SLUGGER O'TOOLE

We probably should have suspected something was up when Nick Clegg resigned from Meta as head of global affairs and was replaced with conservative-leaning Joel Kaplan. What it portended was revealed late yesterday afternoon when Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram would no longer use third-party fact-checkers, instead relying on a system pioneered by Elon Musk’s X platform wherein users can append content with supposedly clarifying comments. In the attached post to his video blog, Meta …

Ireland’s Past and Future economic growth prospects The Irish exchequer recorded a record surplus of €12.8 Billion in 2024, helped in no small measure by a one off receipt of €11 Billion in tax arrears from Apple following a ruling of the European Court of Justice. Even without that bonanza, corporate taxes increased by 18% to €28.1 Billion, Income Tax rose by 6.6% to €35.1 Billion, VAT receipts increased by 7.3% to €21.8 Billion, Excise duties were up 11.8% to …

Each July my father made a choice not to erect a Union Jack outside our home, which was in a predominantly unionist area. This was out of respect to our neighbours, who were Catholic. However, this piece is not really about the flying of emblems from private property. Along many streets in various parts of Northern Ireland, flags of various sorts fly high and proud on public lampposts and there they can remain until the wind reduces them to tatters. …

Sorcha Eastwood MP’s decision to vote against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2024 (“The Bill”) holds potential future electoral risk for the Alliance Party. After successfully passing the Second Reading stage in the UK Parliament by 330-275 votes, the Bill is now at the Committee Stage and will be scrutinised by its 23 members (15 x Labour, 4 x Conservative, 3 x Liberal Democrat and 1 x Plaid Cymru); notably absent of any NI members. Consideration of …

Younger readers won’t remember this but thirty years ago (yes, older readers, doesn’t time fly!) Allied Dunbar ran a TV ad where a middle-aged man finds a pregnancy test in the bathroom and immediately berates his teenage daughter about being careful only to find out it his wife who is pregnant. The ad then breaks into the 1930s Irving Berlin song, ‘There May be Trouble ahead’. If the re-election of Donald Trump is a surprise political baby, then the role …

The BBC is reporting that Education minister Paul Givan has turned down the request of Bangor Academy and Rathmore Primary (also in Bangor) to integrate in spite of the overwhelming support of local parents for the move (80% of parents and guardians supported the proposal when quizzed in Summer 2023). From the BBC report… “In rejecting the bids, Givan said that there was not enough evidence that there would be enough Catholic pupils at each school for it to provide integrated …

Donna Moore is from Belfast, and works as an administrator. Gaye Dalton, a former sex worker and long-time sex worker rights activist, was kind enough to give some of her time up to discuss the ‘Nordic Model’ of sex work with me. The transcript of the interview follows. Gaye, many thanks for agreeing to this interview. Q. For those who may be unfamiliar, would you please outline your background? A. How long have you got? The basics will have to do. I …

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 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 …

Almost 2 weeks ago Elon Musk was at the centre of a major row with Trump supporters about Elon wanting to allow more foreign nationals into the USA under the H-1B visa programme. Critics of the H-1B system, particularly within Trump’s MAGA base, argue that it depresses wages and displaces US workers. They claim that companies exploit the programme to hire foreign workers at lower wages, bypassing qualified Americans. Elon however, argued that tech companies like his needed many more …