Shows / The BelTel
The BelTel
The BelTel brings you some of Northern Ireland's top journalists, Allison Morris, Sam McBride and Suzanne Breen to name but a few, giving you the inside stories behind what is in the news. Presented by Ciarán Dunbar, the Bel Tel investigates, debates and informs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Episodes
- The BelTel
Sam McBride: 'Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has struck a deal’
The Belfast Telegraph’s Northen Ireland editor, Sam McBride, joins Ciarán Dunbar with his assessment of what’s going on at Stormont. Is Sir Jeffrey Donaldson…
- The BelTel
Elon Musk: Who is the world’s wealthiest man?
Considered the richest man in the world, South Africa-born tech moghul Elon Musk is rarely out of the news. His controversial social media statements have made…
- The BelTel
Alan Scott: Ex-North Coleraine pastor under fire for alleged ‘spiritual abuse’
Glasgow-born Alan Scott led the ‘Causeway Coast Vineyard church’ until June 2017. Having felt called by God, he and his wife decided to take roles in the…
- The BelTel
The other IRA: The Story of the Officials and The Workers’ Party
Why did the IRA split in two, into the Provisionals and the Officials? The so-called ‘Stickies’ abandoned their armed campaign but never their guns – could the…
The BelTelShane MacGowan: London-Irish punk, performer and poet
Shane MacGowan has died at the age of 65. From a poetry-fuelled middle class upbringing to the chaotic UK punk scene, MacGowan was an innovator, marrying punk…
- The BelTel
Longford double murder: Mysterious case linked to loyalists
A mysterious double murder in Co. Longford in 1986 has been tied to Loyalists from Derry. Killed in their kitchen on a cold November night, Marie Murtagh (43)…
- The BelTel
Joris Minne: The recipe behind restaurant reviews revealed
When a restaurant review is published in the Belfast Telegraph, they can often attract a huge number of readers – especially if it is negative!Many dream of…
- The BelTel
Dublin riots: what happens next in Ireland's capital after night of anarchy?
Dublin is cleaning up the aftermath of violent scenes following a night of rioting, clashes with Gardaí (Irish police) and looting. The unprecedented scenes…
- The BelTel
East Belfast UVF: Ciaran Barnes reports the latest on the drug dealer purge
Twenty-two loyalists have been convicted in the past 18 months for dealing drugs connected the East Belfast UVF. The UVF’s Shankill Road based leadership has…
- The BelTel
The British Army's Troubles tactics: Sam McBride interviews expert Huw Bennett
Sam McBride sits down with Military Historian Huw Bennett, author of ‘Uncivil war: The British Army and the Troubles’. The new book deals with how the troubles…
- The BelTel
BelTel Sport: Linfield’s historic return to Solitude
For 28 years during the Troubles, it was deemed too dangerous for Linfield to play at Solitude, a football ground in the heart of Nationalist north Belfast…
- The BelTel
UVF ‘clean-up’: Allison Morris on East Belfast battalion’s ‘stand down orders’
Eight members of the East Belfast UVF have been told to stand down over links to criminality. Despite this, sources have said there is “no prospect” of a feud…
- The BelTel
Rishi Sunak ‘reshuffles’ the deck, dumps Suella and brings back Brexit-Dave
Rishi Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle took many by surprise. Suella Braveman gets the boot, ex-PM David Cameron makes a shock return government and a new ‘minister…
- The BelTel
Authoritarianism: what is it, why are people attracted to it, and why is it on the march?
Ciarán Dunbar gets an explanation of authoritarianism from QUB Politics Professor, Lee McGowan. Authoritarian states such as China, Russia, and North Korea are…
- The BelTel
Mother, monster, killer: Who is the real Molly Martens?
