A pall of silence hangs over most of our churches. Prayer platitudes: Communion comforts, soothing sermons, finding ways to look away. From horror. Out of sight, out of mind, over there. Somewhere ...

The air in the carriage was hot and humid as we trundled through Dublin’s north-west suburbs. A miasma of sunburnt football supporters, dazed faces, in surround sound. I was on an Irish Rail service ...

On Nolan on Friday we discussed Colum Eastwood’s claim that as an MP he often found it easier to get things done when Stormont was down than when it was up. He wasn’t advocating for abolition, but ...

Here you can post and discuss news stories, social media links, or whatever is on your mind. Slugger O'Toole A general account used for the daily threads and other things.

It’s a phrase we hear all too often, dropped into political speeches or in answers to questions to journalists by Unionist politicians when discussing the constitutional issue. ‘The benefits of the ...

Some of you will know that away from the grind of current affairs, I’m also a parkrun run director. For those who haven’t come across it, parkrun is a free, weekly 5k held all over the UK and Ireland.

Here you can post and discuss news stories, social media links, or whatever is on your mind. Slugger O'Toole A general account used for the daily threads and other things.

DeBeer is a one-off essay writer with influences from all over Northern Ireland and slightly beyond…’Aye one-off all right’…one-off until the next time… I did a double-take recently when I read that ...

O what has made that sudden noise? What on the threshold stands? It never crossed the sea because John Bull and the sea are friends; But this is not the old sea Nor this the old seashore. What gave ...

The combined support for the four Executive parties continues to slip. It is now 13% lower than when the Executive was restored in February last year, according to the new LucidTalk poll in today’s ...