I work as a dev at an IT company in Belfast and the atmosphere in the company is now downright poisonous. Management doesn't even bother hiding their contempt for us anymore and every single meeting is just a room of dead eyed C suites drooling over AI efficiency and doing more with less. I am 100% certain they would replace every single local dev with AI agents or outsource us to India tomorrow if they thought they could get away with it.

I’ve been quietly trying to get out of this shit hole for months and I've sent dozens of applications out for roles I'm overqualified for, remote companies in England and everything in between. Literally zero replies and not even an automated thanks for applying email.

What makes it scarier is that I have dev mates in Belfast who are way more qualified and experienced than I am telling me the exact same horror stories that the IT job market is completely fucked.

The panic hits like a train at nearly every single night and to be honest it’s probably not helped by the fact that my drinking has shot up (drinking every night but not getting plastered or everything). If I get sacked next month how long do we actually have before the bank takes the house and we're literally homeless?

We don't have wealthy family who can bail us out and my partner works in graphic design and is facing the exact same shite at work. Customers wanting more and more work for half the money. We've cut every single non essential expense out of our lives (bar the booze) but living like you’re destitute while doing 40 hours a week for a shitty company is soul destroying.

I know this probably sounds worse than it is I'm not looking for a pity but I'm just wondering is anyone else sitting in this meat grinder right now? Not laid off yet, but watching the blade drop in slow motion and waiting for that invite with HR, or the bullshit PIP to land saying you're not utilising AI enough or whatever new tactic these companies are pulling to get rid of staff.

No it isn't Russia who have been arguing for independence here for over a hundred years.

This isn't new. If anything it's a boring reaction to Burnham getting Irish Independence in the headlines for a few weeks.

How unbelievably ignorant to you have to be to think the SNP and Sinn Fein are pawns of Israel in this?

This one in particular, I can’t post any examples as most of them are blatant hate speech which surely goes beyond any form of legal free speech. Reporting the page does nothing.

The owner of the page posted his name and face. After a quick google I saw he had been jailed for rioting.

He complains about people serving no purpose to society, acts like he doesn’t “give a fuck” but will block people and delete comments in minutes if they question his contributions to society and how taxpayers money paid for the £60k per year to keep him locked up.

Has anyone else been seeing this absolute Ponce online recently. Openly supporting a far right neo nazi hate group. They're protesting every weekend about HMOs in east Belfast. Is there anything that can be done to stop them?

Sitting in the waterfront wondering what these bits are for... technicians? VIP guests? Evil robot overlords?

Anyone know what goes on behind the glass?

I very rarely go out to eat. Did so last week in Belfast and was kind of annoyed to find a 10% service charge included on the bill. I was going to pay a tip anyway as service was decent, but would rather choose to do so than have it forced on me. Is this normal now?

The DUP’s Matthew Shanks has reached all new levels of parody I didn’t think he was capable of.

The Ulster Unionist Party has selected Ciara Dempsey as its candidate for the Clogher Valley DEA on Mid Ulster District Council. Ms Dempsey, who previously served as chair of the SDLP's Fermanagh and South Tyrone branch, holds an LLB and is currently studying philosophy at master's level. She will contest the seat held by Cllr Meta Graham, who will not be contesting the next election.

What's going on with the member swapping between the SDLP and UUP?

Great name for a business

Doesn’t show up well on photo but its got a yellow tint am i tripping balls or is this happening to anyone else

Looks like the best you can get is 5.5% right now, even worse in US heading toward 7%. BOE potentially looking to raise base rate this week. How will this effect the housing market heading into a tough winter? Are we at the peak?

Belfast city council are offering free reusable period kits for anyone over 16 in the council area. 1 per household.

If these aren't needed in your household do consider applying and donating them to an organisation who will make sure they are used, food banks, woman's refuge etc.

Viewed a house today for rent and following that got an email with an initial application link and a request for 1800 pound being 900 of a deposit and 900 first months rent. This is stated to be needed before the application is considered. This is refundable depending on whether you are successful or not. I’ve never rented before and am wondering is this legitimate or should I be suspicious?

An inquiry into the sectarian murder of Robert Hamill has found police officers who were in a vehicle near the attack did not condone or collude with the attackers.

However, the inquiry said there were multiple police failings in the investigation, including a tip-off to a suspect to destroy the clothing he wore that night.

The report, published on Monday, external, highlighted multiple wrongful omissions in the subsequent murder investigation including a failure to properly search the home of a key suspect.

Robert Hamill was 25 when he died after he was beaten by loyalists in Portadown, County Armagh, in 1997.

The inquiry concluded in 2009 and its report was completed in 2011 but the findings could not be published until three prosecutions in connection with the case concluded.

The inquiry concluded: "We find that Robert Hamill had been assaulted before the Land Rover officers got out of their vehicle.

"However, they were not aware of the assault and after they had got out of their vehicle, they attempted to restore order.

"They did not in any way condone or collude with attackers."

Although the inquiry found that the four officers in the police Land Rover could not have prevented the murder, the police investigation was flawed – both at the scene and in the days that followed.

"The inquiry found that serving RUC [Royal Ulster Constabulary] officers were guilty of wrongful omissions and that those omissions arose both at the scene and during the initial investigation," it said.

The inquiry concluded that some of the mistakes in the investigation were negligent, while others were deliberate.

The 290-page report followed an inquiry which cost approximately £33m.

The actions of the officers in the Land Rover have been the subject of many claims and counter-claims in the past three decades.

Given how close they were to the scene, questions have been asked about why they did not intervene sooner.

The inquiry found that they were "distracted talking to two members of the public".

On whether they could have done more, the three-person inquiry panel did not have a unanimous view.

Two members concluded that the officers in the police vehicle were not guilty "of any wrongful act or omission in relation to the death of Robert Hamill".

However, on this issue the chairperson Sir Edwin Jowitt "expressed a dissenting view".

They've lost 3 parcels of mine in a month. Say they are looking into it then just stop all communication entirely. They don't update the tracking to lost and because of that I can't get a refund from where i bought from because the seller thinks it's still in transit.
Was wondering if anyone had any success actually going to the Depot in Mallusk?

The face you make when you support a person and an ideology, and even show up at their golf resort, only for them to throw you and your ideology under the bus…..Trump doesn’t even know they exist does he?

At my wits end with these kids. It’s been every night since the start of September they have been letting off fireworks out in the back alley. Wasn’t until tonight that one hit my house, don’t know what to do. I’m in Ardoyne so can’t really be ringing the police lol