When Molly Martens arrived in Limerick in 2008, she seemed like an All-American Girl with the world at her feet. But that public persona - like many of the…
- The BelTel
Sam McBride interviews Michael Cameron, former top NIO official, playwright and spouse to a DUP MLA
As a former top NIO civil servant, Michael Cameron found himself mixing with paramilitary bosses and powerful politicians. He would go on to marry a DUP MLA…
- The BelTel
The Ashling Murphy trial: how Jozef Puska tried to get away with murder
Ashling Murphy, a 23 year old primary school teacher went for a run on the banks of the Grand Canal outside Tullamore, Co. Offaly – she never returned home…
- The BelTel
Lucid Talk: Border polls, party support and Casement
David McCann, Alex Kane and Bill White join Ciarán Dunbar to discuss the latest Belfast Telegraph / Lucid Talk polling. Among the subjects discussed, the…
- The BelTel
Suzanne Breen on Rishi Sunak boredom with NI & DUP, Sinn Fein’s sudden U-turn after heavy criticism and much more
Belfast Telegraphs Political Editor Suzanne Breen talks with Ciaran Dunbar on Rishi Sunak’s boredom with Northern Ireland and the DUP, the backlash Sinn Fein…
- The BelTel
Unsolved disappearances in the midst of the Troubles: The lost boys of Belfast
A compelling new documentary ‘Lost Boys- Belfast’s Missing Children’ has shed new light on the mysterious disappearance of FIVE children at the height of the…
- The BelTel
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict explained: “Two peoples, one land”
The Israelis and Palestinians are two very distinct peoples, but geographically, Israel and Palestine are one and the same territories. How did this come about…
- The BelTel
The IRA's Mountjoy Prison Helicopter Escape and the manhunt that followed
50 years ago this week, Mountjoy Prison played host to one of the most dramatic escapes in history. It was a Halloween horror show for the onlooking guards as…
- The BelTel
The witch trials of Islandmagee
Islandmagee is a quiet civil parish on the east coast of Northern Ireland. But in 1711, a newcomer to the area begins to have fits, regurgitates pins and…
- The BelTel
Meet John Bew, the NI global policy expert with the ear of the PM
Belfast-born John Bew is Rishi Sunak’s global policy advisor. He’s the key voice informing the PM’s foreign policy and has been seen in close consultation with…
- The BelTel
The 'Rules of War' explained
With war raging in the Middle East and Europe, we ask; have the lessons of the 20th century been forgotten? What are the rules of engagement for modern…
- The BelTel
‘Supergrass’ trial: Allison Morris breaks down UVF murder case
A fifty-seven-year-old man is currently on trial in Belfast’s Crown Court accused of murdering two catholic men. James Smyth from Forthriver Link, north…
- The BelTel
Fake News: Why do people believe it and how can it be fought?
Fake news seems to be everywhere online lately - but what exactly is it? Why do people spread it and can anything be done about it. Professor Julian McDougall…
- The BelTel
Black Magic: How the spooks used superstition against the IRA
At the height of the Troubles, the security forces found a new and unusual tactic in their fight against the IRA – ‘black magic’. How did this come about – and…
- The BelTel
Malachi O’Doherty: ‘How to fix Northern Ireland’
Writer and Belfast Telegraph columnist Malachi O’Doherty’s book ‘How to fix Northern Ireland’. It’s his take on what’s wrong and what has to be done. He spoke…
- The BelTel
Black Axe: Massive international gang now firmly established in Ireland
Nigerian gang Black Axe have gone international and are now based in Ireland, It specialises in romance and business email fraud. They are suspected of using…
- The BelTel
Casement Park: The Euros are coming to Belfast, but NI fans divided
Northern Ireland will be one of the hosts of Euro ’28 but Casement Park, an unbuilt GAA stadium, will be the local host ground. It seems to be great news - but…
- The BelTel
Politics: The Israeli-Hamas war and the NI split over it
Sam Mcbride and Sarah Creighton join Ciarán Dunbar for an update on global politics, including how the Palestinian – Israeli conflict seems to divide Northern…
- The BelTel
Explainer: Israel-Hamas war - what happened and what could follow
On Saturday, Hamas launched a series of unprecedented attacks on Israel killing hundreds of civilians. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a…
- The BelTel
Unsolved: The murder of Brian McDermott in 1973 Belfast
Even at the height of the Troubles, the murder of 10-year-old Brian McDermott was shocking. Brian’s body was eventually found in a sack in River Lagan…
- The BelTel
Máiría Cahill: "Republican movement underestimated my staying power"
"Republicanism has different morals from the rest of us," Máiria Cahill has said as she spoke about her new book. She waived anonymity in 2014 when she…
- The BelTel
‘Children identifying as cats’: Where does fake news come from?
