September, 2022

  They continually harp on that the majority here want to stay in the UK, then let’s put it to the test. They never try to sell the benefits of remaining in the UK. Rather than concentrating all their efforts on stopping a poll they should instead use some of their energy in promoting the […]

    The Belfast-born essayist Robert Lynd wrote that before London millionaires and Conservatives and Ulster Unionists determined to use armed force to defy a British House of Commons majority offering Home Rule to Ireland, most Irish people were as addicted to parliamentary politics as to the teapot. He was writing an appreciation of James […]

        With the death of Elizabeth the second the longest serving Monarch in British history who is to be replaced by her erstwhile son Charles, perhaps now is a good time to reflect on the suitability of the continuation of the role of an unelected King in a modern pseudo democratic nation. […]

  ‘Northern Ireland’ was designed with the specific aim of advantaging the Protestant population at the expense of their Catholic counterparts. This political entity did not result from a democratic decision, instead the threat of Loyalist violence is what drove us towards partition. The anti-democratic carving up of Ireland that rejected the outcome of an […]

“The key for all political leaders is that we are reflective of that society and that we can come to accommodate, regardless of people’s religious views and political persuasions, that they feel comfortable in this place that we call home.” –  Philip Brett, DUP MLA Translation: We in the DUP have always liked having happy […]

For unionists in NEI, it must feel as though the world has been turned upside down – or if not the world, then their world. There are now more people of Catholic background in NEI than Protestants. This has alarmed not just unionists but others across the border, like Michéal Martin and Simon Harris. Is […]

In 2001, the census for NEI showed that 53% of the population were Protestant in background, and that 44% identified as Catholic. Ten years later, In 2011, the census returns showed that 48% identified as Protestant,  45% as Catholic. Another ten years later, the census figures for 2021, just released, show that 43% identify as […]

I’m in London observing the beginning of the end.  And I’m struck by the number of cafes, shops, bars and restaurants that are open. Obviously people need fed and watered. Yet the BBC allowed Nolan -with Jim Wells’s  help- to pillory a convenience store in Dungiven that chose to open today to serve their local […]

Had enough of royal grief? Are there limits beyond which coverage and mourning should not go? We think so – even if QE2 was a decent woman. There are over 2,000 food-banks in England. How can this be, in one of the world’s richest countries? Putin, if we’re to believe western media, has his back […]

                                       Do you want this clever-cryptic or do you wish for it plain ? Clear and direct with no deference to ‘givens.’ Or shall I  go with the flow , shall I  go with the grain with […]