I was on BBC Radio Ulster/Raidio Uladh’s “Sunday Sequence” this morning talking about ageism. I’d initially planned to blog on the topic until I tuned in to the latter part of the programme as I drove home. The presenter Róisin McAuley was interviewing a Queen’s University professor who was big into dealing with the past/post-conflict […]
November, 2014
NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS by Harry McAvinchey
It’s been a wonderful week for the eloquence , depth and complexity of usage of the English language . “Never mind the bollocks. Here’s the Sex Pistols!” That was the title of the rock band the Sex Pistols’ long playing vinyl record away back in the the 1970s . It crashed into the complacency of […]
POLITICS ARE A JOKE IN NORNEVERLAND by Harry McAvinchey
Politics are a joke in Norneverland . If that simple fact wasn’t evident during this past few days it’ll never be again. Theresa Villiers , the Secretary of State has begun making noises as we near Christmas time and people are distracted with shopping and planning for family re-unions, Christmas parties, charity raffles and pantomimes […]
Paint it black
It’s possible my hearing was playing tricks with me, but did the DUP’s Alastair Ross, chair of the Standards and Privileges committee at Stormont, speaking about the committe’s report on the Irisgate affair, actually use the word “transparency” ? Did I get that right? Because immediately after he’d patted himself and his party and maybe the […]
IT’S A BEAUTIFUL MORNING…. AND AN EVENING WITH ROBERT PLANT – by Harry McAvinchey
It’s a beautiful morning . A crisp November day. The rains and gloom have scampered off into some corner in the sky and left this huge blue spotless dome hanging above us, rays of sunshine lighting up the plain, unpainted ,wooden fence outside; bringing the grain to new life. There is no wind whatsoever and […]
Follow the money
When the idea of a united Ireland is put forward, the unionist response is usually based on hard-headed economics: who would want to be tied to the coat-tails of the south, so heavy with massive debt? And who could blame them? The same applied to Scotland’s referendum: David Cameron and Co successfully persuaded the Scottish people that […]
‘Poppies Over Me’ by Randall Stephen Hall
Poppies Over Me. By Randall Stephen Hall. https://soundcloud.com/randall-stephen-hall/poppies-over-me-11-7-11 Before we leave the month of November 2014, when the year surrenders to the seasons, I thought I would bring to you I song I wrote called “Poppies Over Me”. Richard Hall, my great great grandfather was a soldier, born in Westmeath and living in Cavan when […]
Gilbert and Sullivan and the b- words
It gets more like the plot of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta with every day. Or maybe a chapter from Alice in Wonderland. First we’re told that Gerry Adams made a speech in Enniskillen where he talked about achieving equality and the people in the DUP who are resisting this. He referred to them as […]
Gilbert and Sullivan and the b- words
It gets more like the plot of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta with every day. Or maybe a chapter from Alice in Wonderland. First we’re told that Gerry Adams made a speech in Enniskillen where he talked about achieving equality and the people in the DUP who are resisting this. He referred to them as […]
Why the Westminster elections don’t really matter (and matter a great deal)
There’s an irony at the heart of the verbal war being conducted at present between the DUP and Sinn Féin . It’s an irony that none of our mainstream thinkers/journalists appear to have addressed, and it’s this: it doesn’t matter. Let me explain. Gregory’s laugh-our-asses-off routine at the DUP conference was intended to appeal to […]