The BelTel

What could we expect from a Sinn Féin government and more importantly what do we know about its leader Mary Lou McDonald? Former TD Shane Ross attempts to answer the question in his new book ‘Mary Lou McDonald : A Republican Riddle’.Host: Fionnán Sheehan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ian Paisley was the the founder of both the DUP and the Free Presbyterian Church. He was the firebrand preacher and uncompromising street agitating politician always seeming to prefer confrontation. But in the end, he compromised, sitting down in joint-office with Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, becoming one half of the so-called ‘Chuckle Bros’. Joining Ciarán Dunbar to discuss Ian Paisley’s career, from a very personal point of view, is the Belfast Telegraph’s political editor - Suzanne Breen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The prestigious global body that governs Irish dancing is mired in allegations of competition fixing and cheating. Irish Independent News Correspondent Ellen Coyne reveals the revelations that have rocked the Irish dancing world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patricia Curran’s mutilated body was discovered just 40 yards from her home at 2 o’clock in the morning on the 13th of November 1952. She was a judge’s daughter – savagely stabbed to death - the pressure was on to find her killer. An innocent - but compromised man - Iain Hay Gordon, was eventually blackmailed into signing a confession and sent to a Psychiatric hospital – only to be quietly released and packed off to home to Scotland. In this episode of the BelTel, Journalist Stephen Gordon, tells us about meeting Patricia’s brother Desmond – who spent his life as a Catholic Priest in South Africa – a life some think was an act of redemption. And we ask the biggest question of all – if Ian Hay Gordon didn’t kill Patricia – then who did?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The early hours of the morning on the 12th of November 1952, a judge’s daughter, Patricia Curran, is found dead in the garden of her family home. She had been stabbed 37 times. The BelTel looks at the shocking killing and how Iain Hay Gordon, a young Scot doing his national service in the RAF, was intimidated into signing a false confession, frightened that his mother would find out about his sex life. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by journalist Stephen Gordon, who’s been fascinated by this horrific murder for a longSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair was behind the murder of many innocent Catholics during the Troubles but his lower Shankill mob, ‘C Company’, was also behind two bloody feuds with fellow loyalists. The first with their rivals the UVF, the second with the rest of the UDA - that’s when C-Company went too far. Ciarán Barnes tells the story of the fall of Johnny Adair and the banishment of his supporters and their families from west Belfast. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Johnny Adair’s name is well known, his face instantly recognizable, his voice familiar but he’s not a famous actor or singer, he’s a ‘celebrity terrorist’. He was the pumped-up skinhead hardman who led a bloody loyalist faction in carrying out over 40 murders – most of his victims were entirely innocent Catholics. The Sunday Life’s Ciaran Barnes tells the story of how Adair rose to power in the lower Shankill. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sean Fox was gunned down while drinking in the Donegal Celtic Social Club in west Belfast, on Sunday 2 October, in front of more than 100 people. It’s the latest in a series of murders carried out in west Belfast linked to drug-dealing and the so-called ‘Marbella Crew’. Who is responsible for carrying out these killings and why? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The South-East Antrim UDA has carried out seven brutal murders in Carrickfergus since 1995, but no one has ever been convicted in connection with them. The UVF has also been in the news after confronting families over a fight between teenage girls. In this episode of the BelTel – we look at the gangs of Carrickfergus and how they are getting away with murder. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stormont moribund, census result posing questions, and nationalists continuing to campaign for a border poll, where to now for unionism? “We have failed, to sell ourselves, to sell our identity, to sell our beliefs. We can’t blame Sinn Féin for that, it’s our own fault,” commentator Alex Kane told the BelTel. Should it be reaching out to Catholics – or should it take a harder line? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.