April, 2017

More than four centuries ago, on February 16, 1600, the Catholic Church executed (by burning at the stake), a man called Giordano Bruno, for the crime of heresy. He was taken from his cell in the early hours of the morning to the Piazza dei Fiori in Rome and burnt alive at the stake. The Church authorities […]

      For anyone who follows my scribblings, they will know that I don’t much fancy the European Union. As an individual-minded person, I much prefer the idea of sovereign, self-governing nation states – who decide their own tax, their own laws and their own agenda, in this world. Now that cannot be ruled […]

So what good was a principle if she couldn’t get that great job back, she thought.They barely allowed her to speak about anything these days, but this idea that Nigel cobbled together just might do the trick and get those old wheels rolling again.It was worth a punt .This Irish language out-reach scam might just […]

In a recent BLOG – BRITISH IMPERIALISM – FICTION AND FACTS (19 April)  I said that fourteen years before the ( 26 April 1937) bombing of Guernica by Hitler’s Condor Legion, the British used similar methods in Iraq. My source was the British magazine History Today. On March 28 this year THE TIMES (of London)  […]

So the British House of Commons defence select committee wants an amnesty for all actions by the RUC and British armed forces between 1969-1998.   Writing in The Guardian, Henry McDonald says: “The House of Commons defence select committee said a de facto amnesty granted to republican and loyalist paramilitaries under the 1998 Good Friday agreement […]

  When are those commentators who keep on writing on this blog and elsewhere about Martin McGuinness and his past going to realise that he was involved in a war which he did not start. When are they going to realise and admit that it was because he was involved in a war with the […]

There are many things to feel gloomy about, when we check what’s being said and done in our cosy (if unhygienic) little NE Nest. But if you look for the laughs, they are there. I found three this morning. (i) Constructing the past. The BBC has a fine website called ‘Bitesize’- it provides information and […]

Earlier this morning, I was on the Nolan show on radio. The topic was the commemoration of the eight IRA men killed at Loughgall. It seems Michelle O’Neill is scheduled to be the main speaker at the event, and my dear friend Nelson McCausland was clearly upset by the news. If I were a total […]

Song Link. Just click the link to hear the track. https://soundcloud.com/randall-stephen-hall/donegal-pony-rshall My dad was born in Milford, Co. Donegal a long time ago. Donegal is a place I can go to, a bit like the North Antrim Coast where there is space to breath and it doesn’t matter what the weather is like. Consequently Donegal, […]

One month ago Derry and Ireland laid to rest a giant of a man, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a brother and a friend. Much has been written and spoken about Martin and a lot of it was nonsense. The common narrative of many who either didn’t understand Martin or actually disliked him, is […]