Soapbox – Page 33 – Slugger O'Toole

Robinson “step back, take a breath and ensure there is sufficient space for an agreement to be reached in the calmer times that follow the hustings”

Soapbox on March 1, 2017, 1:23 pm

| Readers 2780

Former First Minister, Peter Robinson has taken to Facebook to give his views on the most recent election. He has allowed us to re-post his views on Slugger Over the past few weeks many of you have sent me messages asking for my views on recent events. When I retired as First Minister and Party Leader, I determined not to be enticed into providing a running commentary on local political events. The level of peace and stability that has characterised …

Assembly election an opportunity to realign priorities for Northern Ireland

Soapbox on March 1, 2017, 10:55 am

| Readers 1073

As we stand in the voting booth on the 2nd of March, can we really vote believing that the current system has fundamentally made a positive impact on the amount of money we have left in our pockets at the end of every week? Can we support a system that prioritises flying a flag over feeding a family? Can we truly believe a language act will increase employability skills to ensure the next generation are better equipped to generate and …

Beattie; “So I want to ask you out on a date, a date with democracy”

Soapbox on February 22, 2017, 2:28 pm

| Readers 1899

Doug Beattie is a UUP Candidate for Upper Bann I want to ask you out on a date. There won’t be a fancy meal, no wine and no flowers – in fact on the face of it there will be nothing in the date for you but you will leave the date feeling good about yourself. This is a date with democracy and the Assembly election on 2nd March 2017. Already I can sense that many people have stopped reading, …

Crime and punishment (beatings)…

Soapbox on February 18, 2017, 10:19 pm

| Readers 3271

It was a hellish scene. The shaky video taken on someone’s phone showed a stolen car speeding up and down the Falls Road, doing hand brake turns at brake neck speed. Tyres and onlookers squealed; smoke filled the air. Terrified road users attempted to make it by without getting written off and pedestrians fled from the area. Just as the video came to an abrupt end, the sound of shots could be heard ringing out above the sound of the …

Bradshaw; I trust on March 2nd votes will reject the petty divisive populism of the past

Soapbox on February 17, 2017, 1:18 pm

| Readers 1598

Paula Bradshaw

Paula Bradshaw is an Alliance Party candidate in South Belfast A frustration of this election campaign, like so many others, is some parties have sought to make it about things other than those which matter to people’s daily lives – jobs, education, health and others. Those are in fact the areas of policy upon which the Executive makes decisions and where Assembly members can make a real difference, yet for reasons best known to themselves, the outgoing Executive parties have …

A Women’s election?

Soapbox on February 17, 2017, 12:07 pm

| Readers 1185

Andrée Murphy is a Columnist with the Andersonstown News Sitting in my living room on Thursday night seeing three women leaders of the local parties and two male leaders on the two fringes made me chuckle. I tweeted it was hard to believe that it was Michelle O’Neill’s first time in the spot as leader, such was her composure and capability. But then I also realised that it was also Naomi Long’s first time in that position too. I suppose …

#AE17 Platform: People have moved on and their politicians need to move with them.

Soapbox on February 14, 2017, 10:00 am

| Readers 1807

Clare Bailey is the Deputy Leader of the Green Party and a candidate for South Belfast I’ve been struck by the ramping up of regressive rhetoric since the traditional parties “launched” their election campaigns. The Irish language, soldiers in the dock, orange halls and border patrols. I became interested and active in politics as a mature student at Queens in my late thirties. I was so proud when I went to vote with my two children for the first time. I was optimistic about their future in our …

Cannabis Oil; An idiot’s guide

Soapbox on February 12, 2017, 10:34 am

| Readers 1998

Patrick, 84 this year, is nothing short of a minor miracle. A bright, intelligent and curious man, had he not been such a heavy and committed drinker, his life might have been very different. He has always lived in the street where he grew up in the pitiful poverty of the 1930s. In spite of his sharp intelligence he never broke free from the impoverishment inherited from his parents. A few years back we were sure he would die. Following …

Gemma Weir: We Need A Socialist Alternative

Soapbox on February 6, 2017, 10:34 am

| Readers 1332

Gemma Weir is the Workers Party candidate for North Belfast This election is unnecessary and will solve absolutely nothing unless people use it to pass judgement on all the parties in Stormont. The two Executive parties in particular – the DUP and Sinn Fein – have been irresponsible, arrogant and contemptuous. Returning them to power to do the same thing again makes no sense at all. People point to the RHI scandal and say that it sums up the problems with the …

Spring into Lifelong Learning at Stranmillis University College

Soapbox on January 26, 2017, 5:14 pm

| Readers 394

This week Stranmillis University College rolls out its new Lifelong Learning courses –both daytime and evening- from History to Ethics and Wine-tasting. In sync with the ongoing ‘Decade of Centenaries’ resident historian, Dr Éamon Phoenix is offering ‘The Terrible Beauty 1916-23’ exploring the Irish Revolution and Partition. His regular Irish History morning discussion class looks at ‘Ascendancy to Rebellion’- the era of the United lrishmen. The College programme includes a tour of 1916 Dublin; there are ground-breaking courses on ‘The UDR’, …

