Neil Mackay

Neil Mackay
Born
County Antrim, Northern Ireland
EducationQueen's University Belfast
OccupationsJournalist, former editor, author
OrganizationSunday Herald
Notable workAll the Little Guns Went Bang Bang (2013 book)
The War on Truth (2006 book)
The Wolf Trial (2017 book)

Neil Mackay is a Northern Irish journalist, writer and former regional TV producer based in Glasgow.

Mackay edited the Sunday Herald from 2015 to 2018 and wrote three books: The War on Truth, (2006), All the Little Guns Went Bang Bang (2013), and The Wolf Trial (2017).

Early life and education

Mackay is from County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. He was born in 1969 or 1970. He grew up in The Troubles and was beaten up aged 14. He received a scholarship to attend Queen's University Belfast.

Career

Mackay was a journalist in Northern Ireland, but moved to Scotland in 1996 after receiving death threats. He worked for The Big Issue, Scotland on Sunday.

In 1999, he joined the launch team of the Sunday Herald, which he edited 2015-18. He tried to stop columnist Angela Haggerty from being fired but failed. In 2003, after a long investigation, he named a British spy who had infiltrated the Irish Republican Army.

In 2004, he was a contract TV producer working for the Scottish Media Group on Nazi Hate Rock: A Macintyre Investigation.

Books

The War on Truth: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Invasion of Iraq but Your Government Wouldn't Tell You is Mackay's 2006 account of events leading to the Iraq war.[better source needed]

All the Little Guns Went Bang Bang is a 2013 social science fiction novel about two boys with violent parents, and explores the extent to which violence is learned by children, from their parents and community.

The Wolf Trial is a 2017 historical crime novel about a werewolf trial in 16th-century Germany, which examines if god in Christianity is an evil or kind deity.

Awards

Personal life

Mackay has post-traumatic stress disorder. He has two daughters. He is openly critical of religion.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Editor Neil Mackay quits Sunday Herald due to 'ill-health' - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage". HoldtheFrontPage. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "Neil Mackay gets signed up". Press Gazette. 13 May 2004. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Mackay, Neil (19 July 2020). "Opinion: Neil Mackay: How I learned to cope with a diagnosis of PTSD". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 Trainer, Paul (12 February 2017). "Sunday Herald at 18: Interview with editor Neil Mackay". Glasgowist. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  5. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (1 February 2016). "Why the Herald's editor fired a columnist in row with Rangers". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  6. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (29 January 2016). "Two columnists depart from Glasgow's Herald in row with Rangers". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  7. ↑ Byrne, Ciar (15 May 2003). "We were right to name Stakeknife, say reporters". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  8. ↑ "Papers remain confident about Stakeknife identity". Press Gazette. 15 May 2003. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "Nazi Hate Rock A Macintyre Investigation (2006)". BFI. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Mackay, Neil (22 January 2006). "White off the scale". The Guardian.
  11. ↑ Coates, Ken (2007). Surging for Oil (PDF). pp. 79–81. ISBN 978-0851247434.
  12. ↑ Deane, Raymond (15 December 2006). "Book Review: Incandescent Nation". The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  13. ↑ Smart, James (9 August 2013). "All the Little Guns Went Bang, Bang, Bang by Neil Mackay – review". the Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  14. ↑ McClements, Freya (17 October 2013). "All the Little Guns Went Bang Bang Bang, by Neil Mackay". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  15. ↑ Massie, Allan (30 April 2016). "Book review: The Wolf Trial by Neil Mackay". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  16. ↑ Williams, Martin (25 April 2019). "Scottish Press Awards: Herald and Times titles celebrate awards". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  17. ↑ Sharman, David. "Society of Editors Regional Press Awards winners announced - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage". HoldtheFrontPage. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  18. ↑ McCarthy, John (16 January 2015). "Charlie Hebdo NUJ debate: Sunday Herald's Neil Mackay clashes with 5Pillars' Roshan Salih on whether the media should critisise [sic] religion". The Drum. Retrieved 26 January 2022.