September, 2013

I was on the Nolan Show  (radio) earlier this week, discussing the Belfast Telegraph’s latest poll which shows just 3.8% of people here would want the border removed tomorrow,  and  22% would want it removed in twenty years’ time. I’ll resist the temptation to get into the discussion I had with Malachi O’Doherty  (I’ll put […]

Good to see you, Dr Haass. We are a naturally hospitable people but consider your welcome as double the usual. Anyone who can help us deal with flags, parades and the past gets  the mother and father of all céad mile fáiltes. There may be the occasional nay-sayer who’ll mutter about the arrival of someone […]

I heard two interestingly different views on the Haas talks yesterday. One came from the leader of the DUP, Peter Robinson, who said he didn’t expect all matters regarding the past, regarding flags, regarding marching to be resolved by the Haas talks. The other came from the woman who removed Mr Robinson from his Westminster […]

You may not wish to go so far as Jeremy Paxman and ask “Why is this lying bastard lying to me?” but it’s usually sensible, when receiving information, to ask where it’s coming from.  The most recent figures about the desirability or otherwise of the border come from The Belfast Telegraph, which  it’s fair to […]

Feeling optimistic this grey Tuesday morning? No, me neither. At the same time you’d like to think that Dr Haas would get off on the right foot at his up-coming flags/parades/the past talks. Jim Allister is alert for any treachery (now who does that remind you of?):  “On parading and dealing with the past, Haass […]

I saw a link on Facebook recently that truly hit the mark. It said something like “Constant Guardian reader finally gives up on Obama and concedes he’s useless”.  That’s a concession a lot of people, I suspect, would make. Maybe not out loud but in a small hidden place in their heads. So much hope […]

“Gracious: elegant and tasteful, esp. as exhibiting wealth or high social status”. That’s the definition of “gracious” I get in my dictionary, and it’s the word the Labour leader Eamon Gilmore used at a meeting of the British-Irish Association about a week ago: “I don’t underestimate the challenges this will involve but I know they […]

We were in Siracusa today and a lovely place it is. Full of shadowy side-streets to cool you,  piazzas to make you dizzy with their elegance, and several churches to make you marvel at the faith that built them. In one of the piazzas a young wedding couple were getting photographs taken. Passers-by called good […]

We did  a day-trip to Malta yesterday.  Ignoramus that I am, I knew little to nothing of Malta beyond John Huston’s movie  The Maltese Falcon  and the existence of a group called the Knights of Malta. I now know that it’s a small island with an even smaller one, Gozo, tagged onto it, and that […]

I see speedy reaction in unionist circles to that speech by Eamon Gilmore (about which I plan to blog later this week). The reaction is interesting in that it raises the wider issue of how we deal with dead combatants.  One answer would be to leave them in peace. The dead, whatever they may have […]