December, 2012

I know I should be cheerful with the time of year that’s in it, but I came across two statements today that have plunged me into serious gloom. Move over, Scrooge. The first was on the car radio, where I heard RTÉ give a free five-minute plug to the Irish Independent.  Apparently that organ is […]

I know I should be cheerful with the time of year that’s in it, but I came across two statements today that have plunged me into serious gloom. Move over, Scrooge. The first was on the car radio, where I heard RTÉ give a free five-minute plug to the Irish Independent.  Apparently that organ is […]

OK, cards on the table. I like William Crawley. He’s smart, cheerful and maybe the best presenter in BBC Belfast. ‘Sunday Sequence’, the radio programme he presents, has become a must-listen for anybody interested in political as well as religious developments here and elsewhere.  Right, that’s the nice stuff. Now the point on which I […]

OK, cards on the table. I like William Crawley. He’s smart, cheerful and maybe the best presenter in BBC Belfast. ‘Sunday Sequence’, the radio programme he presents, has become a must-listen for anybody interested in political as well as religious developments here and elsewhere.  Right, that’s the nice stuff. Now the point on which I […]

A: They have a nerve, don’t you think? But no feelings. Imagine naming a kiddies’ park after a well-known terrorist.  B:  Who did? A:  The terrorist called Raymond McCreesh. Somewhere around Newry they’ve gone and named a park after him. Probably in retaliation for the loyalist protests about tearing down the flag. B: But I […]

A: They have a nerve, don’t you think? But no feelings. Imagine naming a kiddies’ park after a well-known terrorist.  B:  Who did? A:  The terrorist called Raymond McCreesh. Somewhere around Newry they’ve gone and named a park after him. Probably in retaliation for the loyalist protests about tearing down the flag. B: But I […]

[Below is a shortened version of my interview with Tim Pat Coogan in my book ‘Whose Past Is It Anyway?’ – the ideal Christmas present…You’ve bought it already? Now that’s what I call clever.] Tim Pat Coogan mentioned that he was working on a book about the Famine when I interviewed him. Since then,  the […]

[Below is a shortened version of my interview with Tim Pat Coogan in my book ‘Whose Past Is It Anyway?’ – the ideal Christmas present…You’ve bought it already? Now that’s what I call clever.] Tim Pat Coogan mentioned that he was working on a book about the Famine when I interviewed him. Since then,  the […]

1. President Obama’s speech in the aftermath of the Connecticut killings was indeed impressive, particularly when he spoke of the children whose lives had been brutally snuffed out. Twenty lives ended before they’d properly begun – who wouldn’t feel like weeping. Q: Did the president weep also for the 168 children killed in Pakistan since […]

1. President Obama’s speech in the aftermath of the Connecticut killings was indeed impressive, particularly when he spoke of the children whose lives had been brutally snuffed out. Twenty lives ended before they’d properly begun – who wouldn’t feel like weeping. Q: Did the president weep also for the 168 children killed in Pakistan since […]