Are young people getting a fair go politically in Northern Ireland? Ctd

David McCann really got me thinking when he asked recently: Are we giving young people a fair go in Northern Ireland? I have a few observations I’d like to ventilate on the issue. Having studied at Queen’s and lived in Toulouse and New York I’ve come to see it that young people in Northern Ireland possess certain characteristics that are unique to the province and which are relevant to any answer we should provide. You could say that the basic …

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Bad news for Sweden as the social model slowly unravels…

One of the big challenges for all the Scandinavian countries (or at least those without oil reserves to fall back on) has been how to cope with waves of immigration. It’s particularly challenging for what has been remarkable homogenous societies like Sweden. Now it seems a politically unwatched pot is boiling over. Really, not good. After decades of practising the Swedish model of generous welfare benefits, Stockholm has reduced the role of the state since the 1990s, spurring the fastest …

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