Sam McBride
@sjamcbride.bsky.social
Northern Ireland Editor of the Belfast Telegraph & Sunday Independent. Author of Burned: The Inside Story of the Cash-for-Ash Scandal. Any views mine alone.
Pinned
Sam McBride
@sjamcbride.bsky.social
· Jun 25
📢 Some news from me: I've written a book with the erudite and eloquent Fintan O'Toole in which we each argue for - and then against - Irish unity, setting out objectively what seem to us each side's best arguments, and the issues people across the island of Ireland should consider.
MLAs yesterday thronged the Assembly chamber to shout at each other – but pour out of it for legislative scrutiny. Many MLAs were far more more comfortable in their roles either denouncing or defending Paul Givan than in their main paid job as legislators.
MLAs throng the chamber to shout at each other – and pour out of it for legislative scrutiny
Shouting is easy, but governing is hard. Demanding someone else do something is harder than doing something yourself.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 10:25 AM
MLAs yesterday thronged the Assembly chamber to shout at each other – but pour out of it for legislative scrutiny. Many MLAs were far more more comfortable in their roles either denouncing or defending Paul Givan than in their main paid job as legislators.
Reposted by Sam McBride
"We've always punched above our weight."
It was great to chat with Fintan O’Toole, co-author alongside Sam McBride of 'For and against a united Ireland'. It's shortlisted for the 2025 @thejournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year.
VOTE OPEN: scxo9qtv33a.typeform.com/apiba25-vote
It was great to chat with Fintan O’Toole, co-author alongside Sam McBride of 'For and against a united Ireland'. It's shortlisted for the 2025 @thejournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year.
VOTE OPEN: scxo9qtv33a.typeform.com/apiba25-vote
November 10, 2025 at 3:16 PM
"We've always punched above our weight."
It was great to chat with Fintan O’Toole, co-author alongside Sam McBride of 'For and against a united Ireland'. It's shortlisted for the 2025 @thejournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year.
VOTE OPEN: scxo9qtv33a.typeform.com/apiba25-vote
It was great to chat with Fintan O’Toole, co-author alongside Sam McBride of 'For and against a united Ireland'. It's shortlisted for the 2025 @thejournal.ie Best Irish-Published Book of the Year.
VOTE OPEN: scxo9qtv33a.typeform.com/apiba25-vote
Reposted by Sam McBride
Forty years on from the Anglo-Irish Agreement, our latest #BehindTheHeadlines gathered leading voices in diplomacy, history, and journalism to reflect on its legacy and ongoing relevance.
Read now: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongr...
#HubMatters
Read now: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongr...
#HubMatters
November 10, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Forty years on from the Anglo-Irish Agreement, our latest #BehindTheHeadlines gathered leading voices in diplomacy, history, and journalism to reflect on its legacy and ongoing relevance.
Read now: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongr...
#HubMatters
Read now: www.tcd.ie/trinitylongr...
#HubMatters
Frank Cushnahan was told both in person and in writing that he had to declare potential conflicts of interest, Nama’s head of compliance has told the former banker’s trial in Belfast.
Top NI businessman told in writing and to his face that he had to declare interests, Nama official tells trial
Frank Cushnahan was told both in person and in writing that he had to declare potential conflicts of interest, Nama’s head of compliance has told the former banker’s trial in Belfast.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Frank Cushnahan was told both in person and in writing that he had to declare potential conflicts of interest, Nama’s head of compliance has told the former banker’s trial in Belfast.
If you'd like to see me debating a united Ireland with Fintan O'Toole, bringing our book to life on the stage, there are just a few tickets left for the National Concert Hall in Dublin on 30 November.
🎟️Get them here:
🎟️Get them here:
NCH Talks: Fintan O’Toole & Sam McBride: For and against a united Ireland | National Concert Hall
The National Concert Hall is a national cultural institution and the designated home of music in Ireland.
www.nch.ie
November 9, 2025 at 1:27 PM
If you'd like to see me debating a united Ireland with Fintan O'Toole, bringing our book to life on the stage, there are just a few tickets left for the National Concert Hall in Dublin on 30 November.
🎟️Get them here:
🎟️Get them here:
A spy, a rebel, a moral medic, and a decades-long quest for a dead foe's bones: From one of the Troubles’ darkest atrocities has come one of its most uplifting acts - an ex-IRA prisoner who has privately laboured to return Robert Nairac to his family.
