Religious distinctions are key to social and symbolic bouundaries in many societies, and most certainly so in Northern Ireland. The historical patterning of religious opposition, most particularly perhaps in the conservative character of the forms of Protestantism and Catholicism in Ireland, is clear. Recent works have traced the many ways religion has fed into conflict in the present, and the ...

Eighteen patients have been referred for lung transplantations from Northern Ireland in 1986-1990. Fourteen were accepted but only four achieved transplantation. These rates are lower than for comparable regions in the North of England. The lung donation rate from Northern Ireland during the same period was similar to that for the United Kingdom as a whole. The low referral and transplant rates...

This is a commentary on Gilbert and colleagues’ (1) paper on morality and markets in the National Health Service (NHS). Morality and values are not ephemeral qualities and universal healthcare is not simply an aspiration; it has to be enshrined in law. The creation of the UK NHS in 1948 was underpinned by core legal duties which required a system of public funding and delivery to follow. The mo...

The office of political party leader remains one that women rarely occupy. In the largest comparative study leadership to date, only 10.8% were women. One region which has made significant advances in this area is Northern Ireland. Since 2015, two parties, Sinn Féin and Democratic Unionist Party, have experienced a rapid feminisation their leadership. Such development particularly remarkable gi...