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.
Open sunday – politics free zone…
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In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break. So discuss what you like here, but no politics. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday.
Storytime with Houdi – Raintown…
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It’s 1987. I’m working in war torn Northern Ireland. Worse, I’m in west Belfast. In a big shopping centre, the first major retail development in that area for decades. The good news is that it’s my week off. I’m listening …
Violence receding, foundations lagging: findings from new Northern Ireland Peace Index
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Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice hosted the launch of the first Northern Ireland Peace Index (NIPI). The Index is the result of a partnership between QUB and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an independent, non-partisan global think …
Groans all round as new Health Minister Robbie Butler pulls a Father Ted…
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Pour aul Robbie Butler. Well respected as one of the nicest men in politics there were concerns that he would be completely out of his depth as Health Minister and so it has come to pass. Less than a month …
Whoops apocalypse in the 21st century…
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Some readers may be old enough to remember both a TV series and movie from the 1980’s called Whoops Apocalypse. These were satirical fictions about global catastrophe caused by human carelessness. The narratives concerned chains of events which lead to the detonation …
What We Choose to Pick – Are We Fighting the Wrong Battles?
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Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. Seamus Heaney, “Blackberry-Picking” I visited the Seamus Heaney HomePlace this month, and on Bank Holiday Monday found myself out among the hedges picking blackberries, coming …
Is Drumcree the excuse they need to pull down Stormont?
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I have been quiet lately as I find the current atmosphere even more depressing than usual. Drumcree was a particularly bleak time in our history and I, like most of us, had assumed the issue was put in a concrete …
Twenty Five Years On – the more things change, the more they stay the same…
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This year sees a quarter of a century pass since one of the basest, most depraved ‘protests’ in our conflictive history – the Holy Cross ‘protest’ in North Belfast. While there had been a number of shameful protests before Holy …
Can Northern Ireland’s AI Strategy deliver?
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Earlier this month, the Executive published its long-awaited draft Artificial Intelligence Strategy. While it recognises that AI can support economic growth and the public sector, the strategy also gives consideration to the vast risks the technology generates. As such, the strategy’s eight principles for responsible AI include human oversight; accountability and redress; data governance; technical safety …