How one noble act prompted ex-Provo’s quest to find remains of Robert Nairac
For decades, a former IRA man has undertaken a private search for the body of one of the Troubles’ most mythical victims, Robert Nairac.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 1:07 PM
A spy, a rebel, a moral medic, and a decades-long quest for a dead foe's bones: From one of the Troubles’ darkest atrocities has come one of its most uplifting acts - an ex-IRA prisoner who has privately laboured to return Robert Nairac to his family.
Civil servants & MLAs are gorging on taxpayer-subsidised food while juries go unfed. Ordinary people giving up their time to serve the cause of justice are being treated shabbily in a host of other ways while Naomi Long's officials dance around questions.
Civil servants and MLAs are gorging on taxpayer-subsidised food while at the same time juries are refused so much as a toaster
In Laganside’s court 13, a jury has been sitting intermittently since September. They’re being trusted to hear a complex months-long fraud trial in which their verdict could send two men to jail – but...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Civil servants & MLAs are gorging on taxpayer-subsidised food while juries go unfed. Ordinary people giving up their time to serve the cause of justice are being treated shabbily in a host of other ways while Naomi Long's officials dance around questions.
Talking with former Irish diplomat Rory Montgomery and @fotoole.bsky.social on the @arinsproject.bsky.social about our new book For and Against a United Ireland.
🎧Full podcast episode: t.co/ELXfJv4jZG
📖Get the book here: shop.ria.ie/products/for...
🎧Full podcast episode: t.co/ELXfJv4jZG
📖Get the book here: shop.ria.ie/products/for...
November 6, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Talking with former Irish diplomat Rory Montgomery and @fotoole.bsky.social on the @arinsproject.bsky.social about our new book For and Against a United Ireland.
🎧Full podcast episode: t.co/ELXfJv4jZG
📖Get the book here: shop.ria.ie/products/for...
🎧Full podcast episode: t.co/ELXfJv4jZG
📖Get the book here: shop.ria.ie/products/for...
Nama’s chief executive has come under pressure to explain why the Republic’s bad bank never reported Frank Cushnahan to the Garda over an alleged £5m payment the Nama boss said was totally inappropriate.
Why didn’t Nama go to Irish police over alleged ‘inappropriate’ Cushnahan £5m, his lawyer asks Nama’s boss
Nama’s chief executive has come under pressure to explain why the Republic’s bad bank never reported Frank Cushnahan to the Garda over an alleged payment he said was totally inappropriate.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Nama’s chief executive has come under pressure to explain why the Republic’s bad bank never reported Frank Cushnahan to the Garda over an alleged £5m payment the Nama boss said was totally inappropriate.
Reposted by Sam McBride
Belfast Telegraph joins The Trust Project as part of drive for media transparency 🤝 tinyurl.com/46vs7547
Here's an explainer from @sjamcbride.bsky.social, Niamh Campbell and Claire Williamson on why we've partnered with @thetrustproject.bsky.social 👇
Here's an explainer from @sjamcbride.bsky.social, Niamh Campbell and Claire Williamson on why we've partnered with @thetrustproject.bsky.social 👇
November 6, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Belfast Telegraph joins The Trust Project as part of drive for media transparency 🤝 tinyurl.com/46vs7547
Here's an explainer from @sjamcbride.bsky.social, Niamh Campbell and Claire Williamson on why we've partnered with @thetrustproject.bsky.social 👇
Here's an explainer from @sjamcbride.bsky.social, Niamh Campbell and Claire Williamson on why we've partnered with @thetrustproject.bsky.social 👇
A top Nama figure has told a jury he has no idea what work a law firm did for a huge fee of £15m for the deal in which the Republic’s bad bank sold all its Northern Ireland loans - and he wasn't even told the firm was involved until the deal was done.
Top Nama figure says he has no idea what law firm did for £15m fee at centre of fraud trial — and wasn’t even told it was involved
One of Nama’s most senior figures has said he has no idea what work a law firm did for a success fee of £15m for the deal in which the Republic’s bad bank sold all its Northern Ireland loans.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 8:48 AM
A top Nama figure has told a jury he has no idea what work a law firm did for a huge fee of £15m for the deal in which the Republic’s bad bank sold all its Northern Ireland loans - and he wasn't even told the firm was involved until the deal was done.
