Sam McBride

Lord Alderdice, the former speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, described Sam McBride’s column on the accelerated decay of public services in the country as “exceptionally important” and said it “may well become a historically referenced piece in the future.” The column highlighted the alarming number of people whose deaths were attributable to political and bureaucratic failures to prevent the collapse of the health system. It also drew on McBride’s wide-ranging investigative work, including the fact that tap water drunk by 40% of Northern Ireland’s population is taken from Lough Neagh’s polluted waters. According to Lord Alderdice, the piece “spelled out with absolute clarity what is happening in a way that I have not seen anyone else doing”. As such, McBride’s work is agenda-setting, using original research on which his opinions are then founded, and has stood up to rigorous scrutiny through his two years in the role. Holding the powerful to account, no matter their party or position, his column on how Sinn Fein and the police “kowtowed” to loyalist crime bosses is a perfect example of how an opinion writer can advocate for change rather than simply “sounding off”. The judges said McBride’s body of work “challenges perceptions with pacey, finely crafted writing that was a unanimous first from all”.