Soapbox – Page 42 – Slugger O'Toole

Confused who to vote for? Ask the app…

Soapbox on May 5, 2015, 11:36 am

| Readers 963

Are you confused? Don’t worry, it’s a natural state of affairs. Particularly so at election time. You are faced with as many versions of reality as there are political parties. In deciphering the various stories told by the parties, and figuring out which story you like best, it would be handy to have a little machine to help you. Rest easy: researchers at Queen’s University have come up with a user-friendly ‘app’ to help members of the public decide who …

Education – Exam culture put to the Test

Soapbox on May 4, 2015, 4:12 pm

| Readers 605

I taught English and Drama in local schools from 1979 to 2005. I have great memories of the classroom and enjoy seeing some of my former students go on to flourish in the wider world. In some ways education got rather better during my years as a teacher. There was more accountability, and I guess that that probably helped raise standards amongst some teachers who lacked drive and competence. And new subjects such as A level Theatre Studies, which I …

The Bloody Weather, Meerkats and Schnauzers: A Short Introduction to Canvassing.

Soapbox on May 4, 2015, 4:03 pm

| Readers 1060

It rained on and off throughout Sunday. Not as bad as Saturday, but not weather for putting up election posters. Yet I found myself quite excited about it. I’m forty-one, so I have long since got over the joy of being allowed to stay up late; so why exactly was I getting excited about driving round east Belfast with a step ladder, plastic sheeting and a bucket load of cable ties? It has been a few years since I was …

How Would Rory McIlroy Vote? And why that’s important.

Soapbox on April 29, 2015, 12:46 pm

| Readers 2226

Predicated as it is on avarice and greed and standing as a monument to the necessity for mandatory wealth re-distribution, the most useless supplement of the year reappeared last week. The Sunday Times Rich List likes to rank all the people in the country who have more money than you. And expects you to pay for the privilege of reading about them. Not surprisingly, a certain young County Down sports celebrity –always keen to reassert his affinity with his place …

#SluggerSoapbox: It’s about time women were celebrated, but we’ll have to do it for ourselves!

Soapbox on April 28, 2015, 2:59 pm

| Readers 549

The following is from Orlaith Hendron, who is a lobbyist in the Women’s Sector in Northern Ireland. We all know people are struggling these days; we only have to go outside and take a look at the house next door where our friends used to live, and know that redundancy meant they couldn’t afford rent. We only have to see ads in church bulletins about food banks and know that there won’t be enough there to help everyone who needs …

#SluggerSoapbox: Marriage Equality and the creation of families by same sex couples

Soapbox on April 27, 2015, 10:38 am

| Readers 1109

Nick King is a former business man, councillor on Bournemouth Borough Council, chairman of Dorset Conservatives, member of Police Authority Board. Watching the #marref debate as an Englishman is an interesting experience. In common with so many things in Ireland it seems in part an exaggerated version of what has gone before here in England. At other times it’s like watching our own experiences through a slightly distorted mirror. And as the comments made last week in South Down by …

A Terrible Beauty is Born! Post – Conflict Fiction & Responding Creatively to the Past.

Soapbox on April 24, 2015, 11:13 am

| Readers 735

We can all think of memorable novels that have had their conceptual and narrative core located within ‘the troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Still more material has been mined through adaptations of autobiographies or memoirs from ‘combatants’ of the conflict. Plots have generally been driven by tense dénouement involving betrayal and counter -betrayal by security forces and terrorists. Wars don’t end when the fighting stops of course. And there have been a number of more recent crime novels that have sought …

Game of Thrones vs real life: 5 ways fact is worse than fiction

Soapbox on April 9, 2015, 5:14 pm

| Readers 1267

Guest blog by Anna Neistat, Senior Director for Research, Amnesty International The long-awaited fifth season of Game of Thrones begins on Sunday 12 April. Filmed in Northern Ireland (and elsewhere) and broadcast in 170 countries, the show shocks viewers and generates controversy with graphic violence, especially against women. Yet many aspects of real life around the world today are worse than the mythical Game of Thrones world of Westeros. [spoiler alert: reveals plot lines up to the end of season 2!] …

Martin: I believe that we can build a safer, fairer, more confident community in Northern Ireland.

Soapbox on March 26, 2015, 12:07 pm

| Readers 847

The Towards a Better Future conference starts today in Belfast. Writing for Slugger, the Assistant Chief Constable of the PSNI, Stephen Martin, writes about policing and hate crime Since May 2014, we have arrested 95 people and charged 46 of them with offences linked to hate crimes in the Belfast area. This sends out a clear message that those who commit hate crimes will face consequences. However, none of this will address the underlying causes of the hatred which we …

Ireland – a world innovator in deliberative democracy?

