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.
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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.
Stormont’s minister for copy and paste: Liz Kimmins uses stock ‘blame the Brits’ answer 132 times in a year, prompting ludicrous Assembly responses. Almost whatever the question, ‘British austerity’ is the response. This is pathetic, but also revelatory.
Stormont’s minister for copy and paste: Liz Kimmins uses stock ‘blame the Brits’ answer 132 times, prompting ludicrous Assembly responses
One of the greatest dangers of AI is that it gradually rots human intellect; that it makes us so dependent on machines that our capacity for sophisticated thought dwindles through disuse.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 27, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Stormont’s minister for copy and paste: Liz Kimmins uses stock ‘blame the Brits’ answer 132 times in a year, prompting ludicrous Assembly responses. Almost whatever the question, ‘British austerity’ is the response. This is pathetic, but also revelatory.
If you see this cover of For and Against a United Ireland, it's not some AI rip-off, but the beautiful US edition to be published next year by the University of Notre Dame Press. The content is precisely the same as the European edition, but this one also comes in hardback.
Coming soon! FOR AND AGAINST A UNITED IRELAND provides an accessible and measured approach to the polarized #Debate about #Irish #Unification.
Don’t miss this #NewBook by renowned journalists Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride. Preorder your copy today! undpress.nd.edu/9780...
Don’t miss this #NewBook by renowned journalists Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride. Preorder your copy today! undpress.nd.edu/9780...
December 21, 2025 at 10:00 PM
If you see this cover of For and Against a United Ireland, it's not some AI rip-off, but the beautiful US edition to be published next year by the University of Notre Dame Press. The content is precisely the same as the European edition, but this one also comes in hardback.
A decade ago, the first Syrian refugees arrived in Northern Ireland. NI ultimately took in more proportionately than anywhere else in the UK. Understanding why this overwhelmingly worked is important as data shows hearts hardening to those fleeing war.
People in our communities who stir up hatred of innocent refugees aren’t fit to wash their feet
A week ago today, a Muslim Syrian refugee risked his life to save Jews in Australia.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 21, 2025 at 3:10 PM
A decade ago, the first Syrian refugees arrived in Northern Ireland. NI ultimately took in more proportionately than anywhere else in the UK. Understanding why this overwhelmingly worked is important as data shows hearts hardening to those fleeing war.
When we sit down to Christmas dinner next week, none of us want to be told that our actions are poisoning Lough Neagh — but much of what we choose to eat is hastening the death of this great body of water. The lie of cheap meat hides a vast hidden cost.
How your Christmas turkey is killing Lough Neagh: The lie of cheap meat contains a hidden cost which can no longer be ignored
When we sit down to a sumptuous Christmas dinner next week, none of us want to be told that our actions are poisoning Lough Neagh — but for many of us, what we choose to eat at Christmas is hastening ...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 20, 2025 at 9:35 AM
When we sit down to Christmas dinner next week, none of us want to be told that our actions are poisoning Lough Neagh — but much of what we choose to eat is hastening the death of this great body of water. The lie of cheap meat hides a vast hidden cost.
The full video of my interview with Colin Davidson & Mark Carruthers: “Art was the only thing I could do that was remotely cool... I'd a very pronounced stammer...I was incredibly shy. I didn’t want to speak...& suddenly the cool kids thought I was cool".
Brad Pitt's art teacher: Introverted Belfast schoolboy Colin Davidson's journey to global painter
YouTube video by Belfast Telegraph
www.youtube.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:27 PM
The full video of my interview with Colin Davidson & Mark Carruthers: “Art was the only thing I could do that was remotely cool... I'd a very pronounced stammer...I was incredibly shy. I didn’t want to speak...& suddenly the cool kids thought I was cool".
From introverted schoolboy to the artist Brad Pitt hand-picked as his painting teacher: Colin Davidson’s career is as remarkable as he is humble. He's painted world leaders, rock stars and global icons - but is proudest of 18 paintings he did for free.
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/4F6m...
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/4F6m...
December 16, 2025 at 10:08 PM
From introverted schoolboy to the artist Brad Pitt hand-picked as his painting teacher: Colin Davidson’s career is as remarkable as he is humble. He's painted world leaders, rock stars and global icons - but is proudest of 18 paintings he did for free.
