Belfast – Slugger O'Toole

Riots in Northern Ireland: this is also about racism

Sarah Creighton on June 15, 2026, 2:21 pm

| Readers 4458

My dad died two days before Christmas in 2023. On the day of his funeral rain poured from the heavens. We waded through thick mud to get to his grave. “Christ,” my brother remarked, “it’s like the f**king Somme.” In Northern Ireland, protestant burials are often small, private affairs. Only close family go and you must be invited to attend. When we arrived, we expected a small number of people. To our surprise, there was a crowd. My dad was …

The hurl was ours: why Belfast’s politicians need to do more than condemn…

Soapbox on June 13, 2026, 7:30 pm

| Readers 4606

lit matchstick

Families were burned out of their homes in Belfast this week in openly racist violence. But Sara Morrison, who has lived in Belfast most of her life, argues that what happened on the Newtownards Road is the product of decades of political failure, an unfinished peace process, and communities that were never rebuilt. A vital if uncomfortable read.

A celebration of music journalism and Belfast’s musical legacy

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on November 8, 2025, 10:23 am

| Readers 947

On a memorable evening at The Deer’s Head, music journalist Stuart Bailie launched his new book chronicling 40 years in music journalism — The Song is Nearly Over. The event featured an intimate conversation with Tim Wheeler of Ash, followed by closing reflections and a performance by Terry Hooley, the legendary founder of Good Vibrations record label. The evening brought together three generations of Northern Irish music history, weaving together stories of punk, Britpop, and the transformative power of music journalism. …

Quality working class drama is alive and well and living in East Belfast…

Ian Clarke on November 22, 2024, 7:00 am

| Readers 2277

For many years now the bulk of what is passed off as “working class” based drama in Belfast makes my skin crawl. Not to mention “comedy”. It is so often middle-class people writing and performing a caricature of how South Belfast or Ballyhackamore sees the working class, replete with irreformable, irrational bigotry and mispronunciations of words to generate a laugh from an audience heavily bought into the caricature. There is rarely any empathy shown towards the characters and even less …

The Department of Infrastructure is to blame for Belfast’s traffic problems

Brendan Heading on October 27, 2024, 1:11 pm

| Readers 4515

It’s not been a good few weeks for Belfast visitors and commuters. Not only are key arterial routes more packed than ever with traffic jams during most of the day, but the bus and train systems have been up the swannie too, especially on Thursday and Friday last week. This issue hasn’t escaped the notice of local politicians. In the assembly, during Infrastructure questions on October 1, the Minister, John O’Dowd, seemed to suggest that Belfast representatives Philip Brett and …

Pushing Boundaries: A century of change in the politics of Belfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 23, 2024, 10:46 pm

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Nicholas Whyte delivering lecture on Belfast constituency boundaries in his role as a Visiting Professor at Ulster University.

Nicholas Whyte is no stranger to this parish. Among his interests are international diplomacy, election data, and science fiction awards … at times all three of those even manage to combine. This evening he was lecturing at Ulster University as a Visiting Professor of Politics on the topic of “Pushing Boundaries: A century of change in the politics of Belfast”. He also touched on the thorny issue of “Where is the Devenish?” You can watch back the lecture and the …

The Hope of Possibility

Sarah Creighton on January 17, 2024, 6:31 pm

| Readers 3815

My Dad died two days before Christmas. I was on my way up to see him when I got a missed call and a text from my brother telling me he’d passed away. He had pancreatic cancer. The time between diagnosis and death is often short. Before you’ve had time to wrap your head around the fact that your loved one is ill, they are gone. The shock of the loss is as sharp and painful as the grief. How …

Why do we still have ‘peace walls’?

Paul Gosling on September 11, 2023, 9:02 am

| Readers 3442

Why, a quarter of a century after the Good Friday Agreement, do we still have peace walls and interface barriers? The truth, of course, is that the peace deal ended the conflict, but failed to end division and embed reconciliation. Murdered journalist Lyra McKee famously wrote that more ‘peace walls’ have gone up since the GFA than have come down. This is despite a strategy from the The Executive Office containing the target to remove them all by 2023. Yet …

LA vs Belfast: How do you move forward in a divided city? (Tuesday 12 September) #imaginebelfast

Soapbox on September 7, 2023, 8:59 am

| Readers 563

poster for Imagine Belfast event about Los Angeles vs Belfast: How Do you move forward in a divided city?

Imagine! Belfast Festival are hosting a free transatlantic hybrid event from 8pm on Tuesday (12 September) asking what if anything can Belfast and Los Angeles learn from each other, and from the world, about how to find reconciliation and achieve cooperative governance?

A celebration of unionist culture

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on August 26, 2023, 6:36 pm

| Readers 3861

A showcase day of unionist culture was held at 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, with activities of a cultural identity video; a “living library” event; a talk by historian and broadcaster, Dr David Hume; an exhibition of archival footage by NI Screen of cultural events; and music performances. The event was organised by Belfast City Council, through its Good Relations Action Plan, Cultural Inclusion and Co-Design. This programme has been running since June 2022, with participants engaged in a process to …

What Have You Been Up To Jonty?

