June, 2015

THE ROAD TO ACOUSTIC by Randall Stephen Hall

The Road to Acoustic.   By Randall Stephen Hall. www.randallstephenhall.com     In 2007, after a long long lay off from playing music (other than doodling with the odd song idea), I began to play some tunes on my daughter’s Tanglewood guitar. I slowly got used to playing an acoustic. Playing acoustic was a different […]

Continue Reading

Seven things I know about Greece

  Picture by Images_of_Money I’ve never been good at Maths. From the earliest days, the world of the isosceles triangle, let alone sines and co-sines was a world of impenetrable mystery. Which is why much of world economics passes over my head. I don’t know why Iceland went broke and is now back revving on […]

Continue Reading

FLY WITH HOLIDAYS AIR  PARANOIA by Harry McAvinchey

  Greek banks collapsing…Slaughter on the beach in Tunisia….It’s really not looking good for the economies of these countries . Let’s face it .A lot of these places rely on tourism for survival .People are getting out of them as quickly as they can board an aeroplane and who can really blame them. There’s no […]

Continue Reading

In the footsteps of C. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

  When it comes to voting for independence via referendum, most people appear to vote with their wallets. At least that was the assumption behind David Cameron’s last-minute promise of untold riches on the eve of the Scottish independence referendum. If that is so, maybe it’s time those who pay taxes into the British Exchequer  […]

Continue Reading

CATCH RANDALL!

RANDALL STEPHEN HALL.   UPSTAIRS at the SUNFLOWER BAR. Union Street Belfast. Behind the Cetral Library and close to the Belfast Telegraph   Wednesday 1.7.15.   Songs, Stories, Poems and some craic.     Doors Open 8.30 p.m.   £5.00 on the door.   Everyone Welcome.   www.randallstephenhall.com

Continue Reading

Some headlines to test your powers of identification

Picture by NS Newsflash OK class, sit up straight. I have a little test for you today.  No, don’t start crying – it’s a straightforward test. And a two-part test.  First part,  you’ll be asked to do a bit of mixing and matching; and then when you’ve done that, you’ll be asked to identify the source for […]

Continue Reading

Tracing the roots of horror

  The news of the beach killings in Tunisia yesterday was truly horrifying: nearly 40 innocent people on holiday,  shot dead by a gunman. If anything more horrible, news of the beheading of a man near Lyons, with his head stuck on a fence. And in a mosque in Kuwait, more than 25 people killed as […]

Continue Reading

THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT by Harry McAvinchey

  Is n’t it so typical of the arrogance and sense of entitlement that our politicians in Norneverland  cannot even accept criticism ? Sammy Wilson has been accused of calling a fellow Minister “a thug”. He said it and it’s as plain as a pikestaff. That it is not the kind of thing anyone would […]

Continue Reading

The Cork rebels and Sinn Féin

  Photo by Fergal What is going on in Cork? Or to be more exact, in Cobh.  According to the Irish Examiner (not, as you probably know, a fan of Sinn Féin) reported yesterday claims that 54 members of Sinn Féin cumann have left the party because of expulsions. What expulsions? Well it seems two […]

Continue Reading

How to act like a half-wit

Big question: will I weep or will I laugh?  I was on the BBC’sTalk Back a few days ago, discussing…right, you guessed it – flags. As I said on the programme, one of the pleasures of my visit to London last weekend was the train-ride from Gatwick into London. No flags. Not one on view, […]

Continue Reading