December, 2015

  I’ve been described as a little naive by a reader  but also recall once overhearing work colleagues describing me as the least cynical person they’ve ever met. I’m not superstitious and don’t think being a Capricorn has anything to do with it, but I first saw the light of day on 28 December 1941, […]

    The birth of the Civil rights movement in the 1960s, coupled with the failures of the IRA campaigns up until 1962 when it ended its border campaign, left the IRA on the verge of disbandment by 1965. During this period, genuine attempts were being made to improve the relationship between north and south […]

I wonder what the pay in the Sindo is like. Do they get paid piece-work or  flat rate?  Or – what seems to me pretty likely – do they get a bonus each time they mention Sinn Féin and the IRA in the same sentence? This morning, Jim Cusack is letting all that trapped gas […]

I’m just about to head for Greencastle, Co Tyrone, for the annual 5-mile run. It looks like a grey day for it but I know the area will be lit by the energy and enthusiasm of the hundreds of people taking part and helping organise this event. Celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, it gives the lie to […]

  Thirty-three people were killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bomb attacks in 1974, the single most bloody event in the entire period of the “Troubles” in Ireland, and the lives of hundreds more were marred by injuries to themselves, friends and family members. Irish Supreme Court judge Henry Barron was tasked with investigating what […]

And here it is, Merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun…Well, maybe not everybody. On TV yesterday there was a large crowd of people from Dungiven, out protesting at their supercouncil’s decision to block  a sports development project from going to that town.  If you know anything about Dungiven you’ll know that sport is a central part […]

Letter to the Irish Times: There was a time in Ireland when those having a lie-in on a Sunday had to pay a fine. They had a  real grievance, most particularly if they did not adhere to “the Church by law established.”  The grievance of those who object to hearing the Angelus bell on RTE is […]

  Person 1: Another Wednesday, another wave of moral indignation against Gerry Adams and republicans in general. Person 2: What, Pope Francis has excommunicated him? Person 1: No, the Belfast Telegraph today has given voice to those who think the IRA were a bunch of criminals. Person 2: And were they? Person 1: Certainly, if you go […]

  There’s foreign policy and domestic policy. This morning I heard separate reports on each, both quite instructive. The foreign policy interview was on BBC Radio 4, and it was with a British general about the state of things in Afghanistan, and how much difference British and American troops had made. While it was instructive […]