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.
Anybody in Ulster keen on claiming US Vice President JD Vance as one of their own?
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In his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy JD Vance wrote that “to understand me, you must understand that I am a Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart” So writing from the heart on X Vance waded into the lists in the politicians’ row over the …
Storytime with Houdi – Broken Land…
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It was the Monday of St. Patrick’s week 1988. I was driving to my work in Newcastle Co. Down having just got my girlfriend’s father’s blessing for our marriage, making me the happiest man in Ireland. I turned the radio …
Why the Summit of the Cities Matters for All of Ireland…
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By Brendan Mulgrew, Managing Partner, MW Advocate Later this month Belfast will host what I believe is one of the most significant civic gatherings ever held on the island of Ireland. For the first time, all twelve cities across the …
Blue Pallets, Red Pallets and the Politics of Legitimacy: Who Really Owns Belfast’s Bonfires?
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Every July, blue and red pallets go up in flames on loyalist bonfires across Belfast. The theft is brazen, the impunity is total, and the cultural defence is well rehearsed. But behind the smoke lies a harder question — who is actually running this politics, and what do they gain from ensuring nothing ever changes?
The SEN crisis is not just an EA problem: it is built into the structure of our school system…
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Northern Ireland argues about special educational needs as a problem of delivery. The first question is where in the school system the need is concentrated, and its selective structure has already decided that before any reform has begun. The long-awaited …
Can Political Unionism Break from the Tribal Herd? Discuss.
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Northern Ireland’s unionist parties face a reckoning — caught between reactive politics and the collaborative vision of the Good Friday Agreement. Without a credible strategy or genuine commitment to its three strands, political unionism risks permanent decline.
A Moment Worth Noticing at Belfast City Hall…
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DUP’s Tracy Kelly hands over chain of office to new Belfast mayor Róis-Máire Donnelly from Sinn Féin. pic.twitter.com/VqZ9m8ckNd — Mark Simpson (@BBCMarkSimpson) June 2, 2026 This exchange seems to have resonated with a lot of people, and it’s easy to …
Sinn Fein now say they want to liberate the Assembly by removing the mutual veto. What is the DUP’s response? Dismiss it as bluff or accept the challenge?
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Fresh from taking a bit of a battering in the May 22 by elections in the Republic , Sinn Fein have received a setback for their ambition to build a left wing coalition in the Republic to challenge the Fine …