In Northern Ireland, partition resulted in a deeply segregated, unequal society, where gerrymandered districts ensured that Catholic residents would remain in the minority, subject to widespread discrimination in almost every aspect of daily life, from housing to employment to education. Catholic schools were less resourced. Catholic housing was sparse and poorly maintained. A Catholic surname got you passed over for jobs, if you even got the chance to apply. Nowhere, perhaps, were these forces felt as potently as in Belfast and Derry, Northern Ireland’s two largest, most deeply divided cities. There, tensions over these skewed realities simmered for years, threatening to boil over at any moment.

— Next One Is for You by Ali Watkins (15%)