Soapbox – Page 20 – Slugger O'Toole

Students – when you stick together, your power is huge – and often underestimated.

Soapbox on November 3, 2020, 10:06 am

| Readers 1048

Almost exactly ten years ago, the student leaders of Queen’s University Students’ Union sat in a meeting room, worried. As one of the Vice Presidents of the Union at the time, I was among them. The newly-elected Conservative-Lib Dem coalition was announcing plans to treble university tuition fees from £3,000 a year to £9,000 a year. We were worrying because we needed to take action on behalf of our student members, but didn’t know if they would be with us. …

The Future of Retail – #TheReset…

Soapbox on October 8, 2020, 6:08 pm

| Readers 969

Aodhán Connolly, Director, Northern Ireland Retail Consortium There was an unsettling sense of déjà vu when the latest restrictions on households meeting were announced. After a summer when it, slowly, felt as if Northern Ireland was reopening it was an unpleasant reminder coronavirus is still present and not yet beaten. The feeling of the world closing down a little bit is something we are all adjusting to again. However, things are not the same as March. We have all learnt …

Time to reset our approach to energy efficiency of homes to support a green, climate-resilient recovery…

Soapbox on October 5, 2020, 10:00 am

| Readers 1253

By Dr Patrice Cairns, Policy Manager, RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). You can follow her on Twitter. This year, for many, their home has become not only their shelter but a place of work, of homeschooling, of social space and respite. It can be assumed that there is undoubtfully now a greater appreciation of the intrinsic link between wellbeing and improved indoor health. However, if we spend more time at home, we will typically use more energy. The built …

#TheReset -We need to talk about debt…

Soapbox on September 29, 2020, 12:23 pm

| Readers 1029

Richard Ramsey, Chief Economist, NI, Ulster Bank During the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, one of the legacies was over-indebtedness that created zombie companies which weighed on growth as the economy sought to recover. These businesses were mostly larger and within certain sectors. The excessive debt was largely linked directly or indirectly to property. This time is different. It’s different because the banks are well-capitalised and stable. There is no credit crunch – where the cost of borrowing rises …

Ask an Architect is Back.

Soapbox on September 28, 2020, 7:00 am

| Readers 973

Emmet McDonough-Brown is the Communications and Events Officer for the Royal Society of Ulster Architects. We’ve all been spending more time at home these days and as we hunker down for another extended period of working from home, it’s natural that more and more of us are thinking about the spaces we live in and how they work. In many cases, our kitchens and living rooms (and in some cases bedrooms) have become our work stations as we respond to …

“Build Back Better” – how do we turn soundbites into a successful reset and recovery?

Soapbox on September 24, 2020, 1:10 pm

| Readers 1116

Sinead McLaughlin is the SDLP’s economy spokesperson, deputy chair of the Assembly’s economy committee and a Foyle MLA. Covid-19 will continue to damage our collective health and our economy for a long time to come. Many businesses will fail and, even more sadly, many more people will die from coronavirus. Yet it should not be too early to consider recovery. The SDLP has put together four principles for that recovery – a new deal for young people; a new localism; new connectivity; …

While COVID-19 may have cut Executive and local government budgets, it has clarified their purpose – to improve the wellbeing of people across Northern Ireland…

Soapbox on September 21, 2020, 12:45 pm

| Readers 1016

Lauren Pennycook is a Senior Policy and Development Officer at the Carnegie UK Trust. You can follow her on Twitter. In the space of five short years, the landscape in Northern Ireland has transformed. New powers have been conferred to local government; the draft Programme for Government sought to deliver public services differently; and the Northern Ireland Assembly collapsed. New structures were formed and new sectors stepped up in an attempt to, in part, fill the political and policy vacuum …

#TheReset: Taking to the skies once more

Soapbox on September 17, 2020, 8:00 am

| Readers 1144

Brian Ambrose, Chief Executive, George Best Belfast City Airport Covid-19’s first shock delivered to the UK aviation industry, and indeed Northern Ireland, came in the form of Flybe’s collapse in early March. Whilst this was the first impact on home soil, it was a stark realisation that Northern Ireland would not emerge unscathed from this pandemic. Lives would sadly be lost, ‘normal’ would become a thing of the past and our economy would bear the brunt of the tremors. As …

#TheReset – David Gavaghan on the future of relationships on these islands in a Covid-19 world…

Soapbox on September 14, 2020, 8:06 am

| Readers 993

David Gavaghan is the founder of Aurora Prime Real Estate Ltd. He is also a Non- Executive Director of CBI NI. Read a profile here or follow him on Twitter… The after-effects of Covid-19 on these two islands is currently very unclear but one thing is certain, the impact of the past few months has been seismic. There are huge adverse consequences for all parts of Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The ramifications are potentially much more …

#TheReset – Simon Hamilton on what will Belfast be for?

Soapbox on September 11, 2020, 10:26 am

| Readers 2966

Simon Hamilton is an ex DUP MLA & Finance Minister. He is currently Chief Executive of Belfast Chamber of Trade and Commerce. You can follow him on Twitter Back at the beginning of 2020, I wrote a piece that appeared in the local press in which I predicted that “better times were ahead” for Belfast. The rationale for my optimistic outlook was that, with a deal struck on Brexit, a Conservative Government at Westminster with a whopping majority and the …

#TheReset-We cannot build back better if we don’t put our environment at the heart of it.

