# ulster (news sources) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover ulster. Page: Feed: --- ## [Your invitation to the launch of my new book The Birthday Boys…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/26/your-invitation-to-the-launch-of-my-new-book-the-birthday-boys/) _2026-08-26 · Samuel Thompson · Slugger O'Toole_ Why write? For a privileged few, journalists, columnists and the like, the answer is to pay the bills. For an even more fortunate élite of best-selling authors, writing can provide a very pleasant lifestyle. It is a dream of many budding writers, very few of whom will make more than a few hundred pounds from efforts if that. Why write? For most writers the answer is simple, they have something to… ## [Summer’s over. Now It’s Time to Make Homelessness Prevention a Government Priority](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/26/summers-over-now-its-time-to-make-homelessness-prevention-a-government-priority/) _2026-08-26 · Soapbox · Slugger O'Toole_ Kate McCauley is the Chief Executive, Housing Rights As the Northern Ireland Assembly returns from summer recess, Ministers and MLAs have an opportunity to make a fundamental shift in how we respond to homelessness. The change is simple in principle but transformational in practice: stop waiting for people to become homeless before we act. Northern Ireland is facing a homelessness crisis. Rising… ## [‘It’s all here to be told’: Ulster’s role in the American declaration of independence](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/26/its-all-here-to-be-told-ulsters-role-in-the-american-declaration-of-independence/) _2026-08-26 · Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) · Slugger O'Toole_ The Linen Hall library in Belfast hosted a panel discussion as part of its USA-NI 250 exhibition programme, marking the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. The event, “The American Declaration of Independence: American and Ulster Contexts, Links and Legacies,” was chaired by Dr Frank Ferguson of Ulster University, who also serves as chair of the Linen Hall Library’s… ## [Drumcree? Again?](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/26/drumcree-again/) _2026-08-26 · Arnold Carton · Slugger O'Toole_ When the Drumcree dispute erupted over parades down the Garvaghy Road, most observers already believed that N. Ireland was on the road towards peace. John Hume and Gerry Adams had been involved in the Hume-Adams talks, which had been publicly discussed since April 1993, causing much anger and upset within unionism but eventually leading to the IRA ceasefire in 1994 Rather than being delighted by… ## [Queen of Country Dolly Parton dies aged 80…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/25/queen-of-country-dolly-parton-dies-aged-80/) _2026-08-25 · Brian O'Neill · Slugger O'Toole_ Country music is massive in Ireland and the death of Dolly Parton is a major blow for her millions of fans over here. Could anyone not be a fan of Dolly Parton? Has there ever been a more talented, good-natured, warm-hearted person? I am a big country music fan myself and Dolly Parton was perfect in every way. I particularly liked the more traditional bluegrass songs she sang. Her duet with Steve… ## [High Court rules Parades Commission Erred in Blocking Drumcree March](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/25/high-court-rules-parades-commission-erred-in-blocking-drumcree-march/) _2026-08-25 · Slugger Team · Slugger O'Toole_ From ‘The Belfast Telegraph‘ A decision to bar the Orange Order from part of the flashpoint Drumcree marching route is to be quashed, a High Court judge declared today.The outcome was reached after the Parades Commission conceded a procedural error in how it dealt with an annual application for permission to walk along the nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown…The Orange Order is now expected to… ## [“We recognised that sometimes its signature was written in pencil”](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/25/we-recognised-that-sometimes-its-signature-was-written-in-pencil/) _2026-08-25 · Brian O'Neill · Slugger O'Toole_ Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is getting kudos from standing up to Trump in the US Canada trade negotiations. From the FT: Donald Trump has said he will increase tariffs on Canadian cars and automotive parts to 50 per cent as a new trade war erupts between the North American neighbours following the collapse of crunch talks over the weekend. “Canada will be treated like a State no longer!”… ## [Chambré Weekly Bulletin- 24/08/2026](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/24/chambre-weekly-bulletin-24-08-2026/) _2026-08-24 · Chambré Public Affairs · Slugger O'Toole_ What you need to know Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously once said that “a week is a long time in politics” and nowhere is that seemingly truer than in Northern Ireland. This week, Robbie Butler was confirmed as Health Minister on Thursday, after Mike Nesbitt’s abrupt resignation over a dispute with UUP leader Jon Burrows on the future of emergency general surgery at Causeway Hospital.