C Johnston – Slugger O'Toole

Talk Like A North Antrim Native: A 101

C Johnston on July 2, 2022, 8:23 am | Readers 5065

The North Coast of Northern Ireland from Ballycastle Beach in Country Antrim. In the background is the coast of Scotland which is only 13 miles away at this point.

Very impressed with this Belfast Live guide to some of our wonderfully thran placenames but, as a frequent favourite subject on Twitter, I reckon we can take it a step further here. The Belfast Live version includes, for example, the correct pronunciation of ‘Doagh’ as closer to ‘Doak’. For brevity this is a very good explanation for how the name is said. Viewers of a north of the north inclination will know, however, that the 100% authentic pronunciation of Doagh …

Dear GB: Worried About Brexit and Northern Ireland? Read This…

C Johnston on April 30, 2022, 8:15 pm | Readers 7518

blue red and white hand paint

For years now people in Northern Ireland have watched some in GB fret and beard-stroke about Brexit “causing a return to violence”. The comments continue to this day as if, subconsciously disappointed by the continual failure of war to reappear, saying it more often might make it more true. Here’s two bits of homegrown-in-NI advice for those with concerns: 1, That Sea Border The ‘sea border’ is the kind of symbolic playground shoving match we’re used to having all the …

A Maddening Mess: One NI Mental Health Patient’s Diary

C Johnston on April 20, 2022, 2:56 pm | Readers 2970

A member of our family has serious mental health challenges. This statement is a just a few short words, but anyone who has ever used this phrase, or similar, will understand that there’s something often unseen about everyday life for those who use these words. And it needs to be seen by everyone. It’s this: the exhausting task of swimming against the endless tsunami of ancient processes, red tape, disconnected departments, delays and jaw-dropping inefficiency blocking the path to treatment. …

Neurotypical Nonsense: A Beginner’s Guide

C Johnston on July 21, 2021, 1:51 pm | Readers 1489

It all started with a trip to the funfair, complete with its overload of noise, lights and crashing machinery, and a casual remark from my bemused oldest: “what is this neurotypical nonsense?” And so, the Big List of Neurotypical Nonsense was born. And we’re going to share some of it here. Neurotypical nonsense is, according to my two proudly Autism spectrum teens, anything so ludicrously head-wrecking it could never have been invented by an Autistic person*. Because if it had …

That DUP ‘Doff Your Cap’ Ethos: Time is Running Short…

C Johnston on February 13, 2021, 11:02 am | Readers 7052

As a close witness of the DUP’s surreal days in control of Ballymena’s council chamber in and around the 1990s, the recent conduct of Gregory Campbell has a very distinct echo of the way those DUP councillors spoke about those who didn’t look (or think) as they did. It was summed up perfectly back then by a Nationalist friend in Ballymena who wasn’t the only person to explain that, partly as a result of DUP councillors’ actions, he felt “tolerated in my own …

We’ve All Been Infected With a Covid Side-Effect… And There Is No Cure

C Johnston on October 27, 2020, 4:14 pm | Readers 2272

In The Comey Rule then-FBI Director James Comey, played by Jeff Daniels, remarks that the Bureau losing the trust of its public is nothing less than “a bell that can never be unrung”. Similarly, the information vacuum created by the NI Executive’s confusion, frequent poor leadership at individual level and – in places – crude self-interest during the Covid crisis created a space now occupied permanently by cranks, conspiracy theorists, attention-clamouring ‘influencers’ and small government hyper-fanatics. In particular, and this …

MLAs: If You Can’t Raise Your Game Now…

C Johnston on April 2, 2020, 6:43 pm | Readers 1783

It would be interesting to know how many people who were eager for the return of the Assembly now feel the same way after witnessing the spell of – largely – flailing around, procrastinating, point-scoring and mixed messages we’ve endured since Coronavirus really hit the local headlines. And one place where the true motivation, character and talent of individual political representatives has been laid bare? Social media. While some are making their mark, the old fallbacks of political bunkers, blame …

A (Brutally) Honest Visitor Guide to Belfast

C Johnston on January 28, 2020, 5:19 pm | Readers 26234

City Hall image for Honest Visitor Guide to Belfast

A side-effect of Belfast picking up tourism awards across the world? Visitors are now shepherded from one pre-packaged tourist ‘experience’ to a generic theme bar, finishing in shoebox glass hotel with the paint still drying on the walls. In days gone by a local would tell you about a great wee pub, a gem of a ‘chippy’ or the best place to find a cheap pint any day of the week. But times have changed, the city has changed and …

The Problem With (Earthly) Blind Faith

C Johnston on September 28, 2019, 6:06 pm | Readers 6656

A quick observation about the devastating, unfolding story around the loss of Wrightbus jobs in Ballymena and the interwoven fortunes of Green Pastures Church. Look carefully at the wider issue and you’ll see one of the significant downsides to a church gathering a vast amount of money, power and influence: it becomes too big for some, even on a subconscious level, to criticise. This means defensive barriers begin to be erected as almost reflex action. Let’s treat Wrightbus and Green …

Gun Control: If Even NI Can Get It Right…

C Johnston on August 4, 2019, 11:22 am | Readers 4636

In response to yet another mass shooting in the US, a quick note about one of the many ironies of life in Northern Ireland: we have extremely high levels of *legal* gun ownership. But legal gun ownership in NI is very tightly controlled. And successfully too. It really isn’t rocket science. As I understand it* applicants for a firearms certificate simply have to… Prove why they want a gun: Be it for agricultural reasons, target shooting at a club, clay …

