Let’s pretend. Let’s pretend that this contested march down the Garvaghy Road on 27 September 2026 is a march through the East End of London exactly 90 years ago. Those insisting on marching are not the Orange Order but Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts, and they insist on their right to march along Cable Street. They are […]
Talkback: avoiding the word that explains the Garvaghy Road dispute
I’m in shock. I’ve just been listening to a ‘balanced’ discussion on Talkback about the plans of Portadown Orangemen, sixty of them complete with Orange collarettes, to march down the Garvaghy Road. All sorts of talk about redressing the balance (EH?) and tolerance between all communities, and please let me kneel before you so I […]
Pity Gav – he’s stuck in the 19th century
The DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the choice is clear for the Parades Commission – whether to apply the law and restore confidence or “succumb”. Portadown Orangemen should be allowed complete the parade which has been in existence since the 1800s, he said. I’m tempted to utter several profanities but I’ll confine myself to […]
Let’s bend the rules and buy more weapons, OK?
Does it strike you that EU countries are getting ready to wage war? Eighteen of them, including Germany, Poland, France and Belgium have “activated the special fiscal flexibility”- in other words, they’re allowed to spend more on weapons than would normally be permitted in EU countries. Poland is spending about 4.7% of GDP on armaments. […]
Maybe they should change their name to FFAI
The FAI makes Ed Sheeran look like a fearsome opponent of Israel. Sheeran has failed to follow the lead of his band and supporting acts, who have spoken out at gigs against the genocide in Gaza. He finally has come up with a milk-and-water complaint about how October 7, 2023 was a terrible atrocity but […]
Clericalism v Discipleship by Joe McVeigh
It is often said that clericalism is the enemy of the church and of Christianity. The Church founded by Jesus of Nazareth and his apostles was a community of men and women who set out to restore human dignity in a world where many were treated as less than human. In that society women […]
Abstentionism Is Not Absenteeism – by Peter Irvine
At the SDLP conference on 12 September, Colum Eastwood described Provisional SinnFéin’s refusal to take its Westminster seats as a “terrible dereliction of duty”. His argumentwas that decisions concerning a future border poll will ultimately be taken in London,“whether we like it or not”.For clarity, I refer here to the contemporary party led by Mary […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT ED SHEERAN & FREE PALESTINE, PARTYING WITH THE ENEMY, & RoI v ISRAEL & COWARDS
Ed Sheeran’s tour controversy is not simply celebrity gossip. Macklemore was removed from upcoming shows after he used the stage to say “Free Palestine” and condemn Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Stadium owner Robert Kraft said the decision reflected concerns about antisemitic rhetoric; Sheeran said the promoter made the final call. But the effect is unmistakable: […]
Did you hear about the paedophile priest?
We live in strange times. The Catholic Church’s traditional obsession with sexual sin has been scoffed at and dismissed, and for many that will be a relief and not before time. For others it serves up an irony that we would do well to note. Which is? That the one sin which contemporary Irish […]
Should the Banbridge band be banned?
There are things which happen that leave you winded. Open-mouthed, speechless. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry. It seems that in a loyalist parade in Banbridge (Yes of course, Virginia, it may have been marching in circles, but I have no verification of that) their trusty band played and sang a ditty called […]