Picture by leftofcentre That little Jamie Bryson, eh? There he was, in his nice little suit and tie, hair shaved and oiled, dishing the dirt to the Stormont committee yesterday without fear or favour. Not that we understood it all. Like, when he started by saying that he’d refer to five people as A, B, […]
September, 2015
AND PIGS MIGHT EVEN FLY
Some questions, puzzles and fascinating ideas are currently rattling through my brain. They are all news items that have floated to the surface in press stories in the past while. Was Gerry Adams ever in the IRA ? ….is one . Was Peter Robinson ever a part of a terrorist grouping called Ulster Resistance? Did […]
That ‘independent’ security review panel: worth every penny, right?
Hey ho, hey ho, it’s off to work we go…I’m referring, of course, to the panel of three people appointed by Theresa Villiers to put together a report on paramilitary organisations here. The first thing that strikes me is how well embedded they are in the establishment. Lord Carlile of Berriew – you could almost learn […]
Keystone Kops, north and south
Picture by Joe Brown We’ve had proof positive over the last few weeks that partition happens once as tragedy and then later as comedy. Gilbert and Sullivan would have been jealous of a political plot that involved Mike Nesbit walking out of Stormont and imagining that he’d be missed. The Marx Brothers would have liked […]
BRYSON AND BRYSON
There are a couple of Brysons in the news this past few weeks . I’m not talking about super-suckng vacuum cleaners here. That’s Brysons…not Dysons. On one hand the American , Bill Bryson, the humourous travel and social writer, has had one of his entertaining books turned into a film , helmed and produced by […]
Yesterday’s All-Ireland and today’s radio
Picture by Dara Mulhern I watched the entire All-Ireland Gaelic Football Final on RTÉ yesterday. All seventy sodden minutes of it and quite a few minutes after, as the Dublin players romped and hugged each other and the Kerry players looked stony-faced and drained. It wasn’t a classic final but it was one full of […]
WISE WORDS IN A DUBLIN PUB by John Patton
Picture by John Patton “What do you think is the biggest political crisis facing Britain and the rest of Europe at present?” A question put to me by a guy that I found myself chatting to in a Dublin pub while we waited for the start of the Ireland-Georgia soccer match. Syria and the refugee […]
Ireland, rugby and flag foolishness
I didn’t watch the Canada vs Ireland rugby game yesterday. Yes I know – what kind of Irishman am I, that I wouldn’t watch and support our national team, blah blah blah. I didn’t watch it because I’ve never been interested in rugby, even though when I was a youth there were those who, […]
Mick Wallace and Jamie Bryson are upsetting Peter Robinson
Picture by Northern Ireland Executive Picture by Mick Wallace Picture by John Baucher Amid all the clucking and squawking regarding the existence/non-existence of the IRA, one word has been conspicuous by its absence: NAMA. That’s because the NAMA controversy, where NAMA property in the north was sold […]
Audioboom clip from Nolan Show
Here’s the clip from this morning’s Nolan Show discussion re John McDonnell https://audioboom.com/boos/3589090-labour-s-shadow-chancellor-john-mcdonnell-apologises-for-saying-ira-members-should-be-honoured