Dan McGinn on May 1, 2023, 9:58 pm

| Readers 4434

So here we are – the final episode of this series of ‘Blue Lights’. And again, it only seems fair to fire another warning shot to those reading this review to expect a lot of spoilers from previous episodes. So if you’ve not yet seen all five episodes preceding this one, you should probably watch them first before reading this. With viewers still reeling from the events of last week’s episode, ‘Blue Lights’ immediately thrust its audience into the mania …

Can we save Belfast City Centre?

Brian O'Neill on July 21, 2022, 7:25 am

| Readers 11573

Before the pandemic, I visited a client’s office in Belfast City Centre. They were on the 7th floor of a building near City Hall. While waiting in reception, I could look over Belfast and marvel at all the construction work. At that time, Belfast was buzzing with many new companies investing in the City Centre. I did not go near the City Centre during the pandemic as I had no reason to. I had seen reports on social media that …

Belfast, St Patrick and the winds of Change…

Soapbox on April 19, 2022, 2:16 pm

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europe, northern ireland, belfast

Since seeing Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” seems like many people of a certain age have been riding a wave of nostalgia. For what it is worth I thought the film was a good show and what would have made it great was perhaps a little more edginess or darkness to firmly reflect my memories of those days. It’s crazy that 1969 is now over 50 years ago. With the film in the forefront of my mind the next event to arrive …

ESRC Festival: Exploring Belfast’s Medical Past…

Ulster University on October 19, 2021, 1:15 pm

| Readers 692

aircraft carrier infirmary, hospital, navy

The 2020 COVID pandemic turned Belfast into a desolate city. Shops, schools, pubs, restaurants, churches all closed. The city’s usually bustling streets took on an eerie atmosphere. The lack of cars, planes and taxis created an ominous silence. Part of COVID’s defining experience was how unique it felt to us. We hadn’t experienced a pandemic for an entire century since the 1918-19 influenza pandemic killed 50,000,000 people worldwide. However, historically, disease outbreaks were a day-to-day occurrence and part of life. …

Who Should Run Belfast?

Brian Pope on September 19, 2021, 8:42 am

| Readers 3765

Jim Allister, Simon Hamilton and I all attended the same school in Newtownards, but it’s Simon’s report on Belfast that really caught my eye this week. ‘Empowering Belfast’ is Belfast Chamber’s answer to dealing with the economic fallout from the pandemic and a sense that Belfast is falling behind similarly-sized cities. Behind the glossy cover and upbeat aspirations, there is an impression that the city may have been let down by successive Northern Irish Executives. Rather than focus on the …

Belfast Chamber launches a report on the future of Belfast

David McCann on September 17, 2021, 12:14 pm

| Readers 1603

Yesterday, Belfast Chamber launched a report on the future of the city of Belfast. As many of you know a pet idea of mine is a dramatic overhaul of how the city and it’s wider suburbs are governed. City Mayors have been found in many jurisdictions to be wide net positives for growth and securing investment. The Chamber have examined a number of case studies about powers for the city and what could be achieved from more devolution to local …

People need to want to go to Belfast City Centre, not be forced to…

Brian O'Neill on August 20, 2021, 8:39 am

| Readers 2444

As the Chief Executive of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, it is Simon Hamilton’s job to fight for the success of Belfast City Centre. In an article for the Belfast Telegraph, he warned that working from home could turn central Belfast into a ghost town. For those of us who grew up during the troubles, this was the default state of the city centre for decades. Great coverage in today’s @BelTel of @BelfastChamber’s ‘Returning to the Office’ survey. The findings …

Big Albert shines his light/ casts his shadow across the pond

Brian Walker on January 22, 2021, 12:33 pm

| Readers 1447

I knew nothing of Under the Albert Clock until I spotted a review of the podcast in the New York Times no less. Creativity and performance defies the lockdown. American sponsorship and other interest is very welcome. Any reaction? The New York-based Origin Theater Company commissioned the series, asking five female playwrights in Northern Ireland to use as inspiration Belfast’s landmark Albert Memorial Clock (a monument to Queen Victoria’s husband, and thus a symbol of Britishness), and to place their …

Growing up in Northern Ireland – An Odyssey…

Soapbox on December 6, 2020, 9:13 am

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Sixty odd years gone and there’s still life (I think) in this old dog. It was great to sing “When I’m sixty four” at the time, now I’m looking forward to “Never thought I’d live to be a 100” by good old prog rockers The Moody Blues. However in this article I’m going to look back. When was I first aware of “themmuns”? Sometime I think between 7 and 10. I remember thinking “Catholics are somehow different and are sort …

Stupid cars ruin everything. Why we need to go back to the past and make our towns more people friendly…

Brian O'Neill on November 10, 2020, 11:59 am

| Readers 2347

You may have seen the photo above on social media. It shows the old entrance to Queen’s University before it was removed to make the entrance suitable for cars. Throughout the world, there are very few places that have been improved by building massive roads through them. Here are some old photos of Donegal Street, Carlisle Circus and Clifton St before somebody had the bright idea to run the Westlink through them. When you look at some of the terrible …