Sam McBride
@SJAMcBride
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.
100 Following 85K Followers
The real story of Ben Lowry's sudden departure as News Letter editor ten days ago, involving corporate brutality, newsroom turmoil, questions over the historic paper's future and the new owner's decision that this emaciated paper doesn't need an editor.
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Where did Jeffrey Donaldson’s fortune go? Mystery over huge earnings, unpaid mortgage, and sums which don’t add up: Records obtained by the Belfast Telegraph show the ex-DUP leader has signed his house over to his lawyers as a c£500,000 bill looms.
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“We have a model of factory farming where most of the profits and meat go overseas and we are left drowning in shit.”
Did journalists cover up Jeffrey Donaldson's hypocrisy? Those making this claim fail to understand the libel laws and the difference between rumour & evidence. I rang the MP 16 years ago to put marriage split rumours to him - but that never got into print.
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This is the disturbing image former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson sent a young woman after he'd given her a tour of the Palace of Westminster - and after she says he sexually assaulted her. Yesterday she reported him to the police, @AllisonMorris1 reports.
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If you're interested in studying journalism, but don't think you can afford to do so, this bursary is now open again for Ulster University's excellent postgraduate journalism course. For details, contact Colm Murphy: c.murphy@ulster.ac.uk.
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Ulster University's postgraduate journalism course is where I learned to be a reporter. They've now created a bursary to encourage those who don't have rich parents, are from minorities, mature students & others. For more details contact Dr Colm Murphy: c.murphy@ulster.ac.uk.
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When @SuzyJourno asked the DUP questions relating to claims about what Emma Little Pengelly allegedly told a woman who Ian Paisley described as a "victim" of Donaldson, the reply came from solicitor Paul Tweed's law firm, which specialises in libel cases.
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After the Jeffrey Donaldson scandal, there is the growing likelihood that next year’s Assembly election will deliver the most incoherent unionist representation in Northern Ireland’s history, with an emaciated DUP too weak to sustain the Executive.
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Loyalist paramilitaries - including paramilitary leaders - involved in recent racist disorder says Chief Constable
@NualaMcAllister | @SJAMcBride | @JamieBrysonLLB | Alan Mains | Prof Lee McGowan
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For and Against a United Ireland reviewed by Patrick Cockburn in the London Review of Books: "lucid and highly informed" (and 4,132 other words).
There's much more to come on who knew what and when in relation to Jeffrey Donaldson's extraordinary hypocrisy - and what, if anything, they did about it.
Jeffrey Donaldson: Did MI5 and PSNI know of MP’s inappropriate behaviour?
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The senior PSNI detective, the MI5 sting operation, international gun-running and how Jeffrey Donaldson’s gay sauna visit emerged: As conspiracy theories about ex-DUP leader swirl, senior officer explains real story behind extraordinary encounter.
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It's highly significant that Sinn Féin is now calling on Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots to stand aside, and that the SDLP & Alliance are openly asking him tough questions. The catalyst is what he knew about Donaldson, but the backstory involves weeks of concern about another matter
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Is Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots out of control? @SJAMcBride joins @CiaranDunbar on the latest episode of The BelTel to discuss a strange decision, a huge U-turn... and no explanation
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The story the DUP is telling the public about its knowledge of Donaldson’s behaviour doesn’t add up. The party is renowned for slippery language and not being fully candid with voters; despite its claims to have changed, that seems to be happening again.
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Is Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots out of control? @SJAMcBride joins @CiaranDunbar on the latest episode of The BelTel to discuss a strange decision, a huge U-turn... and no explanation
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Was Jeffrey Donaldson protected by powerful unseen forces? There’s a sense among a section of unionism that the story doesn’t quite add up, breeding deep suspicion. There are odd elements to the timeline — yet they don’t prove what some are claiming.
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Former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is a paedophile, a jury has unanimously found: Guilty on all 18 counts, including rape of a primary school girl. Judge says jail is "inevitable" and ex-MP immediately remanded into custody. Full breaking coverage:
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Ulster University's postgraduate journalism course is where I learned to be a reporter. They've now created a bursary to encourage those who don't have rich parents, are from minorities, mature students & others. For more details contact Dr Colm Murphy: c.murphy@ulster.ac.uk.
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