Despite all the criticisms, many of which are true, about the policy-makers we elect to the Assembly, there are some people of a truly exceptional nature therein. I think Sammy Wilson was a very able Finance Minister. I think Naomi Long is fundamentally a very decent person. And I think our outgoing Finance Minister has […]
March, 2017
Voting or writing the croppy requiem: today you decide
What a beautiful Spring morning! Given my infirmity, I was transported to the polling station by the present Mrs C. I don’t usually vote in the morning, but I preferred as few people as possible to see my slim and elegantly muscled frame reduced to a creeping shell. Alas, there were plenty of people coming in […]
Almac and Brexit by Joe McVeigh
Almac is a large Pharmaceutical company based in Craigavon and employing over 150 people. I saw their Managing Director on the TV News the other night talking about his plans to pull the plug in the north and move the business to Dundalk so that they can continue to do business within EU and avoid the hassle […]
PASSPORT CONTROL : WHAT ABOUT A TWO -FOR -ONE DEAL?
There has been some discussion on passports recently. i found myself chewing over the details at some length .It’s a topic that is rarely discussed in any detail until such time as we are possibly preparing to pack our cases for that four-day city break, only to discover that said document is out of date […]
Broken and Broken?
Preface: As the pic above shows, you must always be very careful you don’t annoy people by blogging uncomplimentary things about them. But hey, we must take the broken foot with the elegant ankle – it’s all part of life’s great tapestry. And an interesting portion of that tapestry was undraped for us at last night’s Leaders’ […]
AIRSTRIP TWO? by Donal Kennedy
In 1949 the Secretary of the British Cabinet, Sir Norman Brook, prepared a Memorandum for the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, which remained under wraps for the following 30 years. It arose from the Declaration of a Republic in Dublin that year. It said – “For many years past, members of all political parties here have […]
DAKOTA: DHÁ CHÓTA by Perkin Warbeck.
This is a time of change for at least two political parties on this ire-landed island, one in Norneverland and the other in the Free Southern Stateen. Sinn Fein now have Michelle O Neill at the helm while an underwhelming Fine Gael has gone into a (yawn, stretch, trouser-cough) Beginning of the Enda mode. […]
Time to Deal With the Past by Mark Thompson
Please see below the video from out conference on Saturday. https://vimeo.com/205776538 We had 240 plus victims of the conflict at our conference on Saturday – main speakers, John Lawlor (father of Gerard killed by loyalists) Alan McBride (widower of Sharon killed by IRA) Roisín Uí Donail (sister of Kevin-Barry O’Donail killed by SAS) & Shirley McMichael […]
VILLAGE IDIOCY – THE PLIGHT OF THE CHURLS by Donal Kennedy
Around 1917 or 1918 Padraig O Caoimh, the Corkonian General Secretary of Sinn Fein, was outlining the aims of the party. It seems that one British journalist was being rather tiresome and asked O Caoimh what was in it for him .”Vingeance, Bejasus, Vingeance!” was his answer. About the same time, in Russia, V.I.Lenin was explaining […]