Soapbox

Helen Armstrong lives in the North West and is a psychotherapist, executive coach and trainer. I have made several written attempts to call out the problems in our current education system and how children at the tender age of 10 or 11 are being subjected to an unnecessary and unfair transfer test. As a result, we have ended up with a two-tier system that not only harms many children’s perception of their ability but also promotes social and academic segregation. All …

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David Mitchell is an Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast For some people, it is hard to think about Irish unification without thinking about bloodshed. As Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride acknowledge in the introduction of For and Against a United Ireland, ‘The traumas of the Troubles, and the still unreconciled bitterness they generated, continue to shape attitudes and give all of these questions a sharp emotional edge.’ But, they argue, ‘emotion is not enough’. If a referendum …

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Matthew Taylor is a local 23 year mental health campaigner from Belfast. In 2023, 221 people took their own lives in Northern Ireland. I almost became one of them. Admitted to a psychiatric ward from July-December in a state of crisis, I witnessed an overstretched, exhausted and often inconsistent health service that was fighting to keep its head above water. I experienced both profound kindness and stigma from staff, with some telling me “if you really wanted to kill yourself, …

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Seán Patrick Donlan is a Professor of Law at Thompson Rivers University (Canada). He formerly taught Irish law at the University of Limerick and has published on comparative legal history, as well as Irish history, politics, and film. For many, the Republic’s presidential campaign has been disappointing. Neither the rioting right nor social conservatives fielded a candidate. Fianna Fáil’s man withdrew, though, electorally at least, he hasn’t gone away you know. For Fine Gael, a Northern protestant promised constructive acknowledgement of the …

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Ryan O’Neill Is Chair of the SDLP in Mid-Ulster The race for the Áras has been unusually muted—more a slow burn than a blaze—punctuated by brief spikes of interest for political obsessives. Beyond the set-piece nomination rituals and a handful of town-hall hustings, the storylines have felt thin: an eleventh-hour, ultimately unsuccessful push to draft conservative barrister and “family values” advocate Maria Steen; Jim Gavin’s abrupt exit, which rattled Fianna Fáil and reignited questions about Micheál Martin’s grip on the …

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Conor McKinney is the founder of Wild Belfast and a local wildlife activist / conservationist; What if? is a powerful question. In a time of myriad health, climate, ecological and social crises it can provide hope, facilitate collaboration, provide the foundations of a new story that we can create for, and with, each other. “National Parks” are defined differently around the world, but typically they are special places where we have a better relationship with nature, culture and heritage and …

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In East Belfast, Catholic Maintained schools are losing their old identity even faster than Controlled schools – and the system isn’t ready for it. A follow-up analysis to “If the education system cannot see the majority, it cannot claim to serve it“ When Education Minister Paul Givan refused to grant Integrated status to Rathmore Primary School and Bangor Academy, it became clear that the 2022 Integrated Education Act disregards a majority category of ‘Other’ (secular families, non-Christians, mixed backgrounds, etc.). …

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Finley is a Slugger reader from Belfast Another PM has fallen in France – but the problems lie deeper “In France, as in much of the world, yields have risen this year on concerns that industrialised democracies will increasingly struggle to meet their obligations due to ageing populations and inadequate growth.” Politico reports the situation in France: “France’s benchmark borrowing costs rose above those of Italy on Monday after the shock resignation of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu forced financial markets …

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Duncan Dollimore is Head of Campaigns at Cycling UK The 2022 Climate Act promised to transform transport in Northern Ireland by mandating that 10% of the transport budget be spent on walking and cycling infrastructure. But the Department for Infrastructure’s creative accounting has quadrupled “spend” on paper while leaving real projects unfunded, risking congestion, road deaths, and stalled progress on sustainable travel. Northern Ireland isn’t usually first out of the gate on new laws — from anti-poverty strategies to organ …

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Tom Brady is a Journalist and independent Councillor on Ards and North Down Borough Council When I saw the horrific footage of conservative activist Charlie Kirk being assassinated, I was disgusted. But I was also filled with dread at what I suspected was coming next. And when I saw the papers and social media the following day, I was dumbstruck. Were they talking about the same person? Did they know who he was? Were we living in the same reality? …

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Hannah McVeigh from Tyrone and is studying International Relations and Global Development While researching a project on the Northern Ireland Legacy Act, I found myself confronted with a challenge: understanding it. I was struck less by its controversies and more by the complexities that are inherent in its implementation. Since its enactment in 2023 the legislation has been mired in controversy and confusion. Despite spending considerable time studying it, I struggled to grasp its nuances. I suspect I am not …

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Ben Collins is the author of The Irish Unity Dividend and Irish Unity: Time to Prepare both published by Luath Press. I grew up in a strongly Unionist and British household in East Belfast. Being Irish was always a strong part of my identity as well as being British. During the conflict I was determined that I was not going to be forced into a United Ireland by violence or threats of violence. But the Good Friday Agreement changed all …

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Finley is a Slugger reader from Belfast In the wake of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination at a Utah university on September 10, former President Donald Trump delivered a speech from the Oval Office that was sombre in tone — but deeply charged in political meaning. While condemning Kirk’s murder as a “dark moment for America,” Trump’s language signalled something far more expansive: a warning shot against what he described as the “radical left,” and a possible preview of repressive …

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Slogger is a North Antrim retiree and latecomer to political discourse. I spent the first ten years of my life on a farm, well away from the temptations of the town. So, movies were just something on a black-and-white TV. Only two channels in those days so movies were kind of rare and rather antiquated. All posh Englishmen and Cockneys. Then, at ten years old, we moved into the town. When I say town, I mean the Irish notion of …

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