Month: August 2026

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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Slugger is leaving the city behind and heading to the picturesque seaside village of Cushendun. Nestled in the heart of the stunning Glens of Antrim, our venue for the day will be the historic Old Church. And our partner for the event is Grow the Glens. This all-day event is designed as a mini summer school. We invite you to join us for a day filled with insightful conversation, lively debate, and engaging chat. We have arranged for the event to be fully …

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A guest piece by Dom Einhorn, responding to Frank Schnittger’s series on the state of Irish rugby heading into the 2027 World Cup. The first lesson I learned as president of a 118-year-old French rugby club is that nobody in rugby ever does the right thing because you asked nicely. Sarlat, in the Dordogne, had survived two world wars, professionalisation, and a century of committee meetings, and every good structural idea I inherited had died the same death: everyone agreed …

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It is at this point in the summer cycle that all of us can watch Lough Neagh, and some of our other inland lakes and waterways, turn green as the blue-green algae blooms, and it is at this point too that the annual political pantomime begins. Many of our politicians can be seen this summer on Facebook and Instagram, standing at the water’s edge and grandstanding to the electorate that they understand the problem. And yet the fact remains that …

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Nigel Farage has seen off the challenge of Count Binface to regain his seat in Clacton. Still Count Binface had a very respectable 9,455 votes. I came first in the Clacton by-election! Of the candidates who bothered to turn up for the results. Here is my victory speech! pic.twitter.com/PBaLO10P2j — Count Binface (@CountBinface) August 14, 2026 Still, all is not well for Nige as the parliamentary investigation into his donations now resumes. Tis a bad day when people can’t give …

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Dr Clare McAuley is a lecturer in the School of Education, Ulster University The Department of Education’s draft Northern Ireland Curriculum 2028 is built on specified knowledge. Then it arrives at ‘the Troubles’ and devotes one unelaborated content statement to the conflict, its peace processes and continuing legacies. Seamus Heaney gave the old wisdom its permanent form in 1975, in a poem whose title everyone in Northern Ireland knows without ever needing to have read it, “Whatever you say, say …

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From the BBC: The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has accused Sinn Féin of trying to “avoid responsibility for its own failures” after former MP Francie Molloy suggested delays to the A5 upgrade could be linked to landowner opposition rooted in the Plantation of Ulster. The 58-mile (94km) road upgrade project had originally been given the go-ahead by Stormont ministers in October 2024, however it has been repeatedly delayed due to court proceedings. On Wednesday evening, a party spokesperson told BBC …

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Terraformer is a learning designer from Offaly, residing in Dublin. Headlines in recent months concerning the digitisation of the 1926 Irish census records painted a stark portrait of Protestant decline during the revolutionary period. The Protestant population of the 26 counties declined from about 311,000 in 1911 to 207,000 in 1926 – 104,000 people, about a third. The marked drop is routinely cited by unionists and revisionists as evidence that Protestant were forced during this time. Peter Hart in the …

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From the Irish News: The Shankill Road Defenders are founding members of the Belfast Bands Forum, set up last year to coordinate and promote local marching band culture. The forum was represented on the organising committee of the Fleadh. Mr Ramsey was full of praise for the organisers, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, who he says brought loyalist bands to the table and ensured their voices were heard. “They facilitated those connections that allowed trust to be built, and allowed us and …

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The depth chart above is not intended as a forecast of who will play for Ireland in the 2027 world cup but rather give a rough snapshot of current pecking orders in every position based on Ireland squad and training call ups. World cup winning squads tend to have at least one world class player for every position and at least two other credible back-ups to cover for injuries and squad rotation. Previous Ireland World Cup squads have suffered from …

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A bit late but still time to catch up with  Gloria: my life on TV on iPlayer, the ultimate accolade of a  Gloria Hunniford Night on BBC FOUR  last Saturday. It features a set of shows including an interview with film star Audrey Hepburn,  a chat show standing in for her network mentor Terry Wogan and an appearance singing  on the Val Doonican show.  The decades around the turn of the millennium reached  the high point of MOR  (middle of …

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One of my proudest ever moments came during Fleadh 26 when I walked on to the stage in Writers’ Square to do a couple of songs in Irish on the Raidió na Gaeltachta stage. As a Protestant and Unionist, I talked about the musical tradition that we share, often unknowingly – songs like Come Out Ye Black and Tans, Rosc Catha na Mumhan (Munster’s Battle Cry) and Ólaim Puins. All of these share the same tunes as songs from the …

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This is the fourth of a series of articles on the prospects for the Irish provinces for the 2026/7 season. Also published here are the previous three articles on Connacht, Ulster and Munster. Compared to last season, Leinster have lost six test players: James Lowe (Tokyo Sungoliath), Rieko Ioane (Blues), Rabah Slimani (Toulon), Luke McGrath (Perpignan), Ciarán Frawley and Will Connors (Connacht) as well as squad players John McKee (Scarlets) and Jerry Cahir (Connacht). They have recruited Joey Carbery (from …

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Between 1865 and 1895, the American frontier was a place of rapid expansion and lawlessness, forever immortalised in popular culture by the spaghetti westerns of Italian director Sergio Leone. Settlers and speculators raced into new territory faster than the law could follow, and in the gap between opportunity and regulation, vast fortunes were made. However, for every story of fortune, there were countless stories that ended in ruin. It is a history we like to think belongs to another century. …

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What you need to know This week, the frailties of the Executive were exposed as the two main parties accused each other of undermining policy development and legislative delivery and risking the stability of the political institutions. My colleague Kurtis Dickson has written about one area where legislative inaction at Stormont can be acutely felt, gambling policy, which has not been meaningfully updated since 1985 – read his analysis here. As we discussed in last week’s blog post, these difficulties have …

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I wasn’t immune to the recent World Cup. Even though the Republic failed to qualify and so I had nobody to root for, it was still the biggest spectacle on the planet for a few heady weeks this summer. But for me the real drama in the sport of football is not on the field but in the boardrooms and offices in which the sport is managed. Who needs to watch Messi when you can observe the manoeuvrings and fumbles …

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