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/4F6m...
🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/4F6m...
MLAs in NI's legislative Assembly will this month spend longer in the shower than they will legislating. After debating no laws this week, they've left for a month-long Christmas break. The part of devolution which once worked best is going backwards.
An Assembly that doesn’t legislate is taking a month-long Christmas break – this is a dangerously out of touch system
At 6.22pm on Tuesday, MLAs left the Assembly chamber. They’ll not be back there for more than a month.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 13, 2025 at 9:54 AM
MLAs in NI's legislative Assembly will this month spend longer in the shower than they will legislating. After debating no laws this week, they've left for a month-long Christmas break. The part of devolution which once worked best is going backwards.
Thanks to Ulster University, where I learned to love learning and was taught how to be a journalist, for this very generous award. I'm especially grateful to my outstanding English Literature lecturers Kathleen McCracken and Joe McMinn, and superb journalism lecturer Colm Murphy.
Today we were honoured to have journalist & author Sam McBride as the Distinguished Graduate of the Year 2025 supported by Allstate.
An Ulster graduate, Sam is now NI Editor of the Belfast Telegraph & The Sunday Independent & NI Correspondent for The Economist.
https://ow.ly/Kymj50XIl9E
An Ulster graduate, Sam is now NI Editor of the Belfast Telegraph & The Sunday Independent & NI Correspondent for The Economist.
https://ow.ly/Kymj50XIl9E
December 12, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Thanks to Ulster University, where I learned to love learning and was taught how to be a journalist, for this very generous award. I'm especially grateful to my outstanding English Literature lecturers Kathleen McCracken and Joe McMinn, and superb journalism lecturer Colm Murphy.
Former DUP Finance Minister Sammy Wilson has rejected an allegation in a secret recording that he was in line for money from the £1.2bn Nama deal, telling a jury that he can’t explain why Frank Cushanahan made the claim.
I can’t explain Cushnahan’s secret recording claiming I was to get Nama cash – but it’s wrong, says Sammy Wilson
Former DUP Finance Minister Sammy Wilson has rejected an allegation in a secret recording that he was in line for money from the £1.2bn Nama deal, saying he can’t explain why Frank Cushanahan made the...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 11, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Former DUP Finance Minister Sammy Wilson has rejected an allegation in a secret recording that he was in line for money from the £1.2bn Nama deal, telling a jury that he can’t explain why Frank Cushanahan made the claim.
Former First Minister Peter Robinson has told a jury that he has worked with Frank Cushnahan for decades, saying that the former banker accused of fraud could have enriched himself with another deal but hadn’t done so.
Cushnahan could have got wealthy from another deal but didn’t, Peter Robinson tells Nama trial jury
Former First Minister Peter Robinson has told a jury that he has worked with Frank Cushnahan for decades, saying that the former banker accused of fraud could have enriched himself with another deal b...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 8, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Former First Minister Peter Robinson has told a jury that he has worked with Frank Cushnahan for decades, saying that the former banker accused of fraud could have enriched himself with another deal but hadn’t done so.
Reposted by Sam McBride
Just finished this brilliant book by @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social .
Well worth anyone's time. Rather than restate the simplistic, partisan reasons for either case, it holds a mirror up to all of us. A proper debate in other words.
Well done Royal Irish Academy for publishing.
Well worth anyone's time. Rather than restate the simplistic, partisan reasons for either case, it holds a mirror up to all of us. A proper debate in other words.
Well done Royal Irish Academy for publishing.
December 7, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Just finished this brilliant book by @fotoole.bsky.social and @sjamcbride.bsky.social .
Well worth anyone's time. Rather than restate the simplistic, partisan reasons for either case, it holds a mirror up to all of us. A proper debate in other words.
Well done Royal Irish Academy for publishing.
Well worth anyone's time. Rather than restate the simplistic, partisan reasons for either case, it holds a mirror up to all of us. A proper debate in other words.
Well done Royal Irish Academy for publishing.
Playwright Colin Murphy on our For & Against a United Ireland event in west London: "Instead of feeling like some kind of centrist group hug, it felt almost subversive. This was an impassioned and informed debate...it seemed somehow radical."