Skills Shortage? Don’t Make Us Laugh

C Johnston on June 22, 2019, 1:50 pm | Readers 2556

Recent debate around a ‘skills shortage’ in Northern Ireland seems to be running in a surreal parallel universe to the actual job adverts those in the local employment market spend so much of their time scouring. Let’s take a closer look at the near-billion pounds hospitality industry as an example of a stated skills shortage area: there’s little evidence to an outside observer that the pay and conditions often offered to hospitality employees represent much better than a ‘bare minimum’ mentality. …

Islay: NI’s ‘Hidden’ Whisky Island Neighbour

C Johnston on May 31, 2019, 7:00 pm | Readers 6716

Longread What if someone told you we have a relatively untalked-of, world-renowned island destination, full of stunning views, good food and A LOT of even better drinks, a stone’s throw from NI’s shores? For our recent honeymoon, myself and the newly installed Mrs Johnston took to the globally celebrated, whisky-producing island of Islay. And if your first question is ‘where?’, you’re in for a shock. That’s because it’s just one hour from Ballycastle. One hour. Why have I called it …

Union vs United Ireland Declared a Draw! What Happens Next?

C Johnston on September 17, 2018, 10:51 am | Readers 3003

In these increasingly dramatic, uncertain and downright bizarre political times, one suitably off-the-wall scenario is good fun to imagine: what if London and Dublin stepped in and gave the dysfunctional Stormont 12 months to reach a permanent solution to the constitution and identity debate. Otherwise – sick of policing the NI naughty step – they’d step in with final rulings of their own. So, the parties would be warned that this post-deadline decision by the two governments would – intentionally …

Let’s stop rearranging the border deckchairs

C Johnston on February 17, 2018, 3:34 pm | Readers 3371

The distracting haze of our daily media sideshow – such as a severed wheel clamp, Jamie Bryson’s travel plans or a loaf of bread – brings with it the side-effect of obscuring an otherwise glaring point about our political tug-of-war. As sure as a new day brings with it a new ‘issue’ just divisive enough to keep the airwaves full of noise and drama without the effort of digging too deeply, it will also bring more and more material in …

Did PSNI just change the script?

C Johnston on May 29, 2017, 12:48 pm | Readers 2731

One standout take-away from the Belfast Telegraph’s ‘BelTelBomber’ piece was an unexpected response from police which cut to the very core of how large organisations deal with the media in two interesting ways. Firstly, a recap: the Belfast Telegraph’s story followed up on the Manchester bombing by sending a reporter to visit local tourist attractions, complete with a backpack, to check if he could do so without any checks. The newspaper’s front page was given over to the piece along …

20 years on: Will the media outside NI ever catch up?

C Johnston on April 4, 2017, 6:45 am | Readers 3860

During the last election (for readers in the future – this means the March 2017 version) a throwaway tweet seemed to catch the eye of local news-nerds. And another variation on the same theme more recently had the same effect. The reason? A look at the headlines on the superb Newshound service for a few days in late March reveals plenty. Firstly, we have a Canadian academic and “supporter of the Irish peace process” who takes a look at the …

Wrecking-ball Belfast – are we asking the right questions about right now?

C Johnston on February 11, 2017, 10:12 am | Readers 2561

The news that Belfast’s Movie House cinema on the Dublin Road could be flattened hasn’t troubled the headline writers too much. We all know how this goes, we’ll have a consultation then a new office block is likely to rise in its place. After all, we’ve asked ourselves the usual questions and for some the answers weren’t in much doubt: the Movie House isn’t particularly old and it definitely isn’t beautiful. So that’s that then. Or is it? There’s an …

How we’ve reduced our identity to a Google Maps search

C Johnston on January 29, 2017, 8:31 pm | Readers 3470

A Queen’s University student discovered some alarming home truths when he spent months investigating our addiction to the use of the blanket terms Protestant and Roman Catholic as a catch-all to describe the population of Northern Ireland. Roy Fisher, a print-maker and market trader who carried out the research for his Masters thesis, found that an increasing minority of employees who describe themselves as being of neither religion are still determined as being of one of those faiths due to Equality Legislation. …

A city in colour: behind the scenes with a street art veteran

C Johnston on October 12, 2016, 7:30 am | Readers 2000

You don’t have to think (as I do) that Belfast’s street art puts a priceless, living vein through the heart of our city to be fascinated by how those ‘walls’ happened and where the local scene behind them is going next. Taking Dermot McConaghy as a great example, the established street artist explained how the scene has grown and where we might see the art appearing next. He also talked through the personal journey which brought much-loved pieces like Long …

Publish or be damned: a party’s (very public) swipe at the Irish News

C Johnston on September 11, 2016, 8:05 pm | Readers 2244

A brief ‘ICYMI’: an image appeared on Twitter at the end of last week criticising the Irish News over would-be coverage of Palestine the newspaper “chose to ignore”. Posted in the main Sinn Féin account on Thursday 8th, the image was published as a direct Twitter reply to a story the Irish News ran the same day featuring Palestinians voicing concerns over Sinn Féin meetings with Israel’s Likud party. The public broadside throws up some interesting points about the relationship …