Hughie Beag 
Yesterday was the last day of San Fermin, the nine day festival in Pamplona, world renowned for its running of the bulls. The festival sees the population of the city swell from 240,000 to over a million, attracting visitors from all over Europe as well as those from other continents. I was only able to take two days of it and in those two days spoke to people from Goa, New Zealand, the US, Colombia and South Africa. In little …
It’s now been ten days since former UDR member, member of the Orange Order, MP, Knight of the Real., Privy Councillor, prominent UUP member and DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson was found guilty of i8 historical sexual accusations. What we know for sure is this, Donaldson is a sexual predator, a convicted rapist and a paedophile. We know this to be true because he’s currently in custody awaiting sentencing for his heinous crimes so I’d like to leave these crimes to …
Valentina Gomez is a Colombian born US far far right political activist. Even by the standards of far right political activism Gomez’s right wing extremism is something to behold. Gomez attended ‘Tommy Robinson’s’ ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in London last year stating: England, they took your guns, they took your swords, and they raped your women. You have nothing else to lose, but there’s still hope. You are still the majority. So you either fight for this nation or you …
I recently received a message from a Slugger regular on holiday in Torrevieja on Spain’s western Costa Blanca asking about ‘Spanish’ fiestas. The first thing to say is that fiesta culture is Iberian rather than purely Spanish. It stretches across southern Europe in Romance-language countries. This is more of a personal take than an academic one. Fiestas in Iberia have deep roots. Pre-Roman tribes celebrated seasonal cycles tied to agriculture and nature. The Romans brought structure, adding theatre, games and …
I read that a resident from Woodside Close, just off the Garvaghy Road, Irish Hagan, has won a Judicial Review case, (a JR IS where a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision, action, or failure to act by a public body. It focuses on whether the correct legal process was followed), against Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council over their refusal to erect Irish language signage in the street despite the criteria under ABC Council being met. https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/courts/irish-signs-to-be-erected-in-portadown-following-legal-battle-6034520 The …
I read that UUP leader Jon Burrows has recently been flaunting his hard man credentials by suggesting that Ireland should apologise for ‘unjustifiable conduct’ during the decades of violence in the North. Stating that: I think they should make a major statement about the past, I would love Ireland to say that some of their conduct during the Troubles was unjustified and unjustifiable. I think it would be seismic for our relationships … seismic for good relations [….] I think …
I read that Belfast is set to lose its biggest outdoor concert venue, with Boucher Road playing fields in south Belfast set to revert to their original function as public sports and recreation fields. The site began regularly hosting large outdoor music events early in the second decade of the twenty-first century, with larger concerts increasingly being held there over the last two decades and entertainment licences being granted for large crowds, sometimes up to around 40,000 people. The reason …
This story caught my eye, it’s the story of a children’s football pitch being built close to Bethlehem on the West Bank of the Jordan River in Palestine: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrz0j9p5jqo In late December 2025, Israeli authorities issued a demolition order for a small football pitch in the Aida refugee camp just north of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The order gives local managers a short deadline to take the structure down themselves – otherwise the Israeli military will destroy it …
The shooting dead of 37-year-old mother of three and US citizen Renee Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis has seldom been out of the media since the killing on Wednesday. There’s a good forensic examination of the video by Canadian journalist Andrew Chang: ICE’s role in aggressive immigration enforcement has expanded dramatically under Trump’s second term, with a significant surge in arrests, raids, and deportations. The agency has carried out large-scale operations in major cities, ramped up arrests of people …
I’m reading here about the case of Alaa Abdel Fattah, a prominent Egyptian pro-democracy activist who first became well known in the 2000s as a blogger criticising authoritarian rule and police abuse under Hosni Mubarak. He became a symbol of Egypt’s youth-led digital activism and later of the struggle for civil liberties under successive governments. Abdel Fattah was first imprisoned in 2011 by Egyptian military authorities for protesting against military trials of civilians and under President Mohamed Mors Alaa he …
