Soapbox – Page 40 – Slugger O'Toole

How local startup 24Tees used crowdfunding to get their business off the ground…

Soapbox on August 24, 2015, 3:01 pm

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Two months back, myself and another student at Ulster University launched a crowdfunding campaign, successfully raising £6000 to get our business off the ground. Since then we’ve launched the business in full and are seeing it grow every day. It’s given us more than a few sleepless nights from its conception to now, but it’s undoubtedly been a great learning experience. My friend-turned business partner originally had the idea back in November of last year. He subscribed to a popular …

The Labour Party in Northern Ireland: the first ripple in a new wave of electoral dynamics?

Soapbox on August 20, 2015, 10:50 am

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Craig Harrison writes for us about the Labour leadership and the possibility of the party contesting elections in Northern Ireland This week, Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham made a public commitment to review the party’s policy on standing candidates in Northern Ireland, arguing: “I want the people of Northern Ireland to make their voices heard in the Labour Party, and if I am elected leader, I’ll ensure that the party is listening”. If we ever want to see a normalization …

Collins: “The bottom line is you either support the idea of gender balance in our national parliament or you don’t.”

Soapbox on August 18, 2015, 6:58 pm

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Suzanne Collins is the Director of Operations and Campaigns for Women for Election the non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation that works to inspire and equip more women to succeed in politics. Responding to John McGuirk, she writes about why his central thesis on women in politics is wrong… What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So true of our political system. Over and over women failed to be selected or encouraged …

Billy Hutchinson and the Development of the PUP

Soapbox on August 14, 2015, 5:16 pm

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Billy Hutchinson speaking after taking over as PUP leader

Sophie Long is a PhD candidate in the School of Politics at Queens University. Writing for Slugger she shares her research about Billy Hutchinson and the development of the Progressive Unionist Party When political commentators discuss the Progressive Unionist Party in positive terms, it is often David Ervine, or Dawn Purvis, whose names are put forward by means of substantiating the Party’s progressive credentials. Ervine, who now possesses almost mythical status in Northern Ireland, and beyond, was described in The …

A possible solution to the parading issue in Northern Ireland?

Soapbox on August 13, 2015, 5:39 pm

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Lee Reynolds in transit at Belfast's Orange Parade, 12 July 2011

Alex Johnson writes for us on how he thinks the parading issue could be solved in Northern Ireland In my experience all problems have a solution. What is so often lacking in this part of the world is the understanding and guts to bring solutions into operation. I would like to suggest solutions to two of our favourite subjects (the rest of the world must laugh their heads off when they see this) – bonfires and bands – the two …

Under the current institutions, political conflict is here to stay

Soapbox on August 13, 2015, 2:50 pm

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Craig Harrison writes for us on the current political instutions and the inability of policy-makers to find solutions to key problems The continuing impasse over welfare reform perhaps provides the most recent example of what ethnic politics can descend to, but it is by no means the first demonstration of this, and will certainly not be the last. What we should consider is the role the overarching political institutions in Northern Ireland play in producing these kind of disputes, and …

Back to the Future: a personal view of the state of cinema-going in Northern Ireland

Soapbox on August 13, 2015, 12:29 pm

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Conor Johnston writes for us on the state of the cinema industry in Northern Ireland I’ve used ‘state’ here, as the word reminds me of the State Cinema in Ballymena of my schooldays: a long queue for two large screens, thick smoke and the searching light of the owner’s torch on the lookout for feet-up or a hand about to launch a Cadburys Eclair at a classmate across the room. Fast-forward to 2015 and my last visit to a big …

Allister on why we need further reform of SpAds at Stormont

Soapbox on August 11, 2015, 10:52 am

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The leader of the TUV, Jim Allister MLA is proposing a private members bills to reduce the number of SpAds at Stormont. Writing for Slugger, he sets out his case for reform of the current system After successfully piloted a Special Advisers Bill through the Assembly to remove convicts as SpAds, I have now drafted a further Bill to do three things – (i) reduce the number of SpAds, (ii) cut their salaries and (iii) ensure they are subject to …

Why I Left My Job and My Favourite Place in the World

Soapbox on August 7, 2015, 10:41 am

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Emma Canavan is a former journalist with BBC Northern Ireland and is currently travelling around the world this is her story from her blog and we wanted to share her story with you. When I was younger, through my teens and university life, I had high expectations of what life has to offer. I wanted to be a journalist and a presenter. I wanted to travel the world, see amazing places, meet amazing people and, somehow, help make the world …

With ‘Je Suis Charlie’ seeming increasingly distant, is ‘Free Speech’ under threat in Northern Ireland?

