November, 2012

Peter Robinson: are you the Captain in disguise?

Peter Robinson doesn’t look like Terence O’Neill and he doesn’t sound like him (OK, maybe a smidgen of nasal-tone match) but in his  DUP conference  speech he reminded me of the Captain. For the benefit of the younger members of our audience, Captain Terence O’Neill was the top man of unionism in the 1960s. Most […]

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Peter Robinson: are you the Captain in disguise?

Peter Robinson doesn’t look like Terence O’Neill and he doesn’t sound like him (OK, maybe a smidgen of nasal-tone match) but in his  DUP conference  speech he reminded me of the Captain. For the benefit of the younger members of our audience, Captain Terence O’Neill was the top man of unionism in the 1960s. Most […]

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Are republicans marching in the wrong direction?

For unionists, the sight of Martin McGuinness at the heart of the North’s government must a pill beyond bitter. Republicans may point to this to emphasise the massive changes that have occurred and how the Orange state has been effectively dismantled. Their goal remains a re-united, independent Ireland. Their problem, however, is how they should […]

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Are republicans marching in the wrong direction?

For unionists, the sight of Martin McGuinness at the heart of the North’s government must a pill beyond bitter. Republicans may point to this to emphasise the massive changes that have occurred and how the Orange state has been effectively dismantled. Their goal remains a re-united, independent Ireland. Their problem, however, is how they should […]

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Me speak Irish? Get real!

Interesting piece of information in this morning’s Irish Times. It’s headed ‘Most people say they can speak some Irish’, but in the last paragraph it tells us that most people (again, in the twenty-six counties) say they don’t want Irish revived as the main spoken language of the country (by which I presume they once […]

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Me speak Irish? Get real!

Interesting piece of information in this morning’s Irish Times. It’s headed ‘Most people say they can speak some Irish’, but in the last paragraph it tells us that most people (again, in the twenty-six counties) say they don’t want Irish revived as the main spoken language of the country (by which I presume they once […]

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Why 12 December won’t mean much to the Finucanes

I used to think that the killing of Pat Finucane touched people here, at least in part, because he was middle-class.  A successful lawyer, living in a nice house, sitting down to a  family dinner as so many people like him have done. And then the door opens and Death comes in.  I still think […]

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Why 12 December won’t mean much to the Finucanes

I used to think that the killing of Pat Finucane touched people here, at least in part, because he was middle-class.  A successful lawyer, living in a nice house, sitting down to a  family dinner as so many people like him have done. And then the door opens and Death comes in.  I still think […]

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Tim Pat Coogan and the visa that wasn’t

Maybe it was the title that did it. Tim Pat Coogan,  historian and former editor of The Irish Press, has had his application for a visa to the United States turned down. He was due to do a book tour of the eastern states, including a lecture to the American Irish Historical Society, but that’s […]

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Tim Pat Coogan and the visa that wasn’t

Maybe it was the title that did it. Tim Pat Coogan,  historian and former editor of The Irish Press, has had his application for a visa to the United States turned down. He was due to do a book tour of the eastern states, including a lecture to the American Irish Historical Society, but that’s […]

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