July, 2020

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OR GENERAL DERISION by Donal Kennedy

Asked for an opinion on clubs for women, Bernard Shaw  favoured them, provided reasonable persuasion had failed. There are certain persons whose actions and opinions invite general derision, but might suffer horsewhipping without outraging my compassion. One such person is Kevin Maher. I doubt any of my readers are familiar with his weekly, (I first […]

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WINSTON CHURCHILL’S FINEST HOUR? by Donal Kennedy

“A requirement was outlined, in the event of the Germans setting up a bridgehead in Ireland, of spraying their landing sites and axes of advance with poison gases including mustard gas, which would have caused incapacitating blistering of the lungs and respiratory tract. There was also phosgene gas which would kill by choking. It would […]

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Words to live by : ‘Person. Woman.’ Etc.

If it was anybody else you’d feel sorry for them. But with D Trump, you know his memory boast of ‘Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV’ comes from a smelly little corner of his head where he’s trying to tell the American public: ‘Look – I am as sharp as a razor. Joe Biden has a […]

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Micheál, Jeffrey and Sammy too

This blog first appeared as a column in the Andersonstown News  Does the term ‘united Ireland’ drive some people temporarily mad?  The painter Robert Ballagh figured that the term ‘United Ireland’ was one of these trigger phrases which set off an instinctive, gut response, with Reason pulling on its coat and slipping out the back door. An example. A while back, we in the north […]

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EMBARRASSING OATHS AND AFFIRMATIONS by Donal Kennedy

  The letter below, submitted to the IRISH TIMES, was not printed. If the principle advocated were   adopted it might result in more honesty in business, politics and journalism.    In spiking the letter, the paper might be covering more than its ass.        lettersed@irishtimes.com    23 July 2020Sir,The abolition of oaths and affirmations in Courts, […]

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Trump and his Amazing Memory

There’s a law of unintended consequences and Donald Trump has recently stumbled thigh-deep into it. This is the (present) US president a few days’ ago: “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.”  I was going to keep his comments at that, but the whole thing is so priceless I feel compelled to share all: “Like a memory […]

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John Finucane MP and his constituents by Fra Hughes

John Finucane was elected as the Member of Parliament for North Belfast in 2019 with a total vote of 23,078. He surpassed his nearest rival by 1,943 votes, a majority of 4%.   Like all politicians, John is firstly representing his party, in this case, Sinn Fein, and their manifesto as presented and mandated by […]

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R (The Crown) vs. Donohoe (Noah) – by Donal Lavery

“The book they try to ban always becomes a bestseller.” – George Galloway “The Crown is a state within a state, surrounded by barbed wire, which is always in power.” – Tony Benn MP -Before you read this I would like to point out that it is an article about a controversial subject by a […]

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Micheál Martin: Mr M T Chatterbox?

Watching and listening to Micheál Martin these days brings to mind two things: the Mr Men series of books for young children, and the singing duo that Billy Connolly was half of before he went solo. The Mr Men were such things as Mr Silly, Mr Chatterbox and Mr Mischief. The Billy Connolly singing duo […]

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Ahoy, Commander Steve…

Steve Aiken, leader of the ‘Ulster’ Unionist Party and former Naval Commander, was on Raidio Uladh/Radio ‘Ulster’ this morning. He was being asked about rules on Covid 19 and his party’s line on same, so naturally he replied that Sinn had lost all credibility on Covid since Bobby Storey’s funeral. Being a Naval Commander, let […]

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