The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not …
In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break. So discuss what you like here, but no politics. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any …
Fifty six….fifty six, he was only fifty six when he died son. My mother was staring into the open coal fire she had lit earlier with the suet from the butchers, assisted by the double leaf page of the Irish Press to create a draught. Chewing cloves in a toothless mouth, her bare legs rested on the fireplace, crimson with phlebitis, reminiscent of a drawing I’d seen the day before of the Nile Delta on the geography class cork-board. I …
Although I haven’t been formally diagnosed with dyslexia, its effects have undoubtedly been a constant presence throughout my school education and professional life. Like many from my generation, I eventually found ways of coping – and even found ways to use it as a driving force in my life. But it wasn’t easy. I used to dread 3rd Form English. Each week, our teacher selected one pupil to read aloud from a book we were studying and then asked them …
John Skrine is a grandson of ‘Moira O’Neill’. Born in Dublin, after a working life in England he has retired there, and is currently researching and writing about her life and her wider Higginson family. Sluggerites visiting the Old Church in Cushendun for the Big Day Out might be amused to know how a locally-known figure, popular in the early twentieth century for her verses celebrating the beauty and people of the Glens of Antrim, came a cropper for her …
I am becoming increasingly irritated by the confident predictions that the SDLP is about to increase its vote, gain councillors and return more MLAs. Much as I would love to see it happen, having been on the ground, I find it difficult to believe that it’s a possibility. Based on what, exactly? Where is the organisation? Where are the candidates? Where are the properly funded local campaigns? Where are the teams of people identifying voters, knocking doors and rebuilding an …
From the BBC: A pay rise of more than £2,000 for Northern Ireland Assembly members (MLAs) is “grotesque”, the first minister has said. The proposals planned for next year would bring MLAs annual salary to £69,216. The increase will take effect from the first sitting day of the new assembly mandate next May, under draft proposals by Stormont’s Independent Remuneration Board. Speaking to the media at Stormont, she said: “This issue of wages is not in my agenda. It’s not …
The Trumpian revolution is re-ordering the global economic and security architecture in many ways, some of which could have significant implications for Ireland, whether we like it or not. Pax Americana is being replaced by Tax Americana where relations between the USA and other states are becoming entirely transactional and tariffs are imposed whenever it suits the narrow sectional interests of parts of the US elite. Countries which do not comply with this new order of things can be sanctioned …
Former UUP councillor,ex peeler and happy Lundy Linzi Mclaren has announced that if she re-enters politics, it will be as a candidate for the SDLP. Telling Cool FM: ‘I’ve been on a journey. No one crosses that divide. I’m interested in a new Ireland.’ and says the party’s ‘energy and vision’ are encouraging, as she considers what she could bring to the SDLP if she were to run for election. Linzi McLaren comes from a policing background and says her …
Thanks to the Great Orange One, it’s going to be an expensive winter for all of us, with petrol predicted to hit £2 a litre in the next few weeks, gas up 20% and home heating oil up 100% and predicted to jump even higher. We are all in for a tough winter. But there is a bright spark on the horizon with the government giving us all £63 towards our electric bills, from the BBC. All households in Northern …
Over the last week, there have been genuine concerns about the safety of increasingly powerful AI and, at the same time, ongoing scaremongering about AI causing mass job losses in the future. Whilst it is absolutely essential that AI does not become a risk to humanity, and governments must step up and take decisive action to regulate, monitor and control these new powerful AI models, we should not diminish the potential benefits that AI discoveries could bring to scientific breakthroughs, …
From the Guardian: All four supporting acts for upcoming dates of Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour have withdrawn in solidarity with fellow opening act Macklemore, as backlash grows against his removal from the tour over onstage comments in support of Palestine. Finneas, the singer who was scheduled to open for Sheeran on six South American dates in November, withdrew from the tour on Tuesday afternoon, hours after Sheeran posted his own lengthy statement to Instagram explaining pressure from venue owners to …
From the Guardian: Ursula von der Leyen’s dramatic offer to open the gate to Canada to become the EU’s first ever associate member (9:54) cannot be underestimated in political and trade significance. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as he attends her State of the European Union address (SOTEU) to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France. It, at once, aligns what Canadian prime minister Mark Carney called the “middle powers” in …
It has probably been the most high-profile story we have never covered on Slugger. The reason being that any discussion of the topic automatically got into conspiracy theories that I felt were hurtful to his family and friends. It was better to wait for the official investigation to release their findings, which they have today. From the BBC: The jury in the Noah Donohoe inquest has found it was possible, but not probable, that failings by the Department of Infrastructure …
Bridgewater is a Slugger reader from Belfast. The Robert Hamill Inquiry was published yesterday. The 25 year old Catholic father of three was viciously murdered by a group of Protestants in the centre of Portadown in 1997, simply because he was a Catholic. One of the most astounding elements of this case was the non-intervention of four RUC officers in a Land Rover a few feet from the assault. The Inquiry found that those officers were unaware of the assault …
It was sad to read about the death of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s father, from the BBC: Prime Minister Andy Burnham has cancelled official engagements on Monday and Tuesday following the death of his father Roy, who had Alzheimer’s. He had been due to host a meeting of business leaders in Downing Street on Monday, and was expected to speak at the annual trade union TUC Congress in Brighton on Tuesday. In July, Burnham spoke about his father’s condition and …
The rest of the leaders of the UK regions are ganging up on poor aul Blighty. They meet in Cardiff today to discuss their plans. From the BBC: The first ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have begun meeting in Cardiff to discuss “working more closely” including on constitutional issues. It is the first face-to-face meeting among the nationalist leaders since Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth was elected in May, with all three wanting their countries to leave the …
The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not …
In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break. So discuss what you like here, but no politics. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any …
The SDLP gathered in the Crowne Plaza hotel for their annual conference. Claire Hanna’s leader’s speech was concise, punchy and well received. But the good reception in the hall now needs to transfer to a good reception on the doors, and high preferences on ballot papers if her party’s ambitions to grow are to be realised. One of the recurring themes of this year’s conference was disappointment at the performance of the Executive and the lack of delivery. The SDLP …
