“I still have no doubt that there’s a republican agenda within a lot of the broadcast media that came to the fore and had a field day in the five days after the Twelfth, and I must say that I’ve been disappointed by their attitude to it.” – Drew Nelson, Grand Secretary of the Grand […]
June, 2015
Victims and justice and the price you pay
On the face of it, I can sympathise with Kenny Donaldson and others like him. He represents a group ‘Innocent Victims United’ and he was on The View last night. With him was Alan Brecknell whose father was killed in 1975 by the UVF. Donaldson’s line is that it’s absurd to equate the victim of […]
A STARLING IN THE KITCHEN by Harry McAvinchey
The day started strangely for those who believe in omens and the like . I was listening to Jude and Malachi O’Doherty talking on the radio about the Scappaticci programme on television the night previously , hair still damp from my morning shower. I was sipping down my customary pot of Punjana when there […]
Feargal and Barry – how dare you talk that way
Hands up if you know who Feargal Dalton is? Right, me neither, until I read an article about him in this morning’s Belfast Telegraph. He’s a Glasgow SNP councillor and he’s been the target for lots of online abuse by dolts who claim he’s a supporter of IRA violence and should be ejected from […]
Spotlight and Nolan: what we already knew and what was left out
Picture by Moochin Photo The BBC’s task, its founder Lord Reith declared, was to entertain, educate and inform the population. None of the three applied to last night’s programme on BBC Spotlight. Certainly it wasn’t entertaining: the grim and brutal tale of Caroline Moreland, shot by the IRA as an informer six weeks before the […]
SO WHAT COLOUR IS GOD, THEN? by Harry McAvinchey
It pays to keep things simple in your life, otherwise you can cause yourself a lot of mental grief.You can tie your brain up into knots attempting to convince yourself that molasses is salt and vice -versa.That kind of thing appears to have exercised the minds of some out there .On one hand Mashida Manjoo, […]
Newsflash: Gregory tells it like it is!
Picture by adwriter I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Gregory Campbell is quite right: of course interviewers should avoid approaching over-70s. For a start they sort of, you know, smell…Like that odour you get in a room that’s been locked up for some time. If you stand too near them, the […]
A troubled triangle: Fintan, Eoghan and Denis
Picture by Clinton Global Initiative It’s not often I find myself in agreement with the Smartest Man in Ireland, but this morning I’ll make an exception: Fintan O’Toole has written an article about Denis O’Brien in today’s Irish Times that is well worth reading. It raises the topic that is white-hot south of the border […]
Condemnation and after
Picture by Crausby There was an interesting article in The Strabane Chronicle last week. It centred on a remark made on Facebook by the Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Eilisha McCallion. She was responding to attacks last week in which one councillor had his car set alight and another hand his windscreen smashed. The […]
JAMES THE FLUTER’S FIREBALL by Harry McAvinchey
There is more to flutes than meets the eye.Flutes aren’t simply fancy- sounding , elaborate tin whistles .They have other connotations as well. Some ships were called “flutes” too.Back in the 1600’s and on, the Dutch made these ships and they sometimes carried possibly a dozen nine- pounder cannons . The English, the Dutch […]