April, 2014

I see today where that virtuous organ (not to be confused with a Venerable Organ) the Irish Independent  reports the concern of the Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin over the levels of violence in Ireland today. The Archbishop says it reminds him of the time of the Troubles, when the notion of “an acceptable […]

It’s nice to know you’re not alone. While I’m happy to stand over anything I write – or even to admit when I get something wrong – it’s sort of cheering when you discover that people you respect have come to the same conclusion as you.  Over the past week or so two writers I […]

I don’t know if Peter Robinson follows the example of his former leader and abstains from the devil’s buttermilk, but he’s certainly been acting in recent times like a drunk man on an uneven boreen.  In 2011 Peter told his party: “The conflict of the last 40 years has created terrible divisions…It became a case of ‘them […]

What is Teresa Villiers for? Why, that’s easy. The British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland exists so that she can make statements like this one: “At least with a new process, agreed by Northern Ireland’s political leaders, there is scope to write in from the start the need for an objective balance and with […]

  The whale is safe. That big, blubbery, water-spouting mammal which is a wonder to behold (although not of much use to most of us in the average day or week) will not be allowed to become extinct. And wouldn’t it be appalling – a crime, in fact – if it did? I’ll come back […]

So Peter Robinson is looking for converts – not religious ones, of course – they’ll still let them remain Catholics/Protestants/whatever – but political ones. Stop looking for Lundies, Peter told his party at the weekend, and start looking for converts. Full marks for consistency, Peter. Sort of. In 2011, Peter was appealing to Catholics, blowing […]

“I don’t think that there is anybody in Ireland, anybody that has any influence, that would have any qualms about a royal guest at the 2016 commemorations.” That was the Labour Party’s Eamon Gilmore talking the other day. And there have been other voices saying the same kind of thing.  So is anybody opposed to […]

I was on BBC Radio Foyle this morning with my old university class-mate Ruth Dudley Edwards, talking about That Visit. The discussion opened with a clip of Karen Patterson with Norman Tebbitt, who complained that republicans had never apologised for the hurt they’d inflicted on him.  I pointed out that Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams and […]

I feel sorry for Norman Tebbitt.  Both he and his wife suffered in the Brighton bomb explosion and his wife, according to reports, is confined to a wheel-chair for life. If that had happened to me and my wife, I would find it extremely difficult/impossible to forgive those who had done the deed. And I […]