What manner of man is Andrew Crawford? Well, he was a prominent DUP adviser and I’ve read somewhere he has a doctorate in agriculture, though I can’t vouch for that. But I can vouch for the fact that he passed on information to his cousin Richard Crawford, who happens to be a poultry farmer. So […]
April, 2018
Civil servants not note-taking? “Nonsense!” says Arlene
The head of the civil service here, David Sterling, has said that a practice had grown among civil servants of not taking notes at ministerial meetings, thus avoiding awkward situations should future Freedom of Information requests occur. He said this non-note-taking practice was prevalent owing to the sensitivities of the DUP and Sinn Féin. Yesterday […]
The DUP and that old-time border
Does the DUP want a hard border? Most of us would rather not think about the answer, but it’s vital we do. Unfortunately, it seems the answer is Yes. And No. Let’s start with No. Even the most economically illiterate DUPer knows that a hard border will make life on this island markedly more […]
The McGuinness Principles
The United States has always been an important factor in Irish nationalism. In the mid-nineteenth century, John O’Mahony, a leading member of Young Ireland, established the Fenian Brotherhood in that country. When O’Donavan Rossa died in the US, the men who were to be the leaders of the Easter Rising hurried to have his body […]
Attack on Syria: they did it their way
“Locked and loaded” – it has a nice final sound to it, doesn’t it. Like the du-clunk of an expensive car being locked. Except “locked and loaded “ wasn’t used by some car-owner, it was used by Nikki Haley (not, as far as we know, related to the great Bill), US ambassador to the […]
It’s not your radio, it’s double standards
“Please do not adjust your set”. Younger readers may not be familiar with the statement, but it used to appear on TV screens regularly in the bad old black-and-white days. The message was that you were wrong to assume that the source of the faulty picture lay with your set; the problem was at TV […]
All-Ireland parties, a united Ireland and I’m a unionist, get me out of here…
That was some alarming talk a while back about the SDLP, wouldn’t you say? They’ve been musing for years about an alliance/dalliance with Fianna Fail, but it’s never come to anything. There always was that bit in their title – the SDLP – the Social Democratic and Labour Party – that made it a bit […]
That overnight attack on Syria
Events have a way of occurring side-by-side to remind us when we’re engaging in cant. It’s like the fat man in the silent movies who finger-wags at others to take care when navigating an icy side-walk, then two minutes later falls on his own fat bum. Earlier this week, the German newspaper Der Speigal asked […]
Tit for tat or How To Deal With A Political Problem
Hands up all who remember tit-for-tat? It was a popular way for the media to describe a series of killings in the north. There was no need for the journalist to probe the reasons for any particular killing, no need to look at the political history and establish links between the nature of government here and […]
Defend the Good Friday Agreement! Now excuse me – my armed forces have a date with Syria
Imagine the scene. You’re watching the evening news when your neighbour rings your bell. He’s come, he says, about your children. Yesterday afternoon, apparently, he’d observed them gathered at an open bedroom window, taking turns to drop the family cat out. You thank your neighbour and confront your children. “We just wanted to see if […]