Will Micheál Martin get the chop as leader of Fianna Fail?After all, he made a bags of the treatment of the fuel protestors. But is there anyone to replace him?Jim O’Callaghan? Didn’t he soil his nappy by talking about AND bringing in the Army? As for Keir Starmer, do you really think he didn’t […]
The big double-think
Doublethink is a very handy concept, invented by George Orwell in his novel 1984. It involves the ability to hold two conflicting ideas at one time. Politics today is soaked in it, but if you asked me to point to one example, I’d probably pick Palestine and Ukraine. Of course we’re all supporters of Ukrainian […]
A sonnet for Michael Healy-Rae
When Michael Healy-Rae set down his borrowed crown, No grief arose—just murmurs, edged with doubt; The cap stayed firm, the practiced rustic gown, A costume worn till threads of truth wore out. He hailed the mud, the mart, the narrow lane, Yet counted wealth where few could ever see; A “man of people” fluent in […]
M & S make a bags of it
John Hume was told by his father that you can’t eat a flag. Might a faint shadow of doubt been cast over this assertion by Marks and Spencer? Apparently they’ve launched a shopping bag which has a Union flag on the side of it. Actually, they’ve used these bags frequently in the past – in […]
Some Decisions can change your Life by Joe McVeigh
The most difficult decision I ever made was in 1980 when I decided to take time out of ministry in the diocese of Clogher and spend some time in New York and the USA. It was a big decision but, in hindsight, I think it was the […]
Good luck to this afternoon’s demonstrators
Word is that later today the Belfast Westlink, Sandyknowes Roundabout and the area around Sprucefield will be blocked in a similar manner to the blockades in the South which convinced Micheál Martin to cough up considerable sums to ease the pain being endured by hauliers, farmers and other groups affected by the ballooning of oil […]
The deification of Donald Trump
The AI-generated image of Donald Trump depicted as Jesus Christ is less a piece of art and more a symptom—of ego, of propaganda, and of a culture that increasingly confuses spectacle with substance. It’s not subtle. It’s not clever. It’s blunt-force symbolism designed to provoke, flatter, and divide all at once. There’s something almost embarrassingly […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT IRAN AND J D VANCE, THE DEFEAT OF ORBAN, AND WILL DANNY HEALY-RAE VOTE FOR THE GOVERNMENT TOMORROW?
TOMORROW,there will be a vote of confidence in the Dail. A couple of the Independent TDs are making noises about not voting with the government. Will the likely of Danny Healy-Rae stand by the working man and woman? IN Hungary, Victor Orban has got the boot – he’s out, Magyar is in. But is Magyar […]
Trump thumps Pope Leo
Is Donald Trump suffering from a softness in his brain, or does he see himself as God’s appointed and anointed on Earth? “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social late on Sunday. EH? Has there been a series of heists in the Vatican […]
Trump’s cunning Iran plan
This wasn’t strategy; it was impulse dressed up as strength. One week, the message was domination—targets “obliterated,” enemies supposedly on their knees. The next, whispers of deals, ceasefires, or sudden exits. Even as bombs fell, the narrative lurched between victory laps and vague promises of negotiation. It’s not just incoherent—it’s dangerous. The result? A conflict […]