Clifford McKeown, who shot dead Catholic taxi-driver Michael McGoldrick during the Drumcree crisis of 1996, died on Tuesday. A member of the UVF, he had served a long prison sentence for the murder of Michael McGoldrick whom he killed during the Drumcree dispute. Mr McGoldrick had graduated not long before with a degree from Queen’s […]
Author Jude Collins
Donald’s cunning plan
My immediate reaction to Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza was, to a degree, one of admiration. There is no doubt that he is thinking about this terrible problem in ways not thought of before. My more considered reaction was that, if he’s serious about his plan, he should consult with a psychiatrist as […]
Boy on the Bike.By Randall Stephen Hall.
yHave we lost our focusUpon that other day.Upon Bloody Friday?For it sits on the dark side of the moon.While the sun’s rays, the raging coreAlways the IlluminationThe media attentionUpon Bloody Sunday.Well deserved, but . . .Should we think about that other dayNever mind Enniskillen and Omagh?Can we talk about that inconsistency?Can we walk awhile, with […]
The cosy relationship between FF and FG – by Joe McVeigh
You have only to observe the way that the current leaders of FF and FG – Martin and Harris -speak about and respond to members of Sinn Fein in the Dáil to realise that the contempt for republicans politically opposed to Partition is still strong. The bitterness and hostility towards Sinn Fein since […]
The Omagh bomb: Say Nothing
I’ve just been listening to part of an RTÉ Radio One report on the Omagh Bomb Inquiry being conducted at present. As often happens, the details of those killed are appalling – a woman blown to bits, identifiable only by a shoe and her fingerprint. People planning a fortieth wedding anniversary but meeting death instead. […]
Dither, death and the A5
There’s another hold-up on the A5. Not a traffic jam, not people lying in the road because they are ecology warriors, not civil service inefficiency (although I suspect there was a bit of that last one). It’s just that there appear to have been objections, presumably by farmers whose land will be disrupted by […]
PAT+ JUDE TALK ABOUT RECONCILIATION AND UNITY, TRUMP AND TARIFFS, AND SUCKING UP TO PEOPLE
Mark Durkan, former leader of the SDLP, and Heather Humphries, former Fine Gael minister, both have aired their views on politics generally and any talk of a united Ireland in particular. We check if they’re promoting a particular (and damaging ) way of thinking about a border poll for a UI. Donald Trump has […]
Death remains active beyond the Washington crash – but nobody’s horrified
It’s strange the things we mourn. The collision of that Black Hawk helicopter with a passenger plane over the Potomac River in Washington DC has grabbed the headlines. News bulletins provided the detail, politicians expressed grief, Donald Trump assigned the blame to those who encouraged ‘diversity’ in the work place. It’d be easy to take […]
Irish In Sweden : Earnest Lydia Our Drama Queen With Spuds & Sill – by Philip O’Connor
The holder of a degree in drama, Lydia talks about how she fell in love with the footlights at a local drama group for kids in Tyrone, and how that led to a life-long love of the stage that will no doubt be in evidence when the play hits the boards in late March in […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT TRUMP’S RESPONSE TO AIR CRASH, TV POLITICAL DRAMAS, WHY TEACHERS ARE OPTING OUT, AND LOTS MORE
Was President Higgins right to mention ‘the rubble of Gaza’ in a speech on Holocaust Day? And what about President Trump – was he right to claim that the air crash in Washington DC was due to ‘diverse’ employment of people? And what about that TV drama ‘Brian and Maggie’ , showing Brian Walden doing […]