Alan Meban

You can now watch back Friday evening’s panel discussion at Look North: The North Belfast Festival. Slugger’s David McCann was in conversation with two retired politicians. Noreen McClelland was an SDLP councillor for the Glengormley urban DEA on Antrim & Newtownabbey Council (and served as Deputy Mayor), having previously been part of Newtownabbey Borough Council. Alban Maginness was a Belfast City Councillor representing Castle and Oldpark DEAs, and was elected as an MLA for Belfast North. In 1997, he became …

Brian Faulkner resigned as chief executive of the short-lived Northern Ireland Executive, and the Sunningdale Agreement collapsed on 28 May 1974. You can now watch back a series of panel discussions that were held in Ulster University to look back at Sunningdale on Tuesday, the 5oth anniversary of its collapse. Session One – The Negotiations – Sean Donlon, Noel Dorr, Lord Paul Bew, Prof Paul Arthur (chair) Session Two – Perspectives on 1973/4 Power-sharing NI Executive – Hugh Logue, Chris …

Nicholas Whyte is no stranger to this parish. Among his interests are international diplomacy, election data, and science fiction awards … at times all three of those even manage to combine. This evening he was lecturing at Ulster University as a Visiting Professor of Politics on the topic of “Pushing Boundaries: A century of change in the politics of Belfast”. He also touched on the thorny issue of “Where is the Devenish?” You can watch back the lecture and the …

Nicholas Whyte is no stranger to this parish. Among his interests are international diplomacy, election data, and science fiction awards … at times all three of those even manage to combine. This evening he was lecturing at Ulster University as a Visiting Professor of Politics on the topic of “Pushing Boundaries: A century of change in the politics of Belfast”. He also touched on the thorny issue of “Where is the Devenish?” You can watch back the lecture and the …

Last Saturday, an Imagine! Belfast Festival event looked back at the Ulster Workers’ Council Strike: 50 Years On. A decade on from his 40th anniversary conference at Queen’s University – you can still listen back to my recordings on Slugger – Dr Connal Parr was joined on the Crescent Arts Centre stage by panellists Dawn Purvis, Carmel Gates, Harry Donaghy, Jackie Redpath and Jackie McDonald. The video of this year’s event can now be viewed. Filmed and edited by Alan …

Filmed in front of a live audience at the Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics, Slugger O’Toole convened a panel to discuss the year of elections that await us, and the political futures of some of the key figures who will be fighting for their seats and their jobs. Back on the evening of Friday 22 March, David McCann was joined by University of Liverpool Professor Jon Tonge, Deputy Director of political consultancy Stratagem Anna Mercer, and the Belfast Telegraph’s …

Has the art of writing and delivering a political speech fallen by the wayside of a media landscape that vacuums up soundbites rather than valuing passionate prose? Next Thursday evening, some local politicians will recite elements of other people’s speeches which have influenced their own political journeys and discuss the importance of speechmaking in the current political climate. It’s part of the Imagine! Festival, and Claire Hanna (SDLP), Deirdre Hargey (Sinn Féin), Emma Little-Pengelly (DU…

Next week at Imagine! Festival there’s a chance to step outside the usual local context of the Irish language and Ulster Scots to look at an indigenous culture from northern Wisconsin. Imagine this: not everything that looks like a bodhrán and sounds like a bodhrán and is played like a bodhrán is actually a bodhrán. The hand drums brought to life by The Sullivan Squad look incredibly familiar, yet the colourful patterns on the band members clothing suggest that the …

One panel event at the recent Look North! The North Belfast Festival reflected on the legacy and impact of Baroness May Blood’s life and work. Remembering May Blood – with Betty Carlisle, Paul Caskey, Eileen Weir and Duncan Morrow (chair). Filmed by Alan Meban on Sunday 25 February 2024. Photo credit: Allan Leonard @MrUlster Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) Alan Meban. Tweets as @alaninbelfast. Blogs about cinema and theatre over at Alan in Belfast. A freelancer who writes about, reports …

The next 12 months will be fertile ground for election nerds. So we’re convening a panel of experts on Friday 22 March to discuss which way the political wind is blowing as part of this month’s Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics. The next United Kingdom general election must be held no later than 28 January 2025. The deadline for the next Irish general election is 22 March 2025. Both polls are likely to see big political swings and will …