Slugger O'Toole

It is time to end the idiotic cap on the number of local students Northern Ireland’s universities can admit…

Brian O'Neill on August 13, 2020, 8:26 am107 Comments | Readers 1885

Many of us have a low opinion of Stormont at the best of times but along comes a story that highlights the utter head-bangingly stupid nature of some of their more crazy decisions. Writing in today’s Irish Times Newton Emerson highlights the issue of the cap on local students. From the article: This year’s undergraduate entry requirements show Northern Ireland’s universities operating a two-tier system: students from the North need significantly higher grades than applicants from Britain. For example, Northern …

Pounds, shillings and pence: Stormont’s Fiscal Council…

Jay Burbank on August 12, 2020, 8:10 am50 Comments | Readers 1243

I have before written about the idea of a fiscal council for Northern Ireland which was first mooted in the Stormont House Agreement. When the new decade new approach agreement was published there contained a solid commitment to the establishment of this crucial mechanism. The post war Labour government who established the NHS were committed to ending the regional disparities in relief which had become stark in the nineteenth century. Across Britain and Ireland there was an old system of …

Happy Birthday Emmanuel Goldstein

Dan Payne on August 12, 2020, 8:00 am30 Comments | Readers 739

Scapegoating is always so helpful in politics, is it not? It’s so cost-effective, and saves so much trouble. Rather than admit to your audience that there are no easy solutions to the problems facing your people, and that things are a lot more complicated than was previously thought, all you need to do is affect some fake moral outrage and point the finger at [insert identifiable target here]. The practice has been used as long as politics has existed, of …

‘It is absolutely crazy to think that constitutional change in Ireland would happen overnight’

Paul Gosling on August 10, 2020, 9:02 am536 Comments | Readers 6792

Consideration of Irish unity needs careful preparation, argues Seamus McGuinness, research professor at the Republic’s Economic and Social Research Institute. He suggests looking to the example of Hong Kong, where the handover of control was undertaken over a 13 year period. Seamus was talking in the latest Holywell Trust Forward Together podcast. The difference in economic performance, North and South, sits “at the centre of debate around constitutional change,” believes Seamus. “I come at it from the perspective of someone who worked …

Beyond Hume: The challenge to the ‘stick a flag on it’ politics, is to build better and longer for all the people of Northern Ireland

Mick Fealty on August 10, 2020, 8:54 am302 Comments | Readers 2795

Last week the Ireland cricket team, wearing black armbands for the old Derry warrior for peace, took on the ODI world champions and repeated the miracle of Bangalore, beat them with the same single last ball to spare and the same man, Kevin O’Brien, to dispatch them at the end. Hume, as with much else in his long life, was no armchair cricket fan but someone who played several seasons for both City of Derry and Waterside Cricket Clubs. He …

Today is the 15th anniversary of the murder of Thomas Devlin…

Terry Maguire on August 10, 2020, 8:00 am29 Comments | Readers 4107

The bedroom light was flicked on abruptly bringing me up from a deep safe sleep. Confused, I struggled to understand what my sixteen-year-old son was saying; there had been a fight; his friends were hurt; the police were downstairs; they wanted to speak with me. I sharply admonish him for going out again; when I went to bed at 10.00 p.m., he and his friends were playing video games in the back bedroom. It was August 10th 2005. A policewoman …

Feile Panel; Let’s Talk Politics

David McCann on August 9, 2020, 5:52 pm2 Comments | Readers 413

Along with Amanda Ferguson, Tim Cairns and Allison Morris, we discussed the political issues of the day.

The mixed messages of The Eat Out To Help Out Scheme…

Lisa Wells on August 9, 2020, 9:14 am140 Comments | Readers 1867

Obesity is hitting the headlines again and we’re all being encouraged to be a bit more fit and a lot less fat. Which reminds me of my favourite food stories. A couple of years ago I was out for lunch with my children in a bustling local café. Above the background noise, we couldn’t help but overhear a customer at the next table loudly proclaiming her request to have all fat removed from the bacon in her toastie that she …

The enduring tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki…

Samuel Thompson on August 9, 2020, 7:30 am95 Comments | Readers 1241

As the 75th anniversary of VJ Day and the end of the Second World War approaches, the world inevitably turns its attention to the enduring tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is often forgotten that World War II was a nuclear war, albeit a one-sided one, and the controversy over the use of nuclear weapons has never gone away. This piece is a slightly modified excerpt from The Lesser Evil, my book on the Second World War. It explains how …

#InConversation Podcast with Michael McCoy. From the Ormeau Road to Tokyo and other tales…

Brian O'Neill on August 8, 2020, 2:54 pm5 Comments | Readers 546

Michael is a regular in the comments, I thought to myself a chat with a Belfast guy who now lives in Japan would make a great podcast. Originally from the Ormeau Road in Belfast, Michael McCoy has lived in Japan for the past 30 years where he works as an executive coach. In this conversation, we discuss growing up in Belfast in the 1970s as well as getting his take on Brexit and what we need to do to stimulate …

