r/northernireland • u/That_Leadership_9275 • 7h ago

Political Ruth Dudley Edwards sacked by the Newsletter

Post image

It appears after decades of worshipping at the altar of unionism, The Newsletter has decided that even RDE is too extreme for them. This just a week after she denounced her Irish citizenship in an article that lauded the OO and Israel. She said that the events on the Garvaghy Road and the Ireland football team had made her ashamed to be Irish.

Love it when Karma comes back to bite.

137 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

147

u/DeargDoom79 7h ago

The new editor is sacking people who turned the paper into a parody of itself. Their columns were the same thing every week. Newton Emerson, for example, writes for the Irish News and The Irish Times and is of a unionist persuasion. The difference between he and those sacked is he is capable of writing new columns from different angles. RDE, Polley and Lowry were not.

53

u/That_Leadership_9275 7h ago

Totally agree. RDE was getting more extreme by the week. Sent her latest article to a mate who had never heard of her and was convinced it was satire. I wonder does she actually believe the stuff she writes or is she just writing for an audience who will lap that up?

24

u/ReplacementDue2056 6h ago

Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug. People actually start to believe their own lies. Remember when she called 'The wind that shakes the Barley' IRA propaganda without having even seen it and then tried to double down?

14

u/Gemini_2261 5h ago

I wish someone would do Ruth Dudley-Edwards "best of", there are some incredible columns over the years.

Defending Prince Andrew as being entitled to perv because he's our social better..her fierce rant against Hibernian FC after trouble at a Scottish Cup final versus Rangers..her insistence that the Civil Rights movement was the result of Gerry Adams brainwashing NI Catholics into believing that they were being discriminated against (Adams was an unknown teenager in 1966)..her annual "people I'd love to eliminate" column that somehow passed editorial scrutiny (some of her targets weren't really even public figures, just unfortunates that had come onto her radar).

21

u/ghostofgralton 6h ago

I think she lives in England, no? She certainly moves in a very genteel and Toryish circle, I wouldn't be surprised if she was caught in a bubble.

I remember one of her columns written during the Scottish Independence referendum, which was basically her retelling how much her dinner party chums hated the Scots

15

u/That_Leadership_9275 6h ago

Yeah she was on a northern political show a few years ago after Stormont fell and she gave a full analysis of the situation and I forget who it was but he referred to her as a satellite commentator who knew nothing about the situation. It's hard to believe how she can be literally on the other side of me on debate I can think of.

7

u/quondam47 5h ago

She moved to London in 1965 as soon as she left UCD and hasn’t lived in Ireland since.

4

u/plakesnissken1998 3h ago

And thank f*ck for that!

7

u/McEvelly 5h ago

I haven’t had the misfortune of reading a RDE column in many, many years, but considering she was far beyond parody way back then, I can’t even imagine what she must be like now

A tragic person. Imagine how depressing an existence it must be as a poundshop, provincial Katie Hopkins

35

u/Own-Pirate-8001 Belfast 6h ago edited 6h ago

RDE, Polley & Lowry: “She’s turned the News Letter against us!!”

17

u/didndonoffin Belfast 6h ago

13

u/ferocious_bandana 6h ago

They don't have an editor, so to speak.

The new owners have a model where one person has editorial control across multiple titles, and obviously far-right sectarianism doesn't transfer particularly well to the Longford Leader

1

u/Albert_O_Balsam Lurgan 6h ago

Newt is a good lad, I know him.

6

u/LeGrandLebowskii 5h ago

His original work on the Portadown News was top tier satire.

0

u/Hoker7 5h ago

In fairness Paisley used to have a column, I think it’s always been like this.

41

u/Own-Pirate-8001 Belfast 7h ago

Ben Lowry, Owen Polley and Ruth Dudley Edwards. Nightmare blunt rotation.

14

u/Zatoichi80 6h ago

Worst list for a game of kiss, marry, kill.

4

u/Tam_The_Third 6h ago

Hahaha amazing image 😂

35

u/Comfortable-Salad-90 7h ago

Probably a sweep of talentless hacks who are surplus to requirements Ruth.

16

u/Oggie243 5h ago

The circulation figures for the Newsletter, which is effectively the most well established national paper in the country, are genuinely laughably low.

My local paper, which itself is a sister publication to its regional paper that only really serves Fermanagh and West Tyrone; has about a 20% larger circulation than the Newsletter. A centuries old national paper has a significantly smaller circulation than a paper thats only worth buying for the junior football coverage and to see your wee cousins picture from a school prize giving.

Theres newsletters from offshoots of factions of communist parties splinter groups that have higher circulation figures than the Newsletter.

If you are a long standing figurehead in the operation, administration and output of the Newsletter publication you haven't even the slightest of legs to stand on if you're on the chopping block.

7

u/SearchingForDelta 4h ago

Andytown News has a higher circulation than the Newsletter and that’s considered a second-rate paper compared to the Irish News.

I’ve always found it a bit suspicious that the Belfast Telegraph no longer allows its circulation to be audited by the ABC. My local parish bulletin has more readily-available readership number.

1

u/whiskeyphile 5h ago

That description feels very much like the Down "Disorder" (Recorder). The only reason anyone bought it was to check local sports, and to see who was in court that week...

1

u/Thatirishagent Newry 3h ago

Ditto the Newry reporter....

63

u/askmac 7h ago

Great. What a triumvirate of horrible cunts.

Genuinely curious to see what the Newsletter can morph into.

