The Shrapnel Podcast

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack CW: Topics that some listeners may find upsetting. Editors note: We had an issue with Sam's mic, but this is an important conversation. Please listen. In this episode the lads chatted to Alex Bunting, Group Director of Care & Support (Mental Health & Addiction Services) at Inspire. Alex talked about his passion for helping people with addiction and mental health issues and the need to address the long-term impact of the Troubles on divided communities in Belfast. We chatted about the "psychological terror" and feeling of being unsafe, and what people lived with during the conflict and Alex's experience of his own father being seriously injured in an IRA bomb. If you want to find out more about the work of Inspire: https://www.inspirewellbeing.org/ If you are in distress and need help with any of the issues raised in this episode: https://www.lifelinehelpline.info/ Latest Shrapnel with Rev Chris Hudson: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-156421373

In this episode of the Shrapnel Podcast, hosts Sam and Gareth discuss their return after a long hiatus due to personal challenges, including Gareth's loss of both parents. They reflect on the stagnation of societal and political issues in 2025, the importance of legacy discussions, and the hope and need for future dialogue. The lads talk resilience, the soapbox and the value of revisiting oral histories from the past. Next Episode with Glenn Millar -Made to Parade is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-151665617

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack The lads did their second live show as part of the Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics at Belfast's Crescent Arts Centre. We were joined by a panel of three previous guests representing alternative voices from within the broad spectrum of loyalism. Beano Niblock is a former loyalist prisoner and the writer of the acclaimed play The Man Who Swallowed A Dictionary (2023) about the life of his former comrade David Ervine. Niblock is a vocal advocate for loyalist storytelling and the power of arts as means of communicating historical experience. Emma Shaw is the founder and CEO of the Phoenix Education Centre, a profit for purpose community interest company in East Belfast that nurtures community self-help and promotes strategies to tackle low educational attainment and barriers to the workforce. David Adams is a former spokesperson and councillor for the UDA-linked Ulster Democratic Party who was heavily involved in negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement. Having experienced what he described as a ‘messy divorce’ from loyalism in the mid-00s, he has spoken openly about the need to have informed conversations about reconciliation as a priority in any debates over the constitution. The Shamim Malekmian immigration reporting interview is out now here:

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack We were delighted to be joined by author and academic Paul Burgess for our inaugural live show. Paul discussed his new book Wild Colonial Boys (Manchester University Press) - a revealing and no holds barred autobiography charting his early life growing up in loyalist north and west Belfast, his passion for class politics and music and his ascent to fame with Ruefrex. The Working Class Activism in Academia Podcast is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-98820246

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Help us keep going in 2024 by clicking on patreon.com/tortoiseshack Tony Novosel is the author of 'Northern Ireland's Lost Opportunity: The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism' and has been a frequent visitor to NI since 1974. Over the years he has been recognised for his cross-community peace building work. In this episode he talks to the lads about the challenges facing progressive loyalism. How better public services is the antidote to the far right podcast with Prof Catherine De Vries is out now here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-94992075

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Help us keep going in 2024, join the shack at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Since 1996, David Blevins has been the senior Ireland correspondent for Sky News, covering news stories north and south of the border. When the news happened, we heard it from him. In this episode he talks to Gareth and Sam about reporting some of the traumatic and momentous events in recent history in NI, why the golden age of journalism may not be over and how we need more time to hear stories, rather than sound bytes in the news.

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack This week we were joined by Alana Cahoon who is the PR Officer from the Ulster Young Unionists, and ‘One Young World’ delegate. She is also an Ambassador of TBUC (Together:Building a United Community). We discussed Unionism from the upcoming generations viewpoint, not conforming to lazy stereotypes and why some leave Northern Ireland and do not return. We also talked about transgenerational trauma and how our past still touches lives. The Latest Shrapnel Fragments Q&A Special is out now here:

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Martin Doyle is the books editor of The Irish Times and author of Dirty Linen: The Troubles In My Home Place (Merrion, 2023) In this episode Martin talks to the lads about researching and writing the book which is a deeply personal and intimate excavation of the toll that the conflict took on the parish of Tullylish, part of the notorious Murder Triangle in the north of Ireland The Latest Shrapnel with David Adams is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-92988091

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Jordan Dunbar is a Northern Ireland born and London based BBC journalist, presenter and documentary maker. His recent documentary for BBC Sounds 'Blood On The Dancefloor' looked at the life and murder of gay RUC officer Darren Bradshaw. The lads spoke to Jordan about how he came to tell this story, storytelling and memory with Belfast's queer community and some of his investigations into criminal gangs in Brazil and Italy. Blood On The Dancefloor is available here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fdqs8p

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Shrapnel presents Fragments - a new series of intermittent one-off episodes where Sam and Gareth answer questions about the past, present and future in Northern Ireland posed by you, our members, listeners and followers. It'll be available in the regular Shrapnel podcast feed on all streaming platforms. Get your questions in for the next episode at shrapnelpodcast@gmail.com Please go back and listen to our previous episode with author of the Ghost Limb, Claire Mitchell UK economist, commentator and author, Grace Blakeley interview is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-91199255

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Moore Holmes is a loyalist activist, community advocate and commentator. As a teacher he is passionate about educating the next generation through the think tank and advocacy group, Lets Talk Loyalism about appropriate political steps and articulating a coherent argument for the Union from a loyalist perspective. In this episode we talk to Moore about the Union and community political advocacy at the grassroots in loyalist communities. The Ghost Limb podcast is out here:

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Stephen R. Millar is Lecturer in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology. His research and teaching focuses on music, conflict, and cultures of resistance, with an emphasis on Britain and Ireland. Stephen's first book Sounding Dissent: Rebel Songs, Resistance, and Irish Republicanism (University of Michigan Press 2020) explores how Irish republicans have used rebel songs to resist against the hegemonic power of the British state. Stephen's current book project, under contract with Oxford University Press, examines the interconnection between Ulster loyalist songs and political violence in Northern Ireland from the Troubles to the present. In this episode we talked to Stephen about the importance of preserving political music as part of our historical understanding of communities in conflict. The Moore Holmes - Colin Harvey 2 Parter is available now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-89959808

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this episode the lads are joined by Robert Gibson. Robert's father Jackie was a bus driver who was killed on Bloody Friday, 21 July 1972 when the Provisional IRA set off a series of bombs across Belfast. He talks about the effect that his father's murder had on his family, his search for the truth about what happened in Belfast on that notorious day and how difficult it is for families of those murdered during the Troubles to get clarity on the circumstances around their loved ones' deaths. Live show tickets:https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tortoise-shack-live-tickets-698299581847?aff=erelexpmlt Lough Neagh Podcast is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-89222152