Culture Wars Leaderboard
Every current MLA, ranked on one measure: the use of Assembly business to promote, exploit or escalate identity-based controversy. A higher place means more of it. MLAs without a rank had no flagged activity.
The default ranking counts flagged activities for each year an MLA has served, so those who joined part-way through the mandate are compared fairly. You can also rank by total, or by share of activity.
Currently ranked by: Flagged activities per year served
Change the ranking:
Quick date ranges: Since devolution was restored (3 February 2024) · Whole mandate (from 5 May 2022)
| Rank | MLA | Per year served | Flagged activities | Uncertain | Share of assessed activity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.67 a year; 4.50 years served | Mr Matthew O'Toole: 3 | Mr Matthew O'Toole, uncertain: 1 | 0.1%, of 2,633 analysed | |
| 2 | 0.44 a year; 4.50 years served | Miss Deirdre Hargey: 2 | Miss Deirdre Hargey, uncertain: 0 | 0.6%, of 326 analysed | |
| =3 | 0.22 a year; 4.50 years served | Ms Paula Bradshaw: 1 | Ms Paula Bradshaw, uncertain: 0 | 0.1%, of 1,571 analysed | |
| =3 | 0.22 a year; 4.50 years served | Mr Edwin Poots: 1 | Mr Edwin Poots, uncertain: 0 | 10.0% (small sample), of 10 analysed | |
| Not ranked | 0.00 a year; 4.50 years served | Ms Kate Nicholl: 0 | Ms Kate Nicholl, uncertain: 0 | 0.0%, of 1,342 analysed |
Uncertain activities are close calls or partial matches: published, but not counted. MLAs with no flagged activity in this scope are listed without a rank (–), as are MLAs whose figure on the chosen measure is unreliable: † served less than 6 months in the period; * fewer than 30 assessed activities. Office holders are listed under their names: ministers do not table questions, which lowers their totals. Each MLA’s profile breaks their activity down by type.
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Source material: 108,038 Assembly records imported for this mandate, including 200 Official Reports. 9,433 of the imported records are not analysed by design: interventions, points of order and other remarks under 20 words, and an MLA’s follow-up remarks in the exchange on their own question, which are assessed together with the question so that it is never counted twice. Of the 98,605 records that are analysed, 98,605 (100.0%) have been assessed so far. Processing details.
How to read this table
- What the ranking measures. One thing: the use of Assembly business to promote, exploit or escalate identity-based controversy. A higher place means more of it. It says nothing about an MLA’s other work.
- Flagged activities counts each distinct Assembly activity (a question, a speech, a motion signature) that met the published thresholds or was flagged on a second assessment. A flag means the activity contains at least one instance of culture-war framing that met the published test. It does not mean the whole activity is divisive, or that its substantive arguments are wrong. Uncertain assessments are published but not counted.
- Activities analysed is the number of that MLA’s records Jev has assessed in this scope, including those it found uncertain.
- Flagged per year served divides the total by the time the MLA actually served as an MLA in the period, so co-opted members are not compared with full-term members on raw totals.
- Share of assessed activity is flagged activities as a percentage of all activities with an accepted assessment (flagged or not flagged).
- The Assembly did not sit normally until 3 February 2024. Use the date filter to compare only the period since restoration.
Read how the leaderboard is calculated
Data last updated 4 November 2026.