Last week saw the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the military dictator ‘El Caudillo’ Francisco ‘Paco’ Franco, who reigned over an actual military dictatorship for almost 40 years and the Guardian ran a few pieces on it: Franco continues to haunt and divide Spain Spain’s rosy view of Franco regime’s horrors The first time I set foot in the Basque Country was in 1988 and I remember attempting to converse with my twenty one year old peers about the …
In the wake of Catherine Connolly being elected as Uachtarán na hÉireann, there’s been a fair bit of discussion regarding ‘reconciliation’ again. As I write this, I also note that it’s mentioned a number of times in Associate Professor at Trinity, David Mitchell’s review piece on Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride’s book, arguing the pros and cons of Irish unity. I think there were a few opportunities for reconciliation recently lost too. With the acquittal of Soldier F on the …
As I write this, tens of thousands of people are marching through London demanding ‘free speech’. The ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march is centred on arguments that public dissent, particularly public dissent about immigration, national identity, and government policy, is being suppressed. Tommy Robinson and his supporters repeatedly claim that freedom of expression is being eroded and are using the rally as a platform to protest against what they see as censorship by mainstream media and ‘political elites’ https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwydezxl0xlo Of course, …
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey recently wrote an opinion piece in the Guardian arguing that Britain should strengthen its ties with the EU opining: There are big prizes on offer if he does. Giving our economy the boost it desperately needs, pulling it out of the cycle of low growth and high debt that the Conservatives plunged us into. Helping to raise more funding to lift our NHS and other public services off their knees. And, crucially, showing people that …
One of life’s true delights is sitting on a blazing sunny day, such as today, on a stool outside one of the many bars in Pamplona’s old town having a beer and just watching the world pass by. The origins of Lo Viejo, El Casco Antiguo, El Casco Viejo dates back to 75 B.C., when the Roman general Pompey the Great founded a settlement called Pompaelo on an earlier Vascon settlement and was the point of conflation of the city’s …
I read the new Pivotal report on young people and the breaking down of barriers in the North, which concludes: “Northern Ireland’s young people remain keenly aware of the divisions in local society and, while they want to see greater integration, many believe it is something for future generations rather than themselves.” It’s depressing that, thirty years on from the ceasefires and over a quarter century from the Good Friday Agreement, young people would think themselves powerless to decrease division, …
I read that the Police Ombudsman has found that the RUC failed to arrest or interview 11 individuals who had been identified by intelligence as potentially involved in the sectarian murders of 10 men at Kingsmills in 1976. The revelation came as part of an investigation into how the killings were investigated. The murders occurred after the sectarian murders of six members of two separate families the previous day. The ombudsman’s report criticises significant investigative failings, including missed opportunities to …
Earlier this morning the humanitarian aid ship Conscience, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was attacked by drones in international waters approximately 14 miles off the coast of Malta. The vessel was en route to Gaza, aiming to deliver essential supplies and protest against the ongoing Israeli blockade: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx27z0r8n5do The drone strikes, reported shortly after midnight, targeted the ship’s generator, causing a fire and a breach in the hull, which left the vessel powerless and at risk of sinking. All …
Following the recent piece on reconciliation I also wanted to explore what exactly is ‘parity of esteem’ as contained within the 98 Agreement. Article 1(v) of the British- Irish Agreement state: ….the power of the sovereign government with jurisdiction [in Northern Ireland] shall be exercised with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all the people in the diversity of their identities and traditions and shall be founded on the principles of full respect for, and equality of, civil, political, social, and …
I’ve been reading a fair bit about the vague, abstract notion of ‘reconciliation’ here over the last while, first on Andy Pollak’s Claire Hanna piece and latterly on Open Sunday and it got me thinking just what was meant by ‘reconciliation’ and who was it aimed at which drove me to ChatGPT to ask it to give me a definition of reconciliation to which it replied: Reconciliation generally means the process of restoring harmony or resolving differences between people, groups, …
