John Charles Laverty

Northern Ireland

Night Editor at Belfast Telegraph

Views are my own

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Articles

Joey Dunlop was King of the Roads... but his sad, final journey home was blocked by protesters. Welcome to Northern Ireland...

1 week ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

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Karen Reilly was shot dead by a soldier later acquitted of her murder... thanks to a young barrister called Keir Starmer

2 weeks ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

At first glance, nothing to see here, folks. In fact, it was like something you’d expect to come across at a children’s birthday party. An amateurish, cardboard cut-out of a hatchback car, painted blue and festooned with balloons and ribbons. The Ulster Banner on the wall above it would also suggest this party took place in a predominantly loyalist area.
A unified Ireland is indefensible... unless we rely on the Forces of the Crown already protecting the entire island. Ah, the irony...

3 weeks ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

It’s like giving the bloke next door free access to your costly broadband; did you know that the skies above the Republic are meticulously policed by fighter planes — from the Royal Air Force? Mmm... perhaps you weren’t aware that those near neighbours so despised by diehard republicans defend the 26 counties’ airspace with sophisticated machinery worth billions — and don’t ask for a single cent in return.
NI universities are facing financial peril and technological armageddon... well, at least that’s what my chatbot is telling me

1 month ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

Surprise, surprise... Stormont won’t be increasing university tuition fees in Northern Ireland. The begging letter failed to get through The Hill’s Difficult Decision Alert filter and ended up in a bottom drawer alongside loose batteries, takeaway menus, Nokia phones and feasibility studies for the introduction of water charges. Queen’s, Ulster University and Open University in Ireland wanted Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald to load an extra grand onto students’ annual bill but alack, no dice.
John Laverty: With its lawful abortion services, Northern Ireland is now the envy of others. God help us...

1 month ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

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There’s no way I’d allow my child to get into a car being driven by a 17-year-old… I remember being one of those idiots

1 month ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump. It’s over 40 years ago, but I can still recall that hollow, headbanging noise as the Golf GTi careered off the B62 Ballybogey Road and ploughed through seven fence posts before ending up in a ditch near Portrush. I’d lost control of the powerful ‘hot hatch’ on the sort of bend that shouldn’t have been a challenge for that type of car, even at 80mph-plus.
From proud Billy Boy to devout Catholic... so, is Northern Ireland ready to accept JD Vance as one of its own?

1 month ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

Did you know that the term ‘hillbilly’ emanates from these shores? The ‘Billy’ bit requires little explanation, referring to Ulster Scot Protestants beholden to William of Orange. The ‘hill’, however, alludes not to Stormont but to the Appalachian Mountains, where so many folk from here ultimately settled centuries ago. They became known in America as Billys, Billy Boys and, ultimately, Hillbillies.
Nervous unionists needn’t worry; the ‘Catholic surge’ won’t bring us any closer to a united Ireland

2 months ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

The late Rev Ian Paisley probably checked out at the right time. When he was still with us, the one-time poster boy for anti-Catholic bigotry resided in a place where, like everywhere else in the United Kingdom, Protestants boasted the largest flock. To be fair, the Big Man — whose back yard in 1960s Ballymena backed onto my family’s property and whom my parents (and, later, an older me) got to know and like — mellowed into a more accommodating, objective and open-minded person in his later years.
The way things are going, it won’t be long before not watching Adolescence is a criminal offence

2 months ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

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John Laverty: Arlene Foster seems aggrieved at a local road being, in her words, ‘sectarianised’. What country has she been living in?

2 months ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | John Charles Laverty

It wasn’t a good time to be a sensitive, dyed in the wool unionist. Firstly, that Irish language malarkey at Belfast’s Grand Central Station and then — horror of horrors — GAA president Jarlath Burns supposedly attempting to claim one of Northern Ireland’s main roads as his own.

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John Laverty @JohnCharlesLave

16 Jun 25

RT @buitengebieden: Wrong neighborhood.. 😂 https://t.co/fj4SH9zTfk

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16 Jun 25

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12 Jun 25

RT @NoContextHumans: Just moments before the Air India Boeing crash, two UK nationals recorded a video, smiling—unaware of what lay ahead.😢…

John Charles Laverty

Articles

Joey Dunlop was King of the Roads... but his sad, final journey home was blocked by protesters. Welcome to Northern Ireland...

Karen Reilly was shot dead by a soldier later acquitted of her murder... thanks to a young barrister called Keir Starmer

A unified Ireland is indefensible... unless we rely on the Forces of the Crown already protecting the entire island. Ah, the irony...

NI universities are facing financial peril and technological armageddon... well, at least that’s what my chatbot is telling me

John Laverty: With its lawful abortion services, Northern Ireland is now the envy of others. God help us...

There’s no way I’d allow my child to get into a car being driven by a 17-year-old… I remember being one of those idiots

From proud Billy Boy to devout Catholic... so, is Northern Ireland ready to accept JD Vance as one of its own?

Nervous unionists needn’t worry; the ‘Catholic surge’ won’t bring us any closer to a united Ireland

The way things are going, it won’t be long before not watching Adolescence is a criminal offence

John Laverty: Arlene Foster seems aggrieved at a local road being, in her words, ‘sectarianised’. What country has she been living in?

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