June, 2018

Well, that’s it – England are going to win the World Cup. Who will they face in the quarter-finals? And the semis? And who will be their victim in the final? As the hackneyed hacks often say, only time will tell. When the team travelled to Russia, the British press were full of praise for […]

  RICHARD PIGOTT, the forger, whose fake letter was bought by THE TIMES, which was acting for Lord Salisbury, the then British Prime Minister, wanted the money to pay fees to Clongowes Wood College, for one or more of his offspring. I would like to think that the Jesuits did not cash the cheque, which arose […]

So is the EU bluffing? When Jacob Rees-Moggs stood up in the House of Commons and urged Britain to call the EU’s bluff and simply tell them that if they didn’t want a border in Ireland, then not to build one – was he making a valid point? Not according to the Sinn Féin Brexit […]

I turned on the TV yesterday and there was Arlene Foster, applying make-up to her face. The commentary told me she was intent on presenting the human face of the DUP, with the various initiatives she was undertaking: showing her friendliness towards the Irish language, visiting LGBT groups, going to the GAA Ulster Football Final. […]

“Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. Quid enim est aetas hominis, nisi (ea) memoria rerum veterum cum superiore aetate contexitur?”  Thus the late Marcus Tullius Cicero, a gentleman with whom I was slightly acquainted  in my youth. He was a man of many letters, one of which – “De Senectute” may well […]

So – after waiting thirty years, the family of Aidan McAnespie are to have their day in court. In 1998, Aidan McAnespie was crossing a border-point at Aughnacloy, when he was shot dead by a British soldier. The soldier claimed that he had been moving the machine gun, it was wet and his finger slipped. […]

Well. You wait and wait for some commentator to decorate the idea of a united Ireland with question marks, and then two come along at once….Nah, only kidding. If trains and buses ran with the frequency and dependability of attacks on the idea that a united Ireland is on its way, nobody would need to drive […]

  1792 Belfast Harp Festival Recalled: Thursday, 21 June at 7pm on Rosemary St Church A unique event in Belfast this Thursday features the re-enactment of the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival on next Thursday, 21 June at 7 pm. The event is sponsored by the charity, Brain Injury Matters. The venue is historic First Rosemary […]

                                                  Winners are grinners. Nó, cead cáinte ag laoch buaite an chluiche. Fintan, fresh from his fist-pumping  fustian  success in the most recent  A-list Referendum, and  being a feisty, zeitgeisty kind […]