Brian O'Neill

From today’s Irish News: Relatives of people killed by British agent Freddie Scappaticci are “openly questioning” whether he is dead after a British government department refused to provide basic information to some of his victims. In 2003 west Belfast man Scappaticci, a former commander of the IRA’s Internal Security Unit (ISU), was identified as the agent Stakeknife. The ISU, also known as the “Nutting Squad”, was responsible for hunting down and killing informers. It is claimed Scappaticci died last year, …

Our always popular live event returns to the Black Box on Tuesday, the 17th of December 2024. Join Alex Kane, Allison Morris and Alan Meban as they reflect on the year in politics. This event is sponsored by Brown O’Connor. This event always sells out, so to avoid disappointment, book your tickets now… Brian O'Neill I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. …

A weapons arsenal in Bryansk region hit after Biden administration lifts restrictions on Kyiv’s use of Atacms missiles. From the FT: The depot is 190km north of the frontline in the neighbouring Kursk region, where Russian forces are trying to push out Ukrainian troops who occupy about 600 sq km of territory after their surprise incursion in August. The strikes came on the 1,000th day of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv has pleaded with Washington for more than …

The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'Neill I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the …

In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break. So discuss what you like here, but no politics. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'Neill I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for …

The Irish general election is this Friday. Simon Harris felt pretty confident when he called the election, but he must now be feeling pretty nervous during the last week of the campaign. From Pat Leahy: The Fine Gael share of the vote has fallen by six points in less than two weeks, reflecting a campaign that has been littered with missteps, and now trails both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. As the parties embark on a frantic final four days …

Depending on your view, John Bittles, the owner of the iconic Bittles Bar in Belfast, is a cantankerous aul sod or a genius at PR, or maybe a bit of both. He regularly hits the headlines for refusing to serve people half pints, refusing to serve soft drinks, or banning people for the most arbitrary of reasons. Personally, I think it’s kind of funny. In a world obsessed with (often fake) customer service, it’s nice that there is one place …

From the BBC: Adults in Northern Ireland are more likely to look at pornography online than those in any other part of the UK. That is according to new research published by the communications regulator Ofcom. It said that more than 430,000 adults in Northern Ireland visited “pornographic content services” online in May 2024 – more than one third of the adult population. Overall, according to Ofcom, adults in Northern Ireland spent an average of four hours and 16 minutes …

This year’s what the actual feck story goes to John Breslin at the Irish News. Chinese gangsters from one of the country’s southern provinces controlled one of the largest cannabis farms ever discovered in Northern Ireland, police believe. The farm, which delivered herbal cannabis with a street value of close to £2,5m in its year of operation, was discovered on land owned by prominent Co Down farmer Clive Weir. Weir, a father-of-six from Hillsborough, was sentenced this week to three …