SLUGGER O'TOOLE

From hot house London ( figuratively as well as literally)., I’m dismayed but no longer surprised that the trend of unionist opinion over the still unfolding Donaldson scandal may be diverting from the cul de sac of the DUP to the black hole of TUV. I’m picking this up from Andy Pollak’s website where he speculates on the likely impact of the extent of the scandal on the DUP’s fortunes at the next Assembly election. What the DUP establishment knew …

I have been listening to a most interesting Irish Times podcast with the Northern Ireland commentator and former Ulster Unionist press officer, Alex Kane, about the political impact of the court judgement last month that found former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson guilty of rape and sexual abuse of two very young girls (and reading a follow-up article by Kane in that newspaper).1 Kane detailed Donaldson’s astonishing list of sins, quite apart from the rape and abuse conviction, calling him “a thoroughgoing hypocrite” …

With many Ulster fans pleased with an uptick in their province’s performances on the rugby pitch in reaching the final of the Challenge cup and providing eight players to the Irish rugby team that beat Japan last time out, they may be less than concerned that the fortunes of their main rival, Leinster, seem to be heading in the opposite direction. But Leinster’s recent victory in the URC final may have disguised a number of alarming developments at the province …

In another of his continuing series of articles chronicling the difficulties of unionism and the unpreparedness of the Irish people for a United Ireland, Andy Pollak criticises the British government for failing to take unionist concerns into account during the Brexit negotiations and the sectarian bile directed at Heather Humphreys during the 2025 Irish general election campaign. But all good governments act in the interests of their people. The notion that a British government would favour the interests of 2% …

Roaring Hanna is a Slugger reader from Belfast Well alas for our ‘nearest and dearest’ neighbours once again the World Cup isn’t coming home, that’s this year just as it didn’t every year since ’66 and ’62, ’58, 54 & ’50 before that. You really do have to wonder at the mentality of all the little Englanders who have a sense of entitlement that they seriously believe that their team really have a chance to lift the Jules Rimet? Of …

A few years back, at a junction close to where I live, a neighbour while driving out of the street was struct by a motorbike, driving at speed up the main-road, probably on the pavement. It was dark. The motor-bike was without lights so it was unseen and the rider without helmet, was catapulted with his bike over the bonnet of the car and badly injured. Tragically he died a few days later in hospital. The police interviewed my neighbour …

What you need to know NI Secretary does not want to step in to set Executive budget as Fiscal Council warns of bailout mentality On Wednesday (15 July), Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn MP appeared before the NI Affairs Committee. BBC NI reported that Mr Benn was hesitant to step in to set a Stormont budget, insisting it was the responsibility of the Executive and that ministers “should do their job”. On reform of the Stormont institutions, Mr Benn said there is “something …

The new UK Prime Minister has wasted little time in assembling his new cabinet, but of particular interest to those of us resident in Northern Ireland would be his choice of Secretary of State. Any suggestions that Hilary Benn would retain the role were swiftly dealt with as Benn confirmed yesterday in a post on X that he was leaving the government. It has been a great privilege to serve as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and to work …

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week that all military personnel aged 30 and over will be annually screened for testosterone deficiency. Those with “low testosterone” will be offered testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). “Warriors” under 30 will be able to opt in for testing but the Pentagon is saying nothing on whether TRT will be available to women. The evidence for an association between aggression and testosterone levels exists but it is weak according a 2019 study (a meta …

Jack Russell is the author of the believethedata.org blog, where this article was originally published. Anna Burns’ Milkman is a remarkable book. Based on her experiences growing up in Belfast during the Troubles, it conveys a claustrophobic sense of oppression and suspicion, gossip and control. Words and actions, even objects, are burdened with an oblique symbolism that draws meaning from its sectarian context – the “us” and “them” against which the book’s disconcertingly mundane plot plays out. Given this weight of symbolism, maybe the most remarkable feature …