Colin Murphy: Politics needs new rules for how we disagree – and there is no space for straw men
At the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, London, on Monday, audiences witnessed a strange and surprising kind of “debate”, when my colleague Sam McBride squared off against Fintan O’Toole on the s...
www.independent.ie
December 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Playwright Colin Murphy on our For & Against a United Ireland event in west London: "Instead of feeling like some kind of centrist group hug, it felt almost subversive. This was an impassioned and informed debate...it seemed somehow radical."
The Irish Government should be planning for a once unthinkable event: Nigel Farage becoming PM and weaponising a border poll against Ireland, relishing the chaos he could cause. He could do this within the law, and nationalism couldn't easily complain.
How Nigel Farage could weaponise a border poll against the Irish state
There is a type of border poll which once would have been unthinkable but for which the Irish government now ought to be planning.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 1:23 PM
The Irish Government should be planning for a once unthinkable event: Nigel Farage becoming PM and weaponising a border poll against Ireland, relishing the chaos he could cause. He could do this within the law, and nationalism couldn't easily complain.
Unionism’s lost decade: How a flawed decision 10 years ago precipitated a collapse for the ideology which built Northern Ireland. If the next decade sees unionism decline at the same rate as the last 10 years, then it will be down to just over 30% support.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
December 6, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Unionism’s lost decade: How a flawed decision 10 years ago precipitated a collapse for the ideology which built Northern Ireland. If the next decade sees unionism decline at the same rate as the last 10 years, then it will be down to just over 30% support.
Thanks to the Foreign Press Association in London for hosting us to talk to over 30 foreign correspondents for two hours. Top question was from a Mexican TV reporter who (aware of the 1986 Mexico World Cup) asked what would happen to the Northern Ireland football team.
December 3, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Thanks to the Foreign Press Association in London for hosting us to talk to over 30 foreign correspondents for two hours. Top question was from a Mexican TV reporter who (aware of the 1986 Mexico World Cup) asked what would happen to the Northern Ireland football team.
Reposted by Sam McBride
A brilliant, insightful discussion this morning @houseofcommons.parliament.uk
Thanks to @clairehanna.bsky.social and @robinswannmp.bsky.social for hosting us and thanks to all who came!
@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie @notredame.bsky.social
Thanks to @clairehanna.bsky.social and @robinswannmp.bsky.social for hosting us and thanks to all who came!
@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie @notredame.bsky.social
December 2, 2025 at 10:18 AM
A brilliant, insightful discussion this morning @houseofcommons.parliament.uk
Thanks to @clairehanna.bsky.social and @robinswannmp.bsky.social for hosting us and thanks to all who came!
@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie @notredame.bsky.social
Thanks to @clairehanna.bsky.social and @robinswannmp.bsky.social for hosting us and thanks to all who came!
@fotoole.bsky.social @ndirishstudies.bsky.social @ria.ie @notredame.bsky.social
Sincere thanks to everyone who came to our debate in the National Concert Hall last night - slightly surreal to be on stage in a venue where I've listened to great music. For what it's worth, the Dublin crowd was significantly less enthusiastic about unity than the Belfast one...
December 1, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Sincere thanks to everyone who came to our debate in the National Concert Hall last night - slightly surreal to be on stage in a venue where I've listened to great music. For what it's worth, the Dublin crowd was significantly less enthusiastic about unity than the Belfast one...
Colin Davidson is a remarkable painter and a remarkably humble human being. A man sought out by world leaders & rock stars, who was hired by Brad Pitt to teach him how to paint, spent a year making 18 portraits of Troubles victims for free. They are a silent rebuke to our government and our society.
This artwork is a silent rebuke for all of us… too scared or insensitive to recognise NI’s often ignored victims
When future generations consider the period in which we exist, there will be an issue which some will find bewildering.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Colin Davidson is a remarkable painter and a remarkably humble human being. A man sought out by world leaders & rock stars, who was hired by Brad Pitt to teach him how to paint, spent a year making 18 portraits of Troubles victims for free. They are a silent rebuke to our government and our society.
Northern Ireland is on a path to Lebanon-style decay if Stormont doesn’t urgently change its ways, MLAs have been warned - but the warning didn't appear to cause any alarm. Now the chance of Stormont reform is diminishing as Alliance goes backwards.
