Importance of road upgrade for constituents makes party’s tolerance of any political pain on it a genuine mystery

The DUP has accepted second place at Stormont. But it doesn’t know how to lead unionism from there

As the Scottish independence referendum showed, young first-time voters can be surprisingly conservative

Sinn Féin’s message to the British public is ‘let us take this expensive burden off your hands’, while to the Republic it’s that reunification will be almost painless

Minister for Health Mike Nesbitt’s negotiating tactics are remarkably aggressive. Has he overplayed his hand?

Students from south of the Border apply for capped places in NI and pay the local £4,855 fee, while students from Britain pay double. There’s a good argument for why that should change

A problem that persisted for two centuries is now considered solved

The violence of the past week has been aired with immediacy and intimacy unimaginable 15 years ago

The party may have unleashed sentiments that carry it swiftly to the right

Why did the BBC press on? Because it is an intractable bureaucracy with no respect for public money

Complaints of one-sided treatment may often be simplistic or partisan, but that only underscores the corrosive effect of inconsistent application of the law

Reaction among conservative politicians portrays NI as a victim. It is a short step from there to portraying Britain as a victim of Northern Ireland

Unionists are horrified and nationalists entranced by the prospect of polling stations north of the Border

Many believe Reform leader’s isolationism will benefit the nationalist cause. Unionism has its equivalent fond delusions

Westminster believes it has little to learn from devolved institutions. But the Shared Island initiative is showing how policy differences between close neighbours can offer useful insight