Sudanese man arrested over attempted murder of man in North Belfast last night…

Last night’s attack in North Belfast was pretty gruesome, even for a society like ours hardened by the troubles. The PSNI issued this statement: Man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a serious assault in north Belfast A man in his 30s, believed to be Sudanese, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a serious assault involving a knife in the Kinnaird Avenue area of north Belfast on Monday night, 8th June, shortly after 10.30pm. He remains …

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Open Sunday – discuss what you like…

open sunday sign, signage, open

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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Open sunday – politics free zone…

Street vendor with a suitcase

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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Open Sunday – discuss what you like…

open sunday sign, signage, open

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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Open sunday – politics free zone…

Street vendor with a suitcase

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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Open Sunday – discuss what you like…

open sunday sign, signage, open

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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Open sunday – politics free zone…

Street vendor with a suitcase

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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Our irritatingly unpredictable weather…

person walking on street while holding black umbrella near cars on road at nighttime

On Sunday I brought Junior and his friend over to the Red Bull soapbox race at Stormont. We got as far as the main gates of Stormont before the heavens opened and a torrential downpour took place. Just to add into the mix there were even hailstones, which is a bit bizarre in May but there you go. We did not even get a chance to get out of the car. We just turned around and went back home. But …

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Open Sunday – discuss what you like…

open sunday sign, signage, open

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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Open sunday – politics free zone…

Street vendor with a suitcase

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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Wes Streeting resigns as Health Secretary….

The pressure continues to pile on the Prime Minister as today his health secretary Wes Streeting announced that he has quit the cabinet, but has yet to launch a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer. Wes does not have a great approval rating of the public so I’m not sure if he has unrealistic notions or some other game is at play. His resignation goes to great lengths to explain how wonderful he was as Health Secretary but the fact that …

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Proposal at Cork City Council for a statue to commemorate the mosquito that bit Oliver Cromwell…

At Belfast City Council they are no strangers to daft proposals but this one from the third biggest city in Ireland is kind of genius. STATUE TO THE MOSQUITO OR MIDGE THAT BIT OLIVER CROMWELL ‘That Cork City Council will erect a statue to the mosquito or midge that bit Oliver Cromwell during his siege of the city, later causing his death through ‘Cork fever’ (malaria); and that this statue shall be the ‘world’s smallest public statue’.’ (Proposer: Cllr. O. …

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Doug Beattie to be deselected for next Assembly Election…

I do wonder if at times Doug Beattie would rather deal with the Taliban than local politics, at least you know where you stand with the Taliban. Despite being an ex-leader of the party and one of their big names, it seems his local constituency is not happy with his liberal stance and is planning to give him the heave-ho for next year’s assembly elections. Where the situation gets weird is that, despite Doug having quite a high profile, he …

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Open Sunday – discuss what you like…

open sunday sign, signage, open

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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Open sunday – politics free zone…

Street vendor with a suitcase

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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British elections open thread…

Yesterday the people of Britain went to the polls to cast their democratic mandate in the Welsh and Scottish Assembly elections as well as local elections in England. Results will be coming out throughout the day so I have created this post for you to chat over the results as they come in. Initial results in the English council elections show massive gains for Reform at the expense of Labour and the Conservatives. Interesting times indeed. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of …

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A day of reckoning for the Labour Party and Keir Starmer as Britain goes to the polls…

Will today be the last day of Keir Starmer’s Prime Ministership? With voting to the Scottish and Welsh assemblies and also the English Council elections, it is a crucial test of the popularity (or lack thereof) of the Labour Party and Keir Starmer’s leadership. It looks like Reform and the Green Party are going to be the main winners today. The Daily Mail hysteria around the Green Party is particularly fun to observe. All the charts below come from Poll …

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She lived her life like a candle in the wind….

woman in white dress sitting on chair

The Guardian reports on unearthed interviews with the playwright Arthur Miller about his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Some of the quotes are quite revealing: He was one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century and she was one of the greatest actors. In newly unearthed recordings made over a period of nearly three decades, Arthur Miller opened up about his short-lived marriage to Marilyn Monroe, saying she wanted a husband who was a “father, lover, friend and agent,” and …

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Why do we have so many anti-social young people?

It’s always been a thing for as long as I remember. Anti-social kids or wee spides, as we call them in Belfast. They do tend to have the same look: the skinny body drowned in an oversized tracksuit, that side-shade haircut, the deathly pallor that looks like they’ve never eaten a vegetable in their lives. But recently it does seem like things are getting worse especially with the advent of electric scooters and bikes that they have taken to it …

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The death of the early houses pubs…

clear drinking glass with water

Early house pubs tend to be mythologised in Irish culture as what could be better than drinking a pint at 7 in the morning? I joke, of course, anyone drinking at 7 in the morning these days needs to question their life choices. This archived video below from RTÉ is a sobering watch, behind the jovial atmosphere there is an immense sadness amongst many of the men who are out of work, lonely, or just feel utterly useless. A reminder …

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