A bright green Ireland is on the cover of The Economist, with a zip illustrating the border: “A united Ireland — could it really happen?” Crikey. Could it?

As dangerous as it would be to go into government without Sinn Féin, it would be as fraught to go alone.

Former British intelligence spy inside Sinn Féin, Willie Carlin, talks to Cormac O’Keeffe about Martin McGuinness, the IRA ‘Nutting Squad’ and his fears over possible trials

A former British spy in Sinn Féin has expressed fears that if prosecutions are taken against senior party figures and IRA veterans, it could have an impact on Brexit and the restoration of Stormont.

The DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson has called on the Irish courts and the Irish government to facilitate any extradition request for controversial former priest Patrick Ryan who confessed his involvement with the Brighton bombing on a BBC programme which is to be broadcast on Tuesday night.

Boris Johnson has been confirmed as the Conservative Party’s new leader – and the UK’s next prime minister.

As she steps down as leader of the Conservative Party and sets in motion the process to select a new prime minister, it is timely to look at Theresa May’s legacy. Does she really have one? Sadly, the answer must be no.

The former historic pub in Drogheda had only been restored after a five-year local campaign when arsonists first hit in February.

Des O’Sullivan casts an eye over Morgan O’Driscoll’s online art sale BISHOP Willie Walsh of Killaloe is generally considered by liberals in Ireland to be one of the good guys.

There are myriad examples of how that vague, mercurial entity “the market” has not delivered on the promise of the better future its champions assured us was inevitable once we placed our faith in investors and entrepreneurs.

“Is it ever OK to rape someone?” asks Jay Conway, the scenery-chewing Irish-American Oscar-winner about to take the lead in a West End production of the new play by hot young Irish playwright Ruth Davenport.

In advance of his trip to Ireland, Roddy ‘Radiation’ Byers looks back on his early days with The Specials, and tells Ellie O’Byrne about the musical subgenre he invented

The referendum was in 2016 but the UK still doesn’t know when it is leaving the EU – or even if it is leaving at all. How did it all come to this, asks Christopher Fear

Chris Patten said he had reluctantly come to the conclusion that a new referendum was the only way to end the Brexit "shambles".

Margaret Thatcher accused the Irish Government of doing nothing to help extradite a priest who allegedly worked for the IRA, state papers have revealed.

Taoiseach Charles Haughey told British prime minister Margaret Thatcher that the Irish government was ‘constantly ballyragged’ by the British and received ‘no credit’ for the work they had been doing, writes Seán McCárthaigh

In the UK, Labour’s hard-left leadership’s radical policy proposals have drawn gasps of horror from the business community.

It is an extraordinary comment on the Conservative Party that they have made Jeremy Corbyn electable.Brexit could be the makings of a Corbyn primed to lead nation

It is an extraordinary comment on the Conservative Party that they have made Jeremy Corbyn electable.

Britain misses the point in approach to Brexit talks, writes Martin Mansergh

Irish Rail chief executive David Franks, who was described as “anti-driver” and “anti-union” by staff representatives earlier this week, has announced that he is to leave the company in the coming months.

Is there an official silence on the alleged past British plot to have our former taoiseach, Charlie Haughey, assassinated?

In the midst of the power-sharing difficulties in the North, Ryle Dwyer argues that people should remember how such problems were initially resolved.

The British PM hit out over cases that collapsed in the Irish courts, writes Seán MacCárthaigh

The first meeting between Charles Haughey and British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, after Haughey was appointed Taoiseach for a second time, in 1987, was described as “friendly”.

HERE’S a letter from Irene in Manchester, published in the free London tabloid Metro (circulation 1,475,543, owned by the pro-Brexit Daily Mail, and commonly found littering commuter train carriages).

Jeremy Corbyn attacked the Tories as the "party of the rich, for the rich" as he addressed an enthusiastic eve-of-conference rally.

The mindset of the hardline Brexiteers and eurosceptics is key to understanding the road ahead as the increasingly contentious EU-UK negotiations continue, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

The two-party system in Britain was threatened in the early ’80s. It’s time someone set out to challenge the establishment again, writes Bill Emmott.

A Republican sits in the White House, a female prime minister leads the Tories into a UK election, and U2 take to the stage in Croke Park to play hits from their fifth album The Joshua Tree.

Korean creativity and a couple of top western stars have combined for one of the year’s most

By holding an early election May made a serious miscalculation, assuming that the popular support she had when she called the election would translate into votes, write Raj Persaud and Adrian Furnham.

Our man inside the game is braced for an onslaught of Premier League spending as clubs compensate for poor coaching by expensively filling the holes in their squads.

Leo Varadkar’s radical plan to ban workers from striking has provoked a backlash among trade unions and parties and threatened to destabalise new pay deal talks with public sector employees.

Leo Varadkar has hit his first major stumbling block in the Fine Gael leadership race after a key policy — banning strike action by emergency services after a Labour Court recommendation is issued — was lambasted by unions and opposition parties.

Mrs Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll has said he “almost killed Margaret Thatcher” when he mixed up salt and sugar while working as a waiter.

WHEN, after a decade or so of risky, tortuous negotiations, the Good Friday Peace Agreement was signed in April 1998, Bill Clinton had been president of America for five years, Tony Blair had been in Downing Street for just over a year and Bertie Ahern was approaching the first anniversary of his election as taoiseach. 

Donald Trump’s narrowed eyes and belligerent posture make him appear like Italian wartime dictator Benito Mussolini in a wig, Bernard Ingham has said.

The British prime minister and the new US president are meeting today for the first time, in Washington, and her best strategy may be an offer of friendship to the isolationist, says John Lloyd.

U2 say the “desperate times”, with the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, have inspired the band to tour their iconic album, The Joshua Tree, again.

The British and Irish governments ruled out co-operation on testing emissions from the nuclear plant at Sellafield in 1986 in the wake of the major nuclear accident at Chernobyl.

An Irish priest, who infamously interrupted the 2003 British grand prix and 2004 Olympics men’s marathon, asked the Government for assistance in arranging a meeting with Margaret Thatcher in 1983.

Stephen Kelly’s book provides an engaging insight into Charlie Haughey, who, according to the author, used the Northern Ireland issue to his advantage throughout his political career, writes Ryle Dwyer.

Britain's first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, has found herself in the unlikely company of Bridget Jones and Beyonce, thanks to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour Power List for 2016.