Sam McBride

Cushnahan could have got wealthy from another deal but didn’t, Peter Robinson tells Nama trial jury Former First Minister Peter Robinson has told a jury that he has worked with Frank Cushnahan for decades, saying that the former banker accused of fraud could have enriched himself with another deal b...

Former First Minister Peter Robinson has told a jury that he has worked with Frank Cushnahan for decades, saying that the former banker accused of fraud could have enriched himself with another deal but hadn’t done so.

Just finished this brilliant book by @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social .

Well worth anyone's time. Rather than restate the simplistic, partisan reasons for either case, it holds a mirror up to all of us. A proper debate in other words.

Well done Royal Irish Academy for publishing.

Delighted you enjoyed it, Adrian. Thanks for taking the time to read the book, and for your kind words.

Colin Murphy: Politics needs new rules for how we disagree – and there is no space for straw men At the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, London, on Monday, audiences witnessed a strange and surprising kind of “debate”, when my colleague Sam McBride squared off against Fintan O’Toole on the s...

Playwright Colin Murphy on our For & Against a United Ireland event in west London: "Instead of feeling like some kind of centrist group hug, it felt almost subversive. This was an impassioned and informed debate...it seemed somehow radical."

Sam McBride: With Nigel Farage in Downing Street, a border poll could backfire badly There is a type of border poll that once would have been unthinkable, but for which the Irish Government ought to be planning. Like war, famine or pestilence, it involves an event with a low likelihoo...

It is indeed - this is the Sunday Independent link:

Thanks for your support, Bill.

How Nigel Farage could weaponise a border poll against the Irish state There is a type of border poll which once would have been unthinkable but for which the Irish government now ought to be planning.

The Irish Government should be planning for a once unthinkable event: Nigel Farage becoming PM and weaponising a border poll against Ireland, relishing the chaos he could cause. He could do this within the law, and nationalism couldn't easily complain.

Unionism’s lost decade: How a flawed decision 10 years ago precipitated a collapse for the ideology which built Northern Ireland. If the next decade sees unionism decline at the same rate as the last 10 years, then it will be down to just over 30% support.

Thanks to the Foreign Press Association in London for hosting us to talk to over 30 foreign correspondents for two hours. Top question was from a Mexican TV reporter who (aware of the 1986 Mexico World Cup) asked what would happen to the Northern Ireland football team.

A brilliant, insightful discussion this morning @houseofcommons.parliament.uk

Thanks to @clairehanna.bsky.social and @robinswannmp.bsky.social for hosting us and thanks to all who came!

@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie @notredame.bsky.social

Thanks for coming, Emma, and for your kind words.

Sincere thanks to everyone who came to our debate in the National Concert Hall last night - slightly surreal to be on stage in a venue where I've listened to great music. For what it's worth, the Dublin crowd was significantly less enthusiastic about unity than the Belfast one...

This artwork is a silent rebuke for all of us… too scared or insensitive to recognise NI’s often ignored victims When future generations consider the period in which we exist, there will be an issue which some will find bewildering.

Colin Davidson is a remarkable painter and a remarkably humble human being. A man sought out by world leaders & rock stars, who was hired by Brad Pitt to teach him how to paint, spent a year making 18 portraits of Troubles victims for free. They are a silent rebuke to our government and our society.

And the weather!

Coming from someone who is an expert in Sunningdale, this is profoundly depressing: “Since 1998, the present power-sharing arrangements have not delivered the unity and collective purpose displayed by the Sunningdale Executive". In other words, NI's governance is worse than in 1974...

Northern Ireland on path to Lebanon-style decay if floundering Stormont doesn’t urgently change its ways, MLAs warned A few weeks ago, a senior academic sat before MLAs and delivered two stark messages which went unnoticed.

Northern Ireland is on a path to Lebanon-style decay if Stormont doesn’t urgently change its ways, MLAs have been warned - but the warning didn't appear to cause any alarm. Now the chance of Stormont reform is diminishing as Alliance goes backwards.

