Chambré Weekly Bulletin- 07/09/2026
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What you need to know The Assembly returns on Monday after an eventful summer recess that included two emergency committee meetings, one new health minister, and no Executive budget. Andy Burham, already back in the chamber at Westminster, promised to …
SDLP Conference: Can the official opposition convert fair conditions into a strong performance?
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The SDLP have the wind in their sails heading into their party conference in Belfast this weekend. According to the latest figures from LucidTalk, the party is polling at 13%, their highest support in five years, up from 9% at …
Choyaa: The Spectre of Drumcree…
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The spectre of Drumcree has loomed over Northern Ireland again this past week. For many, it had faded from view over the last 28 years; for those of us within the Orange Institution, it never truly disappeared. Weekly protests kept …
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 …