Slugger O'Toole – Conversation, politics and stray insights
3 days ago · Slugger Team 10 January 2025 Paul Givan vetoes schools’ bids for integrated status in North Down 545 The BBC is reporting that Education minister Paul Givan has turned down the request of Bangor Academy and Rathmore Primary (also in Bangor) to integrate in spite of the overwhelming support of local parents for the move (80% of parents and … read Samuel Thompson 10 January 2025 There May be ...
Challenging Traditions: Reimagining Northern Irish Identity…
Oct 4, 2024 · Catherine Pollock (no relation – different spelling) from Derry is an unusual and remarkable woman. From a working class unionist background, she now works for the Irish language and cultural organisation Cultúrlann. She says of herself: “I’m not a unionist, but I’m not a nationalist or a republican either. I am British, and also Irish. My politics are left of …
Misremembering the 1970s half a century on… – Slugger O'Toole
Dec 7, 2024 · In the 2010s we had a decade of centenaries marking key events in Irish history such as the War of Independence, the Home Rule debacle, the Easter Rising, and the 1918 elections – followed in the 2020s by a decade of half centenaries more specifically focused on the North. As the current decade approached, we commemorated half a century since the conflict, euphemistically known as “the ...
Chambré Public Affairs – Slugger O'Toole
Dec 9, 2024 · Finance Minister raises concerns over National Insurance increase impact on local public sector budgets Briefing the Northern Ireland Assembly Finance Committee on Wednesday 27 November, Finance Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald MLA said she is “very concerned” about the impact of the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, announced in the Chancellor’s budget, will have ...
After the election, even if the DUP faces a crisis then the rest of ...
Jul 17, 2024 · In the doldrum life of Northern Ireland politics losing one seat is a misfortune, two careless, three criminally negligent. To have escaped two more potential losses is a serious warning from the future for the DUP that for too long played just one card. Since the writ of that one card trick (keeping the FM’s job for unionism) ran out in the last Assembly election in 2022 the party has been ...
Marian Price to sue Disney for defamation over Say Nothing TV …
Dec 4, 2024 · I know we have been a bit remiss in not covering Say Nothing yet, but I have only watched the first two episodes and was avoiding writing about it until I saw them all. But from what I have seen so far, I think it was excellent. Terrific acting, no dodgy accents, brilliant sets – the CGI Divis Flats were just as bleak and oppressive as I remember them. I was chatting with an ex-IRA man over ...
The case for a new flag in Northern Ireland… – Slugger O'Toole
Sep 20, 2024 · David Michell is Assistant Professor in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast. You can follow him on Twitter. It’s good to see the Executive working on normal politics again. But the flag problem – one of the great unsolvables of the peace process – hasn’t gone away. And the fact that there hasn’t been …
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a ...
Apr 18, 2018 · This morning I came across this classic clip from The Monty Python and the Holy Grail film. Ever after 40 years, it is still a great send-up of our political system. Enjoy. A self-perpetuating autocracy King Arthur: Old woman! Dennis: Man. King Arthur: Man, sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there? Dennis: I’m 37. King Arthur: What? Dennis: I’m 37. I’m not old. King Arthur ...
Book review – “Running from Office” By Eoghan Murphy…
Nov 23, 2024 · This is a quite different political autobiography. Most focus on the achievements of the office holder (often exaggerating their personal involvement and positioning them at the centre of significant political events). This book tells of ambition and failure culminating in bursting into tears in Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s office. Eoghan Murphy was the controversial Fine Gael housing minister ...
The electoral college could cost the Democrats the Presidency …
Nov 2, 2024 · We are now in the final few days of the quadrennial US election cycle. The race is so evenly split between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The bookies though have Trump as slight favourite and we all know they are never too far out. But the possibility of Harris winning the popular vote and losing the election is a distinct possibility. This isn’t due to voter fraud or corruption but the ...
- Some results have been removed