Ties That Bind? Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Union, by Graham Walker and James Greer (Irish Academic Press, £17.99) ENGLISH imperialism has had a remarkable run. Initially by force of arms and then by force of its will, it managed to subjugate half the world. In so doing, a tiny country on a small island transformed itself into a Great Power. Its earliest major conquests were its immediate neighbours: Wales, Scotland and Ireland. These nations, with their own languages and cultures, were gradually, and violently, incorporated into an entity the English parliament came to regard as “Great Britain”. One major challenge to England’s hegemony over its nearest and not-so-dearest was the courageous decision by the Irish people to take up arms in 1916. England did its best (and, most definitely, its worst) to frustrate Ireland’s subsequent bid for independence, just as it did when confronted by later rebellions elsewhere in its global empire. As we know to our cost, England
ANDREW NEIL: Rishi Sunak s new deal with the European Union over Northern Ireland is a remarkable watershed in more ways than one - with implications far beyond the Six Counties.
With London and Brussels about to ink a reconfigured Brexit deal, there's no better time for the majority in the North who wish to see progress to reach out to our allies in America.