Soapbox on September 10, 2020, 8:00 am

| Readers 734

Ian Humphreys is the Chief Executive of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. The Reset is an apt description for the type of change that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented to us over the past six months. Our lives have been changed and priorities re-evaluated as we grapple with an uncertain future. For the environment sector, we have long argued (perhaps too meekly) for a new way of doing things. Our lifestyle of increasing carbon emissions and ignoring the consequences of waste …

#TheReset: Renewed focus on Apprenticeships can help young people deal

Soapbox on September 8, 2020, 8:01 am

| Readers 817

Richard Kirk is CEO of Belfast-based Workplus, which was set up to help businesses explore apprenticeships as a way of finding new talent or up-skilling existing employees. Here he argues that apprenticeships can help young people to “earn, learn and be part of the solution” to the oncoming economic crisis… At the end of August, some Southern states in America braced itself for Hurricane Laura – the region’s most powerful hurricane in over a century and the joint fastest in …

#TheReset-A safe, secure, and affordable place to call home can never be overstated, not least during a public health crisis

Soapbox on September 7, 2020, 8:00 am

| Readers 547

Heather Wilson is the Policy and Engagement Manager for Chartered Institute of Housing in Northern Ireland. Today she writes about the future of housing. The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown brought about challenges never before faced by the housing sector in Northern Ireland. The almost instantaneous inter-agency cooperation that emerged during the early days of lockdown to make Northern Ireland the first and only jurisdiction across these islands to place all rough sleepers into accommodation sent a strong signal of …

The challenge of Infrastructure…

Soapbox on August 5, 2020, 5:12 pm

| Readers 2452

In 1948, just 3 years after the end of World War 2, the NHS was born. At a time of deep financial uncertainty. In 2020, another time of deep uncertainty, the NHS has led the way. Just like in 1948 a dramatic change in direction is possible post Covid19. Health service reforms need to happen, education as well, but suddenly the pressing need is our economy and infrastructure to support future growth. At the end of May our Alliance council …

Remembering John Hume

Soapbox on August 4, 2020, 12:07 pm

| Readers 2801

Since news of John Hume’s death emerged yesterday (3 August 2020), there has been an outpouring of obituaries and tributes to the man who is considered the architect of peace in Northern Ireland. These were immediate, as is the case with obituaries of key figures in society, and Hume has not been a well man for some time. Obituaries play a key role in how individuals and their legacies are remembered after their death, and can be considered as sites …

John Hume: A Story Not Yet Fully Told

Soapbox on August 3, 2020, 7:31 pm

| Readers 2044

John Hume chose to live with purpose. He was steadfast in his determination to see peace and a better life, not only for those from his own community, but for all people across the island of Ireland. Elected a Member of the European Parliament in 1979, he would go on to serve as MP for Foyle from 1983 to 2005, and member of the Legislative Assembly for the same constituency between 1998 and 2000. He defined future generations opportunities when …

We have far more in common, than we have to divide us, is what John Hume used to say. He was right.

Soapbox on August 3, 2020, 2:33 pm

| Readers 4783

Prior to meeting John Hume in my role as the Communications Director for the UUP talks team in 1996, my most vivid memories of him were of his relentless single transferable speech – which he delivered at every opportunity in the early 1990’s. Those of my vintage and older will remember it because every time he was interviewed he started into it. It went along the lines of, ‘We need to get an agreement……we need an agreement between all sides……we …

Academic working group launches public consultation on unification referendums on the island of Ireland.

Soapbox on July 22, 2020, 1:35 pm

| Readers 4122

The Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland is today launching a public consultation asking people for their views on the prospect of a referendum on Northern Ireland’s constitutional future. The group is neither for nor against such a referendum – it is simply seeking to clarify the process. This post introduces the group and sets out some of the key questions it is asking. You can access the survey by clicking here. What is the Working …

You can’t cure love

Soapbox on July 22, 2020, 11:04 am

| Readers 1215

Eoin Tennyson is an Alliance Councillor for the Lagan River DEA. It’s been more than two years since the UK Government published its LGBT Action plan which committed to end the practice of so-called ‘gay conversion’ or ‘reparative’ therapies – a range of denounced, discredited and dehumanising practices which seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or suppress their gender identity. In that time we’ve heard promises repeated by the Prime Minister, but seen little in the way of tangible …

Loyalism must succeed where Sinn Fein has failed…

Soapbox on July 6, 2020, 8:47 am

| Readers 9833

Moore Holmes is a Loyalist from East Belfast. You can find him on Twitter I have a fond memory of my dad telling me how foolish he thought the phrase, “learn from your mistakes.” Each time it came up in a conversation, he’d half-chuckle and half-scoff, provocatively asking, “why not learn from someone else’s mistakes and save yourself the hassle?” Although my dad would be at pains to point out that I’ve sung “Fathers Advice” far more than I’ve ever …