Soapbox

Ben M is a Slugger reader from Dublin… From the Guardian: “Sinn Féin, the main opposition party, said the commemoration was offensive because it would honour William the Conqueror, England’s first Norman king, and the subjugation inflicted by his successors. “What will they think of next: a festival of Cromwell? A Famine Queen jubilee?” said the party’s culture spokesperson, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, referencing Oliver Cromwell’s bloody 17th-century conquests and Queen Victoria’s reign during the 1840s famine.” This was SF’s reaction …

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Belfast and Glenariff is a Slugger reader from Belfast The recent BBC Panorama programme “Special Forces – I Saw War Crimes” was quite shocking, but to many here in the North, totally unsurprising. It was a testimony of some former British Special Forces about the dreadful actions of their colleagues, particularly the alleged multiple murders of innocent civilians, including children, in Afghanistan and the subsequent cover-ups by senior commanders. I have quoted from the programme below; it could quite easily …

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Slogger is a Slugger reader. Ulster Hall, Thursday August 23rd, 1979 My buddy and I were in the gallery waiting for AC/DC to take the stage. When the big moment came we were hit with an absolute blast bomb of sound. Angus and the lads were SO loud that our stomachs were vibrating. The gig was great as you might expect, but at the same time we were always aware that this was actually painful to the ears. Afterwards I …

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TE Lawrence is a Slugger regular from Belfast As the UK celebrates the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe during World War II, it should be remembered how Northern Ireland played a crucial role in the Allied war effort. It served as a major base for Allied Forces, particularly the American military. It housed a large number of troops, including over 300,000 personnel. The Royal Navy used Belfast Castle as its Operations Headquarters. A Blackout Order came into force in …

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Finley is a Slugger reader from Belfast The international state system is often spoken of as if it were fixed, neutral, and inherently aligned with peace and prosperity. It is none of those things. It is a pragmatic structure, historically contingent and politically constructed, whose norms and limits reflect the prevailing distributions of power and the strategic needs of states. It has evolved through conquest and consensus, through treaties and war, and through moments of philosophical reorientation—not least the Peace …

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Donna Moore is from Belfast, and works as an administrator. Northern Ireland remains an outlier in the field of assisted dying – while the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England have all made moves towards legalising the practice, none of the major political parties in the six counties have any plans to introduce legislation on the issue. And that might be for the best. Before continuing, it is likely helpful to clarify the terms used in this issue (with credit to …

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An Fear Ciúin lives and works in the Irish midlands. He has a keen interest in medieval and early modern history. He’s actually fairly quiet if you met him, but is contrarian by nature, Catholic by choice, culturally nationalist, politically open-minded and philosophically anarchist. Signal left, then turn right. Juan Perón As a youngish, revert Papist, parsing the comments under the notices here reflecting on the death of Pope Francis, one is struck by the unexpected goodwill of so many. There …

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Fr. William/Conswater is an Anglican Priest in England, but was born and educated in Belfast. The death of the Holy Father has dominated the news and saddened many of our hearts. The set church reading for the other day was  from Acts and reports words from St Peter and of course, the Pope, any Pope, is regarded by many as the successor of Saint Peter. In Acts we read of St Peter speaking these words: Repent and be baptised, every …

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Finley is a Slugger reader from Belfast The relationship between the United States and China is now more strained than at any point in recent history. What began as a complex but mutually beneficial economic partnership has steadily unravelled into a high-stakes geopolitical rivalry. At the centre of this shift is the intensifying trade war—an economic conflict that has become a proxy for broader strategic tensions. In a dramatic escalation, President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese goods to …

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Finley is a Slugger reader from Belfast President Trump continues to flummox and flabbergast the ever-upright and law-abiding NATO partner states with his forthright Greenland claims. POTUS wants them to understand that he is not mucking about when it comes to the security interests of the USA. He spells it out for them. So listen up. POTUS is speaking. President Donald Trump stressed his desire for the US to annex Greenland ahead of a contentious visit by his vice president, …

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Belfast and Glenariff is a Slugger reader from Belfast. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness and many of our people need it solely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime”. This quote is attributed to Mark Twain, one of America’s most famous and greatest literary figures. What inspired me to repeat it here? Well, most of the local …

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In recent years, the conversation surrounding mental health has gained significant traction, with many advocating for increased awareness and resources. We have long passed the stage of “locking up the nutty relatives in asylums”. Then yesterday, Wes Streeting waded into the debate by suggesting Mental Health problems are overdiagnosed and sparked fury from disability charities and experts. I’m going to add my anger to the noise because it can’t be stated too often that we need to stop stigmatising sections …

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Philip O’Neill is a retired civil servant and music lover from Belfast I don’t live in Belfast, but I am looking forward to going to a gig in Belfast this evening. I enjoy live music and live shows, but know that in Belfast we can be fairly limited in what shows we get here, so I make the most of what we have. I will drive this evening as our bus service is fairly pathetic and finishes at 10.00pm. The …

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Imagine that a close relative of yours has been assaulted by someone employed as a carer, they were vulnerable and unable to defend themselves. Now imagine what you think should happen next. Firstly, the decision needs to be made about whether this incident should and could be reported to the relevant authorities. Taking a decision about making a complaint to the PSNI and the HSC comes with no small sense of pressure. Does the victim have the wherewithal to report …

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TE Lawrence is a Slugger regular from  Belfast I have penned a few words regarding the Apprentice Boys of Derry from an Inner City Belfast Loyalist Perspective. They are probably the least well known of the Loyal Orders in the public domain. The full title of the organization is the ‘Associated Clubs of The Apprentice Boys of Derry’. This is derived from the fact that the organization is essentially a number of separate clubs who come together to form the …

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Donna Moore is from Belfast, and works as an administrator. It’s a sad fact that Northern Ireland is now being pointed to as a warning on what happens when the wrong legislation is adopted regarding women’s rights. Of course, this presupposes that you regard sex workers as women who deserve to have rights – which a lot of men (and, sadly, quite a lot of women) do not seem to believe in practice. The Scottish magazine Bella Caledonia recently published …

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