#NorthernIreland2016 Interview Series - Mick Fealty

Mick Fealty was born in Belfast and raised in the religiously mixed community of Holywood in Co Down. In his early adult years he worked extensively in schools across Ireland and Britain and western Europe. For much of the last twenty years he has lived in England working as a qualitative researcher and consultant advising companies and third sector organisations on digital engagement as well as finding time to be the founding editor of what some have suggested is NI’s ‘blog of record’, Slugger O’Toole.

#NorthernIreland2016 Interview Series - David McCann

David McCann is a political pundit and deputy-editor of Slugger O'Toole. He is from Belfast and was educated at Ulster University where he was awarded as PhD in politics. Read David's political testimony, '1916 Rising and how it inspired me 78 years later'.

Live Drawing - #TweetUpNI

.@brianjohnspencr doing some live sketching while we watch @bbctheview! #tweetupni pic.twitter.com/a781gqKwOA
— Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast) March 13, 2014

 

 

#tweetupni @dcmbfs kicks off the tweetup in McHughs pic.twitter.com/zJbVp9HPfl
— Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast) March 13, 2014

 

Live Drawing with Ian Knox at #TweetUpNI

On Thursday 14 March 2014 I spent an evening drawing and cartooning at the Slugger O'Toole event, 'Belfast's Big Tweet Up'. Above is a cartoon of Ian Knox and I. See below for a full selection of pictures of Ian and I cartooning each other.

Cartoon off at #tweetupNI between @brianjohnspencr and Ian Knox from @irish_news pic.twitter.com/pfAHSAleJF
— Eye on the Hill (@chambrepa) March 13, 2014

.@brianjohnspencr doing some live sketching while we watch @bbctheview! #tweetupni pic.twitter.com/a781gqKwOA
— Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast) March 13, 2014

My previous post on Ian Knox:

Ian Knox speaking with the Detail here. Ian Knox and I drawing together in the Black Box, Belfast in 2013 here. My coverage of Ian Knox's December 2013 exhibition,'Lifelines and Deadlines' here. A selection of photos of Ian Knox at work here. My article here on why an Ian Knox prize to encourage satire and political cartooning like the Herb Block foundation in America which rewards and encourages future talent.

Jim Fitzpatrick (@jimfitzbiz) - Time for Zero Tolerance

Jim Fitzpatrick (@jimfitzbiz) wrote a piece on Slugger O'Toole, 'After Haass: Risk of growing local disputes into toxic regional problems.' To explain his point, Jim wrote about his time in New York. He said:

"When I first visited New York as a student in 1990, it was a dangerous place. 2,245 of its citizens were murdered that year... New York today is a different place. Last year the number murdered was a record low of just 333 – that’s an 85% reduction in the rate. So what happened?" 

He explained the lesson he learnt from his time in and understanding of New York

"In the mid 1990s a Mayor called Rudy Giuliani and a Police Commissioner called Bill Bratton put in place a new policy on crime called “Zero Tolerance”. Basically, they stopped letting things go. No matter how difficult for their officers or apparently minor the offence, they tackled the crime. They locked criminals up and they put more cops on the streets.