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The article discusses the impact of Brexit to Ireland's trade. Topics discussed include the importance of Great Britain to Ireland's external trade, the land bridge through the Channel Tunnel as the quickest route for lorries between Ireland the European Union (EU) countries and reintroduction of physical controls on trade from Ireland if Great Britain leaves the EU in 2019 without an agreement on trade, customs, immigration and food safety.

The rapid house-price inflation in many countries over the past few years is clearly unsustainable. But will house prices just flatten off or will they slump? Alan Greenspan, who criticized the stock market's's "irrational exuberance" long before that particular bubble was fully inflated, is more sanguine about American house prices. The argument that lower interest rates make homes cheaper to buy is badly flawed, because it ignores inflation. If interest rates are low only because inflation is low, then although initial mortgage payments are smaller, the real burden of mortgage debt will be eroded more slowly over time, and payments will remain high in relation to income for much longer. The ratio of average house prices to average incomes, which tracks the long-term affordability of homes, is currently flashing red in America, Britain, Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. Mr Greenspan insists there is no "national" housing bubble in America, and indeed houses across the country are on average less overvalued than elsewhere. But if a bubble were to burst in several cities simultaneously, that would have big national consequences. House prices in America and other economies are unlikely to fall as precipitously as share prices have done over the past three years, but even a much smaller drop could do more serious economic harm.

The article reports on the impact of the British withdrawal from the European Union on Britain's commerce with Ireland, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The article focuses on the journal's "country of the year" award for 2018 which celebrates which country has improved the most in the past 12 months. Topics discussed include the countries which have been suggested as the winner including Great Britain, Ireland, Ecuador and Peru, the choice which came down to three countries, namely, Malaysia, Ethiopia and Armenia, and Armenia being named the country of the year.

The article explores the softening of the way that Great Britain would leave the European Union (EU). It highlights the different stance of British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Parliament on carrying out Brexit. The risks of the soft exit of Great Britain from the EU are identified, including the effect of Brexit on Ireland's EU membership and popular outrage when the EU refuses to give Great Britain privileged access to the single market.

This article discusses the sex scandals that have threatened the peace negotiations between Ireland and Great Britain. One scandal involved Iris Robinson, the wife of Ireland's first minister Peter Robinson, and another involved Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein. Adams is accused of covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a daughter and Robinson has been accused of having seduced a 19-year-old son of a late friend.

The article discusses purported foreign direct investment in European corporate tax havens including Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Topics include proposed tax reforms in Luxembourg, changes to business residency requirements in the Netherlands and Ireland, and the attraction of headquarters for multinational businesses to Great Britain through low corporate taxes.

The article provides charts, graphs, and an overview of economic and financial indicators. America ran a record current-account deficit of $805 billion in 2005, up from $668 billion in 2004; as a share of GDP the deficit rose to 6.4% from 5.7%. In Japan, GDP growth in the fourth quarter was revised down slightly to an annual rate of 5.4%. The economy grew by 2.7% in 2005. Hopes of a strong upturn in Germany later this year may have been exaggerated, according to the ZEW index, which measures financial analysts' business expectations six months ahead. Italy's hard-pressed industrial sector got off to a disappointing start in 2006. Production fell by 0.3% in January compared with December 2005. The British labour market weakened again. Claimant unemployment rose by 14,600 in February--the biggest monthly rise since December 1992. To maintain its enviable growth rate, Ireland will have to find more workers from somewhere: immigrants, older people or women. But its infrastructure must also catch up with the big gains in population it has already enjoyed.

This article discusses labor migration restrictions in the European Union (EU) that were imposed after ten countries, mostly in central Europe, were admitted into the EU in May of 2004. There were fears that there would be a flood of migrants who would steal jobs or sign up for welfare benefits. Under pressure, 12 of the 15 existing EU members imposed restrictions on labour from the east. Britain and Ireland stood alone in opening their markets to all, though even they adopted rules to stop benefit-seekers, and Britain created a registration scheme. Sweden also kept its labour market open, after its parliament rejected restrictions.

