Scope Articles

NI’s fiscal powers – the coming storm

14 Sep 2022

The Fiscal Council has published its first report into NI’s spending abilities. If you think the current status quo of failing healthcare, over-budget schools and sparse cost-of-living interventions is bad, wait till you see what’s next.

A poisoned chalice

9 Sep 2022

Heavy hitters Penny Mordant, Iain Duncan Smith and Sajid Javid were all offered the post Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. All turned it down, which is why we now have Chris Heaton-Harris at the helm.

It isn’t easy to leave abuse behind

7 Sep 2022

People in abusive relationships need the confidence to know that, if they leave, they can do so safely – and with plenty of support.

One out, all out: The return of industrial action

1 Sep 2022

Good journalists go where the action is. There are still a few working who are old enough to remember the days when the most sought-after job in the business was that of industrial correspondent.

Improving the care system: a massive task that’s worth the effort

1 Sep 2022

There is no single way to maximise the outcomes for children in care. Big improvements are possible, but reform will take time.

Funding: what works, and what does not

26 Aug 2022

Charities, by definition, exist to provide a benefit to society. The more effective they are, the greater the benefit.

Our towns and cities can be whatever we want them to be

Commercial Court, just off Hill Street, in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter (photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash)

24 Aug 2022

Northern Ireland’s urban spaces are designed to suit cars. We could tinker with this – or transform it entirely.

How to explain why fixing health goes beyond the health service

18 Aug 2022

Poverty kills. If we want a health society we need the right building blocks in place, including good quality jobs, housing and education.

The public wants a Stormont that works

17 Aug 2022

Northern Ireland’s fractured politics come with risks. The current system mitigates against dangers, like majority rule, but is failing to deliver basic governance. Other options are available.

Poverty: why local politicians need to get back to work

11 Aug 2022

Northern Ireland is supposed to have a strategy “to tackle poverty, social exclusion and patterns of deprivation based on objective need.”

Charities want NI to have a government asap

10 Aug 2022

Civic society plays a key role in Northern Ireland’s wellbeing. It is worth listening to – and what it says about the Stormont impasse could scarcely be more unified.

The battle to be the next PM

4 Aug 2022

At Scope we write about public policy rather than politics. Yet the two are co-dependent. And there are times you just cannot address one without the other.

Food banks are charities that don’t want to exist

The front page of last week's Newtonards Chronicle

4 Aug 2022

Demand for food banks is soaring but, as the cost of living increases, people are less able to donate. However, helping food banks does not fix any fundamental problems – something the Trussell Trust is determined to make clear.

What happens when facts don't matter

28 Jul 2022

The phrase “alternative facts” first got an airing on 22 January 2017.

The cost of living is creating a poverty sinkhole

27 Jul 2022

A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that, while poverty in general has waxed and waned over the past 20 years, the number of people and families living in destitution has increased significantly.

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