October, 2009

I was on ‘Good Morning Ulster’ (note that title if you’re living in Donegal, Monaghan or Cavan) yesterday morning and Mark Carruthers asked me a question I could have answered either yes or no to, with near-equal honesty. The question was “The two candidates for the SDLP leadership are very different from each other, aren’t […]

I was on ‘Good Morning Ulster’ (note that title if you’re living in Donegal, Monaghan or Cavan) yesterday morning and Mark Carruthers asked me a question I could have answered either yes or no to, with near-equal honesty. The question was “The two candidates for the SDLP leadership are very different from each other, aren’t […]

I did an interview with my old classmate Eamonn McCann today. He’s part of a group of over twenty former St Columb’s old boys, I suppose you could call us, who left St Columb’s College, Derry, in 1960 (or thereabouts). There are people who go on from school to shine in the adult world while […]

I did an interview with my old classmate Eamonn McCann today. He’s part of a group of over twenty former St Columb’s old boys, I suppose you could call us, who left St Columb’s College, Derry, in 1960 (or thereabouts). There are people who go on from school to shine in the adult world while […]

Richard Ingrams , the former editor of Private Eye, once said he gave up on satire when he heard that Henry Kissinger had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Reality was clearly so much more absurd and laughable, satire just had to take a back seat. I thought of this yesterday when I read The […]

Richard Ingrams , the former editor of Private Eye, once said he gave up on satire when he heard that Henry Kissinger had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Reality was clearly so much more absurd and laughable, satire just had to take a back seat. I thought of this yesterday when I read The […]

A lot of posturing comment recently over two salutes, one because it happened and the other because it didn’t happen. In both cases the person being saluted or not saluted knew nothing of the event. The first involved John Brady, who was found hanged in his cell at Strand Road police station in Derry on […]

A lot of posturing comment recently over two salutes, one because it happened and the other because it didn’t happen. In both cases the person being saluted or not saluted knew nothing of the event. The first involved John Brady, who was found hanged in his cell at Strand Road police station in Derry on […]

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Brighton bombing got a fair bit of coverage on breakfast radio this morning. Thatcher, we’re told, was saved because she was working on some papers, rather than in her bathroom. I’ve always found that a bit hard to swallow – that it was her dedication, her enormous appetite for work, […]

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Brighton bombing got a fair bit of coverage on breakfast radio this morning. Thatcher, we’re told, was saved because she was working on some papers, rather than in her bathroom. I’ve always found that a bit hard to swallow – that it was her dedication, her enormous appetite for work, […]