Soapbox – Page 43 – Slugger O'Toole

#Soapbox: Why Ashers was right, but the conscience clause was wrong…

Soapbox on February 23, 2015, 12:29 pm

| Readers 2845

From reader AJ Fence I am pro gay marriage and pro cake. I think the conscience clause is a horrid little idea that would declare open season on discrimination against LGBT people and even religious people themselves. However, I do believe Ashers bakery should have the right to refuse to bake the cake in question. The Cake By requesting the the slogan “support gay marriage”, this was a cake making a political statement, not a wedding cake. I believe that if …

Getting the Balance Right – Compliance VS Impact in the Voluntary & Community sector

Soapbox on February 17, 2015, 3:33 pm

| Readers 401

Catalysed by the pressure of tightened budgets, we live in an age where people increasingly want to know what their taxes (public funds) are being spent on and more significantly what lasting difference these investments are having. Among other things the age (and fear) of 24hr media has fuelled this desire and in many ways this is not a bad thing. People want reassurance that ‘their’ money is being well spent and that people and communities in need of support …

Year Zero for the Belfast Cycling Revolution

Soapbox on February 11, 2015, 11:48 am

| Readers 1830

Coca-Cola Zero has been announced as the headline sponsor for Belfast Bike Hire, due to begin operation this April. Other cities have debated the merits of letting major public health interventions be sponsored by fizzy drinks, but there is a bigger picture for Belfast – sustaining the rise of cycling as an everyday activity. With bicycles now powering 4% of all commuting journeys in Belfast and radical strategies being developed on the back of broad political will, we appear to have the right …

What would it take to get a motorway to Derry/Londonderry? – Guest post by Wesley Johnston

Soapbox on February 10, 2015, 5:26 pm

| Readers 4175

Back in 1964 William Craig, the Minister of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland, announced an ambitious plan to build a network of motorways around the province. In terms of the North West, the core of the plan was a motorway from Belfast to Coleraine – the M2. From this would come two spurs. The M22 would diverge at Antrim and go to Castledawson, serving Mid Ulster. The M23 would diverge north of Ballymena and go to Londonderry, via Limavady. At …

Belfast’s Separation Barriers: Learning to Reflect Before We Act

Soapbox on February 9, 2015, 2:58 pm

| Readers 906

I read Gladys Ganiel’s recent article, ‘Vicky Cosstick – Imagining a Belfast Without Walls at the 4 Corners Festival’, with considerable interest. In my own work, I’ve observed that giving specific attention to Belfast’s walls when exploring the lives of interface communities isn’t as common as it might seem. The walls themselves receive only cursory attention, serving either to describe the landscape or- more often- to metaphorically describe ‘walls’ in the people’s hearts and minds. Any connection between the physical …

Playing Politics with Medicine: Alasdair’s Abortion Intervention

Soapbox on February 6, 2015, 6:05 pm

| Readers 2329

The recent comments by the SDLP Leader over the issue of Abortion has caused a stir. Analysing his comments Ulster University academic, Dr. Cillian McGrattan argues that he is playing politics with medicine. The latest of the series of embarrassing PR-disasters that have characterised his tenure as SDLP leader, Alasdair McDonnell’s ostensible defence of his party’s abortion policy has managed to plumb a new low in what is otherwise an intensely emotionally sensitive debate. In order to avoid misinterpretation of …

Belfast Feminist Network: A reply to WriteNoise

Soapbox on February 5, 2015, 2:07 pm

| Readers 1428

One of our contributors Write Noise wrote a post titled Feminism versus Bernadette Smyth three days ago. Responding the Belfast Feminist Network Committee have asked for an opportunity to respond to some of comments made in this post So feminism has been subjected to trial by Slugger courtesy of WriteNoise with the Belfast Feminist Network used as a focal point for debate. We at BFN have decided to respond by issuing an open invitation to all and sundry to join …

It’s time to right a 50 year injustice and expand Magee College Derry

Soapbox on February 4, 2015, 1:22 pm

| Readers 1413

Colum Eastwood is an SDLP MLA for Foyle. Next Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of a report which condemned Derry to decades of economic stagnation. The Lockwood Report recommended the siting of a second university in Northern Ireland at Coleraine instead of Derry. The publication of the report was the catalyst for a mass, cross-community, campaign by the people of Derry. The effects of the Stormont government’s subsequent decision not to support a new university in Derry are still acutely …

Philip Orr on Belfast’s Resistance to the Slave Trade – ‘No Blood Drops on the Sugar’

Soapbox on February 3, 2015, 3:44 pm

| Readers 4048

Today ‘Belfast’s Generosity to the 4 Corners of the World’ was celebrated at City Hall, with a reception where the Lord Mayor presented the first-ever ‘Unsung Heroes’ Awards. (Click here to learn about the unsung heroes and their work.) The event was incorporated into the 4 Corners Festival and featured an address by historian Philip Orr, ‘No Blood Drops on the Sugar,’ about how the citizens of Belfast resisted the city’s further incorporation into the slave trade. This is the …

Emily DeDakis of ArtsMatterNI: Can we afford to sacrifice creative purpose and innovation?

