The Editor

WE SAY: Mary Lou should throw her hat in the ring in race for the Áras

The political pooh-bahs in Leinster House are sweating profusely this week, and not because a heatwave is on the way but rather because a certain Mary Lou McDonald is pondering a run at the Áras.

WE SAY: Actions of Falls Leisure Centre staff should inspire us all to become lifesavers

OUR front page story this week about staff of the Falls Leisure Centre saving the life of Gerard Bradley, who collapsed after his regular visit to the facility, is an inspirational story of human heroism.

WE SAY: Counting the cost of the Glider

TRANSLINK has a big Glider problem that it needs to sort out as a matter of urgency. To be more precise, Translink has a big West Belfast Glider problem that it needs to sort out as a matter of urgency if it wants to stop a success story turning into a failure.

WE SAY: Time to put the Orange Order away with the garden furniture and barbecue

THE sight of the Orange Order pontificating on the local media is an odd one, when you take a step back and think about it. It has spent the past few months organising parades which feature bands supporting loyalist paramilitaries and bands which bang out viciously anti-Catholic songs, and yet it reacts hysterically when it’s called out.

WE SAY: By 2050, could managing wealth replace managing poverty?

The official opening of the new West Belfast Partnership Board managed offices on the Falls last week — home to both the umbrella community group and local businesses (including the Andytown News) — seems like an appropriate time to take stock of the economic wellbeing of the West.

WE SAY: The traditional unionist lack of courage is on show again

THE annual loyalist hijacking of the old Millwall football chant, ‘No-one likes us, we don’t care’, is currently at full volume and having the desired effect in terms of the perception of unionist culture, and bonfires in particular.

WE SAY: Asbestos farce shows bonfires are fireproof from the rules

THIS week we carry the first pictures of the large pile of asbestos beside a bonfire adjacent to the Westlink. The deadly waste has been the subject of some controversy in recent weeks as the large pile of toxic material is a lethal threat to the many people gathered at the site to build the structure or to drink and socialise there.

WE SAY: London Kneecap hearing is a rebuke to the PSNI

THE scenes witnessed outside Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning were a microcosm of what the United Kingdom has become under this Labour government. Younger readers may be be labouring under the misapprehension that Keir Starmer’s lurch to the right in pursuit of populist favour is the first time that the Labour Party has betrayed its socialist principles. But the truth is that throughout the Troubles Labour Secretaries of State repeatedly outperformed their Tory counterparts when it came to defending the interests of the British establishment at the price of the rights of Irish citizens.

WE SAY: Racism needs a robust response

THERE have always been links between unionist politicians and the far right. The axis of sub-fascist loyalist ideology, Old Testament fundamentalism and political unionism was central to the chaos and unrest of the mid- and late-60s that exploded into a 30-year conflict.