Author Harry McAvinchey

Another foggy Autumn morning in October . The leaves are curling and colouring red. The dew is sparkling across the lawn grass but the garden is cloaked in a smoky , wisping ,mist waiting for the sun to burn it off. These past days have arrived as bright luminescent periods with full blazing sunshine and […]

“Good morning Mr Magpie …and how is your wife today?” Show the old beggar a bit of respect. That’s the ticket. Keep him sweet and mention the wife too. One for sorrow ,but two for joy .Just hope that he and the wife are still together and all will be well.Magpies are birds of magic […]

No , I don’t like to laugh at the dead …and I’m not laughing, but there is some crazy cosmic synchronicity going on ,when at the Hajj religious pilgrimage to stone pillars representing what is called “the devil” or possibly “the Devil” hundreds of people have died .The ritual involves throwing stones at three stone […]

Maybe not quite “the biter bit”…but close enough. There are so many scandals breaking that there’s a lot of effort required to really make your mark these days and rise above the clamour .We’ve had Cameron’s “Pig Gate”, The IRA Hasn’t Really Gone Away You Know, Edward Heath’s Abuse Scandal , the newest Volkswagen Expose […]

Some questions, puzzles and fascinating ideas are currently rattling through my brain. They are all news items that have floated to the surface in press stories in the past while. Was Gerry Adams ever in the IRA ? ….is one . Was Peter Robinson ever a part of a terrorist grouping called Ulster Resistance? Did […]

There are a couple of Brysons in the news this past few weeks . I’m not talking about super-suckng vacuum cleaners here. That’s Brysons…not Dysons. On one hand the American , Bill Bryson, the humourous travel and social writer, has had one of his entertaining books turned into a film , helmed and produced by […]

It can get messy.You wouldn’t expect honey not to be sticky, mind.It would be an odd world if honey wasn’t sweet and glutinous, wouldn’t it? What you might n’t expect is that although you might take every precaution and cover every available surface with newspapers, somehow some of that unctuous tackyness will stick to your […]

As unionism continues to pretzel itself into more and more convoluted political shapes and cavorts around the Stormont playground in ever-decreasing circles , it might be timely to have a good look at their track record and their place in history. It was brought to mind when I was reading about Jeremy Corbyn and how […]

Martin McGuinness has stated in reference to the recent murders of republicans in Belfast : that “the murders had “created problems” for Sinn Fein and Mr Robinson”……and that “The roots of this is two murders and the people who are responsible for those murders are either criminals, agents, dissidents – they are certainly not supporters […]

After a week of jokes, japes and stunts in Norneverland politics, nothing much has changed. Unionism has found its joke book of stale gags again at the bottom of that dusty box in the attic, after losing it for awhile . The jokes and clowning might be old and raddled but they worked alright back […]