SLUGGER O'TOOLE

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 …

One of the factors that complicate any solution to the violence currently plaguing the Middle East is the need for one side or the other to convincingly be able to declare victory. To tell its supporters that all the pain, all the sacrifice, all the death was worth it. To end the war without being able to declare you’ve won is tantamount to accepting you’ve lost, and few things are as painful to accept as defeat in a conflict. After …

Although not exactly hot off the press, as the fine was announced back in early October, but what has been described by the independent review “Protecting from Within” as: the most significant data breach that has ever occurred in the history of UK policing, not only because of the nature and volume of the political history and context that sets the backdrop of contemporary policing in Northern Ireland and therefore the actual, or perceived, threats towards officers, staff and communities …

Slugger Team on November 28, 2024, 10:33 am 0 Comments | Readers 0

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 …

If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor. James, Sit Down After years of enduring glad handed propaganda about how well the Republic is doing (and economically it is) the testimonials of real people during the last three weeks of the election campaign show the depth of misery that many are currently enduring. Housing was the key issue in the 2020 election and it remains a huge issue, but it’s clear from various polls and many …

Earlier this year then Business and Trade Secretary (and present-day Conservative Party leader and leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch) pulled a funding award for Kneecap with a spokesperson for Badenoch at the time saying

Philip McGuinness on November 29, 2024, 5:03 pm 0 Comments | Readers 0