May, 2020

The late great Desmond Greaves, a card-holding Communist ,used defend Fianna Fail from the charge that it was just another capitalist gang. Under de Valera he said it fulfilled the role that the Labour Party played in Britain. Beyond that he said Fianna Fail was anti-Imperialist.  He knew that the British Labour Party contained many […]

In many ways the British Broadcasting Corporation is an admirable institution. Certainly its triple goal of entertaining, educating and informing are highly laudable in a national broadcaster. By and large, the British BC does all of those things. Except, that is, when the chips are down. Its coverage of the Troubles here was essentially as […]

So. At the time of writing -9.40 am Wed 27 May – it seems that talks between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Greens have hit a hump on the road: Fine Gael isn’t keen on the notion of boycotting Israeli goods. In classic fashion, Leo and Co pass the blame parcel to someone else.  […]

Last week his journey took Michael Portillo to Java, the beautiful, fertile Indonesian  island which includes its capital, Jakarta ,and other major cities. A place which,  you might believe, as I do, was created by a benign God, so that that’s its inhabitants will not be disconcerted when they leave it for an even more […]

The Saturday Review section of THE TIMES (23 May) published a review (by one Saul David) of “MUSSOLINI’S WAR  Fascist Italy 1935-43” by John Gooch. Before Musso attacked France in 1940 he had been a Knight of the Bath for about 18 years, and before his accession to power had been financed fromBritish Government funds, […]

Whatever about the press conference, the setting for the ‘grilling’ of Dominic Cummings was idyllic: sunshine, vegetation, birds singing, a comfortable chair and table.  Normally when we’re angry with someone, we tend to get up close and shout in their face a bit. None of that yesterday. Due to Covid-19 rules, all journalists were a […]

There are some subjects that simply can’t be side-stepped, and Boris Johnson’s chief-of-staff Dominic Cummings is one of those.  I think our Zoom chat raises a few points that haven’t been dealt with – or maybe you think we haven’t dealt with them either. In which case watch the 12-minute Zoom chat and let us know what you think.  

In recent blogs “BRITISH FORCES’ NETWORKS IN IRELAND” and “KING WILLEM REGRETS”  I recounted how Andrew Gilchrist, Britain’s Ambassador in Dublin in 1969 arranged for THE IRISH TIMES to be brought under the control of a secretive, oathbound “TRUST” serving the interests of Her Britannic Majesty’s Governments. I reported also how King Willem of the […]

 First, a prediction: Dominic Cummings will not be removed from his position of vast influence in No 10 Downing Street.  The facts seem clear. Boris Johnson’s right-hand-man drove 260 miles from his home in London, all the way to his parents’ place in Durham. This happened last March, when the coronavirus was raging in England.  […]

Some weeks back I came across a quote where the great American writer Mark Twain observed that no amount of evidence will ever convince an idiot he’s wrong. I mention old Langhorne Clemens’ as I got involved in a somewhat heated debate on social media with a number of people a few days ago, people who  […]