Soapbox on March 25, 2015, 10:00 am

| Readers 615

In December 2012 with the creation of the Convention on the Constitution, Ireland became a world innovator in deliberative democracy. Like similar international deliberative forums on constitutional reform (British Columbia, Ontario and the Netherlands) the Convention included randomly selected citizens. However unlike them it also included politicians from both parts of the island. Meeting over the course of 9 week-ends, the Convention concluded its work in March 2014 having made 38 recommendations, 18 of which, it is estimated, will require …

Let’s collect what we know, and identify what we don’t know about prejudice and how it challenges peaceful relations in our communities.

Soapbox on March 24, 2015, 4:06 pm

| Readers 546

Ahead of the Towards a Better Future conference which kicks off in Belfast on Thursday we have a guest post by Professor Mike Hardy, Director, Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University, who writes for us on the topic We do not seem to be very successful at living together in our complex and changing communities. And we need to be much better at it if we are serious about creating safe and secure places for our …

#SluggerSoapbox: An electoral pact may be pointless but it’s all political Unionism has left…

Soapbox on March 23, 2015, 11:55 am

| Readers 3076

Our support for the DUP in East Belfast should ensure an additional pro-Union MP for the City of Belfast in the next mandate. – Mike Nesbitt I am calling on all unionists to unite behind these agreed candidates and maximise the pro-union voice in the House of Commons. – Peter Robinson What’s the point of the latest electoral pact between the DUP and UUP? If the two party leaders are to be taken at their word then it is to …

Randomocracy in Northern Ireland

Soapbox on March 21, 2015, 8:46 am

| Readers 1204

There are three crucial ingredients for a high quality democracy: a very large hat, a pen and lots of small bits of paper. Write the name of each citizen in the land on a bit of paper, put all the bits of paper in the hat, close your eyes and pluck out 500 names from the hat. Write to each of the 500 saying: “Congratulations, you have been picked as one of the 500 people who will run the country …

Clowns to the left of them, jokers to the right. Paramedics stuck in the middle with you…

Soapbox on March 17, 2015, 11:26 am

| Readers 1765

We get the inside track from a paramedic about the ambulance strike… I was glad to have the opportunity on Friday to re-post my article from last November where I described some of the difficulties currently faced by Paramedics in Northern Ireland. I felt it important to provide some context of the proposed Ambulance Service strike on Friday as the verbal jousting between NIAS managers and union spokespeople that day left me bemused to say the least. After NIAS cynically broke the strike …

Hanna: International Women’s Day is an anniversary to mark the contribution, struggles and victories of women…let’s not lose site of it as a political event or of the road left to travel.

Soapbox on March 8, 2015, 5:12 pm

| Readers 410

Continuing our series of articles, SDLP Councillor for Balmoral, Claire Hanna writes for us about her experiences and the barriers facing women in society today International Women’s Day brings annual soul searching about the lack of women in politics, which is both a symptom and cause of our dysfunctional politics. Evidence presented by the Economist newspaper shows that where legislatures have more women, they spend more on public services, bring forward more progressive legislation and have more balanced participation in …

Beyond the niche: women in frack-free politics

Soapbox on March 8, 2015, 10:17 am

| Readers 598

It might just be the alliteration, of course, but it’s rare these days that I meet anyone east of the Bann who doesn’t say, when I mention where I live, “Fermanagh? Where they have the fracking?” Well we don’t ‘have the fracking’, not now, though it’s been a close shave, and, to mix my metaphors, we’re not out of the woods yet. It has, though, been an extraordinary campaign, not least in the almost complete reversal of public opinion. Three …

Cochrane: I know so many brilliant women who hold back in their careers for fear of being cut down. It’s time to put those fears behind us and create a more progressive society for us all.

Soapbox on March 4, 2015, 1:56 pm

| Readers 419

Continuing on with our series, Alliance party MLA, Judith Cochrane writes for us about her experiences in the Assembly Northern Ireland has seen momentous change since the 1970s. Politically, socially and culturally, we have made huge strides over the past few decades, and have become a more progressive and inclusive society. Women have certainly come a long way. I feel fortunate to have been raised and educated in an age where girls were encouraged to explore their potential, to be …

Jo-Anne Dobson: We need to inspire change rather than force it

Soapbox on March 2, 2015, 7:16 am

| Readers 965

Slugger will be running a series of articles over the next few weeks highlighting the issue of women in politics. First up is the Ulster Unionist MLA Jo-Anne Dobson writing about her experiences in the Assembly. A few months after I was elected to Stormont I found myself standing on the front steps of Parliament Buildings with some fellow MLAs to support a local charity’s latest initiative. The charity had sent us details of what they were promoting and asked …

Sex Ed: Just Ask Oprah

Soapbox on February 27, 2015, 3:55 pm

| Readers 912

Sex Education is a topic that is hotly debated in Northern Ireland. Writing about her experiences the former Alliance party candidate, Kate Nicholl argues for a different approach to the issue. I went to a conservative, religious, rural Zimbabwean primary school, where extra-curricular classes for girls included Young Ladies Club – a place where you learnt to embroider, match your clothes and talk about what sort of wife you hoped to be. So it was perhaps surprising that on one …