Like many others I was shocked and saddened to hear this morning of the sudden death of Manus O’Riordan yesterday. I had been in touch with him by email late on Saturday and I have learned since that he had returned to his usual family, social, political and cultural activities, following the relaxation of lockdown […]
September, 2021
Doug, Jeffrey, Billy and Jim: all together now
So – the leaders of all the unionist parties in our stateen have signed a document of protest against the protocol: “We the undersigned unionist political leaders, affirm our opposition to the NI Protocol, its mechanisms and structures, and reaffirm our unalterable position that the protocol must be rejected and replaced by arrangements which fully respect Northern Ireland’s position as a constituent and integral part of the United Kingdom.” They didn’t quite go the whole Ulster Covenant and […]
The boys in red and white
This blog first appeared as a column in the Andersonstown News We who live in Ireland should be grateful to the English. They taught us – insisted that we use – the language in which I’m communicating with you at this very minute. Without the English monarch to be loyal to, the late Dr Ian Paisley’s life might well have been relatively pointless. And wouldn’t […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT PETROL AND FOOD SHORTAGES, CHILDREN’S HEALTH, NEI’S DEATH RATE, & … ‘SCUM’
In Britain – what some might call, ahem, the Mainland – there are garages where they ain’t got no more petrol – pubs with no beer, you might say. Shelves in supermarkets are increasingly bare. Is this a consequence of Covid, or a consequence of Brexit? Or neither, or both? Over 100,000 children in the […]
AN UNANSWERED QUESTION TO A BISHOP – by Donal Kennedy
Bishop Cahal Daly of Down and Connor had an article in THE GUARDIAN in 1984 which prompted a letter of mine to its Editor, which it published – “Sir, Bishop Cahal Daly of Down and Connor has been given space in your columns to issue what you interpret as a challenge to Sinn Fein. Bishop […]
Jeffrey and Jim, and how to be in two places at once
The laws that govern quantum physics are mysterious, none more mysterious than the ‘superposition’ of particles. In a mind-bending nut-shell, quantum physics declares a particle can be in two places at once. Don’t ask me how it’s done, but quantum scientists have been proving that they can do this for decades now. If you keep […]
Fintan O’Toole: a virtue-signalling man?
This blog first appeared as a column in The Andersonstown News Are you familiar with the term ‘virtue signalling’? No, and I wasn’t sure either until I read a recent article by Fintan O’Toole, considered by many to be the smartest man in Ireland. Fintan’s article talked about virtue signalling in relation to two matters that are of importance to the Irish people: the Irish […]
Jeffrey and the good-cop/bad-cop routine
Usually, good-cop/bad-cop roles are played by two different people. One cop asks if you’d like a cup of tea, the other kicks the cup out of your hand. Spotting the difference between the two isn’t hard. Jeffrey Donaldson, in contrast, appears to be intent on playing both good cop and bad cop, sometimes in the […]
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT THAT NEI SERVICE, BORIS & THE US, EXIT ANGELA MERKEL, AND THAT ROAD TRIP…
The world turns and the Dublin 4 media continue to tut-tut that Michael D Higgins didn’t agree to get into his chauffeur-driven car and head for Armagh. But here’s a question: should we not be seizing any opportunity, even this one, to reassure the unionist community, which at present is hyper-jumpy? Boris Johnson was in […]
Michael D: we know what he did – now why did he do it?
Everyone’s talking about how Michael D Higgins turned down that invitation to a church service ‘marking’ the creation of the border. Nobody that I’ve come across has been concerned to find the answer to a vital question: Why? Why did Michael D say thanks but no thanks to the invite? It’s totally out of character […]