Soapbox – Page 39 – Slugger O'Toole

Wilson: The Lords Yell ‘Up The Workers’

Soapbox on October 29, 2015, 12:07 pm

| Readers 1313

The recent Tax Credit vote in the House of Lords has caused some controversy. Writing for Slugger, the DUP MP, Sammy Wilson talks about the vote and how other parties in Northern Ireland have approached this issue. Following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour Leader you’d have expected the cries of ‘Up the Workers’ to be ringing through parliament from the Commons. Yet this week it was the lords, ladies, barons, earls and bishops in the upper chamber raised the workers …

Lovely Annette is gone. The ethical dilemmas of end of life care…

Soapbox on October 29, 2015, 12:01 am

| Readers 1238

Lovely Annette is gone. She worked for me 23 years and over that time not once did I have cause to admonish her. To my shame she had a few occasions on which to admonish me. She became the unofficial staff spokesperson willing to raise issues yet keen to seek compromise and almost always did. In 2010 fearful of staff job losses due to adverse trading conditions she got a commitment that there would be no salary reductions or lay-offs. …

Agnew “The Children’s Bill demonstrates what politicians can achieve when they put aside their differences”

Soapbox on October 28, 2015, 8:21 am

| Readers 394

Green Party leader, Steven Agnew writes for us about his Childrens Bill currently before the Assembly It wasn’t long ago that I was debating legislation in the Assembly until the early hours of the morning. But as Stormont recovers from yet another crisis, after weeks of absentee ministers, Bills falling and the Assembly rising early due to a lack of business, it feels like an age since MLAs have engaged in anything meaningful. However, it isn’t all bad news. The …

What does the future hold for the UUP?

Soapbox on October 27, 2015, 9:08 am

| Readers 1190

Craig Harrison writes for us about his views of the UUP conference and its future Anyone who was near the recent UUP conference will have gotten the distinct impression that this is a party in a confident mood. This confidence has its roots in the perceived vindication brought with the independent assessment of paramilitarism in Northern Ireland, and a renewed self-assurance that leaving the Stormont Executive was the right thing to do. If the buzz around the room wasn’t a …

Coming out. For equality.

Soapbox on October 26, 2015, 12:44 pm

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Fergal McFerran is the President of NUS-USI, the organisation which represents around 200,000 students in Higher and Further education across Northern Ireland. He tweets @FergalMcFerran. This weekend I did something I was never sure that I’d be able to do. I got on a train and I went home to see my family. This journey home was different to all of the others I’d ever made though. It was different because this time I went home with the sole purpose …

An SDLP members writes about why he is voting Colum Eastwood for leader…

Soapbox on October 26, 2015, 12:10 pm

| Readers 1655

As the SDLP conference approaches all members will be taking stock of the SDLP leadership and the shape of Irish politics throughout Ireland. Many SDLP members like myself will reflect on the recent council and assembly elections and come to the conclusion that change is needed. Having slumped in electoral fortunes to the levels of the 1970’s compared to 1998 for the SDLP to be effective the electoral decline needs to be reversed. To continue as the status quo would …

A view on the Loyalist Community Council by one of their Victims…

Soapbox on October 19, 2015, 10:59 am

| Readers 1885

Last week marked the 21st Anniversary of the Ceasefire declared by the Combined Loyalist Military Command. It was heralded as an end to decades of Loyalist violence. Earlier that year I met a handful of their colleagues who entered my home one evening and proceeded to empty the contents of a sub-machine gun into my body: all because I was a defenceless ‘innocent’ Taig. I emphasise the word innocent because that was the point: the more innocent and defenceless the …

“Please stop making ‘Arts’ a dirty word. And please, please stop making ‘Community’ a dirty word.”

Soapbox on October 19, 2015, 8:19 am

| Readers 11732

FIONNULA KENNEDY’S personal and strongly-worded open letter to Carál Ní Chuilín, challenging many of the key points in the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure’s speech last Thursday evening at the Voices For The Voiceless event in Cultúrlann.

What does your da do? Quiet Conversations with Ex-UDR Members

Soapbox on October 7, 2015, 12:46 pm

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Over the years different people have been talking about conversations and their place in our peace process. Former Chief Constable Matt Baggott spoke about “quiet conversations”, Vicky Cosstick, author of a comprehensive book on the walls of Belfast, wrote about the importance of “relationships and conversations” to help bring the walls down whilst Sinn Féin Party President Declan Kearney has been promoting “uncomfortable conversations”. Conversations, I believe are valuable, even transformative. I would see this article as the beginning …

Civil Society Network launches – Conor Houston’s address dedicated to his new nephew Ollie

Soapbox on October 3, 2015, 4:09 pm

| Readers 1074

CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK launched on Friday, supported by many different organisations and commnuities. Conor Houston was one of those who addressed those gathered. He spoke of his vision for the future and dedicated his remarks to his new nephew Ollie.

