politics – Peter Geoghegan

‘Is It Worse to Be Run from Edinburgh or London?’

By peterPosted on 18th September 2014Posted in independence, ScotlandTagged britain, Edinburgh, england, Europe, highlands, Holyrood, Independence, London, politics, Referendum, Scotland, western isles, westminster

In his book, the Making of the Crofting Community, the Scottish historian James Hunter quotes a small farmer in the Highlands as saying they “hate us in London but ignore us in Edinburgh.” Standing on the windswept pier at Stornoway, the main town on the isle of Lewis, both metropoles feel like a world away. The twice-daily […]

Tensions ratcheting up in Northern Ireland

By peterPosted on 7th January 2014Posted in Al Jazeera, Northern Ireland, PoliticsTagged Haass, Northern Ireland, politics

Belfast, Northern Ireland – The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 brought Northern Ireland’s bloody conflict to a close, but signs of division remain 15 years later. In the capital Belfast, Catholic and Protestant communities are separated by euphemistic “peace walls”, most children attend segregated schools, and major questions around the past and future remain unresolved. A […]