Alistair Bushe, Editor
Dear reader,
January 2021 will go down in history as a hugely significant month in the history of Northern Ireland.
We had been warned about the potential significance of an Irish Sea border following on from the UK's departure from the European Union, but few predicted that the impact would be so instant and so dramatic.
We make no apologies for making the sea border and the controversial NI Protocol such a focus during the last month, not least because our own digital analytics show that it has been something that has interested you, our readers, enormously.
On January 4, Sam McBride, our political editor, revealed that within days of Brexit, possibly hundreds of items had disappeared from Sainsbury's stores in Northern Ireland.
Sam also revealed in that article that Sainsbury's had taken the unusual steps of replacing those items with brands from a rival supermarket, Spar. Remarkably, that article was read by almost 110,000 readers on our website.
The sea border has also had major ramifications for Northern Ireland's gardeners, with major company Suttons withdrawing fruit and veg seeds from the Province.
Sam also revealed on January 8 that Marks and Spencer was temporarily withdrawing hundreds of items from its Northern Ireland stores because of Irish Sea border red tape.
Sam has written a number of analysis articles about the implications of the sea border, including this piece where he explains how Brexit has been disastrous for the Union.
Of course the month also ended in dramatic fashion, with the European Commission threatening to invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to restrict the movement of EU made vaccines into the Province. Arlene Foster, the first minister, described this as an "incredible act of hostility".
Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to loom large in all of our lives, as probably the most difficult lockdown yet extended right through January, the longest and bleakest of months even in normal circumstances.
There was encouraging news to report about the vaccination programme, but mostly it was a bleak picture, with the closure of Northern Ireland's schools extended, and the number of Covid-19 related deaths continuing unabated.
There were many stories to bring tears to the eye, including the death of a Londonderry husband and wife from Covid-19 on the very same day.
As I write, Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, is making major headway on vaccinations and we must hope and pray the progress continues.
We want as many of us as possible to be safe from this virus which will enable our lives to return to something approaching normality soon.
Alistair Bushe
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