March, 2015

LET THEM ALL EAT CAKE by Harry McAvinchey

  There is no doubt that the Ashers Gay  Cake case in Norneverland , has exposed the idea that religious beliefs are sometimes not conducive to joined- up thinking …or running a bakery that can serve an entire community. Statements  issuing , straight -facedly from witnesses in  the  earthly High Court in Belfast, about  bakers […]

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Identity and the late NI21 party

I was on Radio Ulster/Raidio Uladh’s Talkback yesterday with Basil McCrea. I’ve always found McCrea an interesting person, if for no other reason that he appeared genuine and friendly, regardless of who he was speaking to. More of that later. The topic under discussion was James McClean’s rejection of the tag “Northern Irish”, making it […]

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THE ONE COLOUR RED by Randall Stephen Hall

The One Colour Red. By Randall Stephen Hall.   Here is a welink to the audio file of “The One Colour Red”. https://soundcloud.com/hugh-midden-speaks/the-one-colour-red-27-3-15 Just click on the link or paste it into your search engine. Thanks. I was on my way to Larne, a matter of days ago, when I stopped at Glenoe waterfall. If […]

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TWO TRIBES by Harry McAvinchey

  The Ulaid were the  ancient kings who  gave their name to the province of Ulster. The first part of the name “Ulster” comes from Ulaidh; the latter part of the name (“ster”) comes  from English and Irish tír (Ulaidhs tír) or  possibly the Old Norse word  “staor”, which apparently  means “land” or “territory”. This […]

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The abuse of children. And teachers.

It’s a grim sort of satisfaction but the revelations regarding the sexual abuse record of people like Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter give the lie to one popular myth: that child sexual abuse was a crime peculiar to members of the celibate clergy in the Catholic Church. There are now suggestions that child […]

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Pat Rabbitte goes to war with RTÉ

I’ve just come from watching RTÉ’s The Week in Politics so I have media bias on my mind. Last week Harry McGee reported a survey which showed that Sinn Féin was at the bottom in terms of RTÉ appearances – although that wasn’t the focus of Harry’s attention. He was on about Pat Rabbitte’s claim […]

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The Sharp Beak. By Randall Stephen Hall

    ·       Click the link to hear this poem or cut and paste the link into your search engine. ·       https://soundcloud.com/hugh-midden-speaks/the-sharp-beak-21-3-15     “The Sharp Beak”, is written from the perspective of a female mill worker in the late nineteenth century. She hopes to leave Belfast and the north to raise her two daughters […]

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KEEPING THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED by Harry McAvinchey

  Christians have their Sundays. Jews have their Sabbath  Saturdays . Hairdressers have their Mondays. The Chinese have their own special calendar. Muslims have their own Sharia Law. Difference is what makes the world spin around. We humans  all have all our little idiosyncrasies too .That’s why we strive to have some kind of  laws […]

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Last night at the Lansdowne

I chaired a meeting in Belfast’s Lansdowne Hotel last night. It was organised by Sinn Féin and clearly intended to boost the attempt by Gerry Kelly to take the North Belfast seat held by Nigel Dodds.  Besides Gerry Kelly, the other two panellists were Deirdre Hargey,  leader of the Sinn Féin group in Belfast City […]

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