Reposted by Sam McBride
I don’t do book reviews very often, but @sjamcbride.bsky.social and @fotoole.bsky.social’s essays are one of very few intellectually and politically generous treatments of the #UnitedIreland question to date, while @philipstephens.bsky.social #OurDividedIsles provides rich historical context…
Review: Constitutional change in Ireland will likely be evolutionary, not revolutionary or violent…
Now does my project gather to a head. My charms crack not, my spirits obey, and time Goes upright with his carriage.—How’s the day? Prospero, Act 5, Scene 1 FOR AND AGAINST A UNITED IRELAND by Finta...
sluggerotoole.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:41 AM
I don’t do book reviews very often, but @sjamcbride.bsky.social and @fotoole.bsky.social’s essays are one of very few intellectually and politically generous treatments of the #UnitedIreland question to date, while @philipstephens.bsky.social #OurDividedIsles provides rich historical context…
A top financier at a major US investment fund has told a court that Frank Cushnahan was presented to him as “a representative of the Northern Ireland government” - but a defence barrister says the man who told him that was a liar.
We were told Cushnahan was Stormont’s representative, US fund executive tells Nama trial
A top financier at a major US investment fund has told a court that Frank Cushnahan was presented to him as “a representative of the Northern Ireland government”.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 6:53 PM
A top financier at a major US investment fund has told a court that Frank Cushnahan was presented to him as “a representative of the Northern Ireland government” - but a defence barrister says the man who told him that was a liar.
The jury in the Nama trial has been refused a request for a microwave and toastie maker to make hot food during the winter months because it would be a “health and safety” problem. Stormont has stopped providing food for juries, leaving them just a kettle.
Nama trial jurors’ request for microwave and toastie maker rejected after ‘extensive high-level discussion’
The jury in the Nama trial has been refused a request for a microwave and toastie maker to make hot food during the winter months because it would be a “health and safety” problem, the judge overseein...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 8:47 AM
The jury in the Nama trial has been refused a request for a microwave and toastie maker to make hot food during the winter months because it would be a “health and safety” problem. Stormont has stopped providing food for juries, leaving them just a kettle.
A top financier at a $2 trillion US investment fund first discussed multi-million pound payments now alleged to be corrupt while standing in the Stormont car park just after meeting First Minister Peter Robinson, he has told a Belfast court.
Allegedly corrupt Nama ‘success fee’ was first discussed in Stormont car park after Peter Robinson meeting, top financier tells trial
A top financier at a $2 trillion US investment fund first discussed multi-million pound payments now alleged to be corrupt while standing in the Stormont car park just after meeting First Minister Pet...
m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 9:40 PM
A top financier at a $2 trillion US investment fund first discussed multi-million pound payments now alleged to be corrupt while standing in the Stormont car park just after meeting First Minister Peter Robinson, he has told a Belfast court.
Reposted by Sam McBride
I’m enjoying reading this, and was particularly struck by this passage from Sam McBride. I think it applies as much to the unity debate as it does to debates around reforming how politics works in Northern Ireland within the Union @ria.ie @arinsproject.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I’m enjoying reading this, and was particularly struck by this passage from Sam McBride. I think it applies as much to the unity debate as it does to debates around reforming how politics works in Northern Ireland within the Union @ria.ie @arinsproject.bsky.social @sjamcbride.bsky.social
Dissident republicans must wish Blue Lights had never been made. The drama exposes the futility and immorality of their campaign to kill young officers. It undermines dissident propaganda because it so self-evidently isn’t propaganda,
Dissident republicans must wish Blue Lights had never been made
Ten years ago, a Sinn Fein politician’s son joined the PSNI, yet when the young man was taking part in his passing out parade, the politician attended in secret.
m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 2, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Dissident republicans must wish Blue Lights had never been made. The drama exposes the futility and immorality of their campaign to kill young officers. It undermines dissident propaganda because it so self-evidently isn’t propaganda,
The only united Ireland book recommended by both:
👍 Colin Harvey of Ireland's Future ("well-informed and readable...essential reading") &
👍 Veteran DUP adviser Tim Cairns ("I'd say to anybody: Definitely buy this book...unionists need to read this book").
👍 Colin Harvey of Ireland's Future ("well-informed and readable...essential reading") &
👍 Veteran DUP adviser Tim Cairns ("I'd say to anybody: Definitely buy this book...unionists need to read this book").
Many congratulations to @sjamcbride.bsky.social @fotoole.bsky.social and the @arinsproject.bsky.social for delivering such a serious, well-informed and readable contribution to reflections on possible constitutional futures.
Essential reading.
Essential reading.
November 1, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The only united Ireland book recommended by both:
👍 Colin Harvey of Ireland's Future ("well-informed and readable...essential reading") &
👍 Veteran DUP adviser Tim Cairns ("I'd say to anybody: Definitely buy this book...unionists need to read this book").
