apathy

“I can not understand why this population is so docile. If you trample on their cultural identity they will riot in the streets. But if their grannies’ legs are literally falling off they just accept it as that’s life…”

Brian O'Neill on December 4, 2019, 12:26 pm

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Wise words from the good doctor who was interviewed on BBC Spotlight about the health waiting lists. Here we go… number 1 pic.twitter.com/UOUMdhH26W — Adam Turkington (@AdamTurks) December 4, 2019 As you may know, I have written some posts about the health service. It can dismay you how few readers they get. A post on health will get 500 readers; a post on bonfires will get 5000. I have often thought about why this is. The only thing I can …

Methinks thou does not protest enough…

Patrick Murdock on January 22, 2019, 12:02 pm

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Last Tuesday as the MP’s voted overwhelmingly to reject Theresa Mays’s Brexit deal, I voiced my support of the People’s Vote by attending the protests in Parliament Square which was happening as the votes were cast in Westminster. As well as the large vocal crowd that had gathered, I listened to a number of speakers voice their Brexit anger with speakers ranging from the usual Politicians and Celebrities but also frontline NHS staff and factory workers. Two students from Belfast …

So much of the news this year has been hopeless, depressing, and above all, confusing. To which the only response is to say, “oh dear.”

Brian O'Neill on December 31, 2014, 8:08 pm

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The one highlight in the otherwise terrible Christmas TV was Charlie Brooker’s 2014 Wipe. It is well worth a watch. A segment of the show was from the acclaimed documentary maker Adam Curtis. In the piece Curtis explores the idea that our current political apathy and disillusionment with politics is a deliberate strategy by our ruling class to keep us all in the dark while they get on with plundering the wealth of the nation. I don’t normally believe in conspiracy …

Young people and the upcoming elections

David McCann on February 3, 2014, 10:27 pm

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What is it that we look for in our politicians is it experience, judgement or is it youth? I ask this as over the past few weeks on Twitter parties from all sides seem to be nominating younger people (18-30 years old) to contest the upcoming elections. As I have pointed out in a previous post-Northern Ireland actually does well in getting younger people into the assembly when compared to the rest of the UK. However, despite this rise of …

Are young people getting a fair go politically in Northern Ireland? Ctd

Brian Spencer on October 11, 2013, 5:45 pm

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David McCann really got me thinking when he asked recently: Are we giving young people a fair go in Northern Ireland? I have a few observations I’d like to ventilate on the issue. Having studied at Queen’s and lived in Toulouse and New York I’ve come to see it that young people in Northern Ireland possess certain characteristics that are unique to the province and which are relevant to any answer we should provide. You could say that the basic …

A perfect defence against anti-queen whingers?

John Ó Néill on March 9, 2011, 10:57 am

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A fresh attempt to write satire by Newton Emerson in today’s Irish Times with what he has grandly styled an armoury of facts: a perfect defence against anti-queen whingers. In total he provides twelve rebuttals including several to arguments I’ve never ever heard made anywhere (including many of the not-so-royalist hostelries in Belfast and environs). So far, most people I’ve met (in the south) don’t seem to care either way, if they even hold an opinion on the subject. I suspect there may be less of an issue with protests …