The article focuses on immigrants in Great Britain. According to Mohamed Osman, a Somali immigrant who runs a telephone centre in the heart of Toxteth, black Africans now outnumber West Indians and their British-born descendants--a group that he refers to as "blacks". For much of the 20th century, immigrants into Britain followed, in reverse, the paths trodden by imperial administrators. Ex-colonies in Ireland, the West Indies and the Indian subcontinent supplied the largest groups of settlers. But history and proximity matter less these days. Since 1999, countries outside the Commonwealth and the European Union have been larger net exporters of people to Britain than the other two sources combined. The 1991 census recorded fewer than half as many black Africans as Afro-Caribbeans in Britain. In 2001, the numbers were 485,000 and 566,000. Since then, the balance has tipped. Four out of the past five quarterly Labour Force Surveys estimate the black African population as equal to or greater than the Afro-Caribbean population, and the most recent survey puts them well ahead at 618,000. The oldest ethnic minority group to arrive in Britain in any numbers has been overtaken by the newest. Immigration and asylum are part of the reason. Oddly, the sea change in Britain's ethnic minority population has gone virtually unnoticed by politicians and pressure groups. One way that ethnic groups force governments to engage with them, of course, is to be hopeless. That is not the case for black Africans--or, at least, not universally. Single-parent households are considerably rarer than among Afro-Caribbeans. Anglophone immigrants from countries like Nigeria and Ghana are aspirational; thanks mostly to them, 38% of black African adults hold higher educational qualifications--more than any other ethnic group. But younger arrivals from war-torn nations are not faring so well.

If someone had told you three years ago that share prices in America and Europe would plunge by almost 50%, you would have braced yourself for a deep global recession. One reason why many economies have held up better than expected is that rising house prices have offset the loss of equity wealth and so helped to support consumer spending. Indeed, in America housing is arguably the only remaining prop for the economy. But by keeping interest rates low to cushion the economy from a slump in share prices, some central banks may have inflated a housing bubble. America, Australia, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain look most at risk. Yet even as house prices start to wobble, many housing experts continue to insist that "this time is different": because interest rates will not rise significantly in the near future, they say, a slump in house prices is unlikely.

This article focuses on a public inquiry into the British army and police collusion in murders in Northern Island. According to a report by John Stevens, head of London's Metropolitan Police, published on April 17th, two of the men involved in this murder were agents working for the British army. John has been investigating collusion between the security services and loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland for 4 years. This is his third inquiry. He has taken so long partly because his investigations have been obstructed, he says, by both the Force Research Unit (FRU), the secret army organization that handled agents in Northern Ireland, and the Northern Ireland police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary. John says, for instance, that the FRU warned one of the two agents suspected of involvement in Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane's murder the night before he was due to be arrested, so he fled. When new plans for his arrest were being finalized, John's offices were burnt down.

The taxation of share options is proving just as contentious as accounting for them. Ronald LeMay and William Esrey, respectively president and chief executive of Sprint, a U.S. long-distance telecommunications company, have had to resign because a potential multi-million-dollar tax liability on their gains from exercising stock options in the company threatens to bankrupt them. In Ireland, a finance bill recognizes that it has affected many ordinary employees in Ireland's high-technology businesses, some of them subsidiaries of American multinationals. The bill proposes allowing those who have exercised options at a price above the current market price of the shares to defer any tax liability arising from the transaction. In Britain, broad-based employee share-option schemes are treated more generously than those granted to only a few top individuals. Nevertheless, the taxation of stock-option gains in Britain has been thrown into confusion by a case brought before the Court of Appeal. The rules for taxing gains on stock options are unclear everywhere. This uncertainty, added to the long-drawn-out fall in equity markets, has sharply reduced their appeal.

Comments on relations between England and Ireland. Speech delivered by England's Prime Minister Tony Blair to the Irish parliament; Vitality of Ireland's economy; How England and Ireland's shared status in the European Union affects their relationship; How Blair is viewed in Ireland; Suggestion of Bertie Ahern, Irish Prime Minister, that Ireland might consider rejoining the Commonwealth.

