February, 2013

Three things about the lolly we get from London

It depends on who you’re talking to. Some people, they say we’d be scuppered without money from Britain. Others say we’re losing millions by duplicating everything north and south.  So let’s make a modest start, look at the economic argument and see how the economic case for union stands up. (Health warning:I tend to get […]

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Three things about the lolly we get from London

It depends on who you’re talking to. Some people, they say we’d be scuppered without money from Britain. Others say we’re losing millions by duplicating everything north and south.  So let’s make a modest start, look at the economic argument and see how the economic case for union stands up. (Health warning:I tend to get […]

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Northern Irish – Promised land or no-man’s-land?

Maybe it’s because it’s still February (how long, Lord? How long?) and the weather’s turned cold, but I find myself this Wednesday morning thinking grimly as to what bright spark came up with the wheeze of including ‘Northern Irish’ as a category in the census forms. Because it clearly is placed with exquisite precision as […]

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Northern Irish – Promised land or no-man’s-land?

Maybe it’s because it’s still February (how long, Lord? How long?) and the weather’s turned cold, but I find myself this Wednesday morning thinking grimly as to what bright spark came up with the wheeze of including ‘Northern Irish’ as a category in the census forms. Because it clearly is placed with exquisite precision as […]

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Concern with bread-and-butter. Oh, and flags too.

It’s interesting the illogical knots in which people can tie themselves sometimes. When Sinn Féin people talk about the need to hold a border poll, their unionist opponents tell them to wise up, a re-united Ireland is far from the minds of most people. The days of emotional dreaming are done. It’s jobs and mortgages […]

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Concern with bread-and-butter. Oh, and flags too.

It’s interesting the illogical knots in which people can tie themselves sometimes. When Sinn Féin people talk about the need to hold a border poll, their unionist opponents tell them to wise up, a re-united Ireland is far from the minds of most people. The days of emotional dreaming are done. It’s jobs and mortgages […]

Continue Reading

Malachi, me and that movie

I’m just back from a debate (?) on  BBC Raidio Uladh/Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence. My sparring partner was Malachi O’Doherty, who is a good example of someone whom I like but whose opinions on most things I disagree with. This time we were disagreeing about the film Mea Maxima Culpa, which is (or certainly was) showing […]

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Malachi, me and that movie

I’m just back from a debate (?) on  BBC Raidio Uladh/Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence. My sparring partner was Malachi O’Doherty, who is a good example of someone whom I like but whose opinions on most things I disagree with. This time we were disagreeing about the film Mea Maxima Culpa, which is (or certainly was) showing […]

Continue Reading