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Heartlands Tribune ☭ Written by Paul Knaggs.

From Cradley Heath to Liverpool: The History of Unions Betraying Female Workers

UNISON, ASLEF, USDAW and the Musicians’ Union are boycotting Labour’s Women’s Conference because its formal proceedings are reserved for women.

The Oldest Story in the Labour Movement Has a New Chapter, and It Stinks…

In 1874, a bookbinder named Emma Paterson founded the Women’s Trade Union League because the unions of her day would not organise women. This is not a new story. It is, if anything, the oldest story in modern history, and not only in the labour movement. Men shut the door. Women build their own room.

Those rooms worked. Mary Macarthur built the National Federation of Women Workers for the women the established unions would not take, and in 1910 the women chainmakers of Cradley Heath struck to force employers to honour a minimum wage the law had already granted them. They won. The movement absorbed their victory into its mythology and has been proud of it ever since. That is the pattern, and it repeats: women organise separately because the general movement has neglected them, they win something nobody else was fighting for, and afterwards the movement discovers it had always believed in equal pay. 

Continue @ Heartlands.

The Empty Delegation 🪶 How Four Trade Unions Sold Out Their Female Members

Dr John Coulter ✍ There is an unattributable saying that preacher’s kids can be the worst behaved in any group of young people. 

I don’t know where this perception came from, but growing up as a Presbyterian minister’s son in the heart of the north east Ulster Bible Belt certainly had it challenges.

While some of those bad experiences were simply because some ‘buck eejit’ wanted to show off by picking on the minister’s son, others were self-inflicted. And one of those challenges was surviving the annual Boys’ Brigade summer camp.

It was the summer of 1975 and BB camp that year was in the sunny English seaside town of Southport, now unfortunately best known for the race riots.

For many of the lads from the north Antrim hills, the ’75 camp was their first time away from home, but it provided ample opportunities to gain the required evidence for our Stage One BB badge in camping.

In the mid-Seventies, Southport to us resembled Portrush’s famous Barry’s Amusements times ten! That provided us with endless hours of fun and certainly drained our pocket money!

Until we saw a poster highlighting a wrestling event at Southport’s Floral Hall. Top of the bill for Wednesday 23rd July was none other than Giant Haystacks, the 31-stone Mountain Man who was nearly seven foot tall.

Giant Haystacks was someone we had only seen on television on Saturday afternoons before the football results came on. Here was a chance to see the man himself in action, so we persuaded our BB officers to get us tickets - in the front row.

Giant Haystacks’ real name was Martin Austin Ruane, and his father came from Co Mayo. The popular wrestler was to sadly die in November 1998 aged only 52. He was also best known for tag team wrestling with his equally large partner Big Daddy.

For those not of my generation, Giant Haystacks dressed as if he was auditioning for a part in the horror movie series The Hills Have Eyes, or Wrong Turn. While we were there that night to see Giant Haystacks in action, it was naturally his opponent we were cheering on - the Canadian wrestler Johnny War Eagle.

So picture the scene. A front row full of north Antrim BB lads yelling abuse (obviously with the officers present we had to watch our language!) at Giant Haystacks as he waddled his massive body around the wrestling ring throwing Johnny War Eagle around the place.

Every time Giant Haystacks reached our corner of the ring, the abuse would increase - and all conveniently ignored by the Mountain Man. Indeed, our initial perception was that Giant Haystacks was actually lapping up and even enjoying the abusive attention from our BB contingent.

That was until one of our lads - egged on by me as the minister’s son to go closer to the ring - stood up from his seat, went within a few feet of the ring and yelled these immortal words in a broad north Antrim accent at Giant Haystacks - “Haystacks, you’re nothing but a big poof!”

By 2026 standards, such abuse would be clearly considered as a homophobic hate crime carrying a hefty fine and even a jail term, but in 1975 such abuse would not warrant arrest or a conviction. However, the damage was done.

Clearly, even in the mid Seventies, calling Giant Haystacks’ sexual orientation into question was not a remark to make. Whether it was the remark itself, or because of Giant Haystacks’ Irish background and he recognised a north Antrim accent, the big man did not like what was said.

His reaction was instantaneous. He stepped out of the wrestling ring and made towards us leaving an obviously bemused Johnny War Eagle wondering what was happening.