… ## [Why Stormont’s failure to revenue raise is costing us all](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/24/why-stormonts-failure-to-revenue-raise-is-costing-us-all/) _2026-08-24 · Chambré Public Affairs · Slugger O'Toole_ In June 2000, during a debate over departmental funding from Westminster, a former MLA gleefully remarked that the “injustices of direct rule were over” and that, with the Assembly now in control of its own affairs, local politicians “no longer \[had\] to go cap-in-hand to Northern Ireland Office Ministers, as so often in the past”. Some twenty-six years on, the MLAs present in the chamber that day… ## [Lough Neagh – One of the biggest ecological disasters to face the Island of Ireland…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/24/lough-neagh-one-of-the-biggest-ecological-disasters-to-face-the-island-of-ireland/) _2026-08-24 · Soapbox · Slugger O'Toole_ Philip O’Neill is a slugger reader from Belfast. We all like a good cause, an opportunity to put a right a wrong whether it be in sport, work, or even globally where we can donate to Concern or MSF and feel better for making a difference. We currently have on our doorstep one of the biggest ecological disasters to face the Island of Ireland, Lough Neagh. You will have seen pictures this week of… ## [Transcript-Driven Stock Discovery (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/2cr2ccTjjQjx) _2026-08-24 · **Sponsored**_ Ranked, evidence-backed watchlists from indexed executive transcripts for 1–2 quarter horizons ## [Open Sunday – discuss what you like…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/23/open-sunday-discuss-what-you-like-211/) _2026-08-23 · Brian O'Neill · Slugger O'Toole_ 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. ## [Open sunday – politics free zone…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/23/open-sunday-politics-free-zone-181/) _2026-08-23 · Brian O'Neill · Slugger O'Toole_ 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. ## [How Bloody Sunday changed me](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/23/how-bloody-sunday-changed-me/) _2026-08-23 · Frank Schnittger · Slugger O'Toole_ I wrote a comment on Terry Wright’s excellent OP on “Where have all the Prods gone” in which I referenced an article I had written in 2010 for the European Tribune and the USA political blogsite The Daily Kos (where a member of the family of one of those killed commented) on how Bloody Sunday had influenced me in my formative years. Apparently there are problems accessing that article for… ## [Where have all the Prods gone? The PUL Exodus and its impact in Derry/Londonderry](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/21/what-happened-to-all-the-prods/) _2026-08-21 · Terry Wright · Slugger O'Toole_ A new report on "the Exodus" — the displacement of Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist families from the West Bank of the Foyle between 1968 and 1998 — finds a prolonged, incremental movement with no single cause, and an experience still awaiting the civic and political acknowledgement that would place it alongside, not against, the memory of CNR communities. ## [Why Google will get you a taxi before our Department of Inertia…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/21/why-google-will-get-you-a-taxi-before-our-department-of-inertia/) _2026-08-21 · Brian O'Neill · Slugger O'Toole_ The taxi market in Northern Ireland is an absolute mess. In 2014 about 16,000 taxi licences were registered in Northern Ireland. By the end of 2023 this had fallen to 7,500. Industry estimates they’re only less than 5,000 active drivers per week. The core problem is the Department of Infrastructure have made it so difficult to get a licence and potential drivers have to jump through umpteen hoops.… ## [Mike Nesbitt’s resignation is a disaster that will be probably ignored](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/20/mike-nesbitts-resignation-is-a-disaster-that-will-be-probably-ignored/) _2026-08-20 · Brian Walker · Slugger O'Toole_ Mike Nesbitt’s sudden resignation goes to the heart of what’s wrong with how Northern Ireland is governed. Modest hopes for limited success have been dashed. If systems and attitudes don’t change, the crisis in the health service and others like it will never significantly improve. Independent report after expert report has spelt out loud and clear that if every hospital retains its present range… ## [Why a treaty on ‘killer robots’ would not stop ‘human safaris’…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/20/why-a-treaty-on-killer-robots-would-not-stop-human-safaris/) _2026-08-20 · El Cavador · Slugger O'Toole_ UN negotiators have until the end of this year to agree a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons, built around the principle that humans must stay in control of lethal decisions. In southern Ukraine, human operators use that control to hunt civilians. On 4 August, a Russian drone hunted a street trader through a market in Kherson. Yuriy, 52, had begun laying out crates of tomatoes,… ## [The end of GCSE Learning for life and