December, 2015

Oh A P – did you have to?

OK, this year I’m conflicted. (A grand word, conflicted.)  Normally when the New Year Honours List appears, I tend to make comparisons with the ribbons, combs and mirrors that the white man gave to the native people of North America in exchange for thousands of acres of land. Not that those on the Honours List have […]

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Polls and what they tell us

As I write this I’m listening to some RTÉ pundits talking about the past year and the coming election. They’re saying Enda will be gone in five years’ time, so he will take his time about when he calls a general election. He’ll want people to see how dignified he is (no, I made that bit […]

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‘Paisley and Irish Unification’ by Jessica McGrann

Paisley was an Irishman, he loved Ulster and claimed you cannot be an Ulsterman without being an Irishman. His hatred of the Catholic Church was intense, and while extreme, the Catholic Church did involve itself too much in the running of the new Irish Free State. It had far too much control of the state […]

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What Peter, Maggie and Ian said back then

Arguing from the particular to the general is a risky and often inaccurate business. Because you meet a unionist or republican who talks rubbish does not mean that all unionists or all republicans are rubbish-talkers. That said, examples can provide intriguing pointers. For example, we have a tendency to assume that the authorities know better. […]

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Jam and its postponement

A week or so back I was watching Simon Coveney on the TV. The Fine Gael minister was telling anyone who’ll listen that his party are all set to build thousands of houses and they’ll do even more in the future.  This from a man whose party is witnessing well over 2,000 homeless people in […]

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MORE MIRACULOUS SHENANIGANS

I implied last time that miracles, of a sort, were a possibility ….You know, that if politics can be suspended for Christmas and our world keeps right on spinning, then anything is possible. Yes, I believe some kinds of miracles can and do occur all the time.Maybe not the kind of miracles you might wish […]

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