Slugger O'Toole

Slugger's deputy editor David McCann discusses the campaign to extend the franchise for the Irish Presidency with Naomi O'Leary (Europe correspondent for The Irish Times and host of The Irish Passport Podcast) and Ben Kelly (from the Votes for Irish Citizens Abroad (VICA) campaign). Remotely recorded and edited by Alan Meban (@alaninbelfast).

John is a fellow in the Centre for evidence and social innovation and a sociology lecturer School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queens University Belfast In the podcast we chat about the changes to the workplace from Covid 19.

Episode Eight of #CargoOfBricks is with Dublin born, London based historian, a public commentator on both Irish and British politics and prolific crime writer Ruth Dudley Edwards. Initially a lockdown sceptic, I was curious to hear how she had managed what was probably the oddest period of disruption in our post-war lives, and how life changed for her. In the free-flowing conversation which follow...

Episode Seven of #CargoOfBricks , is with Willie McCarter a man who brought Fruit of the Loom in from the US to expand his family business at a time when the Troubles were at their height and brought skilled jobs to both sides of the border. In it Willie tells us: In the early 80s, with high-interest rates as governments tried to get inflation under control, the business was getting crushed on cos...

In this podcast, I chat with Adam Turkington . Adam is a veteran of the arts scene who is best known as the Director of Culture Night in Belfast. He has since moved on to start his own compan y Seedhead Arts .  We bounce around from Culture Night to the 12th, from Universal Basic Income to 20 sided dice.

In Episode Six of #CargoOfBricks , Mick speaks to Eric Lonergan who, with Mark Blyth , in #Angrynomics critiques how populism exploits the vacuum between democratic politics and unregulated markets, and those markets and the real economy: At the crux of the book, anger is one of the most powerful agencies within politics just now. It takes two forms: moral anger as in the witness of injustice and...

In episode five of  Cargo of Bricks  podcast, I spoke to Tina McKenzie who is the current chair of the FSB in Northern Ireland as well as CEO of Grafton Recruiting and honorary consul to Finland about how business had coped with the lockdown. Subjects included: The fact that there was no time to plan for the massive disruption that lockdown would bring, that businesses had some big decisions to ma...

David McCann is joined by commentators Julie-Anne Corr Johnston and Tim Cairns to discuss how Northern Ireland is coming out of lockdown and what sort of economy we will emerge into, as well as the fallout of Dominic Cummings’ trip to Durham on Boris Johnson’s political currency. Edited by Alan Meban.

Many sectors in Northern Ireland are facing a skills shortage. In this podcast I chat with Ellie Francis about how this will affect the economy.

In this week’s episode of  Cargo of Bricks,  as the draft programme for government finally emerges nearly five months after February, Dr Theresa Reidy and I talked through the blocks and difficulties that have had to be overcome to get a sellable deal back to their parties The main points we cover:  The ideologically committed Greens have take harder line in the framing of the draft programme than...

Andrew Hill is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas. In this podcast we talk about the recent race protests in America, inequality and the upcoming S Presidential Election.

In this week’s episode of  Cargo of Bricks,  I’m talking with Professor Gary Murphy of Dublin City University about last February's tumultuous general election and the dilemmas facing the now five-month-long process of government formation. In it, we dissect: How Ireland's swing from right to left, illustrated by the collapse in the Fine Gael vote and Sinn Féin's unanticipated  great l...

In this week's episode of Cargo of Bricks,  I'm talking with Graham Brownlow who is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Queens Management School in Belfast about the economic effects of Covid 19, and what he thinks our response needs to be. Some of the themes we talked about include: Rise of internet-based giants like Amazon poses huge business case challenges for local retail calling into q...

David is the founder of Founder Aurora Prime Real Estate Ltd. He was also the chair of CBI NI as well as the MAC Belfast. Amongst his previous roles was the Chief Executive of Titanic Quarter Ltd. While his background is in business and finance, he also has a keen interest in the environment and social justice. 

This week, Slugger Editor Mick Fealty spoke to Ian Parsley whose frequently updated blog you should definitely put on your reading list for its incisive analysis of many aspects government, and most recently for his coverage of Covid 19. In it we cover: How Northern Ireland was lucky to get Stormont back to work on time How the UK's and the Republic's efforts compare with the approaches of...

Brian O'Neill discusses the challenges to education during Covid-19 with Slugger contributor Chris Donnelly. More know to Slugger readers for his political insights, Chris is also a headteacher of a primary school in Belfast.

This month Slugger O'Toole's deputy editor David McCann talks to Irish News journalist Allison Morris and Andersontown News columnist Andrée Murphy about the performance of the Northern Ireland Executive, the legacy of different devolved government strategies to ease the COVID-19 lockdown, and the Irish Government's lack of cross-border consultation about their plans. Edited by Alan Me...

Slugger's David McCann explores the impact of coronavirus on the local economy with Tina McKenzie (chair of FSB Northern Ireland), Ryan McAleer (Irish News business journalist) and Paul Gosling (writer and SDLP policy adviser).

Alan Meban in conversation with Irish News journalist Allison Morris and Imagine! Belfast festival director Peter O'Neill

David McCann is joined by Brendan Hughes and Brendan Mulgrew to talk about the Irish general election, and the challenges facing the Assembly as new Special Advisors are appointed and a budget is being prepared.

Current affairs programme with Slugger O'Toole. David McCann, Allison Morris and Sarah Creighton discuss the return of the Assembly for the first time in three years.

Chris Donnelly and Alan Meban join David McCann to discuss and dissect the General Election results, how candidates and parties fared, and assess the repercussions for talks and politics in 2020.

David McCann is joined by commentator Sarah Creighton and former DUP SpAd Tim Cairns to discuss the DUP party conference, new UUP leader Steve Aiken, and the forthcoming general election.