October, 2010

A divided society? You betcha

Peter Robinson figures that Catholic schools are standing between us and an integrated society.  Sorry, Peter, there’s more to it than that. A lot more. Take your daughter. Let’s assume she’s middle-class – been to university, has a degree, is working maybe as a teacher or a doctor or an accountant. And she announces she’s […]

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A divided society? You betcha

Peter Robinson figures that Catholic schools are standing between us and an integrated society.  Sorry, Peter, there’s more to it than that. A lot more. Take your daughter. Let’s assume she’s middle-class – been to university, has a degree, is working maybe as a teacher or a doctor or an accountant. And she announces she’s […]

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Put em up or else…

Switch on your TV and you can’t miss it.  Since last week every presenter who inserts him or herself into the glass rectangle in the corner of our living-rooms has the crimson symbol pinned in place. It’s poppy-time again. Our most famous poppy-wearer – and for a brief time, non-poppy-wearer – was/is of course Donna […]

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Put em up or else…

Switch on your TV and you can’t miss it.  Since last week every presenter who inserts him or herself into the glass rectangle in the corner of our living-rooms has the crimson symbol pinned in place. It’s poppy-time again. Our most famous poppy-wearer – and for a brief time, non-poppy-wearer – was/is of course Donna […]

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Why did Gerry Bradley die?

Why did Gerry Bradley die? The 56-year-old ex-IRA man was found dead in his car at Carrickfergus Marina yesterday. He’d been prominent in the IRA during the 1980s and 1990s; last year the story of his involvement, told to VO columnist Brian Feeney, was published. Today Feeney is reported as saying Bradley may have seen […]

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Why did Gerry Bradley die?

Why did Gerry Bradley die? The 56-year-old ex-IRA man was found dead in his car at Carrickfergus Marina yesterday. He’d been prominent in the IRA during the 1980s and 1990s; last year the story of his involvement, told to VO columnist Brian Feeney, was published. Today Feeney is reported as saying Bradley may have seen […]

Continue Reading

The most frightening sound in the world: silence.

We all talk too much. You, me, everyone. Watch people in the street or on a bus, in a restaurant or in a theatre interval: yap yap yappety-yap. What are they saying? What is so important that they say it with such intensity? As for politicians, whether in or out of the Assembly/Dail/Parliament: besides being […]

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The most frightening sound in the world: silence.

We all talk too much. You, me, everyone. Watch people in the street or on a bus, in a restaurant or in a theatre interval: yap yap yappety-yap. What are they saying? What is so important that they say it with such intensity? As for politicians, whether in or out of the Assembly/Dail/Parliament: besides being […]

Continue Reading