👍 Colin Harvey of Ireland's Future ("well-informed and readable...essential reading") &
👍 Veteran DUP adviser Tim Cairns ("I'd say to anybody: Definitely buy this book...unionists need to read this book").
As the Executive absurdly blames 'British austerity' for its own failures, new figures reveal the truth: In the 104-year history of NI, Stormont has never had more money - £32 billion - to spend, yet still pleads poverty. It's pathetic, and profoundly unserious.
Stormont has never had it so good – despite decrying ‘British austerity’, it’s getting more money than ever in NI’s history
Did you know that Stormont is spending more money than has ever been spent in the history of Northern Ireland?
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 1, 2025 at 9:42 AM
As the Executive absurdly blames 'British austerity' for its own failures, new figures reveal the truth: In the 104-year history of NI, Stormont has never had more money - £32 billion - to spend, yet still pleads poverty. It's pathetic, and profoundly unserious.
David Mitchell reviews For and Against a United Ireland for @sluggerotoolepols.bsky.social: "Remarkably and fittingly, unionists and nationalists, northerners and southerners, will find themselves united in recommending this book."
Review of For and Against a United Ireland by Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride…
David Mitchell is an Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast For some people, it is hard to think about Irish unification without thinking about bloodshed. As Fintan O’Toole and Sam M...
sluggerotoole.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:33 PM
David Mitchell reviews For and Against a United Ireland for @sluggerotoolepols.bsky.social: "Remarkably and fittingly, unionists and nationalists, northerners and southerners, will find themselves united in recommending this book."
Reposted by Sam McBride
Excellent review of For & Against a United Ireland by the ever-illuminating Katy Hayward
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
For and Against a United Ireland by Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride: Arguing to end apathy of ‘undecideds’
Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride demonstrate the importance of free and reasoned deliberation
www.irishtimes.com
October 25, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Excellent review of For & Against a United Ireland by the ever-illuminating Katy Hayward
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Sam McBride
🏛️ I watched the Committee @sjamcbride.bsky.social refers to here and it was an example of scrutiny done well. As was the Health Committee on Thursday when the Trust faced questions.
People think Committees are boring - but they are effective when used well by MLAs.
People think Committees are boring - but they are effective when used well by MLAs.
In praise of MLAs: Recent episode shows they’re not all useless — and believing otherwise is highly dangerous
Stormont is a steaming quagmire of uselessness where overpaid wastrels are incompetent, bigoted and probably corrupt.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
October 25, 2025 at 7:54 AM
🏛️ I watched the Committee @sjamcbride.bsky.social refers to here and it was an example of scrutiny done well. As was the Health Committee on Thursday when the Trust faced questions.
People think Committees are boring - but they are effective when used well by MLAs.
People think Committees are boring - but they are effective when used well by MLAs.
In praise of MLAs - no, really. Northern Ireland has bigoted politicians, incompetent politicians and corrupt politicians. But a recent episode shows they’re not all useless - and believing otherwise is highly dangerous.
In praise of MLAs: Recent episode shows they’re not all useless — and believing otherwise is highly dangerous
Stormont is a steaming quagmire of uselessness where overpaid wastrels are incompetent, bigoted and probably corrupt.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
October 25, 2025 at 8:40 AM
In praise of MLAs - no, really. Northern Ireland has bigoted politicians, incompetent politicians and corrupt politicians. But a recent episode shows they’re not all useless - and believing otherwise is highly dangerous.
Amazon has sold out of For and Against a United Ireland, but you should be able to get it in any bookshop - with the added benefit that you'll be supporting a business that likely pays their fair share of taxes and treats their staff better than Jeff Bezos...
October 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Amazon has sold out of For and Against a United Ireland, but you should be able to get it in any bookshop - with the added benefit that you'll be supporting a business that likely pays their fair share of taxes and treats their staff better than Jeff Bezos...
Reposted by Sam McBride
It's been a very long time since I've finished a book in a weekend - a fascinating format and a fascinating read. So refreshing to hear a depth of argument that has up until this point been missing in pretty much all mainstream debate. Looking forward to the Lyric launch 👏🏻
October 24, 2025 at 10:46 AM
It's been a very long time since I've finished a book in a weekend - a fascinating format and a fascinating read. So refreshing to hear a depth of argument that has up until this point been missing in pretty much all mainstream debate. Looking forward to the Lyric launch 👏🏻