(cache)Slugger O'Toole – Conversation, politics and stray insights

When the new leader of the UUP talks of getting smaller, that’s the easy bit…

Terry Wright on May 24, 2021, 10:15 am535 Comments | Readers 1582

“We may have to get smaller before we get bigger” The words of the new UUP Leader, Doug Beattie MLA, echo those of a previous UUP leader Mike Nesbitt MLA, when speaking at a leadership hustings debate in Londonderry in 2012. His ultimately unsuccessful opponent was John McCallister at the time an MLA, a strong advocate for formal opposition at Stormont and closely associated with Basil McCrea, also an UUP MLA. Both left to form NI21. Both parties ended up …

The Jazz Musicians’ Jazz Musicians’ Jazz Musicians’ Panel-Game Chairman

Dan Payne on May 23, 2021, 10:30 am41 Comments | Readers 891

For some reason or other, many of us on this side of the Irish Sea tend to prefer our heroes being low-key, understated, and with a blow-dried sense of humour. Such was the case with a great English gentleman born exactly a century ago. Humphrey Lyttelton may not sound like the name of someone you’d expect to have a cape and superhuman strength, but he certainly managed to inspire and lighten up the lives of millions in a long and …

Electric Vehicles are the future, and we need to invest in our charging infrastructure now…

Soapbox on May 23, 2021, 8:00 am267 Comments | Readers 1733

By Rónán Davison-Kernan from EVANI. The group was formed in 2016 and earlier this year transitioned to become the Electric Vehicle Association Northern Ireland, a not-for-profit community interest company. Their two main aims are to represent the interests of electric vehicle users in Northern Ireland and to promote EV use here. Electric vehicle sales in Northern Ireland tripled between 2019 and 2020, going from 579 units to 1,680 – despite the pandemic. To put it another way, there were almost …

Well, well, well-#AE2022 and that Lucid Talk poll

Sarah Creighton on May 22, 2021, 11:06 am859 Comments | Readers 8881

It’s early days, minds could change later, but the Belfast Telegraph’s latest poll will send shivers down the DUP’s spine. According to Lucid Talk, support for the DUP has dropped to 16%, the same as Alliance. Sinn Fein sits at 25%. Doug Beattie will take comfort from the figure for the UUP, up two points to 14%. A Sinn Fein First Minister has been a possibility since the 2017 Assembly election. Based on these figures, Sinn Fein will clinch the …

“Stunned this weaponry has been found in [our] area and glad it has been taken off our streets…”

Mick Fealty on May 21, 2021, 4:58 pm222 Comments | Readers 2874

Interesting news item given the volume of people on the previous thread suggesting the PSNI should be unarmed/cut down… Eleven firearms discovered in Jerretspass have been described as a “significant” cache of weapons by police. The weaponry included hand guns, machine guns, machine pistols and an assault rifle. Officers made the discovery after a search operation in Jerrettspass in County Armagh. The search was part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into organised crime, supported by the PSNI. The …

Seeking genuine answers to mass breaches around the Storey funeral is a public service to the whole of NI society

Mick Fealty on May 21, 2021, 3:53 pm78 Comments | Readers 2279

It’s been a torrid week (and not just for the DUP). The Chief Constable Simon Byrne saw the author of a report in the handling of the Bobby Storey fall apart under relatively gentle questioning from Stephen Nolan during the week. Byrne was left to take most of the flak this week, even though it was revealed that he had sent a letter dated 17 April 2020 to to Health Minister Robin Swann and copied to FM Arlene Foster, DFM Michelle …

Can Citizens’ Assemblies help us?

Paul Gosling on May 21, 2021, 9:05 am152 Comments | Readers 1117

In all the dozens of podcast interviews broadcast by the Holywell Trust, one idea to strengthen our society has been put forward repeatedly – citizens’ assemblies. They are not universally popular – both DUP and Conservative Party politicians have expressed concerns they would undermine the link between elected representatives and their constituents, threatening politicians’ legitimacy. But the experience of Ireland’s citizens’ assemblies has inspired many. Assemblies provided routes to resolving politically challenging issues: same sex marriage, abortion, climate change and, now, gender inequality. And in …

Popcorn-tastic, mate

Dan Payne on May 20, 2021, 1:30 pm176 Comments | Readers 1870

In his 1994 autobiography My Tune, the veteran disc jockey Simon Bates remarks of his amazement of how low the murder rate inside radio stations has historically been. Bates evidently knew whereof he was writing, as his book came out a year after his very high-profile resignation from the BBC’s flagship national radio channel Radio 1, and at a time when the station was going through the biggest and most controversial personnel shake-up in its history. At least one of …

The tricky business of vaccinating young people…

Terry Maguire on May 20, 2021, 12:07 pm102 Comments | Readers 1143

Wednesday and Saturday for the past 8 weeks have been vaccination days in the pharmacy. The community pharmacy Covid19 vaccination service (CPCV) was launched at the end of March and 340 out of our 525 pharmacies signed-up. It’s a well-planned service and pharmacists have considerable clinical freedom and autonomy to get on with vaccinating the age cohorts, in support of GPs and the bigger vaccination centres, with one key requirement; no wastage of the precious vaccine! We get ten, 4 …

Where can the Unionist parties gain seats at the next election?