We wee teenage BB boys suddenly realised the ‘big poof’ slur had been one piece of abuse too far. We started to clamber over the chairs to get away from Giant Haystacks as he waded through the rows to get his hands on these cheeky north Antrim brats.

We were in full retreat! It didn’t matter who was in the rows behind us, we needed to get away - and fast. After we all jumped over several rows of chairs and spectators, Giant Haystacks felt he had made his point, and he turned and headed back to the wrestling ring.

We watched the rest of his bout from the back of the hall. None of us had the courage to resume our front row seats given the reaction from Giant Haystacks, much to the amusement of our accompanying officers.

After the evening’s event, we went autograph hunting, but diplomatically avoided Giant Haystacks, who thankfully was nowhere to be seen. Johnny War Eagle insisted on signing our event programmes, giving us a ‘thumbs up’ as we left the Floral Hall.

Back home in the north Antrim hills, the incident was ‘spun’ about the evening we confronted Giant Haystacks head on during his wrestling bout. For some reason, the abuse comment and the hasty retreat were diplomatically omitted from our ‘take’ on the events of that late July 1975 Wednesday evening in sunny Southport.

One lesson was learned when we got home - the slur ‘big poof’ was never to be uttered at anyone again.

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Dr Coulter has been a journalist since 1978 and is currently a political commentator with GB News.

Going Head To Head With Giant Haystacks!

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Fifty

 

A Morning Thought @ 3222

Daithi Hopkins ⚽ I should start with a bit of a disclaimer. I'm no sports writer or GAA tactician. 

After a couple of creamy pints of Guinness I occasionally suffer from what can only be described as post-pint Dunning–Kruger syndrome, convincing myself I could give Joe Brolly and Pat Spillane a run for their money. Like many of my articles, my mind has a habit of wandering through history, folklore, politics, music and family before eventually finding its way back to some kind of ending.

Some sporting occasions are remembered for the score. Others for a last-minute point or save. Then there are the rare days that become much bigger than the game itself. Mayo's 2026 All-Ireland victory
was one of those days.

The Sam Maguire Cup is named after Sam Maguire, an Irish republican from Dunmanway, County
Cork, whose life was cut short by tuberculosis while still young. Coincidentally, my own great
grandfather also died from tuberculosis at a similar age. Thankfully, within a generation, Ireland had
begun to overcome one of its deadliest diseases, thanks in no small part to Dr Noel Browne and
mass tuberculosis treatment. His autobiography, Against the Tide, remains one of my favourite
political memoirs. As I noted in a recent piece for The Pensive Quill on the play We Have Him Back,
Noel Browne spent his early life in Hollymount—the very same parish Frank Stagg came from. My
mind has a habit of wandering down these little side roads, and somehow the links nearly always
find each other in the end.

We're also a nation of storytellers.

Every parish has its legends. Every family has stories. Sometimes fact and folklore sit comfortably
side by side.

Which brings us to the Mayo curse.

According to legend, after Mayo won the All-Ireland in 1951, a priest cursed the county after the team
allegedly disturbed a funeral near Foxford, declaring they would not win another title until every
member of that team had passed away.

Whether it actually happened or not is almost beside the point. Every heartbreaking defeat—eleven
lost finals, two drawn finals and countless near-miss semi-finals—just seemed to breathe new life
into the story. Eventually every member of that 1951 team had passed away. May they rest in eternal
peace.

Whether there ever was a curse is for every reader to decide. There was certainly a story, and it
followed Mayo back into Croke Park once again, seventy-five years in the making.

I happened to be at Forest Fest and wandered into Ryan's Bar in Portlaoise with a friend to watch the
final. A creamy pint of Guinness sat in front of me as the teams came out. For a brief moment I
fancied myself as Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh—not because he analysed football better than anyone
else, but because he could weave history, folklore, geography and humour into a game without ever
losing sight of the match.

The mood before throw-in was interesting. A few Laois locals had backed Kerry months earlier when
the odds were more generous. Most of the pub, though, were quietly hoping Mayo would finally end
the apparent poxy curse.

If I'm honest, I would have been happy enough if Mayo just avoided a hiding. Instead, they were
brilliant.

