Soapbox – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

Twenty-Five Years After the Agreement: Loyalist Groups and Organised Crime

Soapbox on April 20, 2023, 10:09 am

| Readers 3979

abandoned, old, house

Dominic Bryan and Brendan Sturgeon of Queen’s University Belfast lay out the complexity of dealing with the remnants of major Loyalist ‘paramilitary’ groups and argue that treating it only as an organised crime problem is insufficient. In many respects the peace process in Northern Ireland has been successful. Most obviously there is overwhelming support for political processes over the use of force. After agreements in 1998 and 2006 weapons were removed from the streets as the British Army stood down its policing …

A Peace of Us: Exploring the Impact of the Good Friday Agreement 25 Years On

Soapbox on April 19, 2023, 11:50 am

| Readers 3001

Megan Fearon is the Policy and Public Affairs Manager for the Open University As we approached the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, The Open University in Ireland embarked on a unique project called “A Peace of Us”. The four-part podcast series goes beyond the political institutions and delves into the broader themes of post-conflict societies. With voices from various sectors including arts, music, sports, and activism, “A Peace of Us” aims to give us a holistic understanding of …

The Radical Hospitality of Peacemaking

Soapbox on April 10, 2023, 1:05 pm

| Readers 2574

David Porter was a co-founder and director of ECONI. He left Belfast in 2008 to lead the international reconciliation ministry at Coventry Cathedral, before being appointed by Archbishop Justin Welby in 2013 as his Director for Reconciliation. He became Chief of Staff at Lambeth Palace in 2016, retiring from that role in November 2022. It was the helicopters, that potent background hum of troubles Belfast, that signalled what progress was being made or not made. Our home sat just below …

‘Drop all and answer it’: The Red Cross neutrality in Northern Ireland

Soapbox on April 8, 2023, 2:00 pm

| Readers 1249

a red cross painted on a white paper

Sam Guthrie is an oral historian and project manager of the Our Stories – Our Times project with the British Red Cross. For thirty years Colonel Sir Michael and Lady (Aileen) McCorkell kept a secret. On June 20, 1972, their home – Ballyarnett, just outside Derry – had hosted the first meeting between representatives of the British Government and the Provisional IRA on June 20, 1972. While others waited outside Frank Steel, Dáithí Ó Conaill, P. J. Woodfield and Gerry …

Irish Unity, Labour politics and the role of the SDLP: an interview with Patsy McGlone MLA….

Soapbox on April 7, 2023, 7:00 am

| Readers 4063

Bill Breathnach is Writer and TV researcher based in Connemara. Interested in economics, politics and all things cultural… Patsy McGlone is a true Gael. The Ballinderry man is a fluent Irish speaker and with a passion for Gaelic culture. His father John played football for Derry, but it was another sporting legend from the Oak Leaf County that encouraged Patsy to enter politics. Roddy Gribbin, who played in the 1958 All-Ireland Final, was an SDLP councillor in Magherafelt during the …

Book review: On the flawed genius of Charles J Haughey…

Soapbox on April 3, 2023, 7:05 am

| Readers 2024

David Moane is a Dublin-based retiree with an interest in politics and current affairs. Here he re-assesses the career of Charlie Haughey in the light of Gary Murphy’s recently well received biography. I have mixed views on Haughey. I am in my early sixties now and am old enough to remember the great sparring matches between him and Conor Cruise O’Brien. When Haughey was appointed Taoiseach in December 1979, O’Brien was editor-in-chief of the Observer newspaper. He wrote a column …

Losing Saint Patrick to Find Ourselves…

Soapbox on March 16, 2023, 7:00 am

| Readers 3372

Keith Williamson is a History and Politics teacher in County Down Saint Patrick has (possibly) been subjected to more makeovers than any other historical figure born within these islands. For fifteen centuries he has been refashioned by monks, kings, archbishops, politicians and expats. The endless rebranding is, however, hugely interesting in terms of Ireland’s evolving storyboard. In truth, all we know for certain about Patrick is what he revealed in his own writings. Hagiographers and propagandists, who wrote centuries later, …

Does anyone actually know what the Stormont Brake is? Some questions partially answered…

Soapbox on March 6, 2023, 1:03 pm

| Readers 1429

Bill Breathnach is Writer and TV researcher based in Connemara. Interested in economics, politics and all things cultural… Northern Ireland has been without a functioning Executive for over a year now. Boycotting and abstentionism are tactics that have long been associated with Irish nationalism. But they have been diligently applied by the DUP with respect to Northern Ireland’s devolved institutions in recent times for the cause of unionism. In response, the UK government was once again forced to enter negotiations …

Why is Belfast City Council letting Wilmont House go to ruin?

Soapbox on March 4, 2023, 7:00 am

| Readers 2996

Sharon Marks is campaigning to Save Wilmont House Wilmont House is located within the grounds of Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon park in South Belfast. It is a grade B1 listed property which was built in 1859. The estate was formed in the mid 18th century by William Stewart. The Stewart’s were prominent farmers. The house is 2 storey building comprising of red brick with a three bay front and a balustraded porch. The house was designed by Thomas Jackson, …

“There comes a time to seal the deal”: a DUP member’s take on the Windsor Framework…

Soapbox on March 3, 2023, 7:00 am

| Readers 4244

black metal fence in front of mansion

Matthew Allen is a DUP member from Lagan Valley ‘THIS AGREEMENT IS ABOUT YOUR FUTURE.’ That was the message on the 1998 Belfast Agreement – delivered en masse to Northern Ireland homes, my parents’ and grandparents’ included, that Spring. I was born in October the year after the vote: a peace baby. Though there will be no ’98-style plebiscite on the Windsor Framework, I still feel a civic obligation to digest it and offer some thoughts. Almost everyone who voted …

Childcare is in crisis and parents are paying the price. There is no time to waste.

