Scope Articles

The trouble with sectarianism

24 May 2019

Last week saw the publication of an important report on sectarianism in Northern Ireland

Global goals lack local focus

23 May 2019

The UN Sustainable Development Goals are nearly four years old. High-level strategies for the world (or 193 UN member nations) to build a “better and more sustainable future”. Too few people know what they are.

Autism: mysteries and myths and the need for research

17 May 2019

Autism NI warned last week that autism services are at breaking point in Northern Ireland, after the latest prevalence statistics were published by the Department of Health.

Loneliness: an underappreciated problem

17 May 2019

A huge number of people in NI frequently feel lonely. It is a problem for people of all ages and in all sorts of situations. The impact on health and wellbeing is enormous.

Teachers in our schools: the extent of the religious divide revealed

10 May 2019

A major piece of research into the one profession where it is still lawful to discriminate on the grounds of religion has just been published.

A modern approach to modern slavery

10 May 2019

The last Stormont mandate was abandoned before it got into stride. However, it still made changes to local policy, reflected in the new Modern Slavery Strategy.

Why social mobility is going backwards

3 May 2019

Improving social mobility is a central policy objective of all mainstream political parties.

If you want to improve the benefits system, speak up

Prof. Eileen Evason (centre) along with Barry McVeigh (left) and Kevin Higgins (right), both members of her team that produced the Welfare Reform mitigation report, and the then First and deputy First Ministers

2 May 2019

The IFS says Universal Credit will lower the incomes of millions of people and that the welfare reform “hits the persistently poor the hardest on average.” But change is possible.

The boardroom revolution is underway

26 Apr 2019

Boards in Northern Ireland are dominated by middle aged and older people. Most of them are middle class men from a managerial background.

The first major effort at citizen’s income has some surprises

24 Apr 2019

Preliminary results are in from Finland’s experiment with a Universal Basic Income. The findings are mixed, interesting, and should arouse everyone’s curiosity.

Childcare in NI: parents and providers are both working too hard

12 Apr 2019

Northern Ireland is the UK’s poor cousin when it comes to childcare. Fixes to the sector’s struggling financial structure need legislation.

Brexit and the crisis in democracy

10 Apr 2019

Just how much has Brexit damaged peoples’ attitudes both to politicians and parliamentary democracy? We got the answer this week and it makes for uncomfortable, at times disturbing, reading.

Brexit doesn’t mean Brexit

What kind of world do we want? Photo by João Silas on Unsplash

4 Apr 2019

The great political divide of our time – ahead of the traditional left vs right, and even existential concerns about the environment – is about globalisation vs nationalism.

Echoes from the past - the crisis that tore the Tories apart