Arnold Carton

Out of the Ashes…

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One of very few advantages of getting older is that you can look back and see patterns developing over decades, patterns that were not immediately obvious at the time. During the Brexit Referendum campaign and its aftermath, people like Dominic …

Slugger Team

Alex Kane predicts a bumpy road ahead

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If you were at the Slugger End of Year Review in December (and if you weren’t we hope you had a good excuse as you missed a great evening), you’ll have been treated to an excellent and engaging conversation between …

Brian O’Neill

DUP MP defends the Latin Mass…

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More signs of the end times as a DUP MP defends the Latin Mass. Traditionally, the DUP have been no fans of the Catholic Church, with Ian Paisley famously branding the Pope the Antichrist and some DUP members even questioning …

Slugger Team

Aftershocks as Causeway councillor Darryl Wilson resigns from UUP

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One of the bigger news stories last summer was the resignation of then UUP leader Doug Beattie. We learned in the tumultuous aftermath that Beattie had felt unable to lead the party as he wished, with his desire to go …

Brian O’Neill

Open New Year’s Day – discuss what you like…

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Many of us will be glad to see the back of 2024 and let’s hope 2025 will be better for us all. I will leave you with the inspiring words of Enver Hoxha, the Albanian Stalinist dictator. In his 1967 …

Brian O’Neill

The cracks in Ireland’s craic facade…

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How will you be celebrating this New Year’s Eve? A quiet night in? Some pints down the local? Cocktails in a fancy hotel? A line of two of cocaine? Maybe you are going on a bender with Charlie Lawson and …

Soapbox

Ómós phearsanta do Gearóid Ó Cairealláin / A personal tribute to Gearóid Ó Cairealláin…

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Séimí Mac Aindreasa is from the Shaws Road Gaeltacht in Belfast. His stories have been published in three anthologies and online. There is an English translation of this tribute below: Blianta fada ó shin, agus mé i mo dhéagóir, bhí mé ag seinm …

Brian O’Neill

Slugger – Ask me anything…

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Something different for New Year’s Eve. I have been meaning to put together a frequently asked questions for years and have never got around to it. So if you are curious about how Slugger works ask away. I will then …

Frank Schnittger

Pax Americana, deficit spending, and the debasement of the US$

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Arnold Carton recently had an excellent OP up comparing Donald Trump to Julius Caesar and noting that  there is sometimes no turning back from Republican to dictatorial Imperial rule.  Another less talked about aspect of the fall of the Roman …

Slugger Team

Jimmy Carter Dies

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There maybe something poetic that in the dying days of a Democratic Presidency, a former Democratic President passes away, but it is no less sad for the poignancy of the symbolism. President Jimmy Carter died yesterday at the age of …

Brian O’Neill

Open Sunday – discuss what you like…

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The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday.