Soapbox

December 2024 saw the 25th anniversary of powers being devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly To mark this significant event, former Agriculture Committee Clerk Paul Moore has been recounting some stories from the Assembly’s early days. In this sixth (of eight) episodes, Paul sets out on his first foreign trip with a three-man Committee delegation to Strasbourg in support of local fishermen. Can he ensure the visit is conducted without diplomatic incident and that none of MLAs goes missing on …

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In celebration (if that’s the right word) of the 25th anniversary (last month) of powers being devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, former Committee Clerk Paul Moore has been recounting some stories from the Assembly’s early days. In this fifth (of eight) episodes, a farming crisis looms. How will the recently appointed Agriculture Minister perform under pressure, and how supportive will Ian Paisley’s Committee be in its scrutiny of the Department’s work under such circumstances? Audio versions of this episode …

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Donna Moore is from Belfast, and works as an administrator. Gaye Dalton, a former sex worker and long-time sex worker rights activist, was kind enough to give some of her time up to discuss the ‘Nordic Model’ of sex work with me. The transcript of the interview follows. Gaye, many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Q. For those who may be unfamiliar, would you please outline your background? A. How long have you got? The basics will have to do. I …

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On the 2nd of December 2024, it was exactly 25 years since ‘the appointed day’ – the day when legislative powers and executive authorities were devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. But what was it like to work there in the early years? Paul Moore, a Civil Servant seconded to the Assembly, found himself in the role of Assistant Clerk to the Assembly Committee that was being chaired by a certain Ian Paisley. In this fourth ‘episode’ – which Paul …

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Séimí Mac Aindreasa is from the Shaws Road Gaeltacht in Belfast. His stories have been published in three anthologies and online. There is an English translation of this tribute below: Blianta fada ó shin, agus mé i mo dhéagóir, bhí mé ag seinm drumaí i racghrúpa le mo chairde. Níl mé ag rá go raibh muid rómhaith, ach an difir idir muid féin agus na sluaite grúpaí eile i mBéal Feirste ag an am, na gur sheinn muid cuid d’ár n-amhráin i nGaeilge, …

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Jérôme à Paris is a French investment banker specialising in large scale energy projects Not all full-year data is available for 2024, so I will most probably do another post when final numbers are there, but this is the season for yearly reviews and those that I have read have given me a strong desire to argue against what seems to be obvious to mainstream commentators. Amonts the “certainties” from this year: demand for power is exploding thanks to AI …

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On the 2nd of December 2024, it was exactly 25 years since ‘the appointed day’ – the day when legislative powers and executive authorities were devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. But what was it like to work there in those early days? Paul Moore, a former Assembly official who had been seconded to his job ‘up the hill’ the week before devolution, remembers very well the excitement and expectations surrounding the new Assembly, and his surprise at finding himself …

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Dr Anne Darcy is part of Psychologists for Social Change NI who apply psychology to policy and political action. “What is a community?” I looked down at my five year old daughter as I realised I was unsure how to answer. We were walking through our home town of Randalstown after I had taken her to an event in a Community Garden organised by the Human Rights Organisation PPR. What do I tell her? I look around the housing estate we were …

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Donna Moore is from Belfast, and works as an administrator. At a time when violence against women is a hot topic, one group of women are overlooked in this discussion. And our current laws ensure that this group are among the most vulnerable of all – those women who work in the sex trade. In January 2024, it was reported that since the introduction of a 2015 law which makes paying for sex illegal in Northern Ireland, there has been 75 arrests but only …

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Paul Moore is the author of ‘Doctor Paisley and Mister Clerk – Recollections of Ian Paisley’s Agriculture Committee Years’. It is available from Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09WCPWHQH On the 2nd of December 2024, it will be exactly 25 years since ‘the appointed day’ – the day when legislative powers and executive authorities were devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. But what were things really like back in thse heady days of 1999? Paul Moore – a former Assembly official who had been …

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Anyone has been in hospital or received care at home can perhaps identify with Annabel Croft’s experience with nursing staff before her husband died In many cases it’s a fact that the staff member is in the wrong job, they are not caring and they don’t care. I have also experienced cruelty from a nurse, a speech therapist, an OT and others. Who knows what prompts some people to treat vulnerable patients in such a way? In fairness I have …

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Helen Armstrong lives in the North West and is a psychotherapist, executive coach and trainer. Here we go again on the Transfer Test merry-go-round as children all over NI have just sat the first test of 2024. I want to continue the conversation from my first article at the beginning of this year around why I think the test is a really bad idea not just for our children but for our society as a whole. He coped with it well …

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Paul Moore is the author of ‘Doctor Paisley and Mister Clerk – Recollections of Ian Paisley’s Agriculture Committee Years’. It is available from Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09WCPWHQH On the 2nd of December 2024, it will be exactly 25 years since ‘the appointed day’ – the day when legislative powers and executive authorities were devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. But what were things really like back in thse heady days of 1999? Paul Moore – a former Assembly official who had been …

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Eamonn Duffin is a local writer based in Belfast. His work has been featured in The Belfast Review and The Honest Ulsterman. A recent piece of analysis in The Guardian informs us that Christmas creep is getting earlier every year. Apparently, it is now a full 45 days before the birthday of the baby Jesus. 45 days! Is that all? From what I have seen the last few years, Christmas starts on Easter Monday when the Easter eggs are replaced …

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Dr Anne Darcy is part of Psychologists for Social Change NI who apply psychology to policy and political action. He sat tall and straight in his chair with his infant daughter on his knee. When I was greeted by his kind eyes and invited to sit, she suddenly sat very still and fixed me with her big brown eyes. Again and again, she would go back to being content and animated as she sat within the protection of her father’s …

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