Picture by John I see the percentage of people from a Catholic/nationalist background in the PSNI is now just over 30%, which is hardly satisfactory when the population percentage of Catholics is 45%. The 50-50 PSNI recruitment of people from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds was abandoned in 2011 and that’s part of the reason […]
October, 2015
The Sky is Blue.
The Sky is Blue. By Randall Stephen Hall. © 21.10.15 A response to the recent report on paramilitaries. The sky is blue. Rivers are wet Theresa Villers has dark hair. The grass at Stormont is green. And the leaves shed their leaves Like lost votes for a creative peace. Money talks. People […]
Structures, structures, never were there such convenient structures
What are structures, anyway? And how can they be peace-threatening? I ask because the notion of ‘IRA structures’ has been tossed around mightily over recent days, not least by the three-wise-persons panel who declared that the IRA army council still existed, and that it gave orders/provided an over-arching umbrella for Sinn Féin and the IRA. […]
Who Dares Wins? It’s A Knockout
Given how disgusted we are when we encounter double standards, it’s odd that the Irish Examiner took the attitude it did to a recent TV programme. The programme in question was SAS: Who Dares Wins on Channel 4 and the reviewer had a pile of fun with it. We got a sketch of the rigorous […]
Freddie Scappaticci redux
Picture : youtube Wow. And there are still people who don’t believe in spooks. Freddie Scappatacci aka (allegedly) Stakeknife, the man who (allegedly) led the IRA’s internal unit to winkle out informers and punish them accordingly, is now to be questioned about up to 20 killings. So says Barra McGrory, the Director of Public Prosecutions. […]
PULP FICTION AND PUPPET MASTERS
The green seats of parliament in Westminster suddenly began to look very bare as uninterested ministers scuttled and clattered away like death-watch beetles, to the safety of the looming shadows and the hob-nailed soles of the Secretary of State for Norneverland as she rose to speak to the nearly empty, booming room. The Secretary […]
Doing the verbal twist
Picture by harry_ni One of the most important questions you could ask anybody who makes an assertion is: “What is your source?” If someone declares “There’s a giant peach climbing up the side of Belfast City Hall”, you’d be entitled to ask his/her source for this interesting piece of information. All of which may seem […]
THE GRAND TRADITION OF HATRED IN NORNEVERLAND
“Fully prepared, they waited there, to show that Orange and Blue Must reign supreme o’er rebel Green, and would that day should all Rome’s rebly dogs — the mobs — attempt to face Loughgall: mongrel mob, from moor and bog. from far and near they came; Ragmen, cobblers, cowboys, the halt. the blind, the lame; […]
Thanks, Theresa – that’s been a big help
Picture by Conservative Party Sometime you just want to tear off all your clothes and run shrieking down the street, don’t you? It may sound extreme but how else to respond to the discovery that you’re living in a society governed by Alice In Wonderland logic? Today we had Theresa Villiers coming out with her much-anticipated statement. […]
Why people throw things at the police
Picture by Stephen Barnes Do you like the police? Mmm, me neither…No, that’s not quite true. I liked them when they came, the night an intruder broke into our house (although I wasn’t so crazy about the half-hour it took them to respond to our call). Apart from that I tend to associate the […]