The article discusses the new anti-terrorism laws of the governments of Great Britain and Ireland. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, the British and Irish prime ministers, think that strict laws concerning their security measures are needed to bring real peace to Northern Ireland. It is stated that the key package of measures outlined by both prime ministers is a potentially dangerous restriction of civil liberties.

Guages what the British government's reponse should be to the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) bombing on June 15, 1996 in Manchester, England. Sentiment that peace negotiataors should cease trying to include the terrorists in the settlement for peace in Ireland; View that Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein's leader, remains an ally to the terrorists; Why there appears to be a division in the republican movement in Ireland.

Relates that the British and Irish governments have reconciled their differences and have agreed to a plan for all-party talks on Northern Ireland's future. British Prime Minister John Major; Irish Prime Minister John Bruton; Response to the plans, from Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams; Shift of attention to the Irish Republican Army (IRA); The two largest unionist parties in Northern Ireland.

Offers a look at the situation in Northern Ireland in July 1995. Deliberation over the condition of ten-month-old peace of Ulster in Ireland and Northern Ireland; Comment on the result of actions by Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionists on July 10, 1995; Support of the British government's concerns about terrorist planning in Northern Ireland.

Discusses a leaked draft of an Anglo-Irish document on Ulster and the furious reaction of unionist politicians. Even so, the peace process is likely to survive. The British government's pledge of a `triple lock' to guard against anything being imposed on the people of Northern Ireland; Holding out for greater changes; Hopeful signs for peace.

Reports on the agreement among Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds, leader of Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour Party John Hume and Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, in order to reinforce the impact of the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) ceasefire declaration in Ireland. Reason behind the British government's hesitant; Issue of support of nationalists by U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration; Attitude of the Protestant community towards Great Britain and Ireland.

Examines the implications of the unconditional ceasefire announced by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Illustration of a crucial difference between Northern Ireland and other cases; Meaning of a prolonged IRA ceasefire; Steps that the Irish and the British government should take to ensure peace in Ireland.

Discusses the current status of relations between Britain and Ireland over the territory of Northern Ireland. Recent surges in violence; Details of the Protestant cause in this troubled region; Additional information.

Discusses political and economic developments in Northern Ireland. Disputes between Catholics and Protestants; Actions of British Prime Minister John Major; Events in Dublin and Belfast; The Ulster Unionist Party; Additional information and analysis.

The article focuses on the British government's expectations from the Irish Republican Army (IRA). On November 15, 1993, Prime Minister John Major offered the IRA an unmistakable olive branch, declaring that if it ended violence for good then Sinn Fein can enter the political arena as a democratic party and join the dialogue on the way ahead. Britain has always said that it will not talk to Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, until it renounces violence. So the implication has always been that Britain would talk if violence were abandoned. The IRA used to regard Britain as an imperialist occupying power. Now, at last, it has begun to accept that Britain has no strategic or economic interest in remaining in Northern Ireland. And at last it seems to recognise that the wishes of the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland cannot simply be ignored.

Discusses a decision by Peter Lilley, Britain's secretary of state at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), regarding a French bank, an Irish finance company, and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC). Details of the case; Lilley's admiration of Charles de Gaulle; Outlook.

Describes one of Margaret Thatcher's ministerial colleagues, Ian Gow and his friendship with her before 1985 when he resigned over the Anglo-Irish agreement. Condemns the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) murders; Gow murdered by the IRA; Protection of other prominent opponents to the IRA.

The article looks at a 2012 investigation into British involvement in the 1989 assassination of Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane by the loyalist gang Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Topics include papers that detail how British intelligence officers helped plan and British agents in the UDA helped commit Finucane's assassination, British Prime Minister David Cameron's adroitness in admitting British wrongs against Ireland, and how the situation in Ireland has improved since 1989.

