Here comes another year…That’s 2015…or maybe you like to call it two thousand and fifteen. We called every year of the previous century 19-88 or 19-67 …or maybe 19-99, but suddenly when we hit the mighty 21st century, it was two thousand and one or two thousand and two and what have you….Well if it […]
December, 2014
Why I hate New Year’s Eve
I’ve detested New Year’s Eve for decades now. It was OK when I was a teenager and attending local dances – there was the chance at midnight to kiss as many girls as you could get close to. But that was yesteryear. Now I find the fake bonhomie and yelps of delight at the start […]
Waiting to hear the p- word.
It’s at the planning stages still. Throughout Ireland, thought is being given to ways in which the events of 1916 might be best commemorated. Yesterday, for example, there was a fine article by Tim Pat Coogan in a series the Irish Times is running, and today Vincent Woods has an article about how the arts, particularly […]
Mr Micawber and the Stormont House Agreement
Charles Dickens’s Mr Micawber was the hapless character who stumbled through life, hoping against hope that “something would turn up”. As we near the end of 2014, it looks as though the British and Irish governments, along with our political parties, have done the same. They’ve addressed all the problems and postponed the evil day – but […]
A New Dawn by Harry McAvinchey
Dawn was just cusping.That beautiful half-light, neither darkness nor light at all. It was freezing too ; the spiky hackles of whitened sparkling grass were tearing at my boots. I really wished that I’d worn some sort of hat …any kind of hat; my head was so cold. I should have dried my hair properly […]
1984 and now
As the year limps towards a conclusion, there’s some looking back and some looking forward. Jim Allister the Traditional Unionist Voice leader, is a forward-thinking man – in one respect at least. He’s made that clear with his response to the Stormont House Agreement: “Another few months down the line it will maybe need another bailout […]
The Stormont ‘House’ Agreement: seven things that need facing
None of the Stormont parties may be throwing their caps at the moon but they have all signed up to the ‘Stormont House Agreement’ (Why am I thinking Hugh Laurie?) to keep the roof over the Assembly for a while longer. A few things we can say as they wipe the sleep from their […]
Waiting for the word from Westminster
As I write the big hand is struggling towards (high) noon, when we’re to be told what our masters in Westminster have decided to pass our way. The Stormont parties – for once united – have asked for a loan of £2 billion over ten years. That’s right, a loan. And we’re all holding our […]
BEARDS by Randall Stephen Hall
https://soundcloud.com/hugh-midden-speaks/beards-17-12-14 BEARDS. Have you noticed recently that the closer we get to Christmas, (like Santa’s elves, or characters from “The Hobbit” and “Game of Thrones”), men, young men especially, walk among us, in our streets, with bespoke beards. Bold framed brainy glasses, unusual shoes and tight canvas trousers breed like rabbits. Faster than germs […]
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE by Harry McAvinchey
They’re wrangling on the radio about whether or not there should be subtitles put on regional accents on television programmes. Some apparently find it insulting to do a thing like that . Some assume that the listener or watcher should simply accept the accent as it is and get on with it .That’s a fair […]