December, 2019

IRISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGDistributed to Congress by Irish National Caucus “ On April 22, 1999, I had the honor of testifying  before the House International Relations  Committee (Foreign Affairs), chaired by the late great Jewish-American, Ben Gilman (R-NY) on “CREATING A NEW AND ACCEPTABLE POLICE SERVICE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND.”I began my testimony with the following words: ‘If the peace-process […]

Distributed to Congress by Irish National Caucus “ On April 22, 1999, I had the honor of testifying  before the House International Relations  Committee (Foreign Affairs), chaired by the late great Jewish-American, Ben Gilman (R-NY) on “CREATING A NEW AND ACCEPTABLE POLICE SERVICE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND.”I began my testimony with the following words: ‘If the peace-process in Northern […]

8 of 55,480 If my memory serves me right, Jonathan Swift once maintained that ten, (or a dozen?) men, well-armed could subdue a man in his nightshirt.   Another Dubliner, a couple of centuries later,    maintained  that as the Black Shirts had come to  power in Italy, and the Hitler-Shirts (sic),had com to power in Germany, […]

So now the scene shifts to Stormont. As the dust settles and Colm Eastwood and Claire Hannah prepare to make their influence felt in the House of Commons,  Irish eyes turn to the north. All Irish eyes? We’ve been told more than once that the south doesn’t care about us, that they detest us in […]

A year or more ago I emailed Jude saying that Jeremy Corbyn hadn’t the  qualities required for the leadership of a party seeking power. Not the subtlety of a de Valera nor the serpentine cunning of a Harold Wilson nor the amoral  cynicism of a Lloyd George. Nor the rhetorical brilliance of the charlatan, Winston […]

So now it’s settled. Nationalists and republicans in different constituencies are nursing their wounds or pogo-dancing and  yelling  “Gwan ya boy ya!”. There was a time when Fermanagh/South Tyrone got all the focus.  Remember when Michelle Gildernew held up four fingers – or was it five? – to indicate the size of her majority, and […]

To paraphrase Dickens, it was the best of nights and the worst of nights. Colm Eastwood, the SDLP leader, has said the SDLP’s winning of two seats – in South Belfast and in Foyle – was the story of the election. He’s wrong. They were a story of the election- when a coffin lid is […]

P The Pulitzer Prize in 1956 was awarded to “PROFILES IN COURAGE” attributed to the Junior Senator from Massachusetts whose record in that House was not impressive. It featured eight persons, some coldly calculated to influence states where the Senator’s professed religion might have disqualified himfrom Presidential hopes. Other books had been shortlisted by the […]

Actions have consequences. If I kick a rock, my big toe will feel sore.  If I leave the house at 8.15 am for the 8.16 am train, I’ll miss it. If  I betray my best friend, I’ll in all likelihood lose my best friend. Why state the obvious on election day? Because quite a few […]

One thing we can all agree on is that in this NE stateen we are bitterly divided.  The same applies at present to the United Kingdom  (now there’s a misnomer) and the United States (ditto).  The difference is that bitter division has been at the heart of our stateen from the get-go, whereas division has […]