Society – Slugger O'Toole

Is it now the case that music and politics don’t mix?

Ian Clarke on September 14, 2023, 7:46 am

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I was going to write this piece a couple of weeks ago when the hysteria over the Wolfe Tones at Feile had settled down. But it didn’t. So I didn’t. Then last week it was worse than ever with their appearance and apparent triumph at the Electric Picnic Festival. But probably better timing for me. Leaving aside the embarrassing spectacle of thousands of young people singing along to a dirge in tribute to sectarian terrorism, it raised a bigger question …

The impermanence of land and legacy

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on July 29, 2023, 7:12 am

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Impermanence is a collection of essays by writers from or living in Northern Ireland. Its co-editor, Neil Hegarty led a discussion at a John Hewitt International Summer School event, with contributors Jan Carson, Susan McKay, and Nandi Jola, reflecting upon the book’s themes and suggesting ways of looking at our past, present, and future. Neil Hegarty provided context for the book. He was in Paris and witnessed the burning of Notre Dame, which made him think about the loss of …

The Act of Disunion?

Sarah Creighton on February 11, 2023, 11:42 am

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The latest ruling from the Supreme Court should surprise no-one. The justices affirmed previous precedent and confirmed what was obvious: the Protocol was lawfully implemented. Since the ruling, there have been calls to ditch the Good Friday Agreement. Anti- Agreement unionists say the consent principle isn’t worth the paper it’s written on because it didn’t stop the Protocol If the Agreement should go because it’s useless, what does that say about the Act of Union? In its ruling, the Supreme …

Houses of sand: Unionism has a problem with younger voters. A huge one.

Sarah Creighton on September 24, 2022, 9:50 am

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Whither the union. I find myself becoming weary as I write this. Articles about the demise of the union, about unionist malaise and mistakes, are so common these days that they all sound the same. I stopped writing them at one point because I had nothing new to add. Even now, people write these pieces with a weird air of arrogance. They want you to know that they and they alone have figured out that unionism is in a difficult …

The enduring question about politics from the start of the Troubles: why has the middle class been so ineffective?

Brian Walker on August 27, 2022, 12:01 pm

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I’m using my privilege as a poster here to try to sum up a couple of posts by Frank Schnittger and myself which are about struggling to find meaning in the chaotic and long draw out course of the Troubles. I’d better be careful as this could lead to endless exchanges but I’ll draw the line here. Eventually we all have more urgent topics to cope with like a rudderless government during an economic convulsion. I suppose I was …

Sectarianism or Snobbery? The impact is the same.

Ian Clarke on November 22, 2021, 10:20 am

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As is so often the case in Northern Ireland, the hyperbole around Bertie Ahern’s recent comments about the ignorance of East Belfast and “ghetto” Protestants (I paraphrase but that’s the essence of his comment) has been loud. Also, again as usual, it has missed the point and therefore let genuinely guilty parties off the hook. Of course Bertie Ahern wasn’t being sectarian. There is nothing in his political past to suggest that he would be that way minded. And of …

Professional historians will be wary of terms like these for writing an official History of the Troubles

Brian Walker on November 15, 2021, 5:43 pm

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The Daily Telegraph reports… An official history of The Troubles will be commissioned under government plans, amid fears the narrative of the conflict is being distorted by republicans. It would also focus on the role of the British Government and Armed Forces in the 30-year sectarian conflict, including the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1972, when 13 civilians were shot dead by troops. If signed off, the official history project would sit alongside a package of measures announced earlier this year to …

Legacy: Who are we moving on for?

Sarah Creighton on July 19, 2021, 9:29 am

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Northern Ireland, it seems, has a problem with moving on. Decades (centuries) of strife and conflict. The pain, the trauma, all of it passed down from generation to generation. In the year of our lord 2021, we’re still angry about it all. Still hurt, still frustrated and in pain. Step forward the Prime Minister and his Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis. They have seen the light and taken a bold, brave step to help us move forward. The government has …

Well, well, well-#AE2022 and that Lucid Talk poll

Sarah Creighton on May 22, 2021, 11:06 am

| Readers 11284

It’s early days, minds could change later, but the Belfast Telegraph’s latest poll will send shivers down the DUP’s spine. According to Lucid Talk, support for the DUP has dropped to 16%, the same as Alliance. Sinn Fein sits at 25%. Doug Beattie will take comfort from the figure for the UUP, up two points to 14%. A Sinn Fein First Minister has been a possibility since the 2017 Assembly election. Based on these figures, Sinn Fein will clinch the …

Challenges mount for our daily newspapers

Ian Clarke on March 15, 2021, 12:42 pm

| Readers 1847

Recently the official, independently audited daily sales of the UK and Ireland’s daily newspapers was published for the period July-December 2020. Not unexpectedly they made very uncomfortable reading for editors and proprietors as overall the UK daily regional press sale had fallen by a record 19%. Obviously, the impact of Covid-19 had a major impact on this period, but publishers will take no comfort from that as once lost, it is rare for readers to return, no matter the circumstances. …

