Casement, McNulty and the border poll bluff: has nationalism lost its map?
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Casement Park is demolished and unbuilt, and the SDLP is fighting a sitting MLA in its own ranks. The nationalist vote has barely moved since 1998, even as unionism has declined. Now Jon Burrows is talking up Northern Ireland’s future and challenging Michelle O’Neill to debate it. Nationalism talks up an imminent border poll but has no policy map to get there.
Diesel hits £2 a litre…
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Thanks to the stable genius leader of the free world, Donald Trump, diesel in Northern Ireland has now hit £2 a litre. In Northern Ireland, diesel cars make up around 50% to 55% of all private cars on the road. …
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.
DUP counting down the 229 days until May’s election with spirited speeches at their annual conference #dup2026
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On Saturday morning, delegates at the DUP conference in La Mon Hotel were talking a lot more about the Friday night after-dinner entertainment from ABBA Duo and the conga line than the forthright words of Reform MP Danny Kruger (who …
Storytime with Houdi – Boots….
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Fifty six….fifty six, he was only fifty six when he died son. My mother was staring into the open coal fire she had lit earlier with the suet from the butchers, assisted by the double leaf page of the Irish …
Dyslexia – I Think I Have Mixed Up My ‘Worms’ Again!
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Although I haven’t been formally diagnosed with dyslexia, its effects have undoubtedly been a constant presence throughout my school education and professional life. Like many from my generation, I eventually found ways of coping – and even found ways to …
Poet of the Glens, but not of the Rising…
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John Skrine is a grandson of ‘Moira O’Neill’. Born in Dublin, after a working life in England he has retired there, and is currently researching and writing about her life and her wider Higginson family. Sluggerites visiting the Old Church …
The SDLP Will Not Rebuild Itself from Belfast or Derry…
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I am becoming increasingly irritated by the confident predictions that the SDLP is about to increase its vote, gain councillors and return more MLAs. Much as I would love to see it happen, having been on the ground, I find …
New row over MLA salary increases…
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From the BBC: A pay rise of more than £2,000 for Northern Ireland Assembly members (MLAs) is “grotesque”, the first minister has said. The proposals planned for next year would bring MLAs annual salary to £69,216. The increase will take …