From the throw-in they played with belief, weathered Kerry's purple patches and never looked overawed. By half-time only a point separated the sides (Kerry 1-08, Mayo 0-10), but there was already a feeling around the pub that this Mayo team actually believed.

Players like Ryan O'Donoghue and Kobe McDonald led from the front. Belmullet always has a way of
creeping into these moments. Growing up around family steeped in Belmullet GAA, with family links
to Crossmolina Deel Rovers as well, football was never just seventy minutes on a Sunday. Watching
Ryan O'Donoghue become one of the faces of Mayo's greatest day carried that extra bit of meaning.

There was another lovely twist too. Seeing Kobe McDonald lift Sam Maguire when his father, Ciarán,
is remembered as one of Mayo's greatest footballers never to win an All-Ireland felt like football
quietly finishing a story another generation had started.

When the final whistle went, I was delighted. Mayo had won 1-20 to Kerry 1-17. The final minutes
were absolutely thrilling for anyone lucky enough to witness them.

Within minutes I was on the phone to my mother, who was outside O'D's in Belmullet. She was close
to tears. Videos started coming through of my youngish nephews and cousins celebrating like buck
eejits. My Facebook filled up with delighted family and friends and, in a lovely touch, plenty of
congratulations from Kerry supporters as well.

If you ever want to understand what football means beyond trophies, track down the Mid West Radio
commentary after the final whistle—it's easy enough to find. You're hearing generations of hope,
heartbreak and relief all at once.

The soundtrack almost wrote itself. The Green and Red of Mayo was everywhere. Long ago it
stopped being merely a song.

I've always smiled at the irony that one of the greatest songs about Mayo came from a Galway band.
But it's another Saw Doctors song that always sticks with me: To Win Just Once. It never even mentions the county, but it captures that stubborn hope that someday your turn will come.

Later that evening at Forest Fest, Qween played Queen's We Are the Champions, dedicating it to
Mayo. Whether they planned it or not, it felt spot on.

Maybe that's why this victory felt different.
It wasn't just another All-Ireland.
It was history meeting folklore.
It was music meeting memory.
It was family meeting football.
Long after I am gone, the team of '26 will live on.
History should always be precise. It deserves that respect.
Storytelling gives history permission to breathe.
And on one remarkable Sunday in July 2026, Mayo finally added a full circle to a remarkable story.

⏩Daithi Hopkins is a republican socialist activist.

More Than a Match ⚽ Reflections On Mayo's 2026 All-Ireland Victory

Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔ 20-July-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ The disappearance of political prisoner Andrei Trofimov.
⬤ International Solidarity Convoy to Ukraine announced.
⬤ Teenage saboteurs in Russia.
⬤ Homelessness in Ukraine.

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Occupiers attacked a house in Kharkiv: One dead and 12 injured, including children (ZN, UA, July 26th)

The Face of Resistance: The Story of Political Prisoner Ametkhan Abdulvapov (Crimea Platform, July 24th)

ECHR Rules Deprivation of Land Property Rights in Occupied Crimea Unlawful (Crimea Platform, July 24th)

Chersonese in Russian-occupied Crimea added to UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 24th)

Two young Ukrainians sentenced to 15 & 20 years for fictitious ‘international terrorism’ near Russian-occupied Melitopol (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 24th)

Satellite images reveal Crimea's deepening energy crisis and risk of full-scale humanitarian disaster as Ukrainian strikes hit the peninsula’s power grid (Meduza, July 23rd)

Russia sentences 59-year-old Maryna Kovalenko whose son is defending Ukraine to 13 years for 'treason' (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 23rd)

Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, July 22nd)

A civilian prisoner from Mariupol is in critical condition (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 22nd)

Vital Crimean Solidarity human rights movement forced to terminate activities after Russia labels it a ‘foreign agent’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 21st)

Mass ‘treason / spying trials’ and huge sentences for supporting Ukraine under Russian occupation (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 21st)

News from Ukraine

Shopping centre on fire in Kryvyi Rih after “Shaheed” attack (ZN, UA, July 26th)

Fires and destruction in three districts of Kyiv: State emergency service showed the consequences of the enemy attack on the capital (ZN, UA, July 26th)

The Streets Are Asking Questions the Leaders Cannot Answer in Ukraine (International Viewpoint, July 24th)

Russia’s escalating port attacks choke Ukraine's grain exports as industry nears crisis (Kyiv Independent, July 24th)

