Tag Archives | Arlene Foster

An open letter to Arlene

  Dear Arlene,   I hope this finds you well and that you’re not suffering excessively from the current  heat…Yes of course I’m talking about the weather. I have taken the liberty of writing to you because I’m fearful you may be about to set out on a path that can only end in disillusionment and […]

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Last night with Arlene, the gift that keeps on giving

I went to bed last night feeling worried. Not for myself  but for the leader of the DUP. She was interviewed, as you probably know, on The View last night, and the smell of burning rubber and the crunch of collapsing metal was everywhere. Truly, this was car-crash TV. “The gift that keeps on giving” […]

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Enda and Arlene: separated at birth?

I wonder in what detail – if at all – Arlene Foster is following political developments south of the border these past few days. Is she, as an integral part of the UK, devoid of interest as to the goings-on in the foreign country to the south of her fiefdom? Or is she watching with […]

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RHI smoke and the difference between a SPAD and a Minister

Claire Hanna was on Raidio Uladh /Radio Ulster just now and she made one very valid point: the wood-pellet scheme is creating a lot of smoke and it’s hard to see through it. However, the testimony yesterday by Dr Andrew McCormick  to the Public Accounts Committee has provided flares,  helping us see what direction the […]

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Is that a baboon behind you?

It’s started already, with the News Letter leading the field. When the election campaign begins, stand by to see tactics still at an embryonic stage  grow to full warrior status. I’m talking about the tactics of distraction. It was at work  in the Talk Back studio earlier this week. What was to be a discussion of […]

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Martin McGuinness’s resignation:five points to keep in mind

Martin McGuinness’s decision to resign yesterday chimed exactly with the feelings of the nationalist/republican electorate. For the last couple of years, more and more republicans in particular have been fed up with what’s been happening at Stormont. The consistent refusal of Arlene Foster to do what any priest, prison-officer, teacher or politician would do as […]

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How not to talk and how to be suggestive

Picture by Joe Cashin                       Picture by Northern Ireland Executive Two quick references to convince you (as if you needed it) that politics is a dirty business which uses words as weapons. This morning on RTÉ Radio One, Leo Varadkar was being quizzed about the Fennelly […]

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