March, 2015

THE QUEENS ARE PIPING by Harry McAvinchey

Was it that the queens were piping as they scuttled for the darkest recesses in the  brood box or was that just the obvious hubbub of fear and calamity in the whole hive; a general and understandable ruckus of several thousands chattering, beating  wings ,in unison. I was  temporarily breaking up their homes ,after all […]

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Two men at a bus-stop

First Man:  What do you think of those polls today? Second Man: Bloody ridiculous First Man: Well yes, I suppose  if you put too much faith in them – Second Man: Exactly!  That was the mistake I made. I should never have trusted them. But the guy next door said he got one to fix […]

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I am an artist. Subsidise me.

  I know Harry McAvinchey has blogged on this already but I feel I must toss in my thruppence-worth. I was listening to Talk Back (yes I should get out more) a couple of days back and it consisted of a lot of local artists lamenting the cut in their funding from the Arts Council. […]

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OTRs and threats to the integrity of the justice system

I was driving home from a funeral today so I caught most of Radio Ulster/Raidio Uladh’s Talkback.  Unusually, it appeared to have just one topic of discussion: the report of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Committee on Tony Blair’s on-the-runs scheme. There was much talk of the decision by the police to issue letters to 200 […]

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Gregory’s at it again

Gregory Campbell has been yet again rattling the bars of the cage up at Stormont. While Caitriona Ruane was making a speech in Irish, Gregory yawned so loudly and conspicuously (and twice) that the Speaker, Mitchel McLaughlin, barred him from partaking of the verbal joys of the debating chamber for a couple of days. Gregory […]

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ARTSY, SMARTSY , FARTSY by Harry McAvinchey

Art gets it in the head…a fatal wound. The Arts are seen as a good indicator as to the health of any society .If that is true ,Norneverland is in the critical ward at present,  as financial cuts have reduced the place to a level of barbarism. To offset the cuts in the arts , […]

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TEARS AND TIN-OPENERS by Harry McAvinchey

I think it was the vision of the  poor woman struggling to open a can of pilchards that made my mind whirl. She scraped , banged and struggled ,but the can steadfastly refused to be breached. Her daughter had a go next. She had no better success. She prodded with the tool and attempted to […]

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United unionism: good preparation for glug-glug time?

Sam McBride, the political editor of the News Letter, made an interesting comment on telly just now. He noted that everyone knows the demographics of this state are shifting: there are more and more Catholics and fewer and fewer Protestants. Which means (fingers in your ears, Alasdair McDonnell) that the vote for nationalist or republican parties […]

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Help!

  OK – it’s that time of year and I’ve decided to do what I know is bad for me. I’m running in the Omagh Half Marathon on Saturday 28 March. That means I’ve just one week to hit my target of raising £500 to help Trócaire in their work of helping the world’s most […]

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TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE BRAIN by Harry McAvinchey

  Oh dear !! The world is just ending . Not a bird is speaking outside .All is still as the moon blocks out the sun forever. The animals are silent .They fear that daylight may never return. Another night , so soon after dawn.Some humans staring at the sky , blinding themselves in the […]

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