Fedorov turns down Zelensky's offers, seeks return only as defense minister (Kyiv Independent, July 23rd)

Ukraine: “The real question is what kind of state Ukraine is becoming” (ESSF, July 23rd)

Why Ukraine's military shake-up is really a fight over how to win the war (Meduza, July 22nd)

Ukraine conflict has deepening effect on civilians (UNHCR, July 21st)

Progress of the war

How does a general who resigned over the deaths of 12 soldiers return a year later to lead Ukraine’s army? Meet Mykhailo Drapatyi the new commander-in-chief (Meduza, July 22nd)

“He saw a document — 19,500 losses from the Airborne Forces”: Confessions of a Russian headquarters sergeant who fled the front (The Insider, July 21st)

Ukrainian regiment claims capture of 64 Russian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia oblast (Kyiv Independent, July 20th)

How drones came to decide the war in Ukraine, and why no army has found the weapon that stops them (Meduza, July 20th)

War-related news from Russia

Russia to extend gasoline export ban until end of year (ZN, UA, July 26th)

Off-season: How the war has devastated tourism in Russia (The Insider, July 25th)

Oil superpower queues up for petrol from India. Will it help Russia? (Ukrainska Pravda, July 25th)

How Ukraine’s strikes on Wildberries warehouses put Russians in a real jam (Kyiv Independent, July 25th)

Sitting on two chairs: How Russian universities support war, but remain in world rankings and maintain international ties (ZN, UA, July 25th)

Berries out of the fire. Ukrainian drone campaign repeatedly hits Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online retailer (Mediazona, July 24th)

How close is Russia to a fuel collapse? Economist explains (ZN, UA, July 24th)

Russia passes `civil death’ legislation to freeze exiled critics' money, block their passports, and cut off consular aid (Meduza, July 23rd)

Teenage saboteurs. 240 minors were accused of sabotage in Russia since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine (Mediazona, July 21st)

In The Fuel Crisis Gripping Russia's Hinterlands, Worries For Tractors, Winter Hay, And Cows (Radio Free Europe, July 20th)

Melitopol mother of three sentenced to 18 years because of successful Ukrainian strike against Russian invaders (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 20th)

Russia stages a ‘dance performance’ with sickening lies about its downing of Malaysian airliner MH17 (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 20th)

No contact with political prisoner Andrei Trofimov since April (Memorial, July 14th)

Comment and analysis

The Rules of the Street: Informal hierarchies and mutual aid among homeless people (Commons, July 23rd)

One year after the attack on NABU and SAPO: ZMINA presents study on systemic pressure on anti-corruption actors (Zmina, July 21st)

Struggling to Hold the Heights: The Evolution of Far-Right in the Russian Federation, 2025–2026 (Red Threads, July 21st)

Buryatia shows what happens when Russia runs out of volunteers (Kyiv Independent, July 21st)

From launchpad to strategic rear: How Belarus evolved into a critical enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine (The Insider, July 21st)

Research of human rights abuses

Alena Lunova took part in a meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children (Zmina, July 17th)

Ukrainian Civilian Detainees Held By Russia (IPHR, July 8th)

International solidarity

International Solidarity Convoy to Ukraine announced for November (Labour Hub, July 25th)

`Strengthening solidarity with Ukraine’ – Motion to Green Party autumn conference 2026 (USC, July 24th)

Free the detained Zaporizhzhia nuclear workers! Motion to TUC Congress 2026 (USC, July 24th)

Also not to be missed

“Soldiers in the trenches don't think about politics. I see death in their eyes” (Eastern Frontier Initiative, July 24th)

Kazakhstan’s Tokayev tells Putin it is time to “freeze” Russia’s war against Ukraine (Ukrainska Pravda, July 25th)

Politics, Work, and Care in Women’s Exile (Posle, July 22nd)

Victims of wars and mass atrocities in Ukraine and across the globe need the International Criminal Court. Unite and stand for justice (Zmina, July 17th)

🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.


We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.

The bulletin is also stored on line here.

To receive the bulletin regularly, send your email to:
2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
To stop it, please reply with the word “STOP” in the subject field.

News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 206

Atheist Ireland ★ The detailed marriage figures for 2025 confirm the culture shift that has been happening since the turn of the century. 