Northern Ireland Centenary: This country

Sarah Creighton on August 15, 2020, 10:59 am

| Readers 11681

This is about the centenary of Northern Ireland. But first, a slight detour. In Lucy Caldwell’s, ‘Multitudes,’ one of her characters describes the heartache of watching her teenage school friend move from Northern Ireland to England. “They’ve had enough is what Susan’s mum says. She just can’t take it anymore. ‘This country,’ she says to my mum. ‘This country,’ my mum says back to her, and neither of them says anything else.” The scene has always stuck with me because …

The new campaign against racism in Britain tells only half the story

Brian Walker on July 30, 2020, 5:11 pm

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Photograph: Anselm Ebulue / The Guardian Tré Ventour 24 • Northampton • Writer and race equality activist “I remember when Mark Duggan was killed by police. It was my generation’s Stephen Lawrence moment.” From the Guardian Race and racism. Just now we’re going through a surge fomented in the US and probably aggravated on this side of the Atlantic by the frustrations of lockdown and the habit of imitation. Longer term the abiding chronic issues have not been helped by …

How does our press emerge from lockdown? Part Four: Has the paywall dice got any spots?

Ian Clarke on June 21, 2020, 10:18 am

| Readers 1922

I hadn’t planned even to write the third installment of this series but now, here is the fourth! Events of the past few weeks have been playing on my mind and I think it’s worth sharing. Recently, those of us who follow the Belfast Telegraph on social media will have noticed that it was actively promoting the fact that its “premium articles” would soon only be available to paying subscribers. Hugo wrote an article in anticipation of it happening a …

Patronising the “liberal unionist”

Ian Clarke on May 28, 2020, 8:45 am

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I’ve often noticed a strange but predictable phenomenon, and last week I experienced it directly here on Slugger. It was on Jay’s thread about the merits or otherwise of the established unionist parties. When I bookended criticism of the two main unionist parties with similar criticism of the priorities of Sinn Fein, I had a number of responses deriding me as a poor representative of “liberal unionism” or as a member of the “liberal wing” of unionism. That got me …

How does our press emerge from lockdown? Part three: Regional Sunday Newspapers

Ian Clarke on May 5, 2020, 8:35 am

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I hadn’t planned a third instalment of this series as frankly I have little to no interest in the local Sunday newspaper market these days. Certainly my days of buying five or six Sundays that would see me through to midweek are long gone and, apart from a quick browse of the football sections (usually when I’m in Costa or Nero for an afternoon coffee) there’s not a lot on the front pages of our local Sundays to entice me …

Emma De Souza: a solution?

Sarah Creighton on April 29, 2020, 9:54 am

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As we drift through another week in lockdown, it’s hard to believe that there’s anything else to discuss apart from Coronavirus. Thankfully, Northern Ireland’s unique brand of identity politics stops for no pandemic. Cast your mind back to last year and the case of Emma De Souza. I wrote about it here. Mrs De Souza’s case concerns Article 1(vi) of the British-Irish Agreement. That section states that the two governments recognise the right of: ‘…..the people of Northern Ireland to …

How does our press emerge from lockdown? Part two: Regional Daily Newspapers

Ian Clarke on April 15, 2020, 10:36 am

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Last week wrote of our local weekly newspaper sector and of the need to save them. I also said that I thought a lot of them COULD be saved if the will is there. But what of our three dailies? There may be less scope there for a happy ending in a sector that across the British Isles has been in freefall for over a decade. Up until the end of the troubles, the picture here was a simple one. …

What’s in the Coronavirus Bill?

Sarah Creighton on March 23, 2020, 9:13 am

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This week the government intends to push its Coronavirus Bill through Parliament. In its “summary of impacts” document, the government states that the bill is “temporary, emergency legislation” which intends to “provide powers needed to respond to the current coronavirus epidemic.” MPs will be expected to grapple with the 300-page bill over the course of a few days. It will, for as long as it is in operation, fundamentally change our way of life. The legislation represents the biggest diminution …

The Protestant churches are becoming more anti gay but hoping to conceal it by silence . It won’t work

Brian Walker on November 27, 2019, 1:01 pm

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Late intro . Gladys is an broadminded and sympathetic commentator on church affairs often concentrating on reconciliation and other pastoral efforts which she regularly shares with Slugger. There are other sides to church affairs. Alf McCreary has contributed a column of church news for the Belfast Telegraph for many years which by and large has taken the orthodox view of the place of Christianity and the churches in Northern Ireland without entirely ducking the many controversies within them. In the …

Now and Then

Sarah Creighton on October 21, 2019, 8:59 am

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TW: This article contains references to sexual and domestic violence. On the 24th October 2017, the UK Supreme Court considered Northern Ireland’s abortion laws. The case was taken by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. In its judgment on the 7th June 2018, the Court found that the Commission did not have standing to take the case but found, obiter, that Northern Ireland’s laws breached Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The High Court in Belfast made …