Tall tales of children ‘identifying as cats’ have gone viral in recent years. Journalists look into it, but somehow, they can never track down the school in…
- The BelTel
Patrick Devaney: Portaferry man’s reign of terror over teens in detention
Patrick Devaney, an 81-year-old Portaferry man, has been jailed after inflicting years of abuse on teens sentenced to a borstal. His cruelty included beating…
- The BelTel
Ihab Shoukri and the UDA murder of Gerard Lawlor
Gerard Lawlor, a young father and Gaelic football player, was murdered in a drive-by shooting four years after the Good Friday Agreement. He was killed during…
- The BelTel
GB News scandal: Wootton sacked from MailOnline in fallout from Laurence Fox interview
Dan Wootton has been sacked by the MailOnline after he was suspended by GB News for his interview with actor Laurence Fox in which Fox made remarks about the…
- The BelTel
The DUP: Jeffrey Donaldson and the factions vying for the soul of his party
Suzanne Breen joins Ciarán Dunbar with her assessment of what’s going on behind the scenes in the DUP as the party’s boycott of Stormont continues. The party…
- The BelTel
Pat Ward: The brutal murder which shocked a Tyrone village
Clogher is a quiet and peaceful close-knit community. But it was, on a Saturday morning in 2019, the scene of a harrowing murder. Father of four, Pat Ward, was…
- The BelTel
Jay the Barber: From tragedy to triumph
Jay Miller, aka ‘Jay the Barber’, is an entrepreneur with a successful barbering company and TikTok star. But his life was not always this way. Childhood…
- The BelTel
Sean Quinn: Bankrupt former billionaire tells his side of the story
Belfast Telegraph journalist Andrew Madden has met Sean Quinn in his Fermanagh home. Seán Quinn says he wants to tell his version of how he lost his business…
- The BelTel
Christine Connor: The ‘lone wolf’ republican
Allison Morris joins Ciarán Dunbar with the history of female republican prisoners, and how Christine Connor landed a 25-year sentence. There are more female…
- The BelTel
Russell Brand: The mounting allegations and now the financial fallout
He was a household Brand; from MTV, Channel 4 and BBC, to a wild night in Dublin, and even conquering Hollywood. What next for Russell Brand after a…
- The BelTel
The Wolfe Tones: Despite the condemnation, young people are flocking to hear them – why?
The Wolfe Tones sing songs many interpret as pro-IRA. Commentators, politicians and victims of republican violence condemn them. But the Wolfe Tones seem to be…
- The BelTel
Putin and Kim Jong Un: What does the bromance mean for Ukraine
Putin welcomes Kim Jong Un and his “moving fortress” to Russia. How will this new friendship affect the war in Ukraine and Russian relations with western…
- The BelTel
Apocalypse Neagh: The source of 40% of NI’s water poisoned by bacteria
Northern Ireland gets 40% of its drinking water from Lough Neagh but the lake has been polluted with deadly cyanobacteria. Both wildfire and pets died after…
- The BelTel
Thomas Niedermayer: How the IRA murder of a German businessman led to the death of his family
Thomas Niedermayer was kidnapped from his Belfast home in 1973. There was no ransom demand, no information. But there couldn’t be, because he had been murdered…
- The BelTel
Sinn Féin: Aoife Moore's new book sets out to reveal the inner workings of Ireland’s largest political party
Aoife Moore’s new book on Sinn Féin is on the shelves and in the headlines. The Derry-born journalist’s approach to Sinn Féin has drawn the ire of some in the…
- The BelTel
Wallace Thompson: DUP founder tells Sam McBride ‘New’ Ireland is inevitable
Wallace Thompson was a founder member of the DUP and a loyal follower of the late Ian Paisley. Now he feels that some form of Irish Unity is inevitable – why?…
- The BelTel
Comedian Tim McGarry talks comedy, religion and the need for integrated education
Tim McGarry and iconic on-screen character on screen 'Da', along with the likes of Uncle Andy and Billy the Peeler, has long been making fun of life and…
- The BelTel
Policing in crisis: What next for the PSNI as Simon Byrne bows to the inevitable?
In the end, Simon Byrne had to go. He had lost the confidence of the public and politicians – and above all, of his own officers. The final straw was a court…
- The BelTel
‘A People Under Siege’: Author Aaron Edwards in conversation with Sam McBride on the history and future of Ulster’s unionists
Aaron Edwards is from Rathcoole in north Belfast but works at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, educating the British Army’s future officers. He sat down…
- The BelTel
Putin after Prigozhin: Could he reach for the nuclear option to halt Ukrainian advance?
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s brief uprising challenged Vladimir Putin in a way no one else ever has. Is the Russian president now in a stronger position or has he been…
- The BelTel
Polls back Jeffrey Donaldson’s boycott of Stormont – so what next?
The latest Belfast Telegraph Lucidtalk polling tells us the majority of unionists are behind the DUP boycott of the NI Assembly and Executive. Does this mean…
- The BelTel
What would a Labour Government mean for Northern Ireland?
With the Labour Party soaring ahead in the polls, Keir Starmer is predicted to become the next Prime Minister after the general elections. But what would a new…
- The BelTel
Lucy Letby: We know what she did, but why did she do it?
We know Letby murdered babies and tried to kill many more but why? How did this young, intelligent, woman, with loving parents, become a mass murderer of the…
- The BelTel
Lucy Letby: Allison Morris breaks down the serial killer nurse case
Serial killer nurse Lucy Letby will spend the rest of her life in prison after being convicted of murdering seven helpless babies. She has never admitted it…
- The BelTel
The IRA murder of Andrew Kearney
In 1998 an IRA Punishment squad broke into Andrew Kearney's flat. They shot him three times and Andrew bled to death. He was cradling his 19 day-old baby…