William Scholes

THE magnificent failure of Stormont to do, well, very much at all is, for valid reasons, a consistent theme of much of the commentary around Northern Ireland politics. Far from taking difficult decisions, the executive has largely distinguished itself by avoiding them with the alacrity of someone avoiding one of Zeus's lightning bolts. It says much that the plastic bag tax is still Stormont's most successful initiative in terms of affecting change in people's lives and behaviour. That is an outlier, however. Health, education, reconciliation, dealing with the past... it[...]