Latest Updates

Scope delves behind the headlines to examine some disturbing implications of the Donaldson Report into health care in Northern Ireland.

Nick Clegg has made suicide a general election issue. Scope looks at the current political climate for this troubling issue which disproportionately affects Northern Ireland.

Total annual funding for the arts in Northern Ireland is the same as the cost of policing Twaddell Avenue. Scope asks whether we should treat it as an investment in creativity and afford the sector more respect.

If Ed Miliband becomes PM he wants to overhaul our skills base to drive future prosperity - but training budgets are being slashed, so how will this be possible? Scope examines the issue.

Scope editor Nick Garbutt on why Labour should stand in Northern Ireland.

Is the Stormont House Agreement a Tory austerity project or a breakthrough for Northern Ireland? Scope asks Shadow Secretary of State Ivan Lewis.

NIACRO is campaigning for a change in law to allow minor offences committed as a youth to be removed from people's records in order to help them find work. Scope examines the proposal.

At a time when public services are on their knees and when mass redundancies are planned for public sector workers, how can the Department of Justice justify spending around £24 million a year jailing people for failing to pay fines?

Is it a scandal that Atlantic Philanthropies are paying for the training of our MLAs? Scope examines the issue.  

The Stormont House Agreement – what does it mean for the community and voluntary sector?

Exclusive: Scope has unearthed new evidence about secret security force oversight over planning decisions during the Troubles and the lasting division this has caused.

Local health and social care reform is based on moving provision closer to home - but are cuts to both emergency and domiciliary care causing a spiralling crisis?

Charity Commission Chief Executive Frances McCandless talks to Scope about CEO pay, governance and registration.

Dealing with the past is our toughest local issue. The Stormont House Agreement included a commitment to using oral histories to conserve and promote the experiences of local people - here UU's Dr Adrian Grant explores their potential.

In our second article on corporation tax - this time analysing the case for lowering rates - Scope asks whether its advocates are keeping a sane head in difficult times

Our revelations about the 1971 secret report into peacelines finally vindicates Scope, which was derided by the NIO when we published Derek Alcorn’s piece in 1982. The orginal article is reproduced below.

The war may be over but the battle scarred front line is still there. Scope asks what the future holds for interface communities.

Scope has had access to a secret 1971 government document that helped set segregation in stone and made Belfast’s peace walls permanent.

The “Biggest Show in the Country” is broadcast from a tiny studio at the end of a corridor which dog legs deep into the disorientating innards of Broadcasting House. It’s not easy to find.

Chancellor George Osborne has paved the way for devolved corporation tax in Stormont. In the coming weeks Scope will examine the pros and cons of lowering the rate - here we look at some of the arguments against a reduction.