October, 2013

As time passes, I’m finding myself drawn more and more to the how-about-if-it-happened-to-you school of thought. That’s to say, if an action is proposed by unionists,  they should first ask themselves “How would we feel if this were done to us?” And vice versa – republicans should consider how they would be affected if unionist […]

    Thinking big with Ian Óg Are we a parochial people? I would say so. We think in local terms, sometimes at the expense of the bigger picture. I remember an ex-student of mine complaining that there were no English teacher jobs going. “But I thought I saw an ad for an English teacher […]

Are we a parochial people? I would say so. We think in local terms, sometimes at the expense of the bigger picture. I remember an ex-student of mine complaining that there were no English teacher jobs going. “But I thought I saw an ad for an English teacher in Enniskillen the other day” I said.  […]

I’m just off the Nolan Show, where my old sparring partner Malachi O’Doherty (actually he’s younger than me) was worrying about Gerry Adams maybe not having told the police quickly enough about a conversation he had with his brother Liam. You’ve probably read about the case in the papers or heard about it on radio […]

I’m just off the Nolan Show, where my old sparring partner Malachi O’Doherty (actually he’s younger than me) was worrying about Gerry Adams maybe not having told the police quickly enough about a conversation he had with his brother Liam. You’ve probably read about the case in the papers or heard about it on radio […]

Well, that’s that then. The electorate have delivered, in Enda’s word, a “wallop” to Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin, and a pat on the back to Micheal Martin. Who was it said “The people have spoken – the bastards”? Glad it wasn’t me. Meanwhile, a few thoughts about any future Seanad. 1.  It should/must […]

      Sometimes the Stormont foreground is so crisis-ridden, we forget the important background work. That’s where the calm everyday business of government goes on,  where the machinery is kept cranking by nameless people. Well, except your name is Mary McArdle or Paul Kavanagh.  If that’s your name you lose your job. Their mistake, […]

Sometimes the Stormont foreground is so crisis-ridden, we forget the important background work. That’s where the calm everyday business of government goes on,  where the machinery is kept cranking by nameless people. Well, except your name is Mary McArdle or Paul Kavanagh.  If that’s your name you lose your job. Their mistake, you see,  was […]

“Fewer of us see ourselves as Orange or Green – instead we worry about dissidents stirring up fear by naming a park after a hunger striker, or stand-offs about parades…” That’s a balanced comment from a Belfast Telegraph commentator, making it clear that we’re  learning to move away from tired traditional allegiances and rejecting the […]

The media, as you know, are the watchdog of our society. Without them, we would be at the mercy of corrupt governments. But we have them and they bring us information that is vital to our healthy democracy. Take the Liam Adams case. Liam Adams has now been found guilty by a court of law […]