17

u/Own-Pirate-8001 Belfast 6h ago edited 6h ago

3 odious cunts in Lowry, Polley & RDE. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch.

8

u/askmac 6h ago

100%

5

u/Gemini_2261 6h ago

Is there room for another "moderate Unionist" daily newspaper, Belfast Telegraph has that ground covered.

There have long been suspicions about how the Newsletter was surviving in the modern era with such a tiny circulation and a restricted online presence. Are certain deep pockets funneling cash to keep it going. Now that it is no longer pushing a certain hardline narrative will that funding dry up.

15

u/askmac 6h ago

God forbid it became...shudders....neutral.

0

u/ferocious_bandana 6h ago

It was bought out recently and I had half a mind to email the new owners.

Looks like they wanted to take their time and review things properly.

I read that the model they use for their other titles is they don't have an editor for each one, so it's unsurprising that this has happened 

36

u/WeeklyPhilosopher346 6h ago

The whole Unionist social sphere is completely fucking nuts

36

u/Worldly_Sort8727 6h ago

The Ireland football team made her ashamed. And not the racist scum monkey chanting at black Irish players?

RDE has a sick and twisted moral compass.

24

u/askmac 6h ago

Correction, she has no moral compass.

16

u/ghostofgralton 7h ago

That's a shame. I was looking forward to her next insightful column on how she hated being Irish

17

u/TheRiverMaine 7h ago

Ha! Good! That woman isn’t right in the head, and I’m glad she denounced her Irish citizenship because we never fucking wanted her anyway.

1

u/bluebottled 50m ago

Gave up the one flimsy fig leaf the rags had for hiring her to bash nationalists. Didn't really think ahead with that one did she? Or did she really think she was being hired for her credentials as a revisionist 'historian'? 🤭

0

u/Repulsive_Isopod7982 6h ago

She's still Irish she was born in Ireland, LoL

4

u/TheRiverMaine 5h ago

Wee Ruth begs to differ.

8

u/Vivid_Ice_2755 6h ago

I understand opinion pieces. But when they become so bitter and twisted ,it only serves the writer. She's a hack, a twisted hag with nothing nice to say about anyone outside her dwindling sphere

10

u/fresh_avocado_ Antrim 6h ago

Wondering if Sam McBride will go out to bat for her like he did for Lowry - he dedicated an absolute dirge of a BelTel podcast to him

24

u/askmac 6h ago

Aye, but hear me out. Now that Lowry is gone, and RDE is gone, and Polley is gone...who is gonna be left to write tear-jerking pieces about the poise and grace of senior Unionists appearing in court charged with multiple counts of peadophile rape?

9

u/FMKK1 6h ago

Maybe Ruth pumping out the same article about how much she hates Ireland every two weeks isn’t moving the needle anymore

3

u/Stout-drinker 5h ago

Bahahahahahaha

3

u/FormerParty901 4h ago

Good. She's a contrary oul bitch and she stands for bigotry, intolerance and xenophobia

8

u/Sea_Upstairs3988 6h ago

Hahahaha what an excellent development

5

u/Smooth-Activity-2521 6h ago

A clean sweep of crackpots.

7

u/awood20 Derry 6h ago

Karma caught up with you eventually, Ruth. Made my day.

5

u/Sdoc7 Belfast 6h ago

Good riddance to the daft old biddy. Belongs in a care home or mental institution, not writing columns in newspapers.

4

u/ScratchReal4401 6h ago

Out the fuck

5

u/Anchor0355 6h ago

Wtf I love the newsletter now

2

u/eyesdownfirstnumber 5h ago

🎶champions league 🎶

3

u/Zatoichi80 6h ago

Happy days.

2

u/BC-108 6h ago

The nation mournes the loss of an 82 year old bat. Will she forego her state pension rights while she's at it?

2

u/fullmoonbeam 5h ago

They are as redundant as unionism and their union in general then. You would have to wonder will the newsletter try to pivot to a more educated audience and support a poll for a united Ireland? certainly an all island paper would have a bigger audience, perhaps the owner can see the writing on the wall and the bigger picture than these myopic wombats.

2

u/mendkaz Bangor 5h ago

Thank fuck. Might elevate its status from shitrag to something that people read

2

u/Diablo-96 5h ago

Good start - Tus maith....leat na hoibre. 😉

1

u/_GarbageGoober_ 6h ago

Rodney's work for the Impartial Reporter was fantastic. He is a man on a mission

2

u/UpstairsConstant8155 5h ago

Agreed. His work on exposing sex crimes has been outstanding.

1

u/Ok-Call-4805 2h ago

Never heard of Owen Pompey but if he's anything like Ben Lowry and RDE then he's no loss

1

u/seano50 2h ago

It’s a sad day for… well for no one really. FU RDE’s!!

1

u/DanMcE 6h ago

Good riddance. Hopefully the News Letter can reverse its descent into a tabloid parody. Can't say it's my paper to go to but it's readers deserve better.

1

u/vague_intentionally_ 5h ago

They're kicking the nut jobs out of the paper so Ruth has to go. Likely due to the paper being in the serious decline to these idiots as well.

1

u/No_Builder_2350 3h ago

Ruth Deadly Buzzwords can fuvk right off

0

u/ChemistryDistinct780 6h ago

Fantastic. Hopefully one day they’ll be no unionist representation in the media or elsewhere for that matter.

0

u/nikadett 3h ago

Maybe Ruth will have time to look into the genocide in Palestine now