The article examines a wave of bombings by splinter groups of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland in August, 2010. Although no lives were lost in any of the bombings, all were intended to cause casualties. Means of preventing further bombings considered by the governments of Northern Ireland, Ireland and Great Britain are discussed.

News briefs on world politics are presented. A referendum in Ireland ratified a treaty on European Union government. Italy's constitutional court struck down a law granting Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution. Great Britain's Conservative Party endorsed a platform calling for major cuts in public expenditures.

This article reports on an initiative that would have expanded the authority of the European Union in judicial matters in member countries. The EU had proposed to increase its authority not only in cross-border crimes, but in the criminal justice systems of European countries in general. Member states Germany, Ireland and Great Britain voted against the proposal at a September 2006 meeting in Tampere , Finland.

The article reviews two art exhibitions of British artists which celebrate nature's special place in British art, including "Richard Long," at Lismore Castle, County Waterford, Ireland, and "Constable: The Great Landscapes," at Tate Britain, London, until August 28th.

Discusses relations between Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland's biggest national party) and the British and Irish governments. Mention of Michael McDowell, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Martin Ferris, Bertie Ahern, and Paul Murphy; Background on the peace process and a break in the organization's relations with governments in Great Britain and Ireland; How a robbery at the Northern Bank in Belfast stopped the peace process; The reason raids were made by the Irish police on IRA businesses; Idea that Sinn Fein might not be harmed politically by IRA corruption.

This article looks at how Irish attitudes toward Britain are improving. "The Irish are a fair people," Dr Johnson once said, "they never speak well of one another." But they now speak well of the British, says a new poll of young Irish professionals, jointly commissioned by the British Council and the British embassy. The two countries share an 800-year history of conflict and distrust. But the latest chapter is of partnership more than friction, and also of notably good personal relations between the prime ministers, Ireland's Bertie Ahern and Britain's Tony Blair. Ireland remains one of the best-performing economies in the European Union. Two years ago, when Queen Elizabeth's mother died, the Irish flag flew at half-mast over Dublin's post office: a symbolic flag over a building at the heart of the 1916 rebellion.

A tweak in the law for a small but vulnerable minority. When Queen Elizabeth lists the new bills her government will introduce at the state opening of Parliament on November 26th, the "gender recognition bill" may provoke a few smirks. Why, many may wonder, does the government need a law to decide what sex someone is? And does it really justify the expected cost to the taxpayer of £340 ($570) that bureaucratic recognition of each switch will cost? Such smirking would be as unkind as talk of "genderbenders" is pejorative. The country's 5,000 transsexual people will find their lives made easier by the new law. Along with Ireland, Albania and Andorra, Britain is one of the few European states that does not give transsexuals legal recognition of their new gender. This creates problems: a transsexual woman may take out car insurance under her new name, but if she has a crash she risks prosecution for driving without insurance and fraud. The same problem arises when transsexuals apply for those jobs, often in public services, which require an original birth certificate as proof of identity.

It took the police almost 20 years to nab John Palmer, nicknamed "Goldfinger", following his acquittal for masterminding the £26 million ($39 million) Brinks-Mat gold bullion robbery. Cases such as this have led the government to set up the Assets Recovery Agency this week to confiscate wealth it believes was ill-gotten. The police have hailed it as an important weapon against a group of around 150 super-criminals who they claim are, in effect, untouchable under current laws. The British Assets Recovery Agency is modelled closely on the success of the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), set up in 1996. Seizing assets allegedly acquired through crime without requiring criminal standards of proof represents a big extension of state powers. Its target for recoveries over the next three years is a modest £60 million--which won't make much of a dent in the £18 billion of assets which the National Criminal Intelligence Service estimates have been acquired criminally.

Compares the wealth of the people in Ireland with the wealth of the people in Great Britain. High wealth of Irish people as compared to Britons on the basis of gross domestic product (GDP) per person and GDP adjusted for purchasing power; Exclusion of income earned abroad and income paid to foreigners in the GDP; Declaration of earnings by Ireland-based foreign-owned companies in Great Britain; Graphs comparing the GDP per person and gross national product per person in the two countries.

