Do the 81% of people who agree with President Higgins’s decision not to attend that event in Armagh – do they have a poison of anti-Britishness running through their veins? You’d have to open a lot of veins to find out, but the Indo’s Eilis O’Hanlon seems convinced people who agree with the non-attendance decision […]
September, 2021
THE IRISH BULLETIN — RELEVANT TODAY! – by Donal Kennedy
: THE IRISH BULLETIN — RELEVANT TODAY! The IRISH BULLETIN , published by the elected Government of Ireland under British occupation from 1919-1921 is essential to the understanding of that period. It got a brief and sneering mention in THE IRISH TIMES (God bless the mark!) some years ago which prompted an unpublished letter to […]
Five things about the Michael D brouhaha
OK then – let’s get this Michael D Higgins thing into perspective. Unionist anger at President Higgins’s rejection of an invitation to attend a church service in Armagh ‘marking’ the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern Ireland is partly fuelled by shock. Normally the Irish President, like most establishment figures in the south, […]
TV REVIEW: PORTUGAL v IRELAND and Darragh O’Brien v Eoin Ó Broin
This review first appeared in The Andersonstown News Last week brought pain to my TV screen, not once but twice. The first pain took the form of another footballing occasion, this time involving the Foreign Game. Alexa warbled that the Republic of Ireland was playing Portugal, in Portugal, and my heart shrank. Under Stephen Kenny as manager Ireland has won, out of […]
GAGS THAT ARE NO JOKES by Donal Kennedy
You probably never heard of an NDA or Non-Disclosure Agreement. I hadn’t heard of them until this (Saturday) morning when I looked at TMES 2, the section of THE TIMES devoted to Fashion, Showbiz and general air -headed concerns. It shouted at me – “I was silenced – No one else should be ” quoting […]
WHAT DOES KEIR STARMER REALLY WANT? POWER OR A HOT BATH NIGHT? – by Donal Kennedy
Men who want power make it simple. They make their messages short. Lenin was serious about power and he offered the masses PEACE, LAND, AND BREAD. He won enough support to establish a state that lasted three-quarters of a century, though without delivering on all the promises. Boris Johnson was serious about wanting to be […]
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT UNIONIST REACTION TO `MICHAEL D, THE LEAKY (?) SIMON HARRIS, P KIELTY& BOJO
It seems that Michael D Higgins is not the man he was: he has disappointed unionism by not attending that commemoration ceremony in Armagh. Was he right to reject it?After all, Catholic Archbishop Eamon Martin is going to it. The Zappone affair rumbles on. Matt Carthy of Sinn Féin has talked about ‘a sting’ and […]
Service of Reflection and Hope: President Higgins, you better think again
The DUP are not a bit pleased with President Michael D Higgins. Peter Weir wants to know if the President is joining Sinn Féin and the SDLP in boycotting all events marking the establishment of NEI one hundred years ago. He’s written to the President “asking if his office is officially snubbing all events marking […]
Class War
This is the second review sent to me by a former classmate. Bain sult as – Enjoy CLASS WAR A teacher’s diary 320pp. Biteback. £16.99. Anonymous Anonymous is at the end of his tether. After a quarter of a century teaching at a woefully underfunded secondary state school in Northern Ireland, he shares his jaded reflections, in diary-entry form, on the six months leading up to his drafting of a […]
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT ANGELA MERKEL, FADING FIANNA FÁIL, TYRONE’S TIP TOP TEAM AND RONALDO REDUX
Angela Merkel is about to retire any day now. We have a look at her legacy and consider how unlike Trump etc she is. She will be missed. Fianna Fáil is not thinking of retiring but it could be heading for the exit just the same. Have you read the polls recently? On Saturday, underdogs […]