Soapbox on January 17, 2023, 5:29 pm

| Readers 930

Sinead McLaughlin is an SDLP MLA in Foyle Tune into the radio most mornings and chances are that you will hear a debate underway on access to some of the most vital elements of our public services. From patients struggling to access GP surgeries to commuters facing the latest delay to progress on crucial road and rail projects, these stories are unacceptably common. Yet, one element of our social infrastructure is discussed far less on our airwaves, the early years …

A review of How Civil Wars Start by Dr Barbara Walters…

Soapbox on December 31, 2022, 4:40 pm

| Readers 2499

Arnold Carton is a former teacher, is a moderate unionist who has had a lifelong interest in politics. Too often political discussion within NI politics becomes a repetitive battle over competing identities and about who is to blame for the conflict. Our people are bored with the lack of progress. Sometimes it can be useful and refreshing to put aside our narcissistic tendency to assume that our conflict is historically unique and see if we can learn from the experience of …

The Gaping Hole in Irish Political Thinking

Soapbox on December 22, 2022, 2:32 pm

| Readers 3917

By Billy Lawless, Emma DeSouza & Kevin J. Sullivan . The authors are all members of the Executive Committee of www.votingrights.ie Two themes currently dominate political thought regarding the future of the Irish Nation: the concept of a shared Ireland, promoted by Micheal Martin while he was Taoiseach and the quest for a United Ireland, promoted by Future Ireland and Sinn Fein. Both of these approaches ignore the fact that two large groups of Irish citizens, just under a million– …

It is about identifying the best future for all citizens who live across the island of Ireland…

Soapbox on November 23, 2022, 10:14 am

| Readers 5282

Ben Collins has worked in political communications across the UK and Ireland for two decades. I was raised as a Presbyterian in a strongly pro-British and unionist household, so I understand the attachment to country and crown that many unionists feel. Good friends of mine and family members voted for Brexit in the genuine belief that it would make things better. There is no pleasure in seeing the dysfunction unfold at Westminster since the surprise vote to leave the European …

The poppy. Not a celebration of war but as an expression of sympathy for those who were wounded or who lost their lives in a tragic and unnecessary conflict…

Soapbox on November 11, 2022, 7:00 am

| Readers 4706

red flowers in tilt shift lens

Arnold Carton is a retired schoolteacher from Belfast. The controversy over the wearing of the Poppy in Ireland, with vandals throwing paint at the door of the Royal British Legion office in Dublin, got me thinking about my community’s reasons for wearing the poppy. Approximately 50 years ago, I was a Year 10 (Form 3) pupil in a North Antrim school. Like most of my peer group, I was wearing a poppy, and my school had made an effort to …

The other divide separates those who are willing to commit to civilised debate and listen to the other side from those who are not…

Soapbox on November 9, 2022, 10:01 am

| Readers 5022

woman in black off-shoulder dress

Peter Lockhart is a law student at Queens The traditional cleavage within politics here has never gone away, though it would be reasonable to assert its salience has steadily increased in the last six years since the Brexit referendum. It has been during these years that a debate over the constitutional future of Northern Ireland has developed genuine consideration, as the UK’s status in the so-called ‘premier league’ of nations appears to be under threat from its own sustained self-sabotage. …

Hallowe’en – it never went away you know…

Soapbox on October 31, 2022, 4:00 pm

| Readers 1887

Keith Williamson is a History and Politics teacher in County Down Hallowe’en is a seasonal reminder that the older gods confound the new. To win souls for Christ, the Early Medieval Church expropriated some of the popular festivals of the Gauls and the Celts. Given that conversion was mostly a top-down affair, preachers courted the favour of kings and accommodations were hatched. Ancient polytheistic rites based on the sun’s cyclic light were thereby conjoined with a 4th century Christian tradition …

So much more to small rural schools than pupil numbers…

Soapbox on October 22, 2022, 10:00 am

| Readers 1021

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By Dr Montserrat Fargas-Malet and Professor Carl Bagley QUB Small rural primary schools have been repeatedly in the news as they are being earmarked for closure, with the Education Authority (EA) draft area plan for the next five years stating that there are too many small schools that are not economically sustainable. However, what do we really know about these schools? The last policy report on small rural schools in Northern Ireland was published 20 years ago. We are hosting …

A personal tribute to Baroness May Blood…

Soapbox on October 22, 2022, 8:03 am

| Readers 632

Peter Weil is the founder of Politics in Action The first time I met May was six years ago when I was preparing a Living History course for Stranmillis University College to mark the 50th anniversary of 1968. We wanted to invite as wide a range as possible of different speakers who had lived through the events of half a century ago. Unlike many of our other contributors, May didn’t sound remotely like a politician. And although May achieved far more …