Soapbox on January 30, 2015, 6:04 pm

| Readers 428

This morning Emily DeDakis, the Literary Manager of Accidental Theatre and an advocate for ArtsMatterNI, spoke at a prayer breakfast at the 4 Corners Festival. Her passionate advocacy for the arts put its tiny (and very much threatened) budget into perspective, prompting us to ask: can we afford to sacrifice creative purpose and innovation? Her contribution is reproduced below: In 2005 I moved from Los Angeles to Belfast, almost on a whim. This has been my adopted home for almost …

Michael Mansfield QC gives the first Gerry Conlon Memorial Lecture

Soapbox on January 26, 2015, 6:12 pm

| Readers 643

‘You’re doing this for future generations. The next generation of politicians know this – you’re setting a democratic precedent with these inquiries. And if they won’t do it, set up people’s tribunals.’ So advised Michael Mansfield QC, the radical lawyer and defence counsel for the Birmingham Six, to a packed auditorium at St. Mary’s College on the lower Falls Road in Belfast, metres from where Gerry Conlon had grown up. The lecture, titled ‘Democratic Bankruptcy’ had been organised as the …

Basil McCrea: Fuel, Poverty and Politics

Soapbox on January 21, 2015, 7:01 pm

| Readers 1097

The rising poverty rates in the Western world have been hitting the headlines. Writing for Slugger the NI21 Leader, Basil McCrea writes about what can be down about this issue President Obama has been criticised for plans in his State Of The Union Address aimed at introducing tax benefits for childcare, college education and retirement. His crime? The initiatives would be funded by raising funds from banks and rich families and pumping the estimated $300bn. raised into initiatives which would …

Paul Maskey: We need to save St Mary’s from unfair cuts and a disinterested minister

Soapbox on January 20, 2015, 5:59 pm

| Readers 2527

Following the announcement of recent cuts to higher education and the threat of closure for St Mary’s College, the Sinn Fein MP for West Belfast, Paul Maskey writes for Slugger about why we need to save the college from what he calls discriminatory cuts, from a disinterested minister St Mary’s College is facing closure and it has to be saved. Sinn Féin is committed to saving it. Following a meeting I had last week with minister Farry it is my …

Corr-Johnston: What we need is Robin Hood when all we have is Prince John.

Soapbox on January 14, 2015, 9:31 am

| Readers 1661

Corporation Tax dominated the headlines in 2014, writing for Slugger the PUP Cllr for Oldpark, Julie Ann Corr-Johnston argues for a rethink of the entire debate Corporation tax will probably go over the heads of many in our community, but it has the potential of bringing 50-60,000 jobs into Northern Ireland over the coming years-Peter Robinson If Peter Robinson was Prince John in the 1973 Disney cartoon version of Robin Hood, I wonder which of his DUP buddies would be …

Terminating your care – The £600 million hole in the health budget

Soapbox on January 13, 2015, 3:33 pm

| Readers 633

Writing exclusively for Slugger, the respected medic Dr George O’Neill gives his proposal to tackle the crisis in A & E. Dr George O’Neill qualified in 1971 and is a General Practitioner in practice in North & West Belfast for 40 years. He was for 6 years Chair of the Belfast Local Commissioning Group and he also Chairs Addiction NI. The extra £80 million additional funding this financial year to Health is approximately 50% of what is required and will still …

Dan McGinn on #Charlie: Dynasty on the Liffey

Soapbox on January 5, 2015, 12:30 am

| Readers 1386

Last night the first in a three part mini series on RTE about former Taoiseach Charles Haughey hit the screens. Local film critic, Dan McGinn, reviewed part one for Slugger In 2006 when Charles Haughey passed away, the former Irish Times journalist turned popular broadcaster Henry Kelly went apoplectic in the Daily Telegraph about the former Taoiseach being accorded a state funeral. The former ‘Game for A Laugh’ and ‘Going for Gold’ host wrote: “Charles Haughey exemplified all that was, …

#SluggerSoapbox: It’s the environment stupid…

Soapbox on December 23, 2014, 9:31 am

| Readers 492

Colum Delaney works for the RSPB in Northern Ireland. He makes the case that shrinking the Department of the Environment exacerbates exposure to large fines from the European Union Court of Justice. He argues that loping off a third of staff will prove to be a false economy in the long run. For those of us working in the environmental NGO sector, there has been a tendency to shy away from using the term ‘front-line environmental services’. Traditionally, front-line has meant things …

#SluggerSoapbox: The impact of Stormont’s cuts on young people

Soapbox on December 19, 2014, 7:11 am

| Readers 720

Cuts being made at Executive level have not been thought through to community level – and the consequences could be significantly worse than Ministers anticipate argues Paul Smyth, Chief Executive of the youth focused charity Public Achievement. According to DETI, the unemployment figure in Northern Ireland (August to October 2014) was 6.3%. However the youth unemployment figure (18 – 24 year olds) is more than 3 times that level at 21.2% and is likely to continue to rise over the …

#SluggerSoapBox: In praise of Bob Purdie 1940 – 2014…

Soapbox on December 18, 2014, 9:36 am

| Readers 640

From Stephen Howe who is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, having previously taught for many years at Ruskin College Oxford and worked at the New Statesman. Irish writings include the 2000 book Ireland and Empire, and contributions to Irish Political Studies, Irish Historical Studies, and the new Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish History. Bob (Robert McGovern) Purdie has died, in his hometown of Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on 30 November. He was 74. Many people in Northern Ireland, …

Soapbox – My Arts Journey #13pForTheArts

Soapbox on December 17, 2014, 11:53 am

| Readers 333

A ‘Soapbox’ piece from Karen O’Rawe, reposted from her blog. – – – When I was a young single mum living in a small house, struggling to hold down a job and make ends meet, the Arts believed in me and gave me a chance. A job, a life, non-judgmental colleagues and a new view on what NI is about. Now I believe in myself, my ability, that my opinion is valid, that I am valued, important, creative and trustworthy. …