Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast)

Alan Meban. Tweets as @alaninbelfast. Blogs about cinema and theatre over at Alan in Belfast. A freelancer who writes about, reports from, live-tweets and live-streams civic, academic and political events and conferences. He delivers social media training/coaching; produces podcasts and radio programmes; is a FactCheckNI director; a member of Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland; and a member of the Corrymeela Community.

Stuck in the Past – difficult choices to be made #feile18

| Readers 970

Three years ago, the same hall was venue to a conversation between the then deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the PSNI Chief Constable, again chaired by Brian Rowan. That night, the atmosphere was electric. This afternoon, the conversation seemed less extraordinary, certainly less unexpected. Unfortunately, the political stalemate has become as normal yet unacceptable as the stretched patience of victims and survivors who seek truth and information about incidents during the Troubles.

Ged Killen: “This is personal. Your rights are my rights. An injury to one, is an injury all.”

| Readers 1422

Watch back or read Ged Killen MP’s lecture for Amnesty NI as part of Belfast Pride, delivered on Thursday evening at Queen’s University. Speaking on ‘Marriage Equality – Winning at Westminster’ the Scottish Labour MP’s address was followed by a Q&A with William Crawley which included an update on the local legal cases surrounding marriage equality as well as discussion about efforts at Westminster and the stalled NI Assembly.

I, Dolours – an unsettling cinematic memoir about an IRA activist whose deadly idealism turned out to be hollow

| Readers 7562

A cinematic memoir which allows Dolours Price tell her story from the grave. This 82-minute film, revolving around a 2010 interview conducted by Ed Moloney, explains and reconstructs her IRA activism and role in the ‘disappeared’. I Dolours will be screened as part of Belfast Film Festival’s documentary season on 13 August before going on general release from 31 August.

An Ulsterman Considers His Passport – Arthur Aughey #JHISS

| Readers 4353

An Ulsterman Considers His Passport … and also considers what we can learn from other complicated borders in Europe, like those Austria shares with its eastern European neighbours. Watch back Prof Arthur Aughey’s Centre for Cross-border Studies lecture at the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh.

Civil Rights Movement: What Went Wrong? #JHISS

| Readers 2680

WATCH Monday’s political panel at the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh which looked back on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement and asked What Went Wrong? Gregory Campbell, Bríd Rodgers, Colm Gildernew and Trevor Ringland, chaired by Peter Osborne.

Clinton: “Keep the cranes up. Keep the voices free. Keep the votes fair. You’ll figure it out.” #GFA20

| Readers 1358

Political leaders of old and today gathered at Queen’s University, Belfast for a day of events focussed on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said that people “should realise that this agreement was never going to support all the problems of Northern Ireland” while former US President Bill Clinton had a triptych of advice for NI: “Keep the cranes up. Keep the voices free. Keep the votes fair. You’ll figure it out.”

A Further Shore (Lyric Theatre) #GFA20

| Readers 410

A nuanced and at times moving medley of spoken word and song remembrance of past times, incidents and ways of living during the Troubles, gradually working up to the negotiations and the 1998 Agreement. Not so balanced to become boring, but carefully seeded with surprise and honesty in the many perspectives it opened up.