Brian Walker

Mike Nesbitt’s resignation is a disaster that will be probably ignored

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Mike Nesbitt’s sudden resignation  goes to the heart of what’s wrong with how Northern Ireland is governed. Modest hopes for limited  success have been dashed. If  systems and attitudes don’t  change, the crisis  in the health service  and others like …

El Cavador

Why a treaty on ‘killer robots’ would not stop ‘human safaris’…

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UN negotiators have until the end of this year to agree a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons, built around the principle that humans must stay in control of lethal decisions. In southern Ukraine, human operators use that control to …

Slogger

The end of GCSE Learning for life and work…

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Something which may have slipped under people’s radars recently is the announcement by the Northern Ireland exams board, CCEA, that a number of subjects are to be discontinued. German, Economics and Engineering are to be scrapped along with Leisure Travel …

Soapbox

Culture, Identity & Inclusion in a Turbulent World – The 15th Annual D’Arcy McGee Summer School…

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How can a new Ireland maintain and deepen its values, sustained for a century, while achieving the inclusion of unionists and immigrant communities within an all-Ireland culture? Fascinating debate and discussion are anticipated at the 2026 Darcy Magee Summer School …

Jack Russell

The road to Stormont 2027: voter attitudes and election battlegrounds

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In a previous article, I investigated attitudes towards minorities in Northern Ireland, examining how those attitudes varied by political party support. With a double-header election to Stormont and local councils now less than 9 months away, and LucidTalk’s latest voting intention poll suggesting that allegiances may be shifting in the wake of Jeffrey Donaldson’s conviction, this article investigates a wider set of social attitudes across the party divide.

Slugger Team

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt in Shock Resignation

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Health Minister Mike Nesbitt dramatically resigned yesterday amidst a policy clash with his party leader Jon Burrows. As per the Belfast Telegraph   Confirming his departure tonight, the UUP said Mr Nesbitt “leaves a significant legacy”. His decision to quit …

Frank Schnittger

My (in)glorious rugby career

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A big thank you to all the people here who have read and sometimes commented on my series of rugby articles here. A question everybody is (very kindly) not asking, is “what the hell qualifies me to write about rugby?” …

Macha

No Ordinary End: The Fivemiletown Cattle Cull

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We had a small suckler herd on our farm when I was growing up. Some of our cows, bought as heifers when I was very young, stayed with us for many years and had names. They were docile and enjoyed …

Slugger Team

Israeli national security minister advocates killing ‘30 to 40’ Gazans each night…

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From the FT: Israel should be killing “30 to 40” people each night in Gaza and should build Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave, the country’s far-right national security minister has said in an interview. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a hardline settler …

Obelisk

The Broken Blue Line

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The PSNI seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place, don’t they? With police numbers falling and budgets squeezed year on year, they are increasingly being called upon to do more with less and, more often than …