David McCann on May 19, 2021, 1:50 pm483 Comments | Readers 7051

The DUP has started messaging ahead of next years assembly election that the combined Unionist parties need just five seats to remove the protocol. Now this claim has been fact checked that they can only remove certain parts, rather than all of it. But I thought it would be interesting to look at where Unionism could potentially find those gains. To start with, this is a very tall order for the combined Unionist parties. If the results of elections from …

Poots starts by showing that he’s not planning to run away from media inquiry…

Mick Fealty on May 19, 2021, 11:15 am113 Comments | Readers 3363

So, a few observations on Ed Poots’ first major exposure to the press: The cat and mouse game of picking favourites in the media to interview the DUP leader (designate) appears to be over. This Newsline interview was one of several on RTE and Sky amongst others that the new leader of the DUP. I would also surmise that briefing lines have been opened to journalists who previously had to guess what the party was thinking Poots has always had …

Israel and Palestine: The victims of victims…

Brian O'Neill on May 19, 2021, 7:33 am156 Comments | Readers 2001

The current violence in the Middle East is profoundly depressing. Your heart goes out to the poor Palestinians who are stuck between the extremists of Hamas and the extremists of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). John Oliver had a pretty good take on the situation in Last Week Tonight: This week’s David McWilliams podcast with Tom Friedman was a good overview of the complexity of the situation. The excessive response of the IDF is nothing short of pure murder and …

Significance and psychological impact of the border: Second thoughts…

Gerald Dawe on May 18, 2021, 9:45 am183 Comments | Readers 3785

I should have realised when you pop the ‘B’ and/or ‘P’ words into a musing over the language and differing realities of Irish social life, north and south, you may well look out. For ‘border’ and ‘partition’ have become the pulses which raise the temperature in a way that was really only for the truly politically-committed of this island. Certainly, in my upbringing and ‘circle’ of mates in Belfast back in the nineteen sixties, the border featured as a bit …

Militancy can only expose Edwin Poots’ weakness. Instead he can claim credit if David Frost delivers acceptable mitigation of protocol terms

Brian Walker on May 17, 2021, 3:14 pm514 Comments | Readers 5504

The tempo of Protocol politics is quickening. Fresh from calling into the Arcadia deli on the Lisburn road ( a favourite haunt of SDLP, Alliance and Green voters no doubt as it once was of mine ), Brexit minster Lord Frost has issued what sounds like an ultimatum to the EU. “If the Protocol operates so as to damage the political, social, or economic fabric of life in Northern Ireland, then that situation cannot be sustained for long”. The new …

How would you lead Unionism?

Brian O'Neill on May 17, 2021, 11:05 am438 Comments | Readers 3636

By a weird twist of fate, you become the leader of the DUP or UUP, how you would revive the parties? Would you move to the centre or lurch to the left or right? Even if you are a Nationalist or Republican try to put yourself in the position of a Unionist. Would you focus on making Northern Ireland work for all? Or take a hard line on the controversial issues? What would you do?

And it turns out it’s Ed Poots job to see the DUP into an uncertain unionist future…

Mick Fealty on May 14, 2021, 6:09 pm869 Comments | Readers 13412

On the face of it the DUP has retreated to ground it held back in the mid 70s before Peter Robinson got a grip. Ed Poots is now leader. Right up to the announcement it’s clear from the few briefings we could to get Jeffrey thought he was in. They’ve stuck with the Free Presbyterian Paisley-ite. Not only does it mark the height of Jeffrey’s career in the party (as his fellow defector from the UUP Arlene Foster), it will …

Northern Ireland today is different from 1998

Paul Gosling on May 14, 2021, 10:51 am141 Comments | Readers 2809

Northern Ireland is a different place today, than when the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998. It is not just that many more people here today do not feel aligned to the traditional unionist and nationalist/republican identities, but we have many more ‘new citizens’ from other places. Lilian Seenoi-Barr is a well-known advocate for black and minority ethnic communities in Northern Ireland, as director of the North West Migrants Forum. In the latest Holywell Trust Forward Together podcast Lilian …

To What End Are We Prepared To Handle The Legacy Of NI’s Past? A Proposal.

Trevor Ringland on May 14, 2021, 8:16 am89 Comments | Readers 2089

Introduction It is the lesson from that recent period of conflict which we call the “Troubles”, in which 3523 people were killed, 47,000 people were injured, relationships were torn asunder, parts of Northern Ireland ‘Balkanised’ and economic prosperity reduced in both parts of Ireland that violence inevitably leaves a legacy of lasting bitterness. Approximately 60% of the deaths were due to the actions of the Republican Movement, 30% to Loyalist Paramilitaries and 10% members of the Security Forces. In this …

The ups and downs of hospitality: massive staff shortages, high demand and 6 quid pints…

Brian O'Neill on May 14, 2021, 7:48 am161 Comments | Readers 1744

As our bars, restaurants and hotels start to come out of cold storage they have a whole new set of challenges. The main one is a massive shortage of staff at all levels. There has always been a shortage of chefs but this has now expanded to most roles, especially at the lower end. Talking to people in the industry there seems to be a few things going on. We used a lot of immigrant labour to plug the gaps, …

Northern Ireland has not failed, but its politics is lagging behind the change in its own people…

Mick Fealty on May 13, 2021, 3:46 pm423 Comments | Readers 4403

A friend this morning told me something I’d been thinking for a long time myself. That is that most Northern Irish politicians (and even large players in civil society) are very given to the speaking of gibberish when asked about NI. Thing is, I don’t think they’re alone in that predicament. Politicians everywhere are struggling to keep up with the rapids of social media platforms like Twitter which drive debate at the break neck speed of emotions. And it is …