April, 2012

Alex Kane is a nice man. He was an adviser to the Ulster Unionist Party, which either took his advice and tanked or didn’t take his advice and tanked. He also appears regularly on BBC’s ‘Hearts and Minds’, which means he’s a republican-free zone, because that’s what you need to be if you’re going to […]

Alex Kane is a nice man. He was an adviser to the Ulster Unionist Party, which either took his advice and tanked or didn’t take his advice and tanked. He also appears regularly on BBC’s ‘Hearts and Minds’, which means he’s a republican-free zone, because that’s what you need to be if you’re going to […]

Most politicians, in my experience, are clever people.  Or maybe cunning would be a better word. They know how to flatter people, how to defuse criticism, how to talk in generalities when an interviewer backs them into a corner. But they have one characteristic that they sometimes give into: arrogance. It’s a kind of craziness, […]

Most politicians, in my experience, are clever people.  Or maybe cunning would be a better word. They know how to flatter people, how to defuse criticism, how to talk in generalities when an interviewer backs them into a corner. But they have one characteristic that they sometimes give into: arrogance. It’s a kind of craziness, […]

So what do you think – should  we tell Madame Liu Yandong to piss off, take herself and her running communist dogs back to China? After all,  as Amnesty International has pointed out,  China is numero uno in the world for executions; at least 190,000 people are in ‘administrative detention’, which most of the time […]

So what do you think – should  we tell Madame Liu Yandong to piss off, take herself and her running communist dogs back to China? After all,  as Amnesty International has pointed out,  China is numero uno in the world for executions; at least 190,000 people are in ‘administrative detention’, which most of the time […]

Interesting race for the US presidency, isn’t it?…No, please, don’t use that kind of language. Children sometimes read this blog. I think it’s interesting because, although they obviously don’t want him, the Republican Party have now pretty well selected Mitt Romney to be their standard-bearer. Mitt himself knows they don’t really want him, so he’s […]

Interesting race for the US presidency, isn’t it?…No, please, don’t use that kind of language. Children sometimes read this blog. I think it’s interesting because, although they obviously don’t want him, the Republican Party have now pretty well selected Mitt Romney to be their standard-bearer. Mitt himself knows they don’t really want him, so he’s […]

The Stone-breakers’ Yard, Kilmainham Gaol When the seemingly-defeated men of 1916 were led away, we’re told, the public mood  against them was strong – people were said to have jeered and spat at them. If that’s true, the mood did an impressive hand-brake turn two years later, when Sin Féin swept the electoral board throughout […]

The Stone-breakers’ Yard, Kilmainham Gaol When the seemingly-defeated men of 1916 were led away, we’re told, the public mood  against them was strong – people were said to have jeered and spat at them. If that’s true, the mood did an impressive hand-brake turn two years later, when Sin Féin swept the electoral board throughout […]