Soapbox 
SOAPBOX: Academic Steven Youngblood suggests that the term ‘peace journalism’ is getting in the way of promoting and practising the principles of good, socially responsible journalism that are at the heart of the oft-disputed concept. He outlines six principles and asks whether NI journalists and journalism academics agree.
David Ford is an Alliance activist in Antrim. He was an MLA for South Antrim 1998 – 2018, Leader of Alliance 2001 – 2016 and Minister of Justice 2010 – 2016. One of the issues which will have to be addressed when the inter-party talks resume is the use (or rather misuse) of the Petition of Concern. I understand that there is a fair degree of agreement, originating from discussions between Alliance, the SDLP and the UUP, on new regulations …
James Devlin is a postgraduate researcher at NUI Galway. The recent general election results were marked by the high positive swing to the Alliance party. Alliance were rewarded with one seat, came within 2000 votes of a second, and increased their share of the vote by approximately 10%, including in areas where they have previously struggled. In doing so, Alliance affirmed their performance in the recent European elections, confirming a general swing in Northern Ireland towards the centre, driven by …
Ann Watt is the Director of Pivotal We are used to hearing about Northern Ireland’s political difficulties. We hear much less about the public policy challenges that affect people’s everyday lives. That has to change. Key pillars of public policy face significant and pressing challenges. The health service is in crisis. The schools system has areas of excellence but suffers from major inequalities. The economy is unbalanced and performs poorly compared with the rest of the UK. A quarter of …
John Martin is the Head of Policy and Advocacy at RSPB NI “The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see a elephant except in a picture book?” David Attenborough The nature and climate crisis that we are now living in will define this generation. Every crisis needs leaders and the leaders that are emerging are those in the youth movement, which has been awe-inspiring and unsettling in equal measure. Awe-inspiring …
Dan Haverty is a Washington-based journalist. He holds an MA in International Relations from University College Cork, where he spent two years conducting research on the peace process in Northern Ireland and has bylines in History Ireland (upcoming) and the Irish Echo. It’s been a turbulent few weeks. Anti-government protests erupted across Latin America, forcing the resignation of Bolivian President Evo Morales, and pushing Chilean President Sebastián Piñera to implement widespread reform. In the Middle East, protests against fuel hikes are shaking Iran …
Rachel Woods is the Green Party MLA for North Down Christmas is around the corner and once again big business is doing a great job telling us about the luxurious Christmas food we should be eating, the fines wines and spirits that will enhance the festive spirit and the expensive presents that will glitter and glow under the Christmas tree. Christmas can be a particularly difficult time for families living on low incomes. However, the reality for many is that …
Fearghal McKinney, Head of the British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland Whatever shape Westminster takes after votes are cast on December 12 air pollution and its deadly impact on our health needs to be made a priority by our local representatives. Westminster was dissolved before the Environment Bill could complete its passage through Parliament and although the Bill sets out ambitions in relation to much needed new air quality targets a stronger focus needs to be on protecting the public’s health. …
Jeffrey Dudgeon argues that we now have direct rule lite but it dare not speak its name for fear of offending Sinn Fein and supposedly encouraging IRA violence. It is amazing how so many radical Unionists in Northern Ireland have been tricked or deceived into thinking only one way is open and that is devolution, when all the evidence tells you otherwise.
Dr Adam Fusco is a Associate Lecturer in Politics at the University of York As the polls stand the result of 2019 general election is predicted to be an overall Conservative majority. However, a hung parliament is not ruled out from the realms of possibility. In such a scenario the Conservative and Labour parties will be attempting to gain as much support from others to form a government. The tacit Remain alliance that has emerged in Northern Ireland in advance …
Most of today’s Sunday Independent Eoghan Harris’ column is reproduced with the permission of the author. NB Harris is often the target of man playing. Any attempts here at man playing, whataboutery or seeking to change the subject may be removed. We can be sure Gay Byrne would never have signed the letter, titled Ireland’s Future, signed by 1,000 public figures, telling us that because of Brexit, the reunification of Ireland has moved centre stage. Gay condemned IRA violence because …
Clare Rice is Research Assistant on the ‘Performing Identities: Post-Brexit Northern Ireland and the reshaping of 21st Century Governance’ project at Newcastle University, a PhD Candidate and TA at QUB, and an occasional commentator. Twitter: @Clare_Rice_ We are less than a week into the 2019 Westminster election campaign and already we have seen a concerning pattern begin to emerge. It isn’t unusual for sizeable numbers of MPs to decide to step down from elected politics (see this useful overview), but …
Chris Yapp works on innovation largely within Government and Public Services, including Scenario Planning, Education, Health, and the Internet of Things. His main areas of interest revolve around Innovation, Creativity and Futurology. The Blue British Passport has been one of the totemic “take back control” benefits of Brexit, even though the blue colour could have been chosen under the EU regime. It was Margaret Thatcher who chose not to have the current passport as the UK Blue. My passport is …
Dr Anne Smith and Professor Colin Harvey A Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland remains part of the unfinished work of the Belfast Agreement/Good Friday Agreement (the B/GFA). It is still needed, and its absence is felt in the mess that this society is currently in. Reflecting the B/GFA’s mandate, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) launched the Bill of Rights process on 1 March 2000, and submitted its advice on 10 December 2008. The advice includes recommendations which …
Colum Eastwood is the Leader of the SDLP Twenty one years ago, this month, the Nobel Committee announced that John Hume and David Trimble would be awarded the Peace Prize for their work to bring an end to conflict on this island and to forge institutions which compelled people from different backgrounds and with different beliefs to work together in our substantial common interests. The speech that John gave in Oslo when he accepted the prize is a manifesto for …
If you have been stuck in traffic behind a bus somewhere in Northern Ireland this week, you may well have spotted an advertising campaign referencing Northern Ireland’s thousands of missing nurses. This relates to today’s launch, for the first time in its 103-year history, of a Royal College of Nursing [RCN] ballot of members in Northern Ireland on taking industrial action, including strike action, over the nurse staffing crisis in the Health and Social Care service. Nurses have been warning …
SOAPBOX: Alliance Councillor Emmet McDonough-Brown takes issue with his Green Party colleague Councillor Brian Smyth who last week wrote on Slugger about flags, a vexed question which arouses deep passions in our politics.
Dr Emmet O’Connor outlines the history of the trade union and labour movement over the past century, a period marked by ruptures and repetitions, and where in Faulkner’s words, “the past is never dead, It’s not even past.” In 1912, the president of the Irish Trades Union Congress Michael O’Lehane told its delegate conference that: “When such altered circumstances obtain, trades unionism in Ireland will, for the first time, take its natural place in the community, and I, for one, …
Soapbox article by Prof Peter Shirlow to introduce the Citizens’ Panel which was held at Queen’s University Belfast on 11 May 2019, examining how greater citizen engagement and participation in decision-making in Northern Ireland could be strengthened and supported.
Scene 1 Act 1. 7.58am All monitors active, all little blue/green lights lit. Dials, levers, buttons, primed and ready. Consoles humming gently. Earphones, microphones, communications, all set. Clock strikes 8.00am. Operator No1 switches through to newsroom. Door opens. Enter Big Boss. BB. “What’s the reading this morning?” No1. “Interested listening” BB. “Hmm, not good enough, introduce government plans for extending bus lanes.” BB. “I’m going out for an alpine water infused with life-affirming microscopic particles by passing through top layer …
