Two cases reported on the same day in 1985 illustrate how persons living in the United Kingdom experienced equality under the law. The first case concerned a teacher in Enniskillen who was awarded £5,000 in damages by the High Court in Belfast against the RUC for their treatment of him in Castlereagh Barracks in 1980. […]
October, 2019
North Belfast: will John Finucane sort out Nigel Dodds?
As candidates strap on their election battle gear, I wonder how Boris Johnson is feeling. Is he confident that his energy and willingness to engage in banter will be enough for people to forget that he is an unscrupulous opportunist and a mortal threat to the NHS? Will Jeremy Corbyn feel relieved to be on […]
REFLECTIONS ON BREXIT ELECTIONS DECEMBER 1918- DECEMBER 2019 by Donal Kennedy
THREE YEARS AGO VOTERS IN THE MISNAMED “UNITED KINGDOM” by a very small margin, in a referendum voted for it to break its connection with the European Union. The UK Parliament freely voted to join the European Economic Community in 1971 and UK voters by referendum in 1975 decided it should stick with it. Sovereignty […]
Happy, happy talk – but where are the structures?
I wasn’t at the Lansdowne Hotel last night when there was a meeting about Brexit and a border poll, but I see David McCann quoted this morning on Twitter: “Young people are increasingly coming to the opinion that the north’s future is outside the United Kingdom.” That’s an optimistic but also a vague -to-the-verge-of meaningless […]
Bright new morning for the centre ground in our stateen?
There is an article in the Irish Times this morning by Tom Kelly. Not Tom Kelly OBE of the SDLP, but Tom Kelly who was in the NIO for a number of years and later a spokesman for the British prime minister. If I tell you that the title is ‘DUP and Sinn Féin choking […]
GAEILGE ++++ by Lambert Simnel
Regarding Gaeilge, COMPULSORY Gaeilge would involve a situation where we would NOT, repeat NOT, repeat NOT hear Síle & Seán in Conamara asking what the point of speaking Gaeilge to the children is.We would hear Deirdre and Steve in Dublin asking what the point of speaking ENGLISH to the children is.In a PRACTICAL way COMPULSORY […]
REMEMBRANCE, OR A SEASON OF POPPYCOCK AND TOMMY ROT? Part One by Donal Kennedy
Virtually everyone appearing on British TV for the next three weeks will be wearing a poppy and presumably in “Northern Ireland” also, for toleration of dissent is not a core value in the “United Kingdom.” Perhaps the Poppies will be supplied gratis by the TV corporation and companies whilst the general public will be expected […]
Donald Trump: the perfect anti-role model
Sometimes parents are anxious that their children should have a positive role model: someone who, by their words and actions, by the way they live their life, illustrates the notion of a life well-lived. I have an alternative suggestion: go instead for the anti-role model, someone whose words and actions are low and nasty, who […]
If we had COMPULSORY Gaeilge by Lambert Simnel
As a matter of interest, the last group that had to learn Gaeilge to live here was the Cromwellians over 300 years ago. We never had compulsory Irish, and Irish was never force-fed to anybody. That is why, children emerge from school, with A+ in Honours Irish sometimes, after twelve years of ‘learning Irish’ unable […]
“Burned” – by Sam McBride: An Analysis by Donal Lavery
Alex Kane in his review made reference to how Sam McBride (who is only around my young age) of the Newsletter has touched on a story so big, so juicy, so salacious, that it brings back memories of Watergate and “dirty tricks” among the governing clique. I like Sam, I think he is honest and […]