Arnold Carton 
Do the events of 250 years ago, such as the American Declaration of Independence, have any relevance to life in N. Ireland today? Let’s hope so, because the DUP Minister, Gordon Lyons, has decided to spend £425,000 of public finance to celebrate this event. Possibly the DUP will want to focus on the role of emigrants from Ulster who brought their sense of independence to America and played a role in rebelling against Britain. However, the influence of this time …
In our casual conversations, the choice of words is governed by habit, but when dealing with political issues where there is much at stake, we need to select our words more carefully. In 1946 George Orwell wrote an essay called Politics and the English Language, where he pointed out that careless use of language prevents clear thinking and can corrupt our political decisions. Later in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four he wrote eloquently about how words shape our understanding, and about how a …
Donald Trump promised to change America and we can see it changing before our eyes. Last year the ferocity of ICE raids was attracting our attention, with videos of masked men grabbing people off the streets or from cars reaching us from the USA. Last November Slugger hosted an article that highlighted some of the worrying behaviour by ICE agents in Chicago where a video captured ICE agents firing pepper balls at the head of a Presbyterian minister and a …
Almost 30 years ago, I arrived in my classroom to discover the pupils grinning guiltily and the floor literally swimming with water – someone had been throwing water balloons – more than one. Deciding it was not worth the confrontation to seek out the culprit, I unlocked the cleaners store and quickly mopped up the mess. As I wrung out the mop (there is a technique) I was surprised when one of the boys asked me how I knew how …
A clash is brewing in the US between individual states and President Trump over the regulation of AI (Artificial Intelligence). On Thursday last week, Trump signed an executive order that seeks to halt any laws limiting artificial intelligence and block states from regulating AI technology. This is seen as a major victory for the tech companies who have campaigned against any restrictions on the development or use of AI. But what does this mean for ordinary people? Far too often …
Several contributors (myself included) have written before for Slugger on the effects on young people (especially boys) of the Transfer Test. The comments reported by Mark Bain in Thursday’s Belfast Telegraph from Danny Baker MLA (SF) on the effects of the 11-Plus exam on our children, took courage to make and reinforce what teachers like myself have seen in the classroom and within our own families A Stormont MLA has opened up about how failing his 11-plus exam had left …
Before the Covid pandemic forced us to start paying with our cards or phones, we had to fill our pockets with shiny little bits of metal called coins. If you still possess any coins, you will find that most have the late Queen Elizabeth II embossed on one side and beside her name you might see the letters FD or FID. This comes from the Latin title Fidei Defensor – Defender of the Faith, an honorary title bestowed on King Henry …
What is really going on between the GPs and our Health Minister? For GPs to pass a motion of no-confidence in our Health Minister last weekend is unusual, for them to talk of investigating a future outside the NHS is even more dramatic. (See UUP response here: https://www.uup.org/gp_conference_decision_was_reckless_and_ill_judged ) Perhaps, more important is something of which we have all become aware – the current process for getting an appointment with a GP simply does not work. Most of us have …
2026 will be an important year for America. As well as hosting the FIFA World Cup in June & July, they will have their mid-term elections in November 2026, and most importantly America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of their Declaration of Independence from Britain. What connects any of that with the novel Evil in High Places by Rory Clements? Evil in High Places This novel is the follow on from Munich Wolf (both excellent books) which is about a …
“They are very rich and powerful, so they must be very intelligent,” goes the logic and it seems credible. After all, would not every one of us want to be very rich and powerful, if only we were intelligent enough to make this dream come true? But could there be other factors than simple genius at play? Rich parents, inheritance, the killer instinct necessary for success in a cut-throat business? Human nature tends to assume the best of the most …
We understand the reasons for Keir Starmer’s efforts to woo Donald Trump last week. Under a vindictive President like Trump, the USA is a nation to be feared and we must avoid a trade war. However, those who are praising enthusiastically the financial benefits Trump offers the UK in return for flattery should be careful. What is the Salesman getting? One of my tasks before I retired involved purchasing new IT systems for schools (these were modest networks costing less …
Roughly 20 years ago, Fantasy Football was popular with kids. Young people could select real players for their fantasy team and enjoy following its progress without being constrained by reality. In more recent years, it is Fantasy Politics that has risen to prominence. Like fantasy football, fantasy politics can be fun. You get more drama, more excitement, plus the opportunity to feel self-righteous while ignoring all the constraints of real life as, in your head, you cleverly solve every complex …
Vigilante Groups of (mainly) men are patrolling the Ravenhill and Ormeau areas at night, stopping ‘foreigners’ and asking them why they are out at night. This has correctly been viewed as disturbing by most (but not all) people. If you have been watching the news you will know that this is not just a local phenomenon, with tensions over immigration being a continuous theme in UK news in the past year and politicians from the Reform Party reinforcing the sense …
One of the big myths about the evangelical right-wing in the USA is that they were provoked into backing the Republican party by the Roe v Wade case that introduced the right to abortion across the USA. In his excellent book ‘Bad Faith – Race and the Rise of the Religious Right’, Randall Balmer sets out the real steps that led the religious right to dominate USA politics and bring Donald Trump to power. Evangelicals were not uniformly anti-abortion in …
After listening to the 45 minutes of complaint by Mervyn Gibson on BBC Talkback, I read the Orange Order statement in full and as someone who grew up in a firmly unionist family, attending Presbyterian Sunday School I was both surprised and disappointed. The one thing both Rev Gibson and myself are in agreement over is that the negative image of the Orange Order has been developing over several years. As an illustration, three years ago, on 23rd Jul 2022, …
What shapes your future; is it you or is it the world around you? Does random chance or the actions of powerful others decide the outcome of your life? Are we controlled by fate or can we make our own choices and select our own path? Most people will believe that their future is shaped by a mix of their own actions and the actions of those around them mixed with chance, but within populations there can be surprising variations …
After the IRA ceasefire of 1994 the then leader of unionism, James Molyneaux described this as one of the most “destabilising events since partition”. I was surprised and disappointed by the statement but in a sense, he was right – loyalist unease at the new confidence within nationalism and republicanism began to manifest itself in arguments over parades during the following years. I was a young school teacher during the years 1995-1998, when riots over parades regularly marred our summers …
Something strange is happening in America. Presidents Obama and Biden both arrested and deported undocumented migrants and we expected Trump to increase the rate at which this happened. However, many have been both surprised and disturbed at the way this has been carried out. Under Biden, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was directed to quietly prioritise the arrest and removal of noncitizens who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security. The result was a sharp drop …
Last week many unionists were genuinely horrified by the violence directed against immigrants living in Ballymena and other parts of N. Ireland. Several unionist spokespeople from both the TUV and the DUP spoke out to condemn the violence, but also spoke about the ‘justifiable concerns’ of local people. Justifiable Concerns Unionist politicians explained that when local communities see their areas being taken over by foreigners, who might be hard working but who also take houses and jobs and create pressure …
I believe in democracy, in Powersharing, in letting everyone have their say, but in our house, when it comes to choosing a drama or a film to watch in the evenings, my wife is usually in control. I can rely on her to have researched the options, she will know which drama series has had excellent reviews and which films are worth watching. It isn’t that I don’t get a vote, its that I don’t always choose to use it. …