March, 2019

In “BALLIOL OLD BOYS AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED GENTS” (March 26) I mentioned Sir Norman Kendall, Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, who, days before Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, wrote how sorry he was to cancel an official visit to Germany, and so missed meeting his friends, one of whom, Reinhard  Heydrich […]

I’ve just watched Sunday Politics with Mark Carruthers, and inside a half-hour it got to the heart of things here. A former DUP Head of Policy, Tim Cairns, was interviewed, and for a smart man he seemed to suffer from tunnel vision. Mark Carruthers wanted to know if there was a split among the ten […]

So much of politics is show, with last Saturday night being a good example. When Leo Varadkar finished his keynote speech at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis, senior colleagues (and a top EU man) flooded onto the stage to shake hands or hug or kiss him (sometimes all three)  as though they’d just listened to […]

Letters Editor WASHINGTON POST 1301 K St NW Washington, D. C. 20071 Dear Editor: This is in response to Jeremy Hunt’s commentary on Britain’s role in shaping the world and the ongoing Parliamentary struggle with Brexit.  Jeremy claims that the   Parliamentary ruckus over  Brexit was to be expected  as a consequence of “… something as crucial as our […]

Pics 1-3 are by Perkin Warbeck Pic  1  Pic 2 Pic 3 A  Million air their opposition                  c by Perkin Warbeck. Last Saturday  while in London  on other business one found oneself inadvertently caught up in this Brexit business. While standing in the Underground station at Green Park on  one’s way to Westminster this  Police announcement came dramatically  over the Tannoy:  ‘This is […]

The other day I read in a paper that British servicemen had been killed in Yemen. Though I knew Saudi Arabia had been blasting its unfortunate population with British-made weapons, launched from British-built aircraft, I hadn’t seen or heard that British service men and women were in combat there. Come to think of it, I […]

So much depends on timing and clarity. If your house is under siege from a gang of bowler-hatted supremacists, it mightn’t be the best time to remind your spouse that s/he should clear out some of the junk that’s been accumulated over the years. And if you must mention this true but uncomfortable fact, you’d […]

Inbox x D On 2nd November 2015, in this space, I exposed SOME THOUGHTS ON FERGAL  KEANE OBE, many of which I had revealed to  readers of THE IRISH POST and THE IRISH WORLD over previous years. Though my criticisms were severe they were never challenged, let alone refuted, and I’m convinced that they should […]

Jeffrey Donaldson certainly knows how to create a diversion.  He popped up on a panel at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis a few days back, and you would have thought the audience and fellow-panellists would have been confronted him with some muscular questions, like why the hell had his party ensured that Britain and the […]

There are some very silly ideas floating around regarding Brexit.  Prime among these at present is the notion that a change of British prime minister would improve things. Like the arrival of a policeman, it could only make things worse. Who are you going to use as replacement? Michael Gove, who looks more like a […]