Month: July 2026

I have been listening to a most interesting Irish Times podcast with the Northern Ireland commentator and former Ulster Unionist press officer, Alex Kane, about the political impact of the court judgement last month that found former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson guilty of rape and sexual abuse of two very young girls (and reading a follow-up article by Kane in that newspaper).1 Kane detailed Donaldson’s astonishing list of sins, quite apart from the rape and abuse conviction, calling him “a thoroughgoing hypocrite” …

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As children, we could take or leave the Twelfth, but we couldn’t wait for the Thirteenth each year. I grew up just a few miles from Scarva. My Dad drove through the village every day on his way home from work, stopping at the little shop that used to be there to pick up his newspaper. We played in the park, and our local chippy was there, long since closed. For most of the year it was a quiet, sleepy …

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Northern Ireland’s wastewater infrastructure has become one of the greatest barriers to economic growth. The latest evidence suggests that approximately 55,000 planned homes face some level of wastewater constraint, major regeneration schemes remain stalled, businesses are unable to expand, and housing shortages continue to worsen because the infrastructure beneath our towns and cities cannot accommodate new development. The debate has largely focused on how Northern Ireland should fund NI Water. However, another option deserves serious consideration: the creation of an …

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Yesterday was the last day of San Fermin, the nine day festival in Pamplona, world renowned for its running of the bulls. The festival sees the population of the city swell from 240,000 to over a million, attracting visitors from all over Europe as well as those from other continents. I was only able to take two days of it and in those two days spoke to people from Goa, New Zealand, the US, Colombia and South Africa.  In little …

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Auntie is not in great shape these days, with revenues in terminal decline they have had to do a lot of cost cutting. The BBC is still stuck for how to stay relevant in the modern age of internet streaming. From the Guardian: There are now 23.3m TV licences in force, a fall of 539,000 from a year earlier, according to the corporation’s annual report. It is significantly more than the 300,000 fall in licence fee payers recorded a year …

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A LucidTalk poll will deliver the initial public verdict on the DUP since the jury had their own say on Jeffrey Donaldson. The results are due in the Belfast Telegraph at the end of next week. Meanwhile the constant drip of Donaldson related stories continues. Sam McBride was mining a fresh seam in the BT at the weekend asking ‘Where did Jeffrey Donaldson’s fortune go?’ From the moment of Donaldson’s conviction, the DUP has failed to get ahead of the …

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It has been over three months now since Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party was swept out of power in Hungary and two months since Péter Magyar, the man who vanquished him, officially took over. It was an ignominious end for a man who openly boasted about turning Hungary into an illiberal democracy. As he said in his infamous speech announcing this intention back in 2014… …the Hungarian nation is not simply a group of individuals but a community that must be …

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From The Guardian: Children in the UK will grow up to be one of the unhealthiest generations in decades, with child health outcomes having declined or stalled completely across all areas, a group of leading paediatricians has said. Reduced vaccination rates alongside rising hospital admissions for asthma and mental health disorders are all contributing factors to the UK’s record on children’s health, which should be seen as a “national embarrassment”, their analysis has found. The report, published by the Royal …

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From The Guardian: British counter-terrorism police are now leading the investigation into the death of the former MP and Reform spokesperson Ann Widdecombe in a shock development that has renewed the debate over the security of politicians. Widdecombe’s body was found with serious injuries by the ambulance service at her home in Haytor Vale, Devon, at 11.40am on Thursday. A 28-year-old man from Rotherham is being held in custody on suspicion of her murder. In a dramatic change of position …

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Ireland have never beaten the All Blacks in Auckland, losing 42-19 last time they played there ahead of the 2-1 series win in 2022. The All Blacks last lost there back the amateur era in 1994 to a last minute “try from the end of the world” scored by Jean-Luc Sadourny after a nine player passing movement instigated by the French captain Philippe Saint-André from inside his own 22. That was also the last time the All Blacks lost a …

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Every law restricts our freedom and it is right that people stop and consider whether additional laws are really necessary. I am old enough to remember when a law was introduced (1973) requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets and there were many motorcyclists who objected to this removal of what up to then had been freedom of choice. Some will remember seeing the ‘Clunk Click, Every Trip’ adverts in the days when wearing seatbelts was optional, but then in 1983, a law was …

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From the Guardian: Sam Neill, the versatile New Zealand actor whose career spanned Oscar winners and blockbusters such as The Piano and Jurassic Park, has died aged 78. The actor’s death was announced on Monday in a statement shared on his Instagram account. No cause of death was given, but Neill had only recently revealed he was cancer-free after being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022. “It is with immense sadness that …

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Momentous Times? Watershed? I am not so sure. We have moved too quickly from saying that two heroic women should be foremost in our thoughts to promoting our own narratives. Scoring points. Jeffrey Donaldson of course. Over the years I have seen him a few times. Sitting on a bus while he paraded with his Brethren in Lisburn. Oddly I have seen him do some interviews on the bridge over the M1 motorway at Moira. Never actually met him. The …

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It’s early 1984. I’m in Dublin having escaped the mundanity of small Irish town life. Twenty-two years old, a trainee manager with Ireland’s biggest retailer, I’m bouncing with nervous energy. George Orwell’s prediction of the totalitarian society is unfounded. I don’t need Winston Smith. My schooldays relationship with an alluring artist has reached the end of the road.  I’m  a free agent on the hunt. A new music entertainment phenomenon has hit Ireland, namely disco bars awash with multi screens …

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On Friday the 26th of June, the second Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress convened for three days in the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, Dublin. The Maldron thankfully resisted pressure from a variety of actors to refuse hosting of this event. Around 450 attended on each of the two days I was there. The list of speakers included the prominent historian Ilan Pappe, UN special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, Peace Activists Ronnie Barkan, Jude Farrell, Andrew Feinstein, Lara Elborno and many others. Ilan Pappe’s introductory …

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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. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not …

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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. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any …

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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has announced that the Irish government will establish and fund an annual peace prize honouring the late John Hume. Speaking in Strasbourg, the Taoiseach said “John was both a visionary and an immensely practical man. He saw obstacles, but he also saw how to move them out of the way. To honour his legacy, later this year we will be establishing and funding a new annual prize in his name. This will be awarded to a European …

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I’m not sure of just how big a risk radical Islam is to the good people of Tyrone. According to the last census the Muslim population of Mid Ulster is 198. This is a massive 0.2% of the population. It’s hard to know how many of the 198 are jihadi extremists’ intent on overthrowing Western civilisation or how many of them are just normal people working and raising families. But another year, another Moygashel bonfire ‘performance art’. Last year it …

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