Soapbox

Helen Armstrong lives in the North West and is a psychotherapist, executive coach and trainer. Well, here I go again on the campaign path to help end our system of academic selection as the next round of tests is looming: it’s a part of our current education system that the DUP refuse to look at: I was so pleased to be part of Reclaim the Enlightenment’s Education Reform Group when we appeared as witnesses before Stormont’s Education Committee in November 2025 …

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Gadfly is a political geographer from Belfast with a particular interest in the relationship between democracy and the creation of more sustainable futures. Northern nationalists and republicans have long aimed to differentiate themselves from unionists through a strong commitment to social, as opposed to legal, justice. These respective commitments have been on clear display throughout the recent disputes at Drumcree. Whilst unionists claim to have stood on the side of law and order, the SDLP reinstated its commitment to civil …

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Conleth Burns is Associate Director (Ireland and Northern Ireland) at More in Common. More in Common is a research agency that aims to help leaders understand and better navigate public opinion. You can reach out to Conleth directly on: [email protected] This morning More in Common published one of the largest studies yet of public attitudes in Northern Ireland to Drumcree, based on a poll of 1,019 adults carried out between 9 and 20 October. It covers four areas: the dispute …

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Bridgewater is a Slugger reader from Belfast. At the risk of losing half the readership immediately, I should disclose at the outset I am from the nationalist community. Like the vast majority of that community, my sympathies lie with the Garvaghy Road residents. That frames my outlook in this blog piece. Now, with the disclaimer out of the way… Is anyone enjoying Parade Wars Episode 2: The Orange Order Strikes Back? It is a grim, but gripping, sequel. At least …

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By Kate McCauley, Chief Executive of Housing Rights Like many of those gathered in the Long Gallery last Monday, I was both surprised and encouraged to hear Minister Gordon Lyons announce plans to establish a Homelessness Commission at Housing Rights’ ‘Transforming Prevention Together’ event. While we await further details, the Minister made clear that the Commission will include two expert-led panels. One will consider how homelessness legislation needs reform, while the other will focus on the changes needed in our …

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Jon Burrows is the Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party Unionism cannot secure its future by becoming better at managing the vote we already have. We must be smarter at elections, certainly. But we must also give people who have switched off, drifted to other parties or never voted for us a compelling reason to back us. That is the argument I will make at the Ulster Unionist Party conference. Too often political unionism has mistaken noise for influence and …

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John Skrine is a grandson of ‘Moira O’Neill’. Born in Dublin, after a working life in England he has retired there, and is currently researching and writing about her life and her wider Higginson family. Sluggerites visiting the Old Church in Cushendun for the Big Day Out might be amused to know how a locally-known figure, popular in the early twentieth century for her verses celebrating the beauty and people of the Glens of Antrim, came a cropper for her …

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Bridgewater is a Slugger reader from Belfast. The Robert Hamill Inquiry was published yesterday. The 25 year old Catholic father of three was viciously murdered by a group of Protestants in the centre of Portadown in 1997, simply because he was a Catholic. One of the most astounding elements of this case was the non-intervention of four RUC officers in a Land Rover a few feet from the assault. The Inquiry found that those officers were unaware of the assault …

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By Elizabeth Clarke MBE  is a member of the Ulster Unionist Party, a school governor, charity volunteer and mum of five.  My son is thinking about moving to Australia next year. Part of me wants to tell him to go see the world, have the adventure and take every opportunity that comes his way. But the mum in me has one question. Will he come home? Because with home comes hope. Hope that our young people can go out into …

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Kate McCauley is the Chief Executive, Housing Rights As the Northern Ireland Assembly returns from summer recess, Ministers and MLAs have an opportunity to make a fundamental shift in how we respond to homelessness. The change is simple in principle but transformational in practice: stop waiting for people to become homeless before we act. Northern Ireland is facing a homelessness crisis. Rising demand is placing increasing pressure on individuals, families and public services, while spending on temporary accommodation continues to …

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Philip O’Neill is a slugger reader from Belfast. We all like a good cause, an opportunity to put a right a wrong whether it be in sport, work, or even globally where we can donate to Concern or MSF and feel better for making a difference. We currently have on our doorstep one of the biggest ecological disasters to face the Island of Ireland, Lough Neagh. You will have seen pictures this week of swans and other creatures struggling to …

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How can a new Ireland maintain and deepen its values, sustained for a century, while achieving the inclusion of unionists and immigrant communities within an all-Ireland culture? Fascinating debate and discussion are anticipated at the 2026 Darcy Magee Summer School in Carlingford when the battle against racism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration violence is examined under the timely theme of Culture, Identity and Inclusion. Compelling participants including former presidential candidate Heather Humphries, RTE podcasters Catriona Crowe and Professor Diarmaid Ferriter, Sunday Independent …

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A guest piece by Dom Einhorn, responding to Frank Schnittger’s series on the state of Irish rugby heading into the 2027 World Cup. The first lesson I learned as president of a 118-year-old French rugby club is that nobody in rugby ever does the right thing because you asked nicely. Sarlat, in the Dordogne, had survived two world wars, professionalisation, and a century of committee meetings, and every good structural idea I inherited had died the same death: everyone agreed …

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Terraformer is a learning designer from Offaly, residing in Dublin. Headlines in recent months concerning the digitisation of the 1926 Irish census records painted a stark portrait of Protestant decline during the revolutionary period. The Protestant population of the 26 counties declined from about 311,000 in 1911 to 207,000 in 1926 – 104,000 people, about a third. The marked drop is routinely cited by unionists and revisionists as evidence that Protestant were forced during this time. Peter Hart in the …

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Chris McCracken is the Managing Director of The Linen Quarter Business Improvement District Debates around Casement Park rumble on. The current location has huge emotional resonance as home to GAA Games since 1953. However, surrounded by packed residential streets, it presents significant challenges, not least parking, noise, and concerns around emergency access. There has been opposition from some within the local community, including a successful judicial review in 2014. The cost of trying to deliver a larger Casement in such a challenging area never …

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Chris McCracken is the Managing Director of The Linen Quarter Business Improvement District The public reception for the Fleadh has been overwhelmingly positive, but the media have recently returned to a familiar theme: dereliction and decay in the city centre. Nobody can argue that everything is how it should be – the broken promises around Tribeca are a particular point of contention. I would also acknowledge social challenges in relation to street based substance abuse, which is often a symptom …

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Roaring Hanna is a Slugger reader from Belfast Well alas for our ‘nearest and dearest’ neighbours once again the World Cup isn’t coming home, that’s this year just as it didn’t every year since ’66 and ’62, ’58, 54 & ’50 before that. You really do have to wonder at the mentality of all the little Englanders who have a sense of  entitlement that they seriously believe that their team really have a chance to lift the Jules Rimet? Of …

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