Discusses the constitutional reform in Ulster, Ireland and Northern Ireland as of April 1998, presided over by the British government. The frenzy associated with the reform; The suggestion that Britain needs reform to check the power of an over-mighty executive.

Asserts that the gamesmanship continues between Ireland and Great Britain over the peace process in Northern Ireland. The meeting between Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring and Sir Patrick Mayhew, Britain's secretary of state for Northern Ireland; Spring's proposal of `proximity talks,' similar to those held in Dayton, Ohio concerning Bosnia; Spring's opposition to this idea; Other incidents of gamesmanship.

Relates how on the eve of President Bill Clinton's three-day visit to Britain and Ireland, British Prime Minister John Major and Ireland's Prime Minister John Bruton unveiled a breakthrough. The stalemate between Britain and Ireland; The agreement by the officials to a `twin-track' approach; The `preliminary' all-party talks while an international body examines the weapons issue; George Mitchell, former American senator, chairman of the `decommissioning commission.'

Blames the actions of the British in Ireland for much of the starvation and suffering that occurred during 1845 and 1851. The use of force and cajolery by the British in order to take the land away from native Irish and turn plantation owners into `tenants'; Decision of the government in Dublin to put off any large commemoration of the famine until 1997; The fragile peace in Northern Ireland.

Reports that a spate of killings in Northern Ireland has impelled British politicians into frenzied talking and concludes that the will to reach a settlement still seems weak. October 28 reaction of John Major to a peace plan put forward by Dick Spring, the Irish foreign minister; October 29, 1993 meeting between Major and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds to establish guiding principles for a settlement; More.

This article presents news briefs related to socio-economic conditions of Great Britain. Great Britain is likely to grow faster than other European economies in 1993 and 1994, according to Norman Lamont, the chancellor. Ministers pondered introducing the first statutory worker registration scheme since 1945-for building workers in Ulster between Northern Ireland and Ireland. The aim is to stop millions of fraudulent pounds being siphoned out of the building industry by terrorists. In three years' time, England and Wales will be covered by a network of private jails.

The article focuses on the extradition of suspected terrorists between Great Britain and Ireland. The notion persists in Britain that the Irish are slow to extradite terrorist suspects. In fact, extradition between the two countries is straightforward. Since 1965, about 900 people have been extradited from Ireland to Britain, mostly ordinary criminals but including many suspected terrorists. Extradition requires only that the attorney general is satisfied there is intention to prosecute. Loud British demands to hand over "the terrorists" dismay the Irish, who recall innocent Irish people convicted on terrorist charges in England.

The article comments on the failure of Hoover Co.'s promotional campaign in Great Britain and Ireland. Hoover's recent promotional campaign in Great Britain and Ireland will go down as one of the great marketing gaffes of all time. For some reason not entirely clear, the company offered consumers two free return flights to Europe or America if they purchased any of its vacuum cleaners, washing machines or other household appliances worth more than $150. If Hoover's aim was to draw attention to its name, which is one of Britain's best-known brands, then the campaign was perfect.

This article presents information on the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) terrorist activities. The chilling truth about the IRA is that it is not driven by madness. Its members are sane men and women who commit monstrous acts. Their logic is drawn from Irish history-at least, the history as they see it. Violence drove the English out of the 26 counties of Ireland, they say, and violence will drive the English out of the six counties of Northern Ireland. IRA killers show little guilt. Instead they name people, often members of their own family, who have been shot by British security forces. They say they are pursuing an economic war against the British.

This article presents information on the Maastricht treaty on political and economic union, which has been introduced by the European Commission (EC) Commission's proposal that EC spending should rise by 32% over five years has got nowhere because Great Britain and Germany object to the extravagance. A question mark even hangs over the ratification of the Maastricht treaty. Denmark and Ireland will put the treaty to a referendum, and the others to a parliamentary vote. Governments signed the treaty on February 7, but its words may yet change.