Back then, the Catholic church conducted eight out of ten Irish marriages. That’s now down to three in ten, while four in ten are now secular (either Civil Registry or Humanist).

More dramatically, a quarter of Irish marriages are now some variation of spiritualist or new-age ceremonies. These are officially registered as religious marriages. And they are no longer dominated by the Spiritualist Union of Ireland. There is now a second wave of such bodies, led by Entheos, now the largest such solemnising body.

The biggest changes have come in the past three years, from 2023 to 2025 (with the CSO publishing the 2025 figures this year). If we look at these three years by broad type of marriage ceremony, the breakdown is now this:

40.3% (Civil Registry plus Humanist) (up from 35.5% in three years)
29.8% Roman Catholic (down from 40.5%)
26.7% New Religious Alternatives (up from 24.8%)
3.2% Other Christian and Traditional Religious (down from 3.6%)

We can also look at these three years as the rise of a second wave of new alternatives to traditional religious ceremonies. The first wave was the Spiritualist Union of Ireland and the Humanist Association of Ireland, who between them conducted one in five marriage ceremonies three years ago. Since then, the breakdown has changed to this:

33.4% Civil Registry (up from 26.2% in three years)
29.8% Roman Catholic (down from 40.5%)
20.4% Second Wave of New Alternatives (up from 10.5%)
13.2% First Wave of New Alternatives (SU/HAI) (down from 19.2%)
3.2% Other Christian and Traditional Religious (down from 3.6%)

So the fragmentation of types of marriage ceremony is increasing. The graphic below shows a detailed breakdown of all Irish marriages in 2025. Atheist Ireland thanks the CSO for giving us these figures.


⏩ Follow Atheist Ireland on X @atheistie

Detailed 2025 Irish Marriage Figures Confirm Huge Culture Shift

Alternet ★ Written by John Stoehr.

America is not a Christian nation. Yes, I know what they say. But we're not, and it's not because history and the Constitution say so. It's because the people who call themselves Christian, especially the supporters of Donald Trump, are often so ignorant of their religion. How can we be a Christian nation when Christians here don't know much about Christianity?

The question occurred to me while reading an essay by Hannibal Hamlin in the Pittsburgh Review of Books in which the Ohio State English professor said that though we're called the most religious nation on earth, "Americans are ill-informed about even their own religion."

According to a 2010 Gallup poll, only just over half of Americans knew that the Golden Rule was not one of the Ten Commandments, and just under half could name the four Gospels. A meager 16 percent knew that salvation through faith alone is a Protestant rather than Catholic doctrine. I once had to point out to a student, a Catholic school graduate, that I didn’t think belief in transubstantiation was optional for Catholics. A number of evangelical pastors have recently reported shrinking congregations, as their parishioners discovered, to their irritation, that Jesus asked them to turn the other cheek.

Continue @ Altermet.

Behind America’s 'True' Religion - 🪶Why Millions Are Quietly Quitting Jesus

Right Wing Watch 👀 Joel Webbon and Dale Partridge are two pastor-pundits for what they call the New Christian Right. 

They share the hyper-patriarchal worldview of Christian nationalist Doug Wilson, who has distanced himself from Webbon over the latter’s overt racism and antisemitism, but shares their belief that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote, was a mistake that should be reversed.

In the July 13 episode of the "Christian Nationalist Weekly" podcast, Webbon made an explicit connection between nativism, racism, antisemitism, and opposition to feminism as he stoked the grievance of his white Christian American male audience. He told them that feminism—and what he called a “monstrous regiment of women”—is partly to blame for their being enslaved and exploited by the rest of the world:

You are a battery. You energize the world. You are a tax farm. You are a slave. You are living in some degree, some measure of comfort and placation, right? Sitting in front of Netflix, living in your pod, your condo or whatever it is, working, producing, being over-taxed, in order to fund the entire world…Part of it is Jewish supremacy.


Continue @ Right Wing Watch.

The Monstrous Misogyny Of The Theobros

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Forty Nine

 

Pastords @ 55

 

A Morning Thought @ 3221

Remembering Kieran Doherty On The 45th Anniversary Of His Death On Hunger Strike In The H Blocks Of Long Kesh.


Kieran Doherty🏴 45 🏴 Eternal Dreamless Sleep

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