Anthony Neeson began his career in journalism with the Tyrone Times in Dungannon in 1995 before freelancing with Belfast daily and Sunday titles in both news and sport. He joined the Andersonstown News as Sports Editor, before moving across to the News Desk as a reporter, eventually becoming Deputy Editor. Anthony also spent time as Deputy Editor of Daily Ireland and was appointed Editor of the Andersonstown News in 2016. Anthony is also the Ireland correspondent with the Irish Echo in New York.
The president of one of America’s leading universities has told a Belfast audience that entrepreneurship can serve as a global “engine of peace” and a tool for building bridges across borders.
CAMPAIGNING group Mothers Against Genocide are calling on the community to join them in a protest against the continuing slaughter in Gaza that is set to take over the entire length of the Falls Road.
THREE women, trapped by circumstance in post-war Belfast. Jean, caring for her ageing mother; Elsie, trying to reconnect with a husband who went away to war but returned a different man; and Arabella, a young widow whose husband is lost at sea. Just as their lives couldn’t be any different, the one thing that binds them together is a need to break free from their claustrophobic lives. While Jean (Katie Tumelty) lives on the dark side of her terraced street, Elsie (Joanne Crawford) is trapped in a silent marriage, only rescued by her memories of working as an usher in the Paramount Picture House where she was always in the spotlight. And then there's Arabella (Jayne Wisener), too young to be a widow, rattling around the family pile she has inherited. And while all three are lonely and alone in their own worlds, this is far from a sad play. If anything, it's the opposite. All the humour that we'd expect from a Marie Jones play is on show here. And it’s also beautifully written and crafted in such a way that you believe what the women are saying and feel the frustrations that they are experiencing.
WEST Belfast actors Lola Pettigrew and Anthony Boyle have been shortlisted for prestigious television awards which will be announced in Belfast in November.
Visitors to this week's Belfast International Homecoming are being invited to savour the city at two iconic restaurants led by acclaimed chef Niall McKenna.
SINN Féin will support Catherine Connolly in the race for the Presidency, party leader Mary Lou McDonald announced this afternoon.
WEST Belfast actress Geraldine Hughes is returning home next month with what she describes as a “brutally beautiful” play that examines the issue of clerical abuse. Written by and starring Jay Sefton, Unreconciled, was co-written with Mark Basquill, and is running at the Lyric Theatre from October 17 until October 19 as part of the Belfast International Arts Festival. Directed by Divis woman Geraldine, she says she is "so proud" to bring the play back home to a Belfast audience. Set in the Catholic suburbs of Philadelphia in the 1980s, Unreconciled is based on the true story of a teenage actor (Sefton) cast as Jesus in a school Passion play directed by a parish priest. This 80-minute solo performance chronicles a survivor’s journey to confront his past, navigate a Catholic Church reparations program, and ultimately find the courage to speak out. Jay admits that he was inspired by Geraldine's solo show, Belfast Blues, in bringing his own story to the stage. “It’s basically about this young boy who was cast to play Jesus in the school production of the Passion play and it takes place in the 1980s,” Geraldine told the Andersonstown News from her New York home. “It’s Jay’s personal story and he is a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest and it’s the telling of his story about how this priest, Fr Tom, would basically abuse the kids playing Jesus. However, it’s not just Jay’s story, he plays different characters in the play and he’s very public about the fact that he was very inspired by my own play Belfast Blues. It is a story about survival; it is a story that he hopes will encourage others to tell theirs.” Geraldine says that despite the subject matter the play is also very funny, telling the story of a young kid in 1980s America “just trying to figure it out”. She says that it also gives a “beautiful insight” into Jay’s father’s perspective when he realises what has happened to his son. “And then his mother has a speech at one point in the play which for me it still takes my breath away," she adds. During the play the audience also sees footage of Jay playing Jesus in the Passion play.
INFRASTRUCTURE Minister Liz Kimmins was on the Falls Road this week to learn more about community gardens that are springing up across the city.
WEST Belfast actress Katie Tumelty is back on the Lyric stage this month reprising a role she first played seven years ago.
The head of one of America’s most powerful unions has urged workers to “stick together” in the face of corporate greed, recalling the sacrifices made during the Covid pandemic and pledging a fresh commitment to transatlantic co-operation with Ireland.
TRIBUTES have been paid to West Belfast musician and music promoter Seamie O'Neill who passed away last night after an illness.
A CAMPAIGN group which has led calls for the restoration of Belfast’s historic Assembly Rooms has welcomed Belfast City Council’s unanimous decision to purchase the building and neighbouring properties.
TWO East Belfast councillors have compared the racist attack on the occupants of a car at Connswater Retail Park on Monday night to an attempted lynching – and they've called on Justice Minister Naomi Long to do more to tackle the growing issue of vigilante racism. Three men were surrounded by a crowd of men who attacked the vehicle, shaking it violently and shouting racial abuse at those inside. Those who attacked the car where videoed kicking the vehicle and banging the windows while shouting racist insults at the occupants. At one point one man was seen throwing an object into the open driver’s door. The driver eventually managed drive the car away from the scene. Police have been criticised for not intervening during the terrifying incident. Monday’s attack is just the latest racist incident in East Belfast where in recent weeks gangs of men have been harassing and intimidating people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Brian Smyth is a Green Party Councillor for Lisnasharragh, which encompasses areas of both the East and South of the city. He traces the increasing racist incidents in East Belfast to last year’s racial violence in parts of the North, which he says has "gone unchecked". “There’s been a complete failure of the Stormont Executive, but in particular the Justice Minister," he said. "She has taken five years to implement hate law and hate crime laws. But also there’s been nothing done to challenge the disinformation and the lies from these groups and it’s allowed to go unchecked and I think there’s been a massive failure here from Stormont to deal with this and it has built and it has built and you now have ethnic minorities in inner East Belfast who are terrified and who are frightened for their life.
WHEN the 9/11 attacks shook New York and Washington the skies over the US and Canada were shut down, planes were hurriedly diverted and thousands of passengers were left stranded, not knowing where they were – or what was going on. Based on true events, Come From Away by St Agnes’ Choral Society – which is running at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast – tells the story of the 7,000 airline passengers grounded in the small town of Gander in Newfoundland, where amid all the chaos they are welcomed by the warm-hearted locals.
THIS Saturday evening at the Errigle Inn in Belfast, Noel Burke and St Vitus Dance will perform the cult 1990 Echo & the Bunnymen album Reverberation live on stage. St Vitus Dance formed in West Belfast back in 1981 and had success with the release of the Love Me Love My Dogma album in 1987. On the back of that success the band moved en masse to Liverpool, however, within a year the group had broken up and went their separate ways. But that wasn’t the end of things for lead singer Noel Burke who was soon snapped up by English indie legends Echo & the Bunnymen as their new lead singer after frontman Ian McCulloch embarked on a solo career. There followed an album and several singles for Noel with the Bunnymen and it is that album Reverberation that Burke and St Vitus Dance will perform live on Saturday before playing several other gigs with the album in England and Scotland.