In theory, the PSNI is the most balanced police force on the island. In practice, it still struggles to recruit Catholics in numbers that match the demography of NEI. Only about one in five applicants comes from a Catholic background. Which raises an awkward question: if the police are for everyone, why do so many people politely […]
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD IN GLSGOW AND WASHINGTON – by John Patton
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD IN GLASGOW AND WASHINGTON By John Patton THEATRE OF THE ABSURD IN GLASGOW AND WASHINGTON By John Patton on 05/03/2026 A much appreciated birthday gift from my son, saw us both at a new production of “Waiting For Godot” at the recently refurbished, Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre. The curtain rose on […]
The B(ritish)BC elbows in to tell the story
There is something exquisitely Belfast about the idea of the BBC wanting to help curate Belfast City Council ls grand narrative project, Belfast Stories. After all, who better to shape “the story of the city” than the state broadcaster of the state many in the city once spent several decades arguing about? The BBC, […]
Two psychotic bullies
Once upon a time, in the grand theatre of global power, two middle-aged men decided their résumés needed a bit more territorial flair. On the eastern front, Putin launched a war against Ukraine, brushing off international norms like confetti at a wedding — a sovereign state be damned. Meanwhile, on the other side of the […]
Micheál and the shamrocks bollocks
Every March, like clockwork, Micheál Martin boards a transatlantic flight with a bowl of shamrocks and a straight face. Destination: the White House. Mission: celebrate St Patrick’s Day and Ireland’s “neutrality” in the same breath—an acrobatic feat worthy of Cirque du Soleil. The choreography is familiar. Smile for the cameras. Present the greenery. Speak solemnly about […]
Has Micheál got the cojones? Don’t answer that
Neutrality, in Ireland, has become less a principle than a branding exercise. The tricolour flutters, speeches invoke sovereignty, and yet at Shannon Airport American military aircraft refuel with bureaucratic efficiency. Officially, Ireland is not a combatant. Practically, it is a well-positioned service station on the western edge of Europe. Successive governments insist the arrangement is […]
The President of Peace becomes the Mad King of War
In the theater of modern geopolitics, subtlety has left the building. At center stage stands Donald Trump , conducting foreign policy as if it were a live rally: louder equals stronger, bigger equals better, and hesitation equals humiliation. Nuance is dismissed as weakness; complexity is an inconvenience best bulldozed. Enter Benjamin Netanyahu a political survivor […]
Something rotten in copland
If trust were evidence, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) would currently be handling it with contaminated gloves. Nearly 30% of the most serious cases examined by the Police Ombudsman involved predatory behaviour. Thirty percent. In any other profession, that figure would trigger emergency reviews, resignations, and possibly a Netflix documentary titled How Did […]
Donald and Benjamin weighed in the scales of justice
Members of the tribunal, This case is not about politics. It is about law. It is about whether the rules painstakingly written after the ashes of World War II still bind the powerful. The evidence placed before the world concerning Donald Trukp and Benjamin Netanyahu demands sober legal reckoning. Under their leadership, military campaigns were […]
Trump tramps on human beings
From a human rights standpoint, any large-scale military attack by the United States and Israel on Iran represents a catastrophic moral failure. War is not merely a matter of strategy or deterrence; it is measured in shattered bodies, grieving families, and obliterated civilian infrastructure. Airstrikes marketed as “precision” inevitably fall on neighbourhoods where children sleep […]