangerous. In the face of these crises, workers are increasingly moving to challenge their bosses and are becoming galvanised, at least at a workplace level, to demand increased wages and better working conditions.
Energy cost hikes: Take the energy companies into public ownership
From December 2021, Firmus energy implemented a 38% rise in the cost of gas across their “Ten Towns” network area. This follows a 35% hike in October and the previous 18% hike, earlier in 2021, meaning the company practically doubled prices in a single calendar year.