April, 2010

I remember 1992.  I was in the company of a senior SDLP politician and, as is the way of SDLP politicians, he was ignoring me because there was someone more important in the room. It was a few days before polling day for the Westminster elections and the senior SDLP man was explaining to the […]

I remember 1992.  I was in the company of a senior SDLP politician and, as is the way of SDLP politicians, he was ignoring me because there was someone more important in the room. It was a few days before polling day for the Westminster elections and the senior SDLP man was explaining to the […]

Jerome Quinn is mad as hell with the BBC and he’s not taking any more. Well actually, he’s taking a case against them, because he says they discriminated against him on the grounds that he came from a ‘Catholic and irish background’. It’s a tangled tale. Jerome (like myself an Omagh man) claims the BBC, […]

Jerome Quinn is mad as hell with the BBC and he’s not taking any more. Well actually, he’s taking a case against them, because he says they discriminated against him on the grounds that he came from a ‘Catholic and irish background’. It’s a tangled tale. Jerome (like myself an Omagh man) claims the BBC, […]

How do young(ish) people here vote? I ask because a couple of days ago I was listening to two thirty-somethings talking about the debate between the political leaders in Britain and the debate between the political leaders here. Their conclusion: the debate in Britain was far superior because the debate here dealt with the same […]

How do young(ish) people here vote? I ask because a couple of days ago I was listening to two thirty-somethings talking about the debate between the political leaders in Britain and the debate between the political leaders here. Their conclusion: the debate in Britain was far superior because the debate here dealt with the same […]

I knew Mike Nesbitt’s first wife when she, like him, used to work for the BBC in Belfast. She was a lovely young woman and I always thought it a pity their marriage didn’t work out. But that’s her business and his business, and nobody else’s. You wouldn’t think that, though, the way the media […]

I knew Mike Nesbitt’s first wife when she, like him, used to work for the BBC in Belfast. She was a lovely young woman and I always thought it a pity their marriage didn’t work out. But that’s her business and his business, and nobody else’s. You wouldn’t think that, though, the way the media […]

Is there a more accomplished TV performer in this election than John O’Dowd? The Sinn Féin man looks like someone who might get up and put his fist through your face but you may be sure that’s not what makes political opponents avoid him. O’Dowd has two great strengths: he’s fluent and he’s unflappable. It […]

Is there a more accomplished TV performer in this election than John O’Dowd? The Sinn Féin man looks like someone who might get up and put his fist through your face but you may be sure that’s not what makes political opponents avoid him. O’Dowd has two great strengths: he’s fluent and he’s unflappable. It […]