David McCann talks with Ed Roddis and Marie Doyle from Deloitte about the 2024 State of the State Report in Northern Ireland.By Slugger O'Toole

David McCann and Peter Donaghy look at how the proposed new constituency boundaries could impact the next election results in Northern IrelandBy Slugger O'Toole

In this episode, we discuss the crisis in the GP service in Northern Ireland. What are the issues, and more importantly, what do we need to do to address the problems? Your host is Brian O'Neill, and his guests are: Dr. Michael McKenna - A Belfast GP Prof. Ciaran O'Neill - A Economist from Queen's University Belfast Michael Donnelly - a facilitator…

In this episode, Brian O'Neill talks to Professor Dominic Bryan from Queen's University Belfast about the reasons for the University Strike Action. We also talk about the increasing commercialisation of education. You can follow Dominic on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DomsballBy Slugger O'Toole

In this episode of the Slugger podcast, we speak with Ed Roddis, Head of Public Sector Research, and Marie Doyle, Partner at Deloitte about the latest State of the State Report.By Slugger O'Toole

Greg Keeffe is an academic and urban designer with over 30 years experience in sustainability, energy use and its impact on the design of built form and urban space. He is Professor of Sustainable Architecture and Director of Research at Queens University School of Architecture, Belfast, UK. In this episode, we discuss how the pandemic is changing …

In this episode of the Slugger podcast we speak with Ed Roddis, Head of Public Sector Research and Marie Doyle, Director at Deloitte about the latest State of the State Report. We chatted about attitudes toward the health service, the protocol and confidence in the Executive.By Slugger O'Toole

Here's our wrap up session with Ruarai and Shane reflecting on the lessons that might be drawn from the US elections for politicians and political parties in Northern Ireland, particularly in the more down-ballot races where money was tighter. Why did the Democrats underperform? Ruarai highlights a split between moderates blaming poor messaging for…

Ed Straw has been in and around government and state led projects for a large part of his later working life. He has also been involved with the UK Labour Party using his trained engineer's eye to look at how things work. His new book throws new light on the problem of poor "government agency". Governments are hooked on a systematic approach which …

Today Mick spoke with his old friend and Lagan College alumnus Shane Greer, who now owns and publishes Campaigns and Elections Magazine and lives and works in Washington DC about whether in order for Northern Ireland to get a good reset we need to think more globally, not to mention bigly. The main impetus for the start of the discussion was his re…

Now today's Cargo of Bricks with Siobhan O'Neill, Northern Ireland's mental health champion was recorded before this morning's announcement of a four-week circuit breaker lockdown, which in fact is some way short of the sort of near-total lockdown we had in Spring. But in it, we cover what we have learned so far and what are the issues that come wi…

In today's Cargo of Bricks, we take our first look at how the southern economy is coping with the shocks to the labour market in particular. With my guest Dan O'Brien, chief economist at the IIEA in Dublin we cover... It is absolutely impossible to read too far into the success or failure of what amounts to 'the biggest social policy or political e…

One of the key reasons for having the Reset project in a space like Slugger is to look behind the headlines and try to assay the effects of the Covid emergency, not just in health, but in other key areas of life. As we prepare for a second wave, the effects on those leaving education are acute. So this week I spoke to Professor of Education Tony Ga…

Steve Bradley is a regeneration consultant, you can follow him on Twitter. Steve is a very popular writer on Slugger with some of his posts getting over 40k readers, you can view an archive of his posts here. In this podcast, we discuss the future of Derry and the Northwest. In particular, we discuss: The future of Ulster University in Derry or lac…

Do we need a re-set in our democratic culture? We often tie ourselves in knots thinking that Northern Ireland is an exception to the rest of the world, but this week's guest on #CargoOfBricks Richard Wilson's experience is much broader and he thinks politicians are falling far short of current needs. In it we cover... Our Victorian ideas of how rep…

In today's Cargo of Bricks, I speak to Ali FitzGibbon and discover how the long slow and steady bottom-up development of Northern Ireland's cultural industries over the last thirty years provided the backbone for the recent big payoffs from TV and film, but which has yet to see any peace dividend... In it we cover... The Covid lockdown's withdrawal…

Series two, episode 1 opens with an introduction to #TheReset, a joint project between Slugger O'Toole and Ulster Bank. And after a brief break after the first series of the Cargo Of Bricks, we start the second series in partnership with Ulster Bank and a brief introduction from Richard Ramsey to the Reset Project, where we find ourselves viz a viz…

David Rooney is a Professor in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Queen's University Belfast. In this podcast, we chat about improvements in battery technology and how this will affect the growth of electric cars. We also discuss Hydrogen as a fuel source for transport. Already nearly 50% of the electricity generated in Northern Ir…

Tim Attwood was an SDLP councillor and party worker who knew John Hume well. In this podcast we discuss the life of John Hume and his legacy.By Slugger O'Toole

Greg Keeffe is Head of the School of Natural and Built Environment. He is an academic and urban designer with 25 years experience. In this podcast we chat over a wide range of topics: Pandemics affect city design, desire lines, how industrialisation compartmentalised life, people who enjoy their jobs like working from home, the importance of boredo…

Originally from the Ormeau Road in Belfast, Michael McCoy has lived in Japan for the past 30 years where he works as an executive coach. In this conversation we discuss growing up in Belfast in the 1970's as well as getting his take on Brexit and what we need to do to stimulate the local economy.By Slugger O'Toole

Rosa Luxemburg once observed that without all the components of democracy (elections, unrestricted free press and assembly, and free struggle of opinion), "public life gradually falls asleep, and a few dozen party leaders of inexhaustible energy direct and rule". In Northern Ireland we certainly have elections (three of them last year alone). But a…

Open wide, this week I chat with Dr David Suitor who has been a dentist in Belfast for over 17 years. We chat about the general state of dentistry in Nothern Ireland as well as the specific challenges of Covid-19.By Slugger O'Toole

This week's guest, Barry McIlheney, grew up in Oldpark in North Belfast and became singer (or as he puts it, 'chief shouter in front') in a punk band with a bunch of school mates (including Davy McClarnon who's still about today) called Shock Treatment. For Barry Mac, as he is known these days, punk was a 'coming-out' more than 'shell shock' period…

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.By Slugger O'Toole

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 …

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…

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 company 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:…

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 bri…

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.By Slugger O'Toole

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 …

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.By Slugger O'Toole

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 an…

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 c…

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 Republi…

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.By Slugger O'Toole

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 consultatio…

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).By Slugger O'Toole

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

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.By Slugger O'Toole

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.By Slugger O'Toole

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.By Slugger O'Toole

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.By Slugger O'Toole