There was a man in the Letters section of the Irish Times who was complaining. Complaining gently, because that’s how things are done in the ?Irish Times. He was referring to an article by Fintan O’Toole, in which O’Toole had referred to “our island”. No, Veronica, not a Paradise Island where Fintan was squirreling away […]
November, 2017
Credit cards and faceless thieves
Have you got a credit card? If so, hug it to your bosom tightly and let nobody near it. That’ll give you the illusion of being safe. But you won’t be. A few weeks ago we received a statement of transactions that’d been made on our credit card. Since we use it only to fill […]
Let’s compromise: you can continue with the meat and mice
Sinn Féin’s Megan Fearon has done a very clever thing. I’ve seen the same question posed online but Fearon has laid out clearly the realities. In normal negotiations, there would be trade-offs – both sides abandoning goals and hoping they’d achieve their objectives at a later date. The difference in the case of the Sinn Féin-DUP […]
Sir Bob and the DUP : how to be yourself, only more so
We all change. Physically most certainly: the smooth skin and bright eye give way to the weary wrinkle and the rheumy pupil. Mentally too we change – we begin to forget names, become slower-thinking, give up on old problems that we once grappled forcefully with. Attitudes are different, I think. There are those who, if […]
Poppy OK, Easter Lily non-OK?
I’m fresh ( OK, I’m never too fresh in the morning but comparatively fresh) off the air from this morning’s Nolan Show. The subject of discussion was Jim McVeigh’s suggestion that the Easter Lily be made available for sale at reception in Belfast City Hall and that City Hall staff be permitted to wear it. Since […]
We will never forget them?
I was talking to a man the other day who was responding to the wearing of the ‘shamrock poppy’ badge by Leo Varadkar in the Dail . This man argued that Ireland should go for a tricolour poppy, and have it as a remembrance of all Irish combatants – in or out of the British […]
Saturday pics of the week
Pics 1-4 are by John Patton Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 “Little selection of portraits this week. Portrait was taken with a little mirrorless Fuji which is a great little performer. The tattoo shots were taken in available tungsten lighting with an ISO of 10000 on a Canon […]
Moral spluttering and indignation
It’s like a drug. Every so often, we have to get a new fix for our moral outrage. That outrage may or may not be justified but it allows us to splutter and yell at others – usually a group of others – while remaining without fault/sin ourselves. Sometimes people vent their spleen about a group […]
The pain and humiliation of Brexit
When I hear what the EU negotiators are telling the UK, I invariably feel a jolt of pleasure. It’s like the playground bully – he’s been condescending and brutal with you for so long, it’s a thrill to see the school principal give him a bone-crunching kick in the rear-end. So whatever reservations I have about […]
That Nelson McCausland – his mind is an inferno of laughs
Not everyone thinks Nelson McCausland has a sense of humour, but those who have seen him in a kilt will confirm that he definitely has. He also has a column in the Belfast Telegraph today on the subject of bonfires, and I was on the Nolan Show with him this morning about it. I seem […]