January, 2010

I was on ‘Sunday Sequence’ this morning with former Presbyterian Moderator John Dunlop, who accused me of being sectarian. At least I think he did. It was after I’d been asked my take on the on-going (ever-going?) Sinn Fein-DUP talks. I said that many nationalists/Catholics were more than dismayed that the DUP should have chosen […]

I was on ‘Sunday Sequence’ this morning with former Presbyterian Moderator John Dunlop, who accused me of being sectarian. At least I think he did. It was after I’d been asked my take on the on-going (ever-going?) Sinn Fein-DUP talks. I said that many nationalists/Catholics were more than dismayed that the DUP should have chosen […]

Strewth – will this never end? They’re still up in Hillsborough – or is it Stormont? – locked in verbal battle. Which unfortunately encourages the simple-minded to say ‘They’re just like a bunch of children! Why can’t they get their act together?’ In fact, of course, there are those, particularly south of the border, who […]

Strewth – will this never end? They’re still up in Hillsborough – or is it Stormont? – locked in verbal battle. Which unfortunately encourages the simple-minded to say ‘They’re just like a bunch of children! Why can’t they get their act together?’ In fact, of course, there are those, particularly south of the border, who […]

As I write, I’m listening to the voice of Alex Attwood of the SDLP speaking on the radio. He’s saying he figures that a deal is near and likely. When someone as obscure in his phrasing as little Alex can come out and say that, the end must indeed be nigh…Oh, hold that. He’s just […]

As I write, I’m listening to the voice of Alex Attwood of the SDLP speaking on the radio. He’s saying he figures that a deal is near and likely. When someone as obscure in his phrasing as little Alex can come out and say that, the end must indeed be nigh…Oh, hold that. He’s just […]

‘We are the people’: I used to think that was a football chant but it’s not. It’s the by-word of unionism and it was on display yesterday. Peter Robinson warned that if any party ( read ‘Sinn Fein’) walked away from its obligations under power-sharing, ‘it would experience the full wrath of the community’. What […]

‘We are the people’: I used to think that was a football chant but it’s not. It’s the by-word of unionism and it was on display yesterday. Peter Robinson warned that if any party ( read ‘Sinn Fein’) walked away from its obligations under power-sharing, ‘it would experience the full wrath of the community’. What […]

Well. That’s it, then. No deal. Hard to believe, given the investment of time and energy and personal reputation Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen put into it. Both men were clearly sleep-deprived, satisfaction-deprived and sign-off-deprived. And Sinn Fein weren’t looking too thrilled either. So now what? It looks as though Brown and Cowen are hoping […]

Well. That’s it, then. No deal. Hard to believe, given the investment of time and energy and personal reputation Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen put into it. Both men were clearly sleep-deprived, satisfaction-deprived and sign-off-deprived. And Sinn Fein weren’t looking too thrilled either. So now what? It looks as though Brown and Cowen are hoping […]