work…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/20/the-end-of-gcse-learning-for-life-and-work/) _2026-08-20 · Slogger · Slugger O'Toole_ Something which may have slipped under people’s radars recently is the announcement by the Northern Ireland exams board, CCEA, that a number of subjects are to be discontinued. German, Economics and Engineering are to be scrapped along with Leisure Travel and Tourism, Learning for Life and Work and Contemporary Crafts. CCEA said it had made the decision based on factors such as “candidate entry… ## [Culture, Identity & Inclusion in a Turbulent World – The 15th Annual D’Arcy McGee Summer School…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/19/culture-identity-inclusion-in-a-turbulent-world-the-15th-annual-darcy-mcgee-summer-school/) _2026-08-19 · Soapbox · Slugger O'Toole_ How can a new Ireland maintain and deepen its values, sustained for a century, while achieving the inclusion of unionists and immigrant communities within an all-Ireland culture? Fascinating debate and discussion are anticipated at the 2026 Darcy Magee Summer School in Carlingford when the battle against racism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration violence is examined under the timely theme of… ## [The road to Stormont 2027: voter attitudes and election battlegrounds](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/19/the-road-to-stormont-2027-voter-attitudes-and-election-battlegrounds/) _2026-08-19 · Jack Russell · Slugger O'Toole_ In a previous article, I investigated attitudes towards minorities in Northern Ireland, examining how those attitudes varied by political party support. With a double-header election to Stormont and local councils now less than 9 months away, and LucidTalk’s latest voting intention poll suggesting that allegiances may be shifting in the wake of Jeffrey Donaldson’s conviction, this article… ## [Marketplace for AI-Powered Professionals (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/ZUg0865ItNSn) _2026-08-19 · **Sponsored**_ Find professionals who use ChatGPT, Copilot, and Claude to deliver work faster. ## [Health Minister Mike Nesbitt in Shock Resignation](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/19/health-minister-mike-nesbitt-in-shock-resignation/) _2026-08-19 · Slugger Team · Slugger O'Toole_ Health Minister Mike Nesbitt dramatically resigned yesterday amidst a policy clash with his party leader Jon Burrows. As per the Belfast Telegraph Confirming his departure tonight, the UUP said Mr Nesbitt “leaves a significant legacy”. His decision to quit comes amidst a clash with party leader Jon Burrows over retaining emergency general surgery (EGS) at Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, a senior… ## [My (in)glorious rugby career](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/18/my-inglorious-rugby-career/) _2026-08-18 · Frank Schnittger · Slugger O'Toole_ A big thank you to all the people here who have read and sometimes commented on my series of rugby articles here. A question everybody is (very kindly) not asking, is “what the hell qualifies me to write about rugby?” And the truth is, not very much. But I have been at it for quite a long time, and, unlike many fans, I can remember the dark days in the dim and dusky past when Ireland struggled to… ## [No Ordinary End: The Fivemiletown Cattle Cull](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/18/no-ordinary-end-the-fivemiletown-cattle-cull/) _2026-08-18 · Macha · Slugger O'Toole_ We had a small suckler herd on our farm when I was growing up. Some of our cows, bought as heifers when I was very young, stayed with us for many years and had names. They were docile and enjoyed a good back scratch. Daisy, rather unusually for a suckler herd, was a Friesian and the first cow I can remember. There was also Bluebell, a Belgian Blue cross, Buttercup the Charolais, Primrose, a… ## [Israeli national security minister advocates killing ‘30 to 40’ Gazans each night…](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/17/israeli-national-security-minister-advocates-killing-30-to-40-gazans-each-night/) _2026-08-17 · Slugger Team · Slugger O'Toole_ From the FT: Israel should be killing “30 to 40” people each night in Gaza and should build Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave, the country’s far-right national security minister has said in an interview. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a hardline settler previously convicted of incitement to racism, made the comments on a podcast hosted by Rom Braslavski, who was taken hostage by the Palestinian… ## [The Broken Blue Line](https://sluggerotoole.com/2026/08/17/the-broken-blue-line/) _2026-08-17 · Obelisk · Slugger O'Toole_ The PSNI seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place, don’t they? With police numbers falling and budgets squeezed year on year, they are increasingly being called upon to do more with less and, more often than not, being perceived as doing fairly badly at it. Compounding their problems, they are expected to police a post-conflict divided society wherein their support from one section of the…