The DUP’s Paul Givan was on TV a couple of weeks back, talking about his move to insert a Conscience clause in legislation which would protect people like the Ashers. You remember the Ashers: they’re the people who in all conscience couldn’t respond to a gay couple cake request, because it clashed with their values. […]
February, 2015
‘Silent Valleys’ by Randall Stephen Hall
Silent Valleys. By Randall Stephen Hall © https://soundcloud.com/hugh-midden-speaks/silent-valleys-16-2-15 Just click this link or cut and paste it into your search engine. Over the years I’ve become more aware of the events in Ireland prior to the Plantation of Ulster. As you delve into the bog of history you cannot help but ask yourself […]
‘The Poor Man’s Pig’ by Soinbhe Lally
How quickly things change. The latest Sunday Independent/Millward Brown poll has declared Sinn Fein the most popular party in the country and this morning’s IP headline says Gerry Adams won’t rule out being next Taoiseach. According to pundits, the years of austerity have ended the Civil War rivalries which allowed two right-wing parties to take […]
MURALS . TYRES AND TOBACCO by Harry McAvinchey
They’re talking about loyalist murals on the radio…. In the real world my honeybees momentarily stirred a day or so ago , possibly to get out for a few moments to defecate. They are really good at crossing their legs during these cold winter months but even they have their limits. There must have been […]
‘Faith and Non-Faith’ by Soinbhe Lally
There’s a non-faith lobby out there in Northern Ireland and it’s winning. Alf McCreary in the Belfast Telegraph, reports that Christianity is being erased in townhalls across the province by lack of a prayer or a Bible reading or even a brief moment of meditation and recollection, before council meetings. And even if a prayer […]
AMAL CLOONEY AND THE HOODED MEN by Harry McAvinchey
Quite a sizeable proportion of the denizens of the mythic Norneverland don’t really think Human Rights are a thing to aspire to . They feel that to fight for those ordinary rights of the person is somehow , vaguely not quite clean. Some of them feel that it is actually not for them at […]
‘Symbolics’ by Randall Stephen Hall
Symbolics . By Randall Stephen Hall © 13.2.15. Click here for the audio file: https://soundcloud.com/hugh-midden-speaks/symbolics-rsh-13-2-15 First broadcast on East Antrim Community Radio. Narrated by Samuel MacHoojah. Samuel MacHoojah first broke into the public imagination with his narration of “Chubbs”, (a poem about man-boobs), first performed at Skainos, as part of the East Belfast Arts […]
ELIMINATE THE NEGATIVE by Harry McAvinchey
My first thoughts were …comedy, maybe? The subject was a serious one though. Some barrister was on the radio saying that by dressing provocatively and getting hammered on alcoholic drink ,women were actively encouraging slavering ,drooling men to rape them. He was n’t blaming the men .Those poor crude beasties , he implied , had […]
The economics of Irish unity: five questions
Economics is the dismal science, we’re told, but it’s also the basis on which states are built. If a country isn’t built on a sound economic base, it’s in danger of collapse. Or, as in the case of our own little stateen, if it can’t get the money from elsewhere to prop it up. Much […]
Eamon Dunphy and the rabbit
As a rule I’m several steps behind. Nothing to do with age – I’ve always been this way – more just disorganised inefficiency. That’s why I’m only now catching up with the Paul Murphy story. Murphy, as you know, was the Anti-Austerity candidate in Dublin who took a by-election seat that Sinn Féin – and […]