Picture by Plastic Jesus The fowl over in the sluggerotoole coop are doing some fluttering about the proposed name-change for the city by the Foyle. The plan is, apparently, to change it from Londonderry to Derry. That disappoints me. I’d rather have had Doire but I’ll settle for Derry. The objections to this move are […]
July, 2015
Frankie Boyle at the Féile: a laugh or a lout?
Picture by Dead Dog Barking I used to have no doubts. I’d quote the Roman playwright Terence: “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto” – “I am human, and nothing of that which is human is alien to me.” For a writer, no area or approach to an area of human experience should be out […]
SUMMERTIME IN NORNEVERLAND by Harry McAvinchey
What an awful July this has been.It hasn’t rained all the time but the sun hasn’t shone much either.If the sun doesn’t shine the flowers do not open their petals and my honeybees lose interest.No that’s not right. They’ll go out and forage but they’ll have to fly ever further to find what they need […]
The benefits and cost of occupation
I’m hoping to do a series of blogs in the near future that will look at some basic economic facts about the union with Britain and how they might compare with parallel figures in a united Ireland. Meantime, it’s interesting to look at the economics of domination further afield. Early in the discussions between Greece […]
Two men talk about A Dangerous Thing
Two people in the last two days have been telling us what a stupid and dangerous thing nationalism is. Former Irish ambassador to Britain Dáithi Ó Ceallaigh was at the McGill Summer School and says that nationalism makes him tremble. “I am very frightened of nationalism and I am afraid we are, throughout Europe […]
HEALTH SERVICES AND CULLING GULLS by Harry McAvinchey
What if the Assembly was suspended or closed down for good? Would anyone out there notice?I don’t think most people would , even though our politicians would begin to kick up an unholy stink to eventually remind us .Sinn Fein have been playing hardball politics with their take on Welfare Reform, much to the displeasure […]
An instructive video about babies (I believe)
Here’s a link to a video I’ve been sent by a reader of my blogsite. Depending on your views on abortion, you’ll either be appalled by it or you’ll be bored by it. If you are opposed to abortion because you believe there’s a small human being in there, you’ll be appalled; if you […]
That James McClean
Picture by Jared192 James McClean is in the news again. He turned briefly to one side when the British national anthem was played in the United States recently, and he’s been vilified by sections of the press and public since. I always think it’s good to get these things in perspective. The McKenna Cup Final […]
POLICE TACTICS IN NORNEVERLAND by Harry McAvinchey
Gregory Campbell MP is at it again on the radio.He believes the police should move in forcibly at every potential crime scene , all guns a-blazing, batons swinging, especially if they have advanced knowledge of a crime to be committed and even more so if the target has a nationalist or republican tinge to […]
How to be neutral ( but not annoy people)
Don’t you just loath the Swiss? Not only because they are responsible for cuckoo clocks or are disgustingly clean and brain-numbingly boring. But because in World War Two, they remained neutral. That’s why you’ll see constant references to their cowardliness in the British press. And then there’s Ireland. Or rather, the twenty-six southern counties […]