alaninbelfast

WATCH BACK: Former North Belfast politicians reflect … at the North Belfast Festival #LookNorth25

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 5, 2025, 2:01 pm

| Readers 515

Former politicians Alban Alban Maginness and Noreen McClelland in conversation with David McCann as part of Look North: The North Belfast Festival on 28 February 2025.

You can now watch back Friday evening’s panel discussion at Look North: The North Belfast Festival. Slugger’s David McCann was in conversation with two retired politicians. Noreen McClelland was an SDLP councillor for the Glengormley urban DEA on Antrim & Newtownabbey Council (and served as Deputy Mayor), having previously been part of Newtownabbey Borough Council. Alban Maginness was a Belfast City Councillor representing Castle and Oldpark DEAs, and was elected as an MLA for Belfast North. In 1997, he became …

Reporting the Troubles: 2 Prime Ministers, 5 P O’Neills, the last death knock, and addressing legacy issues

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 22, 2019, 4:21 pm

| Readers 1509

Brian Rowan and Deric Henderson speaking about Reporting the Troubles at a Creative Holywood conversation.

Recalling working on Prime Ministerial visits, receiving IRA briefings from five different P O’Neills, collating tens of thousands of pages of notes, deciding to no longer knock the doors of bereaved relatives, and thinking out loud about how to address legacy issues, when Brian Rowan and Deric Henderson sat down on Thursday evening to discuss their contributions to the book ‘Reporting the Troubles’, they had no idea of the tragic events that would happen just a few hours later in Creggan.

A legacy process should be about why the Troubles should never happen again

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 20, 2019, 12:27 pm

| Readers 1179

On Thursday evening, hours before Lyra McKee was fatally shot in Creggan, Brian Rowan was speaking about Reporting the Troubles in Holywood. Throughout the event, he often pivoted away from pure reminiscence and returned to the subject of legacy, arguing for an inclusive and society-wide process that asked less about what had happened but instead focussed on why it happened and crucially why it should never happen again.

How connected are our politicians? Can you find them online? In real life?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 21, 2016, 9:26 am

| Readers 785

CONNECTED POLITICIANS report examines the digital footprint of MLAs departing at the end of the last mandate, assessing their website and social media presence, and how well they update constituents with information about the political and constituency activity, as well how easily you can locate their offices and surgeries.

Hyperlocal (Newcastle) doesn’t rock, it blows

Blank on June 17, 2010, 8:16 pm

| Readers 5

Photo by permission of flickr.com/lordvill

Some of the Slugger team are fans of ‘hyperlocal blogging’, you can listen to Alan in Belfast talk up its potential here, or see what Keith Belfast got up to at BarCamp. One hyperlocal blog that seems to be working is Newcastle Rocks. I appreciate Newcastle Rocks giving me a hyperlocal reason to stay well clear of the place. Yes, Newcastle seems to be the first place in the north to have a confirmed sighting of the vuvuzela. Many thanks …