Cannabis farmer seen back at home less than year into three-year jail term Less than a year after being given a three-year sentence for his role in one of the biggest drugs farms ever uncovered in Northern Ireland, brazen farmer Clive Weir is already being allowed out of jai...

Less than a year after being jailed for three years for his role in one of the biggest drugs farms ever uncovered in Northern Ireland, brazen farmer Clive Weir is already being allowed out of prison - despite the judge saying he'd serve at least 18 months.

A united Ireland referendum must not be ‘another Brexit’, analysts say Two leading journalists from both sides of the border warn against another ‘vague, thumbs up-thumbs down’ vote

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Inquiry has cost over £200m, yet has hidden evidence of Stormont’s chaos which will be destroyed – just as some hoped The only justification for the immense cost of a public inquiry is if it fearlessly and transparently sets out the truth in all its reality, whether pleasant or ugly.

The Covid Inquiry has already cost over £200m, yet is hiding vast evidence of Stormont’s chaos which will now be destroyed – just as some hoped. Dame Hallett's inquiry - whose cost could have funded 500 experienced nurses for a decade - reeks of weakness.

Forty years on from the Anglo-Irish Agreement, this is a fascinating piece on the private discussions, and for Unionism gear shifts, that followed on from the agreement and which would play a key role in eventually leading some Unionist leaders to a more pragmatic approach to NI’s future…

YouTube video by Ireland AM Could Ireland Ever Be United? What Would It Really Take?

On Ireland AM this morning, I was ready for questions about what Irish unity might mean for the economy, defence and public services...but wasn't expecting to be told that Fintan O'Toole and I are "a pair of stunners" and "look like a boyband".

For those asking, this is the full Supreme Court judgment: supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc.... If rigorously enforced, what it means is that there could actually be an *increase* in school 'collective worship' - the law says that must happen daily, but many schools do it weekly or biweekly.

Paul Givan may be happier with the Supreme Court’s religious education ruling than he appears The Supreme Court ruling on how religious education is taught in Northern Ireland’s schools involves a problem for Education Minister Paul Givan, and a significant opportunity.

Paul Givan may be far happier with the Supreme Court ruling on religious education & school collective worship than you'd think. Many people seem not to have read the 40-page judgement; in fact, it hands substantial power to a conservative DUP minister.

This line will panic some in Stormont: "You cannot expect a US company to make a major investment here if they cannot be certain when they will get an answer from planning authorities." But this could also backfire - if SF now say yes, it will be seen to be under Trump pressure.

Tonight Donald Trump's Ambassador to the UK, Warren Stephens, has used an address in Belfast to lay into Stormont over this gold mine: "We need a decision on the Dalradian gold mine, fast". He says it's "harming [NI's] reputation" and "you are sitting on a literal goldmine".

YouTube video by Give My Head Podcast Give My Head Podcast #063. Sam McBride

In which the very funny Tim McGarry tries to get me to laugh, tries to get me to disclose how I heat my home, derides my alma mater - and demands I tell him if in a united Ireland he'll get bread in a fry. The dangers of agreeing to be interviewed by comedians...

The Rathlin experiment: How a tiny island could have a big role in how we live our lives Situated six miles off Northern Ireland’s northern shore is a success story — and Stormont has had a significant role.

The Rathlin experiment: How a tiny island could have a big role in how we live our lives - a case study in why using public funds to help preserve tiny island communities once heading for extinction might be about more than tourism or nostalgia.

Thank you!

A sharp, clear-eyed look at Irish unity from two of the island’s best journalists… Fintan O’Toole is the nearest thing Ireland gets to a public intellectual: a writer of erudition and intellect who tackles the political and cultural issues of the day and of the nation through a wide...

For and Against a United Ireland reviewed by Andy Pollak: "I would make this balanced and scrupulous treatment of the great existential issue of this island required reading for every Irish & Northern Irish sixth year school student and first year undergraduate."

Forty years ago today, the Belfast Telegraph reported the Anglo-Irish Agreement on its front page, along with this detail: "Controversial Assemblyman Gregory Campbell and former Castlereagh Mayor Cedric Wilson burned a Tricolour on the council balcony to cheers of supporters".