Brian O'Neill

Managing 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 a parkrun Run Director.

The many faces of North Belfast. A series of talks on Thursday nights At the Duncairn Centre for culture and the arts…

| Readers 899

These talks look well worth attending.  The program will run as follows – 28TH April 2016 – Harry Midgely was a maverick in Northern Ireland politics, making a long journey from socialist activist to Minister for Education in the Stormont government. This talk is by the historian, Jim McDermott. 5th May 2016 – Winifred Carney became famous for being James Connolly’s secretary in the Easter Rising but she demonstrated many characteristics of radical women of her era. This talk is …

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Why are NI schools sitting on £50 million of unspent money?

| Readers 1478

Great story from Simon Doyle over at the Irish News. To quote: It shows that of the north’s 814 primary schools, 617 ended 2014/15 with a budget surplus. Christ the Redeemer in Lagmore, which received an annual budget of £1.8 million, ended the year more than £375,000 in the black. St Patrick’s PS in Armagh, which had a budget of £1.2m, ended with a surplus of about £342,000. Grange Park PS in Bangor’s surplus was £310,000 while Holy Trinity PS …

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MOT test centres – a shocking example of public sector efficiency and good service…

| Readers 1972

I am new to the old driving lark so when the car came up for its first MOT I had no idea what to expect. On Thursday I went to the NI Direct website to check what slots are free. The MOT booking site updates in real time so I was able to get a cancelation for 3:30pm that very day. That will do me, so I clicked the button, entered my debit card details and I was all booked …

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Video: Turn that frown upside down. Why most of the world is better off than you think…

| Readers 153

The news has been fairly grim of late (isn’t it always). But on the plus side Global Inequality seems to be reducing. Interesting interview with Hans Rosling on Channel 4 News:   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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Sold out! The Slugger End of Year Review Show, Monday the 14th December 2015

| Readers 1389

The event is sold out but if you want to put your name on a reserve list for tickets email [email protected] Join us for an evening of debate and entertainment as we look back on the political year in 2015. Our panel of expert speakers is sure to provide lively conversation and analysis. Never mind the Christmas shopping, this will be far more entertaining. Following the success of last year’s sold out End of Year Review Show we are pleased to bring …

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Spanish speaking Portadown soccer sensation featured in new google ad…

| Readers 583

Through no fault of his own young Alberto has found himself in Portadown. But what do you do when you have a love of soccer and not much English? You pull out your mobile phone and fire up Google translate of course. All this is the unlikely subject of Google’s new ad for their Translate app. You can see the ad below: As you would expect the ad is well produced. It makes Portadown look the very model of Cosmopolitan …

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Ex IRA man Kevin McGuigan Sr shot dead in the Short Strand area…

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A suspect in the Jock Jock Davison murder was last night shot dead in the Short Strand area of Belfast. The Irish News has good coverage on the story: The former IRA killer is believed to have pulled the trigger on his one-time boss Davison, who was shot dead in the city’s Markets area in May. Once a high-ranking republican, McGuigan was jailed for the attempted murder of a soldier during the Troubles. He was kneecapped by the Provisionals more than a decade ago …

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Video: Game of Moans…

| Readers 899

A Belfast parody of Game of Thrones by The Notorious Barrick Boys 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 a parkrun Run Director.

Bagan Myanmar. Photo of the every other day…

| Readers 276

By Rosie O’Connor. Explaining the photo Rosie said: This photo was taken in Bagan, in Northern Myanmar. I had been travelling pretty much non stop for about 48 hours, first a minibus ride from Siem Reap to Bangkok, a flight to Yangon, then a night bus to a bus station a few miles out of the town. Anyone who’s been on a night bus in South East Asia knows they’re not exactly conducive to a good nights sleep. After arriving exhausted …

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Video: The tragic tale of Coco the unemployed clown…

| Readers 290

This is a great short film recently shown as part of the Belfast Film Festival. With cheap cameras and online distribution film making has never been more accessible. It is great to see so much creativity out there. Any other short films we should know about? Let us know in the comments or email: [email protected] 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 …

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Scots vote for Holyrood not Westminster as SNP landslide wipes out Labour in Scotland…

| Readers 1066

The SNP victory in Scotland is nothing short of spectacular. They gained a phenomenal 50 seats, taking 40 seats from Labour and 10 from the Libdems. What is clear is that the Scots have embraced devolution and the SNP message. We can expect another Scottish independence referendum in a few years, and if the SNP momentum keeps up it will be a victory for the Yes campaign. What is also interesting is that with a 71% turnout, Scotland had the highest turnout …

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Full results of all the Northern Ireland constituencies…

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All the results are now in. SF have lost Fermanagh and South Tyrone. It has been a great election for the UUP with Tom Elliot taking Fermanagh and South Tyrone and Danny Kinahan taking South Antrim for the UUP. Alliances only MP Naomi Long lost her seat to Gavin Robinson in East Belfast. The BBC have some really snazzy charts in their election section. All the charts below are from the BBC. Commentary on each result by Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman)   …

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Tom Elliott takes Fermanagh South Tyrone…

| Readers 1999
Tom Elliott, UUP

With a majority of 530 votes Tom Elliot from the UUP took the seat from Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew. The SDLP candidate John Coyle got 2,732. Was it the wrong decision for the SDLP not to do an election pact with SF? Let us know your views in the comments. 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 …

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Gavin Robinson accused of ‘ungracious’ acceptance speech…

| Readers 9313

Gavin Robinson is getting a lot of flak for his acceptance speech. Watch it below: Here is an extract: The last 5 long years are over. A new day has dawned in East Belfast. when people were offered the choice to go forward or back, they choose forward. And they choose to go forward with someone they can trust. The comments did not go down well on twitter: https://twitter.com/NewtonEmerson/status/596505194357207040 https://twitter.com/neildalzell/status/596496073885122561 Even more damning is this tweet from Naomi Long: @tomfromireland …

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New – advertise on slugger from only £50 a month…

| Readers 269

Slugger does not get any funding so to help us cover costs we are introducing limited non-intrusive ads. We hate annoying ads as much as you so we promise we will only run static ads or text based ads. We will not run any animated ads, auto start video ads, pop-ups or anything that could get on your wick. The ads will mainly be at the bottom of the right hand side bar, you can see some there now. How …

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Video: marriage equality – bring your family with you

| Readers 179

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 a parkrun Run Director.

An example of the worst of Belfast and the best of Belfast…

| Readers 3091

On Monday night a group of males decided it would be a good idea to burn down Asta’s Glam Factory on Castlereagh Street in East Belfast. It is not clear if they felt false nails and tanning was a threat to Ulster or as the police suspect, it was a ‘racist hate crime’. The salon (which only opened last week) was owned by a Lithuanian woman, Asta Samaliute, who as you can imagine was not too happy about finding the business she worked so hard to …

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Naomi Long & Gavin Robinson – Cartoon by Brian John Spencer

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Cartoon by Brian John Spencer  | Twitter @brianjohnspencr 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 a parkrun Run Director.

Will Hillary Clinton be the first female US President?

| Readers 631

After years of teasing and speculation, Hillary Clinton yesterday announced her bid for the White House. Barack Obama was the first black president, will Hillary be the first female? On the face of it the omens look good. Demographic changes of an increasing Hispanic vote mean many Republicans fear they may never reclaim the White House. Hillary has an impressive CV – from First Lady to New York Senator, to Secretary of State. On the negative side it really does …

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