Brian O'Neill 
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 …
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 …
The UK higher education sector is, to put it mildly, in a bit of a mess. Current projections show that 45% of UK universities are facing a financial deficit for the 2025–26 academic year. Even more alarming, nearly 1 in 6 institutions are operating with less than 30 days of liquidity. Thanks to relentless inflation and stagnant funding, universities now receive substantially less in real terms per student than they did a decade ago. For years, international students were the …
There has been much talk about the anticipated fuel protests today. Junior was very excited last night at the possibility of school being cancelled, but I had to explain to him that, as we walk to school every day, I don’t think any protests will be affecting us. So far, the only activity seems to be some tractors stopping on the M3 – Sydenham Bypass city-bound. Another video from social – tractors stopped. pic.twitter.com/g77tuTdehi — Kevin Scott (@Kscott_94) April 14, …
All change in Hungary following the defeat of Viktor Orbán, but this particular story caught my attention. Peter Magyar, during his international press conference, confirmed that Szijjarto, Orbán’s foreign minister, has barricaded himself with some of his closest colleagues and is destroying and shredding evidence about his treason (documents about the sanctions against russians). Peter Magyar, during his international press conference, confirmed that Szijjarto, Orbán's foreign minister, has barricaded himself with some of his closest colleagues and is destroying and …
The war in Ukraine will be seen as a turning point for the world and likely not for the better. The creativity and ingenuity of Ukraine have shown how a small country can fend off and hopefully defeat a much larger invader. Unfortunately, it looks like they’ve also unleashed an obsolete Pandora’s box of new, cheap, easily made drones and other technological advances that will likely be used by future armies and also terrorists around the world. ZELENSKYY: For the …
The Great Orange One has turned his ire on the pontiff. Posting on Truth Social the following: Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart. I like …
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 …
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 …
Reuters reports on the ‘holy war’ against Iran: “It’s the same language as the crusades of the Middle Ages. You know, we must stop the infidel, we must defeat the wicked,” said John Fea, a history professor at Messiah University who has written extensively about evangelicals and politics. “We’ve never seen anything like this in American history.” The prominent evangelist Franklin Graham has praised the strikes on Iran in biblical terms and likened Trump to the biblical figure of Esther, …
Well humanity survives for another day. I am sure I am not the only one who went to bed last night wondering if they would wake up in the morning. But wake up I did and to the nwws of a two-week ceasefire. Is this another case of Trump Always Chickens Out or did the self-proclaimed ‘Master of the Deal’ manage to to pull it off? Sources on Twitter are saying the 1o point plan is: 1) Security Guarantees: A …
The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. 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 stuck in front of a screen, I am …
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. 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 stuck in front of …
To be honest, space travel has never interested me that much. I can appreciate the technical achievement of sending a rocket into space and the bravery of the astronauts, but I prefer to concentrate on terra firma and solving the many problems we have down here. I am reminded of the Gil Scott-Heron song: Still, I wish all the astronauts godspeed in whatever it is they’re doing, even though it was all done 60 years ago with less technology than …
The Financial Times reports on discreet but “advanced” discussions between the UK government and Dublin over a potential transfer of selected Northern Ireland public assets to the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. Sources close to the talks describe the move as a “creative fiscal solution” that could help London reduce its long‑term liabilities while giving the Republic a foothold in strategic infrastructure north of the border. A senior Treasury official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposals were being framed …
In most parts of the world, when the housing market crashes, people stop buying. But in certain parts of China, a property bust has created a bizarre new “growth” sector: apartments for the dead. Known as “Bone Ash Apartments,” these residential units are being bought by families not for living, but for storing the cremated remains of their ancestors. As of March 2026, the FT reports that the Chinese government has officially begun a massive crackdown on this practice. The …
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 …
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 …
Yesterday I wrote about the Education Authority’s decision not to run summer schemes for children with special needs. By the afternoon, that position had quietly evaporated. Suddenly, everything was back on. Funding found, problems solved, show back on the road. Which does raise an awkward question. If this could be fixed in the space of a few hours, why was it apparently intractable for the past year? You can take a charitable view. Large public bodies are slow, messy things. …
The Olympics has taken a new stand on one of the most toxic culture war battlefields over the last few years – that of transgender athletes. From The Guardian: In a 10-page document outlining its new policy, the IOC makes it clear transgender women, who have transitioned from male to female, and athletes with a DSD retain the advantages of going through male puberty. “There is a 10-12% male performance advantage in most running and swimming events,” it says. “There …
