Two men are probably feeling pretty cheesed off this morning. Alastair McDonnell was on TV the other day explaining that reducing Belfast from four constituencies to three would be bad for the city’s political clout. Maybe, but I’ll bet the truth was more like an earlier judgement Alastair made: South Belfast, the constituency he had […]
September, 2011
Alastair and Gerry – a turn for the worse?
Two men are probably feeling pretty cheesed off this morning. Alastair McDonnell was on TV the other day explaining that reducing Belfast from four constituencies to three would be bad for the city’s political clout. Maybe, but I’ll bet the truth was more like an earlier judgement Alastair made: South Belfast, the constituency he had […]
Catholic priests and celibacy: time for a re-think
I’ve just come from a discussion on the Stephen Nolan show, BBC Radio Ulster/Raidio Uladh. It lasted twenty minutes and it was on the topic of celibacy in the Catholic Church. The former Bishop of Derry Eddie Daly (who features with his crimson handkerchief in that Bloody Sunday mural) has a book coming out tomorrow […]
Catholic priests and celibacy: time for a re-think
I’ve just come from a discussion on the Stephen Nolan show, BBC Radio Ulster/Raidio Uladh. It lasted twenty minutes and it was on the topic of celibacy in the Catholic Church. The former Bishop of Derry Eddie Daly (who features with his crimson handkerchief in that Bloody Sunday mural) has a book coming out tomorrow […]
Bertie Ahern, Gerry Adams and the southern media
Poor Bertie Ahern. Once he was everybody’s favourite. He liked a pint, he liked going to Croke Park, he liked Man United, he was open about living with a woman who wasn’t his wife, he kept the unions onside, he presided over boom times, he wasn’t Charlie Haughey. A dream of a taoiseach. Then the […]
Bertie Ahern, Gerry Adams and the southern media
Poor Bertie Ahern. Once he was everybody’s favourite. He liked a pint, he liked going to Croke Park, he liked Man United, he was open about living with a woman who wasn’t his wife, he kept the unions onside, he presided over boom times, he wasn’t Charlie Haughey. A dream of a taoiseach. Then the […]
Rev David Latimer: Christian or weirdo?
It must be irritating for those who like to present the differences here as between Protestants and Catholics when they run up against the fact that the history of Irish republicanism is studded with Protestants. Sam Maguire (he of the famous Sam Maguire Cup) was a Protestant who recruited Michael Collins into the Irish Republican […]
Rev David Latimer: Christian or weirdo?
It must be irritating for those who like to present the differences here as between Protestants and Catholics when they run up against the fact that the history of Irish republicanism is studded with Protestants. Sam Maguire (he of the famous Sam Maguire Cup) was a Protestant who recruited Michael Collins into the Irish Republican […]
Loathing and absence in Belfast Crown Court
To risk being pedantic: if no other good comes from the supergrass trial that began in Belfast yesterday, at least the practice of referring to informers as ‘informants’ will have been dropped. Or I hope so. I don’t read all the papers but those I do, if they have to use the i word, it’s […]
Loathing and absence in Belfast Crown Court
To risk being pedantic: if no other good comes from the supergrass trial that began in Belfast yesterday, at least the practice of referring to informers as ‘informants’ will have been dropped. Or I hope so. I don’t read all the papers but those I do, if they have to use the i word, it’s […]