Brian O'Neill

There have long been concerns about the power of BBC Northern Ireland in the local media landscape. They have more journalists than the rest of the media put together and they very often shape what is discussed and highlighted. Who chooses the stories?Who chooses the headlines?Who chooses the framing?Who chooses the guests?Who chooses the questions? Drumcree has been fuelled from start to finish by media framing. A major theme needing to be addressed by BBCNI because it tells us something. …

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How best to describe the Upper Bann MP? I’m going to go with divisive. But it seems she may not be a member of the happy DUP family for long as she has quit as party officer. From the BelTel: DUP MP Carla Lockhart has quit her position as a party officer. She said she cannot continue to be part of a team that decides on the direction and strategy the party takes while “clearly having concerns about that”. The …

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From the BBC: Jailed former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Jeffrey Donaldson is being investigated by London police about an alleged rape of a woman inside the Houses of Parliament, the BBC can reveal. The disgraced former MP has been accused of raping the woman in Westminster in 2016, at the very heart of the political establishment. In July, the Belfast Telegraph first reported that a woman from Northern Ireland alleged she had been sexually assaulted by Donaldson in the …

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From the BelTel: Sinn Féin’s Chris Hazzard is planning a high-stakes bid to move from Westminster to Stormont and become Strangford’s first nationalist MLA. The South Down MP will tonight launch his campaign for next year’s Assembly election in the neighbouring constituency. Speaking exclusively to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Hazzard said boundary changes had created a “huge opportunity” for his party to win a seat in Strangford. It is one of the SDLP’s key target constituencies, but the entry of …

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The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not …

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In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break. So discuss what you like here, but no politics. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any …

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From the BBC: Jeffrey Donaldson has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for a series of child sex offences, including one count of rape. The former DUP leader stood with his hands clasped in front of him in the dock of Newry Crown Court as his sentence was handed down. Judge Paul Ramsey said Donaldson’s crimes, which took place between 1985 and 2008, had led to a “catastrophic descent into disgrace”. He was sentenced to 11 years for his …

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The other day Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that he believed that there was Russian interference during the Brexit elections. From the BBC: Burnham told The Rest is Politics podcast, that upon arriving in Downing Street, he had asked if there had been Russian interference in the vote, adding: “I’ve had the clear answer that, yes, there was.” In his podcast interview, Burnham said there was “certainly misinformation, disinformation that is emanating from Russia into German politics”. He added: “I …

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Our elected leaders had a busy day up at Stormont yesterday. What were they all working so furiously on? Was it the environmental crisis of Lough Neagh? The crisis in our health service? Improving education? How to build more houses? Of course not. You wouldn’t expect anything useful or constructive from them. Instead they spent three-hours traded insults with each over during a debate before no-confidence motions in Sinn Féin ministers. I’m not even going to bother given you any …

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The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not …

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In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break. So discuss what you like here, but no politics. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any …

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From the Irish Times: People in the Republic will one day need to offer apologies to northern nationalists for forgetting about them “for a very long time” after partition, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. Speaking in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, on Monday night, Varadkar said reconciliation was usually spoken about as if “it’s just about the two main communities of Northern Ireland becoming reconciled with each other”. The South “went off and built our State and largely forgot about what …

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The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not …

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In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break. So discuss what you like here, but no politics. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any …

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A few days ago TUV deputy leader Ron McDowell was caught using AI to exaggerate the crowd at a rally in Portadown the other night, when questioned about the photo he claimed it was a joke. TUV deputy leader Ron McDowell has posted an image from a rally in support of the Drumcree Orangemen that appears to have been altered using AI. The image, posted on social media, appears to exaggerate the size of the crowd at the protest in Portadown. …

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From the BelTel: The SDLP has deselected MLA Justin McNulty with Crossmaglen councillor Pete Byrne, who has been chosen to run in Newry and Armagh in next year’s Assembly election. Mr Byrne won the vote at a selection convention in Newry Golf Club on Thursday night. Sources said Mr McNulty was now “examining all his options”. They said he would take time to “consult with family, friends and his advisers” on the way forward. Mr McNulty has been an MLA …

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From USA Today: Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, in his latest effort to boost the role of religion in military life, announced the establishment of the Office of Religious Affairs during his Sept. 30 “State of the Force” address in Quantico, Virginia. “Accordingly, our department, therefore, has a sacred duty – first-class religious support wherever we send our warriors,” he said. He referenced Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” and noted that President George Washington, who …

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From the Guardian: Andy Burnham has opened the door to the UK rejoining the EU, saying Britain could “go all the way”, as he prepares to reconsider Labour’s post-Brexit red lines. The prime minister used a series of interviews after his emotional Labour conference speech to spell out how wide-ranging his consideration of Britain’s future with Brussels could be because Brexit had caused “more harm than good”. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, shakes Andy Burnham’s hand as …

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Many of you will be familiar with the phrase, “Sucking the oxygen out of the room.” It’s when an issue becomes so dominant that every other issue doesn’t get a look in. This is what is unfolding with Drumcree. The media is consumed with Drumcree, as are all the politicians. But as Newton’s third law states, everything has an equal and opposite reaction. With all the focus on Drumcree, this means nothing else gets a look in, not education, not …

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There are many things from the ’90s you don’t mind seeing a comeback: Take That, Oasis, the return of vinyl, and even, more bizarrely, cassettes. But one thing that the majority of us were happy to see consigned to that last decade of the 20th century was the Drumcree dispute. It was one of the most toxic, acrimonious times during our long and inglorious history. But Drumcree was always there in the background, a little scab that could never heal, …

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