We need to play our part in saving the NHS by taking responsibility for our own health…

Soapbox on January 24, 2017, 12:54 pm

| Readers 779

Criticising our over stretched health and social care service is less of a public pass-time than it was five years ago. This is good and perhaps reflects a growing maturity as we begin to realise that these vital services, on which we all rely, can only do so much. In the social contract – the basis of the 1948 Health Service Act – there were two sides; (1) government agrees to provide a health service free at the point of …

I’m not angry, I’m furious with the DUP…

Soapbox on January 20, 2017, 7:00 am

| Readers 5494

I’m furious. Sinn Fein’s election slogan ‘Don’t get angry, get even’, doesn’t do it for me on two counts. Being angry while voting is no bad thing and anyway I am beyond anger with Northern Ireland’s political system and one party in particular. I remember one of my editors talking to me in the mid 1990s about the latest mess under John Major’s government. “Paul,” she said, “you and I could do a better job of running the country.” I …

John Hume’s 80th Birthday – The Martin Luther King Jnr of Ireland

Soapbox on January 18, 2017, 12:53 pm

| Readers 1321

Bono in his song ‘In The Name of Love’ sang about Martin Luther King Jnr about how “One Man Came In Love”. Today we celebrate the 80th birthday of the Martin Luther King of Ireland, one man who came in love and preached a message of peace, tolerance and accommodation. It is a sad irony that in the week that the institutions in the North collapse in acrimony and rancour, the man who towered over the chaos of the Troubles …

On the importance of following careful (and safe) procedure in the Legislative Assembly

Soapbox on January 14, 2017, 12:39 pm

| Readers 1301

Re the Speaker’s latest ‘letter’, I anticipate that – either at the start of proceedings, on Monday, or during the ‘no confidence’ debate – the decision to allow Mrs Foster to speak on 19 December, will be challenged, again – but probably even more forcefully. As has been said (more generally), when you are explaining, you are losing. The parties haven’t (and won’t) question his decision to recall the Assembly. It is the capacity in which The parties haven’t (and …

Bedroom Tax promises must be honoured

Soapbox on January 11, 2017, 5:00 pm

| Readers 760

Of all the welfare changes introduced in Great Britain since 2010, it is the Bedroom Tax that has perhaps attracted the most attention. The patent unfairness and arbitrary nature of the policy, along with its arresting tabloid moniker (officially it is the ‘Social Sector Size Criteria’), has provoked much interest. Social tenants on housing benefit deemed to have one spare bedroom lose 14% of their entitlement, with two or more spare bedrooms triggering a 25% cut in payments. For low-income …

Soapbox: “…row in behind public opinion or protect their partners in Government”

Soapbox on January 3, 2017, 12:58 pm

| Readers 2087

With every day that passes, the path for those seeking to block a full public inquiry into the diabolical RHI scheme is getting narrower. Many parties have suggested various forms of investigations and inquiries , but what is becoming abundantly clear is that only one form of inquiry can get to the truth, and that is a full public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005. That is why the motion constructed by Cllr Ruth Patterson, which comes before Belfast City …

Soapbox: Arlene Foster Was Never a Suitable First Minister

Soapbox on December 23, 2016, 10:00 am

| Readers 7486

The exclusion motion on Arlene Foster focussed on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal. I would argue, however, that Mrs Foster has a track record beyond RHI that shows she was never suitable to be our First Minister. The potential £250m clean-up costs highlighted in 2013 by the Mills Report into illegal waste dumping in Northern Ireland I believe can be traced back to Arlene Foster’s decision when Environment Minister, not to create an independent Environmental Protection Agency (iEPA). In …

How should we deal with pharmacists who make mistakes?

Soapbox on December 18, 2016, 6:14 pm

| Readers 5283

On 6th February 2014, Mrs Ethna Walsh, a 67-year-old grandmother, was prescribed Prednisolone Tablets 5mg by her doctor. Having taken the first dose of 8 tablets she became ill, collapsed, was rushed to hospital and was dead within two hours. She had been dispensed propranolol 40mg tablets by mistake. Martin White, her pharmacist, fully cooperated with the investigation and admitted that he had been responsible for all steps involved in dispensing the medicine. He is an experienced pharmacist and …

Colum Eastwood: NI Executive need to come to a collective response on RHI

Soapbox on December 13, 2016, 5:30 pm

| Readers 2499

SOAPBOX Writing exclusively for Slugger, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood invokes the old political truism that if a story involving a political scandal runs into the second week then resignations always follow. Arlene Foster is now facing into her second week of the biggest political scandal to hit Stormont since devolution. This story isn’t go away anytime soon, in fact it’s growing legs …

Getting screwed by Big Pharma – Female Passion is not something that can easily be medicalised…

Soapbox on December 3, 2016, 7:00 am

| Readers 1121

A customer complaint that his Viagra had not been dispensed led me, with the help of my street-facing CCTV camera, to discover his wife had dumped his Viagra tablets into the street wastepaper bin as she left the pharmacy with his monthly medicines. I’m not sure how common this phenomenon might be. Nor am I sure how the average, long suffering, partner of a 60-year-old, overweight male with minimal personal hygiene and bearing a strong resemblance to a church …