politics
The shuttering of historical mainstay pub and restaurant Doyle’s in at Forest Hills was a tough pill for many Bostonians to swallow. The setting for many an election victory party over the past 137 years, Doyle’s had become a beloved part of the Boston... Read more
The popular social network Facebook has 600 million users across Europe but that hasn't stopped an Irish agency from auditing the internet phenomenon. The Irish Data Protection Commission has agreed to audit Facebook following complaints about privacy... Read more
European and American business leaders are praising Ireland's government for setting a courageous course to return the Irish economy to financial prosperity in the years ahead. A balanced mix of increased taxes and reduced spending has both European Union... Read more
Like most of the world today, Northern Ireland is facing an uncertain financial future. But unlike most countries, it is an unsettled society, just emerging from 40 traumatic years of tragedy after tragedy. Although Northern Ireland now has its local,... Read more
Philip W. Johnston, a former chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, always knew how to spot a winner.
The knack surfaced as a teenager. At 14, he wrote to a junior senator from Massachusetts, urging him to run for president. The senator promptly... Read more
The July parades in Northern Ireland celebrate a Protestant military victory over a Catholic army at the Battle of the Boyne in the Republic of Ireland over 300 years ago. The marches are an in-your-face expression by some of Northern Ireland's... Read more
Institutions perform poorly because they are composed of human beings. That observation should not come as a surprise to anyone older than 30; yet we are frequently shocked when it happens.
Knowing human beings are flawed, we should expect that... Read more
Maybe it's because Gerry Adams has had some recent personal setbacks along with his party's electoral hopes, but the call for the voice of the Provos to end their parliamentary abstention is growing louder. The new leader of the SDLP, Margaret Ritchie,... Read more
Giving new definition to irony, Rob O'Leary's academic pedigree in the spirited arena of Boston politics reads like one from central casting: Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire; The School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University where he rubbed... Read more
The results of the upcoming British Parliamentary elections will have a profound effect upon peace and understanding amongst the conflicted people of Northern Ireland. The people of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, will elect 650 members of... Read more
In a close election last month, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) of Northern Ireland elected Minister Margaret Ritchie, 51, as its "leader" to guide the party into the second decade of the 21st century. With her ascension, Miss Ritchie... Read more
Northern Ireland's Troubles began with its police force front and center and in a very real sense may have ended with a grand compromise on the vexing question of where the ultimate control over policing should rest.
In many people's minds, Northern... Read more
The Jan. 19 election to succeed Paul Kirk - and Ted Kennedy - in the United States Senate was supposed to be the tripwire. The vote that launched a thousand domino campaigns, Democrats vying against Democrats for seats long held safe by Democrats, and... Read more
The view is serene from Stephen John Murphy's office on the fifth floor of Boston City Hall. It overlooks Faneuil Hall and a swath of Boston Harbor in the distance on this promising late January day when the sun is a bit higher in the sky and the... Read more
First came the startling news that the republican leader's brother, Liam Adams, was on the run, charged with having sexually abused his daughter for an eight-year period that began when the girl was 4. He was reported to be hiding in the Republic of... Read more
This new year, 2010, will be the 12th anniversary of the start of the Saville Inquiry into the January 1972 massacre, Bloody Sunday, when 13 unarmed Derry citizens were shot to death by British paratroopers on the streets where they lived. A fourteenth... Read more
Senator John McCain and President Barack Obama are meeting in the Oval Office. Let's listen in on the conversation:
McCain: "You can't be serious about pulling out of Afghanistan and Iraq, Mr. President."
Obama: "Oh, but I am, John. I was elected to take... Read more
On the lip of a historic and yet contentious vote in the U.S. Senate on a health care reform bill that would extend health benefits to about 31 million uninsured Americans, James W. Hunt Jr., longtime president and CEO of the Massachusetts League of... Read more
In broad state government terms, this year so far has been largely about corruption allegations, and their fallout. Such outbursts are often cyclical, play themselves out, and fade away for a while.
But there's a larger, more fundamental alteration going... Read more
For decades, Peter Robinson was the man in the background, a key player in the world of hard-line unionism but almost entirely obscured by Ian Paisley's epic shadow.
In 1979, at the tender age of 29, Robinson was elected to the British parliament,... Read more
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