Slugger O'Toole is a
weblog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
started in June 2002 by political analyst
Mick Fealty. It began life as Letter to Slugger O'Toole, focused primarily on news and comment about
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. From the beginning it has drawn its readership from a wide spectrum of opinion both inside and outside Northern Ireland.
'Slugger' has developed a reputation as 'the watering hole of the political class in Northern Ireland.' It draws its regular contributors from a wide range of political perspectives including contributors with links to all of the main political parties as well as a number of 'independents'. Research commissioned in the summer of 2008 by Stratagem in association with ComRes revealed that 96% of the members of the
Northern Ireland Assembly
sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie
, legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly
, coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg
, coa_res = 250px
, house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral
, hou ...
(
MLAs
The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...
) read the blog "regularly" or "occasionally".
The site has a fairly rigorous comments policy in which
personal abuse
''Ad hominem'' (), short for ''argumentum ad hominem'' (), refers to several types of arguments, most of which are fallacious.
Typically, this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other ...
is discouraged and commenters are urged to 'play the ball and not the man' - a refrain that has since been popularised in the wider Irish political discourse. The phrase refers to
Ad hominem
''Ad hominem'' (), short for ''argumentum ad hominem'' (), refers to several types of arguments, most of which are fallacious.
Typically, this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other ...
argument.
The name of the blog was originally a reference to a
sockpuppet character invented by Tim Murphy of New York, on an old
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
community called
Peace in Northern Ireland. The name of the character is in turn a reference to the traditional Irish song "
The Irish Rover
"The Irish Rover" is an Irish folk song about a magnificent though improbable sailing ship that reaches an unfortunate end. It has been recorded by numerous artists, some of whom have made changes to the lyrics over time.
The song describes ...
", best known from a version recorded as a collaboration between
The Pogues
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". T ...
and
The Dubliners
The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personn ...
. The relevant line is: ''There was Slugger O'Toole who was drunk as a rule''. Murphy's "character" was invariably drunk on
Bushmills
Bushmills (From Irish ''Muileann na Buaise'') is a village on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Bushmills had a population of 1,295 in the 2011 Census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under ...
, never listened to reasoned argument, and usually espoused strong
loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...
politics, which often caught the unwary or recently arrived off guard.
The idea of the Letter was to try to explain the complexities of Northern Ireland, slowly, regularly and in short bite-size pieces over a long, long period of time. Just like trying to explain something complex to a drunk man.
However, the Letter part was dropped when the blog moved from its old blogspot venue and radically re-designed and built on a different blog platform.
The Slugger O'Toole Political Awards
In the autumn of 2008, Slugger O'Toole announced a series of political awards. With the stated intention of 'promoting a conversational politics', the awards sought to identify good examples of democratic practice.
The inaugural awards were presented in Belfast on 7 October 2008 with comedian Tim McGarry as compere.
The 2008 winners were as follows:
*MLA of the year:
Naomi Long
Naomi Rachel Long MLA (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive from January 2020 to October 2022. She has served as leader of the Alliance Party ...
MLA
*Up and coming politician:
Daithi McKay MLA
*Journalism Award: David Gordon
*Representatives external to Northern Ireland: The Rt Hon.
Peter Robinson MP, MLA
*Local Council of the Year: Belfast City Council
*Local Newspaper of the Year:
The Impartial Reporter
The ''Impartial Reporter'' is a newspaper based in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland which is circulated in Fermanagh, South Tyrone and the border counties of the Republic of Ireland. It is the 3rd-oldest newspaper in Ireland, an ...
*Councillor of the year:
Deirdre Nelson
*Committee Chair of the year:
Danny Kennedy MLA
*Political blogger of the year: Nevin Taggart (NALIL)
*Jobsworth Award: Assembly Commission.
The 2009 awards were scheduled to take place on 24 November at The Black Box in Belfast. The 2010 awards were going to see a change in format.
Awards
*In March 2012 Slugger made the longlist for the blog section o
the Orwell Prize..
*Winner the Peace Through Media Award 2009
*Shortlisted for Politics Online's "The Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics" 2006 and 2009.
*"Best Website of the Month" and specially commended in the "Website of the Year Award" at the
BT GoldenEye T Awards in May 2006.
*First in the "Best Political
Blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
" section in the
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
based Irish Blog Awards in 2006.
*In 2005 it won "Best European Political Weblog" in the first Satin Pajamas competition held by
A Fistful of Euros
*It won the
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
"New Media Award" for community and information in 2004.
References
{{reflist
External links
Slugger O'Toole- website
Mick Fealty- personal website
Irish Blog Awards- Award site
British political blogs
Websites of Northern Ireland
Internet properties established in 2002
Irish political websites
Northern Ireland political mass media