October, 2016

“By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity,” You’ll have to excuse me as. i stifle a quiet groan. […]

The US election on November 8th will be a most intriguing affair. Will it be Clinton who is ahead in the polls or could Trump just pull off the biggest upset in US politics? The third debate between Trump and Clinton took place on Wednesday night. It was another bitter affair.  Trump called Clinton a liar, a criminal and other […]

Those of my vintage who read THE IRISH PRESS in the early 1950s may recall its strip cartoons, “Calling All Cars” featuring American cops in cars in radio communication with each and their base. What a novel and exciting idea at the time!  It also featured “Little Panda” a Wee Bear in the Wood, and […]

  The last episode of this narrative introduced Douglas Gageby (born 1918)  a Protestant from Belfast,graduate of Trinity College Dublin, a former Officer in the Irish Army where he specialised in Intelligence, and Editor of The Irish Times and champion of Civil Rights. Civil Rights, even for those who differed from him in religion and/or politics. […]

You heard the lady. Which lady? Take your pick. Theresa May has declared emphatically her concern to keep trade flowing between the north-east of Ireland and the rest of Ireland. Outside 10 Downing Street, Arlene Foster repeated this assurance: no hard border for Ireland. Whooo-hooo! Just one drawback: Theresa didn’t have time to explain how […]

The arrival of mustad coloured large army lorries and canvas covered land rovers brought fantastic excitement to young lads in the heady days of 1970s Shankill, Lurgan, pleasantly interrupting the long summer months. We easily made new friends of the army personnel, they even built us a large sandpit in the shape of a boat. […]

What mad inconsistant world does someone live in when they believe their religious beliefs are undermined and their democratic freedom, religious freedom and freedom of speech are under threat just because they can’t abide by the civic law of the land which protects everyone without favour. That’s what the owners of Asher’s Bakery are now […]

    The last time I met Patsy Kelly was some weeks after the killing of UDR man, Robert Noel Jameson, in Trillick, Co Tyrone on 17 January 1974. The night after that killing, a Catholic owned bar was shot up and three customers were injured. The owner left the bar and Patsy took it […]

The Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) will meet today. I suppose you knew that. And you probably knew that this meeting will have a particular edge, because when Theresa May opens the door of No 10 (no, she won’t do it herself, Virginia – when you have a dog you don’t bark), she will be asked […]

In a recent article in the Guardian (October 19th), the London based novelist Eimear McBride expresses clearly and eloquently how many of us living in the border areas in Ireland feel after Brexit. It really is a time of great uncertainty and fear. Could we possibly be going back to the bad old days of […]