David McCann

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

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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 …

SluggerTV – the DUP melodrama episode

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 21, 2021, 8:54 pm

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Commentators Tim Cairns and Sarah Creighton joined Slugger O’Toole’s deputy editor David McCann to discuss the dramatic loss of a second leader and the challenges ahead for the DUP in the latest episode of SluggerTV. What tipped the balance to end Edwin Poots’ leadership? How will the next leader be different? If there’s a by-election in Lagan Valley, might Brenda Hale run for the DUP, and what about the chances of Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood and UUP’s Robbie Butler? What’s Edwin …

Slugger TV – easing lockdown into what sort of economy + whether Cummings’ trip to Durham has damaged Johnson’s political currency

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 19, 2020, 5:05 pm

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Tune into NvTv this evening at 20:11 – or watch it here from 20:15 – to catch Episode 39 of Slugger TV. David McCann is joined by commentators Julie-Anne Corr Johnston and Tim Cairns to discuss how Northern Ireland is coming out of lockdown and what sort of economy we will emerge into, as well as the fallout of Dominic Cummings’ trip to Durham on Boris Johnson’s political currency. Edited by Alan Meban.

RHI and the Media – self reflection and looking forward to the inquiry #feile17

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 8, 2017, 6:31 pm

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RHI & THE MEDIA – Listen back to a refresher of the issues and key moments in the reporting ahead of the public hearings beginning in the autumn. Sam McBride and Allison Morris reflected on the media’s handling of RHI, and listed some of the weaknesses and lessons learnt along the way.

Review: From Protest to Pragmatism: The Unionist Government and North-South Relations from 1959-72 (David McCann)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 28, 2015, 12:53 pm

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From Protest to Pragmatism charts the ups and downs in north-south relations as well cross-border cooperation as political capital ebbed and flowed in the Northern Ireland’s unionist government between 1959 and 1972. David McCann [Ed – name sounds familiar?] has worked his way through government archives in Belfast, Cork, Dublin and London, along with newspapers, Hansard, interviews and documentaries to piece together what at times feels like an all male soap opera set in Belfast and Dublin, with a long …

‘Let Me Tell You,’ with David McCann

Brian Spencer on December 5, 2013, 5:47 pm

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It was a local treasure and we all miss it. The If You Ask Me segment that ran on BBC Hearts and Minds for 16 years. It’s never coming back and many would say it’s best to leave it that way. Well David McCann and I have decided to run our own little experiment, paying homage and borrowing in good measure from the original If You Ask Me to bring you back some of that Thursday night magic with the …

Alex Kane on how Unionism can learn from Sinn Féin

John Ó Néill on July 22, 2013, 4:22 pm

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Are we seeing more signposts to the future of unionism today? The Newsletter’s Alex Kane has a piece out on “Unionism can learn from Sinn Féin” while it appears to suggest that, in reality, it is currently trying to learn from Fianna Fáil. Kane trots out the same line about ‘cultural war’ that was raised at the field on the Twelfth by the Orange Order. Somewhat diminishing the point, the BBC usefully led this story with Edwin Stevenson’s comments at the …

Ann Travers: “a peace and reconciliation centre where they expect victims of crime to go to in a prison”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 30, 2013, 2:27 pm

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Ann Travers was interviewed today by David McCann and Kerri Dunn, presenters of the weekly On the Record politics show that is broadcast on Lisburns 98FM community radio station. You can listen to her interview in two parts. listen to ‘Part 1 of @lisburns98's interview with @AnnTravers2 by @KerriDunn & @dmcbfs’ on Audioboo listen to ‘Part 2 of @lisburns98's interview with @AnnTravers2 by @KerriDunn & @dmcbfs’ on Audioboo Ann has been at the middle of the process around the SPAD …

Stormont’s falling turnout is the reason it is losing touch with wider public opinion

Mick Fealty on May 24, 2013, 4:22 pm

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This is David McCann arguing that the current malaise in Northern Irish politics has its roots in the fact that no less than 160,000 people stopped voting after 1998. From June 1998 to March 2011 electoral turnout dropped from 70% to 54.5%. Whilst the UUP and the SDLP lost a staggering 84,000 votes each, SF only picked up 35,000 and the DUP 52,000. McCann’s thesis is that this disengagement is a prime cause of the subsequent drift of Stormont politics from the concerns of …