A passion for social justice: Tribute to Anne MOORE

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on August 8, 2020, 1:28 pm6 Comments | Readers 1089

Anne Moore will be remembered for her passion for social justice. I met Anne during my employment as a policy officer for the Alliance Party as I sought out the views of a valued stakeholder, NICVA, where she served as public affairs officer. Anne and I had plenty of enjoyable conversations and discussions on official as well as unofficial business matters—we would frequently diverge to global and philosophical perspectives. I regret that we didn’t continue such conversations as our careers …

Northern Ireland’s future demands new energy and ideas from the BBC

Brian Walker on August 7, 2020, 11:06 am189 Comments | Readers 3031

Denis Bradley writing in the Irish News The atmosphere that has been nurtured on BBC Radio Ulster and Foyle since the peace process has driven away more voices than it has attracted. Only the most vocal of our politicians are regulars. Most clerics avoid it like the plague. Key personnel in many of our most important institutions never appear, most likely out of fear. Many do not feel equipped to partake in an atmosphere that is not always conducive to …

The Forgotten Troubles 1920-1922: The Derry Riots 1920…

Patrick Concannon on August 7, 2020, 8:47 am174 Comments | Readers 4521

On 12th August 1969 Derry City exploded into violence and running battles that would eventually become known as the Battle of The Bogside after the Annual Relief of the City Parade held by the Apprentice Boys. This rioting lasted for three days and is widely seen as the start of the Troubles or Northern Ireland conflict. What is less well known, however, is that almost fifty years previously, in June 1920 Derry saw a far bloodier spate of communal rioting …

Introducing #TheReset – how we can react positively to the challenge of Covid-19? A new project from Slugger in partnership with the Ulster Bank…

Brian O'Neill on August 6, 2020, 3:34 pm155 Comments | Readers 1052

We are living through historic times. Never has the Lenin quote ‘“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen” been more apt. We are witnessing considerable changes to our way of life – the way we work, the way we learn, the way we shop, the way we spend our free time. Some of this change will be negative, but some will also be positive. Slugger is launching a new project around how we can …

Féile Discussion: British or Irish or both? Unionism, Protestantism and the national question …

Gladys Ganiel on August 6, 2020, 11:01 am635 Comments | Readers 7352

The Virtual Féile is well underway, with events continuing through Sunday. Monday, I took part in a lunchtime discussion on unionism around the theme of ‘British, or Irish or both: unionism, Protestantism and the national question’. It was chaired by Prof Jennifer Todd and my conversation partner was Prof Christine Bell. The conversation was framed in this way: Until the late 19thcentury, it was commonplace for unionists and Protestants of all varieties to see no problem in identifying as Irish. The …

The challenge of Infrastructure…

Soapbox on August 5, 2020, 5:12 pm109 Comments | Readers 2049

In 1948, just 3 years after the end of World War 2, the NHS was born. At a time of deep financial uncertainty. In 2020, another time of deep uncertainty, the NHS has led the way. Just like in 1948 a dramatic change in direction is possible post Covid19. Health service reforms need to happen, education as well, but suddenly the pressing need is our economy and infrastructure to support future growth. At the end of May our Alliance council …

Slugger TV – Remembering John Hume

David McCann on August 4, 2020, 11:17 pmLeave a comment | Readers 677

I was joined by SDLP Councillor and former Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, John Boyle, as well as Irish News journalist Allison Morris and former BBC NI political editor Stephen Grimason to discuss the life, politics and legacy of John Hume. Recorded and edited by Alan Meban @alaninbelfast.

Remembering John Hume

Soapbox on August 4, 2020, 12:07 pm175 Comments | Readers 2700

Since news of John Hume’s death emerged yesterday (3 August 2020), there has been an outpouring of obituaries and tributes to the man who is considered the architect of peace in Northern Ireland. These were immediate, as is the case with obituaries of key figures in society, and Hume has not been a well man for some time. Obituaries play a key role in how individuals and their legacies are remembered after their death, and can be considered as sites …

Hume’s origin story: fighting injustice at every corner…

Jay Burbank on August 3, 2020, 9:14 pm63 Comments | Readers 2284

It is incumbent upon us all to remember what propelled a young teacher in Derry into frontline politics and change the face of Northern Ireland forever. The young teacher was John Hume, born into a working-class catholic family he had been given opportunities not afforded to generations before and attended University. In the words of that other Derry giant (Gerry Anderson) his generation of queens’ graduates [para] “went away to university, learned about the country they lived in and came …

John Hume: A Story Not Yet Fully Told

Soapbox on August 3, 2020, 7:31 pm12 Comments | Readers 1733

John Hume chose to live with purpose. He was steadfast in his determination to see peace and a better life, not only for those from his own community, but for all people across the island of Ireland. Elected a Member of the European Parliament in 1979, he would go on to serve as MP for Foyle from 1983 to 2005, and member of the Legislative Assembly for the same constituency between 1998 and 2000. He defined future generations opportunities when …