Fianna Fáil and its role in the North.

Soapbox on October 1, 2015, 1:23 pm

| Readers 1314

LEGION OF THE VANGUARD: The electoral meltdown in the Republic of Fianna Fáil in 2011 halted progress in developing party structures in the north. But Eoin Neylon who is the President of Ógra Fianna Fáil and a former member of the Willie Drennan Cumann of Queens University, Belfast looks forward to first Ogra Conference north of the border in Newry.

Jeremy Corbyn: Divisive on all fronts?

Soapbox on September 16, 2015, 8:33 am

| Readers 1977

WILL CORBYN DIVIDE ULSTER: the new Labour leader’s politics have become a source of concern for unionists, some of whom doubt his ability to be bi-partisan. How will that affect party policy and how UK Labour is viewed in Northern Ireland?

#Soapbox: Laying bare the dysfunctional nature of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing institutions

Soapbox on September 15, 2015, 11:34 am

| Readers 2518

DYSFUNCTION ON THE HILL: If our system of Government is designed to cater for mutual distrust then how can anyone ever expect trust and reconciliation to spring from that Government? Is it any wonder we are stuck in a perpetual cycle of crisis and stalemate?

People and space versus screens and machines: Why did one of the world’s largest betting shops open in Belfast?

Soapbox on September 11, 2015, 9:46 am

| Readers 1726

Conor Johnston (@ConorJohnstonNI) asks Gary Toal of Toals Bookmakers why one of the biggest betting shops to be found anywhere outside the sports books of America was opened in Belfast, discovers a surprising twist in the history of betting shops in Northern Ireland and hears the view that the absence of legal Sunday betting here is a mystery to the modern punter… The launch in March of one of the largest betting shops in existence in the form of the …

Is Turandot the most controversial artistic production ever staged in Northern Ireland?

Soapbox on September 8, 2015, 9:00 am

| Readers 1415

Following their successful production of Salome back in February, NI Opera’s Steven Hadley introduces the company’s next show Turandot [Ed – everyone can hum along with Nessun Dorma!] which he promises will challenge audience views on wealth, consumerism and the power of art to shock, educate and entertain. Is Northern Ireland ready? Northern Ireland Opera are closing this autumn’s Belfast International Arts Festival with three performances of the lavish Turandot by Giacomo Puccini at the Grand Opera House. It’s a …

15 years on…how has boom and bust changed Lawrence Donegan’s Donegal?

Soapbox on September 4, 2015, 12:06 pm

| Readers 3599

Conor Johnston writes about how County Donegal has coped with the aftermath of the Celtic Tiger Lawrence Donegan’s excellent ‘No News at Throat Lake’ (Penguin, 2000) about his year in Creeslough, North Donegal, not only explains why the successful journalist and musician took to living in rural Ulster and covers his time playing GAA for the local club despite no knowledge of the sport at all, but also includes his time working as a writer for the local Tirconaill Tribune …

Who is a victim? The tricky issue of defining victims of the troubles…

Soapbox on September 3, 2015, 10:20 am

| Readers 736

September 1st marked the first full day in the job for the new Victims Commissioner, Judith Thompson. There is no doubt that she will have an overflowing inbox on her desk as it has been well over a year since her predecessor, Kathryn Stone, moved on. I suspect one of the first requests she will have to deal with is the annual call to change the actual definition of a victim as set out in Westminster statute. Ever since The Victims …

Equal Citizenship in Ireland: The Right to Vote in 2018

Soapbox on September 2, 2015, 7:16 pm

| Readers 1589

Mark Bassett is a barrister in independent practice at the Northern Ireland Bar and argues for us to take a look at presidential voting rights in an Irish Presidential Election In 2013 the Constitutional Convention recommended an extended franchise for the next Presidential election to include all Irish citizens. Despite that clear endorsement the current Irish government has been reluctant to take any steps to implement the Convention’s report. Those of us who believe in this amendment have the task …

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, Finn McCool is still pulling on his cleats….

Soapbox on September 1, 2015, 8:29 am

| Readers 301

Ex pat Journalist Stephen Rea ten years on from Hurricane Katrina finds companionship can work miracles (even amongst Rangers and Celtic supporters)..,. I’m the last man standing. More than a decade after Finn McCool’s Football Club played our first soccer game, I’m the sole survivor from that team still playing. August 29 is the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the most devastating natural disaster to ever hit America. After it roared ashore in late summer 2005 it left behind a …

Galvanising the Peace

Soapbox on August 26, 2015, 6:02 pm

| Readers 877

Peter Osborne writes about the need to galvanize the peace process Building the peace is not just a laudable aim; it is one of the most complex and toughest too. There needs to be systemic and structural change, tackling the causes of division and the reasons why sectional and sectarian attitudes continue to prevail. Beyond that, relationship building work is critical for the trust which is a key component of a shared and reconciled society. We need a vision that …