May, 2019

We all get to poetry and song from different angles And our life experiences walk in the door behind us To stand around the edge of the room. Dark shadows Waiting for us to call them. Call them up With the right tune. The northern gate I stepped through Is where I entered in, the […]

In December 1936 the King of England, at the dictation of the Protestant Commonwealth, abdicated. He had decided to marry an American commoner who was a divorcee. The Irish Free State had outlawed divorce in 1925 but its Government in 1936 declined to follow the herd on the reasonable grounds that divorce and remarriage were […]

You may be fed up to the tonsils with last week’s election dissection, but I promise I’ll be gentle. Think of it as your civic duty: if you don’t reflect on politics and politicians, you could find yourself in the loony camp of those who’d parrot that big and stupid lie: “Politicians they’re all the […]

≈ THE IRISH TIMES when it isn’t ventilating its ideas through its “left nostril” as my Lancashire spouse might say, is inclined to put the cart before the horse. It has a section headed Opinion and Analysis. I don’t agree with the idea that we need respect the opinions of ignorant or misinformed persons although […]

Contrary to anecdotal reports, people in the south do actually see those of us north of the border as fellow-countrymen and women. Depending on when polls are taken and how the question is framed, something over 60% in the south favour a reunited Ireland. This morning, the Irish Times  is aglow with the details of […]

I’ve been over the Sea to Skye and around the Scottish Highlands for a brief, coach (not flying) visit over three days. I’d been there once before, eighteen years ago, and my abiding memory is of suffering shingles. This time I wasn’t, and can thus record my thoughts in more tranquillity. The weather was cold, but […]

Reporter: I believe you’re the proud father of a bonny boy, Your Royal Highness. HRH:  Of course I’m the father. What are you implying? Don’t forget I was in the Armed Forces, chum. My hands are lethal weapons. Reporter: No, no, so sorry, Your Royal Highness. I just wanted to congratulate you on behalf of […]

                                                LAPDOG   BITES   BULLDOG (40) Snakes and Ladders was  once a popular indoor board game for children of all ages, from five to frothy, back in the Fabulous Fifties. It originated in the Indian subcontinent (say hi! to Havelock) and ‘back to square one’ is a Hindi term which was duly civilised into Das Englisch […]

Over decades of writing a political column, I have learnt that the one thing which can get people really upset is to state a fact or argue a case that doesn’t chime with current public thinking.  Don’t kid yourself that this is a tolerant age.  People are quite selective about what they’ll accept and not […]

Well, that was reasonably interesting. It didn’t have the colour and wit of the 2017 crocodile election, or the all-hands-on-deck tension of the Westminster election shortly thereafter. But it did provide food for thought. For republicans, the most striking thing about these local elections was that Sinn Féin didn’t make any notable advance, and at […]