Alone in the Crowd -by Randall Stephen Hall

.To be alone on a beachIs better than being in a vast crowdNeither speaking, or listening in turn.Civil Rights is a shared experience.A dialogue, between equals.Not a war, between peopleWho only seek inequalityFor their enemy.My fear is thatThe old hunger for a united IrelandIs not a search for equality.At present it is only an ambitionBased […]

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Cracks – by Randall Stephen Hall

    It’s a fault within us. Part of our culture. To only see the small crack Within the pane of glass But not see the window. To never see the window frame The window and rarely the view. Trapped in the detail. That’s us, a bunch of fuss pots.   We are mean that […]

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Peace or sticking-plaster?

So peace has broken out in the Middle East. Israel is taking a rest from its genocidal exertions, although according to the BBC,  ‘the  Israel-Palestine war’ is suspended. Sometimes fake efforts to suggest that Hamas has been an equal opponent over the last 15 months verge on the delusional.   Will this transform the Middle […]

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The Independents and the Healy-Raes: crazy for power?

As Fianna Fail and Fine Gael assemble their government with the handful of ‘independent’ TDs, I find myself remembering a distinction someone once drew for me between a lunatic and an idiot. The word ‘lunatic’ comes from the Latin word ‘lunaticus’, meaning someone moonstruck or with their thoughts affected by the moon; the word ‘idiot’ […]

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Compensate Adams?

This morning I hear that the British government may have to give compensation to Gerry Adams, among others, for unlawful imprisonment back in the days of Long Kesh. On BBC Radio 4’ ‘Today’ programme the presenter pressed his guest on this issue, as though the inclusion of Gerry Adams in compensation would prove how stupid […]

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The Dark Well by Randall Stephen Hall

    Let us pause on the bridge Before we cross over. And let us see the moving waters And what they conjure up for us. Silvery ripples and shining reflections Upon ourselves and the golden dreams Of who we might become. Beyond the gun, the fear  And the bully dog’s jaw.   And when […]

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Matt Diskin is spiked by the Irish Times. Quelle surprise!

Sir,   Having read The Lancet’s latest shocking report in The Guardian on the revised numbers of civilian causalities in Gaza, it’s very reasonable to ask why the TV news media in particular have barely mentioned it at all; in stark.contrast to its current saturation coverage of the raging fires in California, which  are relatively […]

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