A consecutive series of 135 suicides is described, this being the total which occurred during one year in Brisbane from 1 March 1973 to 28 February 1974, resulting in a rate of 16 per 100,000. The clinical and social characteristics of the suicides are described. Important contributing factors were depressive illness (55%), physical illness (52%), and drug dependency (34%). About half of the suicides were taking prescribed medication and about a third had been in contact with a doctor shortly before death. Social isolation or loss appeared to contribute to the suicide risk. The study confirms the importance of the recognition and treatment of depressive illness in attempting to prevent suicide and draws attention to the significant contribution of physical illness, especially when affecting the nervous system or gastrointestinal tract, and the importance of the role of alcohol and/or barbiturate dependency.

The injury patterns found in 1004 traffic-crash fatalities are described. The deaths occurred in Brisbane, Queensland, between July, 1968 and June, 1973. The injury patterns, multiplicity of injuries and other factors are compared with previous studies in this city. Other factors such as time of the crash, age of fatalities, duration of survival, use of seat belts and crash helmets are discussed.

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The election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2022 witnessed significant changes to the region's political balance. For the first time, a nationalist party became the largest, with Sinn Féin's new leading position allowing the party to provide the First Minister. The main party of unionism, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was relegated to second place. This runner‐up position entitled the party to nominate the Deputy First Minister. However, in the immediate aftermath of the election, the DUP declined to do so, amid a crisis for the political institutions established under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. According to the DUP, it would return to power sharing with nationalists only upon removal of the European Union Protocol, agreed between the EU and UK government in 2019. The Protocol uniquely aligns Northern Ireland with EU rules and requires checks on goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Alongside unionist versus nationalist rivalries, however, the election was also marked by the best‐ever performance by a party of the centre ground subscribing to neither ideology, as Alliance more than doubled its Assembly seat tally. It was now possible to speak of three big pillars in Northern Irish politics: unionist, nationalist and non‐aligned, each dominated by a single party. This article examines what happened at the election, assessing the key issues and party fortunes.

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