The BelTel

It all began in December, when an ex-girlfriend of Irish independent journalist John Meagher sent him screenshots of a fake dating-app profile using a photo of him. This would lead him on an extraordinary journey to find out who his catfish was – the answer to which would shock everyone involved.

Host: Ellen Coyne. Guest: John Meagher

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Sir Declan Morgan was formerly Northern Ireland’s most senior judge. The Londonderry man now heads the Legacy Commission. He describes the role not only as one of helping families get the truth about how relatives died but also about revealing the reality of political violence and the Troubles.  

Sir Declan tells the Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland Editor Sam McBride he won't flinch from naming those behind the atrocities. 

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Former Big Brother contestant Seány O’Kane has been denied entry to Russia. O’Kane’s the owner of a popular Telegram platform for foreigners in Russia named ‘Moscow Pals’. Seany O’Kane has lived and worked in the country for years but was turned back from Moscow Airport before Christmas.  Moscow Pals also has a channel dealing with financial questions arising from how to extract finances from Russia. The Russian authorities take a keen interest in it.  

 Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Jason Corcoran.

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Robert McCartney was murdered by members of the IRA 20 years ago, in January 2005. He died after being stabbed in the street outside a bar in Belfast, near the the Markets area. Like many other murders, the IRA hoped that it would eventually blow over, but it did not, it became an international news story and a political nightmare for Sinn Féin - all due to the tenacity of his sisters.

Two of them tell Suzanne Breen what they thought of the subsequent criminal trials, and if they think they were used by politicians. 

This podcast was first published in March 2023.

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In January 2024, opponents of the then DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, and the deal he struck with the government over post-Brexit arrangements put together a political plot - ‘Operation Torpedo’ - Its aim, to wreck the proposed deal. The wire-tapping and subsequent live-tweeting of a supposedly secret meeting caused a sensation. The key figure in the scheme was loyalist Jamie Bryson. Now The BelTel can reveal more details about the ‘operation’ and the number of people involved. 

Guest: Allison Morris.

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Newtownards man Paddy Mayne was an unconventional soldier – a founder member of the SAS. He is one of the central characters in the BBC’s hit war drama, SAS: Rogue Heroes 

But there is much controversy over how he has portrayed, foul mouthed, thuggish and with a very dodgy accent. Military historians in particular, say that’s not how he was.   

And this publicity has once again brought old questions to the fore – why was Mayne never given the Victoria Cross? And even, should he be given the honour posthumously?    

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Andrew Madden. 

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Lagan Valley MP Sorcha Eastwood to start legal action against the Tate brothers over social media posts aimed at her. Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are self-professed ‘Alpha Males’ and now aspiring politicians with their own ‘Bruv Party’. This spat comes as Elon Musk called Labour MP Jess Phillips a ‘Rape Genocide Apologist’. Meanwhile, as Donald Trump returns to the White House Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is going more ‘Masculine’. How did the Tates get so much influence and are the ‘tech bros’ really that much of a threat to democracy?  

Kurtis Reid and Margaret Canning join Ciarán Dunbar.

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HMS Maidstone, an ex-Royal Navy Ship, was used in the early 1970s to hold internees. In January 1972, a group of IRA prisoners swam 270 meters through an ice-cold Belfast Lough in a bid to escape, greasing themselves in butter to squeeze out of the ship’s portholes. They then hijacked a double-decker bus before slipping across the border, humiliating the authorities. 

Ciarán Dunbar is joined by James Durney, author of ‘Jailbreak: Great Irish Republican escapes’. 

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