Hughie Beag

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 …

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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, …

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Hungry has just announced that it’s withdrawing from the International Criminal Court. The announcement came hours after Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted on an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, arrived in the country on a state visit. Hungary is of course a (reluctant?) member of the EU which was founded on the core principles of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, Hungary, under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has systematically eroded and undermined these values. Over the past …

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In my last piece on Pamplona, Brian picked up on a section and said that he’d be interested in hearing about mental health provision and particularly mental health provision for younger people. I’m not in a position, (or have the inclination), to go dredging for data and compile pie charts to present a clinical, dry representation of mental health care in Navarra but rather will anecdotally recount a few personal experiences and empirical observations in broad brush strokes. I have …

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Last week I listened to former West Belfast elected representative Máirtín Ó Muilleoir give a sterling defence of West Belfast on Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show, (available here): on the decision to put a poster as part of a campaign called Ending the Harm which was launched last year by the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime in the the Andersonstown area of West Belfast. And it got me thinking. I was born in 1967 in the Lower Falls to …

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There was a bit of controversy this week when it was announced that Stormont Assembly First Minister would attend the Belfast Cenotaph this Sunday to remember the British Army war dead of two world wars and subsequent conflicts.  This would make O’Neill the highest profile Sinn Féin member ever to attend such an event and has been met with disdain from some members of the unionist community and relatives of those killed in IRA violence with some variously branding it …

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I read that the recent vandalism case at Belfast City Hall when former DUP Mayor Wallace Browne’s portrait was damaged by a Sinn Féin member is now being treated by the PSNI as a ‘hate crime’. Now, my understanding of the criteria of a hate crime is that a crime must first be committed and in order for it to be considered a hate crime there needs to be a further aggravating factor surrounding the motivation of the crime, that …

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The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance released a report today on racism and Intolerance in the UK, (full 46 page report available here): The report states that: ECRI’s reports are not the result of inquiries or testimonial evidence. They are analyses based on information gathered from a wide variety of sources. Documentary studies are based on a large number of national and international written sources And summarises that improvements have been made in England, Scotland and Wales since the last …

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I was in my favourite city centre watering hole early last Monday evening, enjoying a few final night stouts before catching my flight back here when a pleasant Floridian couple, Kevin McArdle (yes, he was) and his wife Lynette, sat down in the space beside me. We began chatting, and they told me it was their first time in Belfast, but they had been to Dublin City and the West Coast of Ireland twice before. They told me that this …

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A prominent news story today in both the British and European press has been that of the banning of the National Conservatism Conference by Brussels municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Mayor Emir Kir stating: I issued an order from the mayor to ban the National Conservatism Conference event to guarantee public safety. In Etterbeek, Brussels City and Saint-Josse, the far right is not welcome: Among the speakers due to talk were Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman, Viktor Orban, Eric Zemmour and Mateusz Morawiecki. …

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I’ve just read Andy Pollak’s piece: ‘How are nationalists going to get unionist consent for unity if they don’t actively work for reconciliation with that community?‘ It’s a lengthy piece that heavily features excerpts from comments and gestures from Leo Varadker and an analysis of Ireland’s Future aims and objectives. The OP is one of a recent number that focuses on ‘unionist consent’ in the event of Irish unification as if consent by unionism is some sort of prerequisite for …

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Brian had said previously that he’d be interested in a blog about some of the contrasts between my home city and adopted city and I’ve finally gotten around to it so here goes with the stream of consciousness. As I’ve alluded to here a few times, my wife is Basque. We lived in West Belfast for seventeen years, spending every summer of those seventeen years here before finally deciding to come here to live full time several years ago and …

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Have you ever heard of Electric Picnic? It’s a weekend festival held in County Laois in the Irish midlands. The festival’s web page explains it as: Ireland’s largest gathering of music & arts, and the ultimate rock n’ roll circus, Electric Picnic has established itself as one of the world’s most unique festivals. With a great selection of music, art, theatre, comedy, food and holistic health, it’s the most delightfully diverse end of summer party on the Emerald Isle It’s …

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Youtuber, (whatever that is) Kai Cenat is to be charged with inciting a riot after thousands of people gathered in NYC’s Union Square in the wake of Cenat stating on social media that he would be handing out 300 free PlayStations: Police plan to charge twitch streamer after PS5 giveaway mayhem https://t.co/1KOkRowU1R — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 5, 2023 Now, while the charges above, how they’ll play against the Jan 6th riots and who was responsible for them is …

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