Month: November 2026

Belfast Glenariff is one of our regulars in the comment zone Today, the 10th November 2026 marks the 40th Anniversary of the formation of Ulster Resistance. Very little is still known about this secretive Unionist/Loyalist quasi political/paramilitary group but what has been revealed is that the guns, ammunition and grenade launchers they received in a Loyalist arms importation in December 1987 were used in over 100 murders, mostly of innocent Catholics. These weapons were never recovered or have ever been …

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Rugby is still a game where the team that needs or wants it most can often overcome a team with greater experience or talents. But it’s also hard to sustain such intensity week in week out. With four tough matches in this November window, Farrell will be keen to manage the game time minutes of each member of his squad. Ulster have struggled to maintain the required intensity for 80 minutes and have yet to win a URC match this …

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If a Border Poll were held now, the pro-union lead has slipped again, according to the latest LucidTalk poll in today’s Belfast Telegraph. The normal caveats apply about margin of error, which for this poll is 2.3%. For this reason, a 1% or 2% change may not be significant at all. So it is better to look at the longer-term trend. This shows a 3% decrease in the pro-union level, with a 3% increase in the united Ireland response since …

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Fine Gael published their Unified Ireland Blueprint at their Ard Fheis in Cork yesterday. https://www.finegael.ie/app/uploads/2026/11/Fine-Gael-Blueprint-Unified-Ireland.pdf ​I’ve been curious to see where it will land on bread-and-butter issues, as I think this is what will most influence northern middle-ground voters who’ll decide the constitutional question. The report draws heavily on independent research conducted by Professor Deirdre Heenan (social/political context) and Professor Stephen Kinsella (economic modelling).​ The proposals are divided into three main operational pillars: 1. Actions to Take Now: Deepening practical …

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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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Back in the summer Sinn Féin’s poll rating showed they had lost a quarter of the votes won in the last Assembly election, and almost a third down on their all-time-high in the 2023 Council elections. Today’s new LucidTalk poll in the Belfast Telegraph reveals the party enjoyed an unprecedented polling boost of 6%. The party owes this to the persistence of the Orange Order and the legal advice of Jamie Bryson. Sinn Féin is now just one percentage point …

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Scenes at the Ballymurphy Inquest   Distracted by the political antics over Drumcree – not to mention the ill fortunes of Trump – you may not have noticed that the new Troubles Bill is in trouble itself. Promoted as the final solution for dealing with the past after at least three attempts,  the UK government  once again  responded to  intense cross party  pressure at Westminster to provide added protection for former soldiers under investigation. In a highly controversial move, the Bill …

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The political atmosphere in Northern Ireland was turning for the better in 2007 despite the premature death of progressive Loyalist David Ervine. Sinn Féin were waving flags for the PSNI instead of protest posters. A new comedy duo in Stormont, the chuckle brothers, was a sellout! —Well to some of their former comrades they were. Nevertheless, we all loved each other, having been only misguided for the previous four decades. It was only a wee misunderstanding. Lifestyles too had transformed …

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In the first of a series of reports on its latest LucidTalk poll, the Belfast Telegraph is reporting on the popularity of the unionist party leaders, plus Carla Lockhart and Jamie Bryson amongst the supporters of each of the unionist parties. The scale is much as you would expect with Lockhart’s standing at stellar levels with TUV supporters, 85% of whom “have more faith” in her than in Gavin Robinson. For the DUP leader the findings were deeply worrying. After …

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The first chapter of John Doyle’s Before the Vote: Planning for a united Ireland examines the Northern Ireland subvention, the gap between taxes raised in Northern Ireland and the public spending allocated to it. Doyle starts from the ONS figure of £14.2 billion for 2022/23 and concludes that a united Ireland would inherit a deficit of about £1.5 billion, which he calls the “remaining subvention”. He is right that much of the published figure would not transfer, and his critics …

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From The Times The taxpayer has spent billions of pounds preparing Britain for post-Brexit food checks that are to be scrapped as part of Labour’s reset with the European Union. Later this month Andy Burnham is due to unveil a new deal with Brussels that will eliminate controls on food and agricultural goods crossing the Channel and the Irish Sea. The prime minister said on Tuesday that the deal could increase Britain’s long-term growth by 0.4 per cent of GDP. …

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Whenever I visit a new city, I usually spend a fair bit of time scrolling through Instagram and doing countless web searches to find interesting things to see and do while I’m there. I’ll also have a look at Atlas Obscura, which is great for finding unusual places that don’t always feature in the usual tourist guides. I was looking at Belfast recently and noticed a couple of surprising omissions. One was the Second World War pillbox hidden inside The …

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Last night was a brilliant result for the Democrats as voters rejected the kleptocracy of the Trump regime. So far, Democrats have flipped Senate seats in Michigan, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio with more to come. Here's that moment: https://t.co/OV2wmUI597 pic.twitter.com/ccwg0A1FDQ — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 4, 2026 It was a stunning display of democracy as voters rejected the billionaire attempts to buy their way to yet more power. In Texas the utterly disgusting $500 million …

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So, is this it? Are Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson about to pull the plug on ‘Blue Lights‘ for good? Or will the show live on in some other incarnation, heading in a new direction? Before we get into that, one more word of warning for those who have not seen all the episodes that have preceded tonight’s. As usual, this review will contain spoilers. Therefore if you haven’t seen the episodes already, maybe stop reading this and come back …

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