Northern Ireland on path to Lebanon-style decay if floundering Stormont doesn’t urgently change its ways, MLAs warned
A few weeks ago, a senior academic sat before MLAs and delivered two stark messages which went unnoticed.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Northern Ireland is on a path to Lebanon-style decay if Stormont doesn’t urgently change its ways, MLAs have been warned - but the warning didn't appear to cause any alarm. Now the chance of Stormont reform is diminishing as Alliance goes backwards.
Less than a year after being jailed for three years for his role in one of the biggest drugs farms ever uncovered in Northern Ireland, brazen farmer Clive Weir is already being allowed out of prison - despite the judge saying he'd serve at least 18 months.
Cannabis farmer seen back at home less than year into three-year jail term
Less than a year after being given a three-year sentence for his role in one of the biggest drugs farms ever uncovered in Northern Ireland, brazen farmer Clive Weir is already being allowed out of jai...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Less than a year after being jailed for three years for his role in one of the biggest drugs farms ever uncovered in Northern Ireland, brazen farmer Clive Weir is already being allowed out of prison - despite the judge saying he'd serve at least 18 months.
Reposted by Sam McBride
The Covid Inquiry has already cost over £200m, yet is hiding vast evidence of Stormont’s chaos which will now be destroyed – just as some hoped. Dame Hallett's inquiry - whose cost could have funded 500 experienced nurses for a decade - reeks of weakness.
Inquiry has cost over £200m, yet has hidden evidence of Stormont’s chaos which will be destroyed – just as some hoped
The only justification for the immense cost of a public inquiry is if it fearlessly and transparently sets out the truth in all its reality, whether pleasant or ugly.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 10:18 AM
The Covid Inquiry has already cost over £200m, yet is hiding vast evidence of Stormont’s chaos which will now be destroyed – just as some hoped. Dame Hallett's inquiry - whose cost could have funded 500 experienced nurses for a decade - reeks of weakness.
Reposted by Sam McBride
Forty years on from the Anglo-Irish Agreement, this is a fascinating piece on the private discussions, and for Unionism gear shifts, that followed on from the agreement and which would play a key role in eventually leading some Unionist leaders to a more pragmatic approach to NI’s future…
This day 40 years ago, Northern Ireland’s governance was revolutionised by the Anglo-Irish Agreement – but only now is the gulf between ferocious unionist rhetoric and unseen private compromise emerging. The speed of the unionist U-turn is staggering.
NI’s governance was revolutionised 40 years ago – but only now is gulf between ferocious unionist rhetoric and private compromise emerging
Forty years ago today, Margaret Thatcher and Garret FitzGerald signed an agreement which revolutionised Northern Ireland’s governance and precipitated one of the most dangerous periods of the Troubles...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Forty years on from the Anglo-Irish Agreement, this is a fascinating piece on the private discussions, and for Unionism gear shifts, that followed on from the agreement and which would play a key role in eventually leading some Unionist leaders to a more pragmatic approach to NI’s future…
On Ireland AM this morning, I was ready for questions about what Irish unity might mean for the economy, defence and public services...but wasn't expecting to be told that Fintan O'Toole and I are "a pair of stunners" and "look like a boyband".
Could Ireland Ever Be United? What Would It Really Take?
YouTube video by Ireland AM
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:07 PM
On Ireland AM this morning, I was ready for questions about what Irish unity might mean for the economy, defence and public services...but wasn't expecting to be told that Fintan O'Toole and I are "a pair of stunners" and "look like a boyband".
Paul Givan may be far happier with the Supreme Court ruling on religious education & school collective worship than you'd think. Many people seem not to have read the 40-page judgement; in fact, it hands substantial power to a conservative DUP minister.
Paul Givan may be happier with the Supreme Court’s religious education ruling than he appears
The Supreme Court ruling on how religious education is taught in Northern Ireland’s schools involves a problem for Education Minister Paul Givan, and a significant opportunity.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Paul Givan may be far happier with the Supreme Court ruling on religious education & school collective worship than you'd think. Many people seem not to have read the 40-page judgement; in fact, it hands substantial power to a conservative DUP minister.