Soapbox on August 6, 2015, 2:39 pm

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It’s easy to support the concept of ‘Free Speech’ in principle, especially when the political winds blow in its favour. Only earlier this year, many united behind the slogan of ‘Je Suis Charlie’, with strong words of condemnation for a media unwilling to show the cartoon for fear of ‘offence’ or ‘retribution’. Yet, when tested within the daily practice of society, this support is prone to waiver. It is unpopular to defend an individual who ‘offends’, or whose speech has …

There is nothing Loyal about Sectarianism

Soapbox on August 3, 2015, 7:45 am

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William Ennis, A member of the PUP, writes for us about the issues of Loyalism and Sectarianism in Northern Ireland The Loyalist activist will also be a human rights activist and will work to ensure that the rights and liberties of the people living and working within his or her community are not infringed. If the principles of civil and religious liberty are to be more than a mere slogan on a banner or an Orange Arch they must be …

The resources to end austerity In Ireland

Soapbox on July 31, 2015, 11:45 am

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Economist, Michael Burke writes for us looking at the economics of austerity and how they compare in Northern and Southern Ireland The claim from supporters of austerity is there is no money left and that therefore TINA, there is no alternative policy. These assertions are false. Table 1 below shows the level of output in the Irish economy on both sides of the border, either GDP or GVA (Gross Value Added). The total compensation of employees is less than half …

What Cecil says about us

Soapbox on July 31, 2015, 10:58 am

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The tragic death of Cecil the Lion has been making headlines around the world this week, writing for us, Zimbabwean born, Kate Nicholl argues that the event tells us a lot about how modern society reacts to tragedy If social media has taught us anything in the past few days it’s that Trophy hunting is awful, paying $50,000 to shoot an animal is obscene and Walter Palmer, the dentist who killed a Zimbabwean lion called Cecil is the worst person …

#SluggerSoapbox: “the ban on abortion does not stop abortions from happening…”

Soapbox on July 25, 2015, 4:44 pm

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Fionnghuala Nic Roibeaird is a local activist on the issue of reproductive rights The most famous act of solidarity is probably the proclamation of the famous words “I am Spartacus”, the scene in the eponymous movie in which the defeated slaves are asked to identify their leader, Spartacus, as a reward for doing so their lives will be spared. They respond by claiming that they are all Spartacus. In this case many of us are all the Belfast woman who …

A victims view on the appointment of the new Commissioner for Victims and Survivors…

Soapbox on July 24, 2015, 3:19 pm

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I would like to thank the oFM/dFM for finally agreeing on a new Commissioner for Victims and Survivors. It has been over a year since Kathryn Stone stood down from this position: a position which is an integral cog in the structures set up to deal with the needs of those of us most affected by the years of political conflict. The Victims Commission was hamstrung by the absence of a figurehead, as was the Victims Forum. Both bodies could …

“Mammy, why do we not have a flag on our house?”

Soapbox on July 11, 2015, 12:01 pm

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Mairia Cahill writes on her impressions of visiting a bonfire site on the lower Shankill yesterday, and how a child’s eye view, unencumbered by the narrative framing of cultural matters, helped her see another side to the celebrations of The Twelfth. A week ago, I caused consternation amongst some of the hardline Loyalist community for raising the issue of flags flying from lampposts. I asked was there any “need” to fly large Union Jacks from in an effort to understand …

Giving With One Hand and Taking More Away with the Other

Soapbox on July 9, 2015, 5:02 pm

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In response to yesterday’s budget speech, the Northern Ireland Children’s Commissioner, Koulla Yiasouma writes about its impact on child poverty YESTERDAY we saw a budget delivered that was trumpeted as a triumph for boosting earnings, but here in Northern Ireland tens of thousands of families are set to lose out. There was scant reference to Northern Ireland and no consideration to the differences in circumstances. With approximately 140,000 families in Northern Ireland receiving child tax credits the changes set out …

Cuts lead third level education down the path of the privileged

Soapbox on July 9, 2015, 10:48 am

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Eugene Tinnelly is a founder member of the Student Poverty Alliance Group. He writes for us about the cuts in higher education Education should be free. Whether it be primary level or third level, your access to education should not be determined by what’s in your wallet but instead, by what’s in your brain. People will say that’s an idealistic way of looking at it but tell that to the people of Denmark who receive universally free education. Unfortunately the …

Do we live too long? Science allows us to keep people alive longer, but is it the right thing to do?

Soapbox on July 3, 2015, 9:27 am

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“In a certain state it is indecent to go on living. To vegetate on in cowardly dependence on physicians and medicaments after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost ought to entail the profound contempt of society.” Friedrich Nietzsche 1860. Not much fun that boy Nietzsche. Certainly not much fun if you are as Yeats phrased it “old and grey and full of sleep and nodding by the fire” but then maybe you would be totally …

Let us move past the age of ‘Stormont Shambles’ and work for an Official Opposition…

Soapbox on July 2, 2015, 8:42 am

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From Andrew Wooster, Deputy Chair of QUB Conservative Future… I recall reading the Stormont House Agreement on the 23 December 2014, and albeit a scepticism on Stormont’s ability to deliver, there was a feeling of genuine hope after the inclusion of a proposal for an Official Opposition. Since I have become politically minded, I have supported the introduction of such a structure to enable Stormont to work as a truly democratic system. The proposal was found in Article 29 of the …