Picture by chloeimages Picture by NICVA Writing a non-political blog like this one is a sure turn-off for many people, but in the last two days I’ve encountered two contrasting views on education and I think they’re worth examining. The first was in an article yesterday when I was […]
June, 2015
How to baffle Patrick Yu
So the DUP is going to report Patrick Yu, of the Council for Ethnic Minorities, because he said that sending ethnic minority children into a loyalist area could result in a second Holy Cross situation. The DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt is said to be “appalled”. He’s spoken to the people of Sandy Row and they are […]
‘The Magic of James’s Flute on Music Day’ by Randall Stephen Hall
The Magic of Jame’s Flute on Music Day. By Randall Stephen Hall. 5.6.15 * If the link doesn’t click, just copy and paste it into your web browser. I listened with interest to James Galway’s interview with Stephen Nolan this morning. I’m sure he will come in for some criticism. He is a […]
PHANTOM BUDGETS AND PHANTOM CATS by Harry McAvinchey
The latest new toy for our Norneverland politicians to play with is something called a “Phantom Budget”… It reminded me of a story I wrote about my childhood; that lost world of near-fantasy where anything was possible and imagination was everything. So a phantom budget, then ? That is the latest proposal from the DUP. […]
James Galway hits a discordant note.
Oh dear. “When sorrows come, they come not single spies/But in battalions”, as Shakespeare put it. First there was that monstrous insult to the British way of life embraced by so many people here – I’m referring, of course, to that appalling act of running the Irish tricolour up the Stormont flagpole. Now we […]
IMPROVISING WITH THE HONEYBEES by Harry McAvinchey
Just in time to divert attention away from the never-ending “debate about the Welfare Reforms”, someone has decided to fly an Irish tricolour atop Stormont , the seat of all power in Norneverland. This will bring out the conspiracy theorists in their flocks. In Roman times the diversions to keep the public occupied were bread […]
You can’t eat a flag but boy, can you get outraged about one!
Boris Becker once said, after a closely-fought and long-drawn-out game which had people arguing and applauding/condemning: “Nobody died out there”. I thought the same as I took part in the Nolan show on BBC Raidio Uladh/Radio Ulster this morning. Who would have thought that one little ten-minute period of Irish tricolour display could cause such […]
Sinn Féin: transfer-toxic no more?
The Carlow-Kilkenny by-election was a joyous one for Fianna Fail. Their man Bobby Aylward won the contest and it was interpreted by many as a sign that the once-abhorred party was on the way back. The only fly in the ointment/poo in the porridge was the fact that before the Fianna Failers had time to […]
“THE SUSPICIOUS MIND CONJURES ITS OWN DEMONS”by Harry McAvinchey
“THE SUSPICIOUS MIND CONJURES ITS OWN DEMONS.”― Hanshiro Tsugomu There is the national news .The stuff that the public across the land here in Norneverland , the rest of Ireland and even in some far -flung corners of the UK, get to see, hear or read in the various media…and then there are the local […]
The Dail annoys Denis. Oo-er.
So the Dail is raising matters about Denis O’Brien which he thinks is none of their business. Mr O’Brien owns the Independent group of newspapers and two of the three main talk radio stations. That means he has financial charge of powerful organs that go a considerable way to shaping the thinking of the public. […]