November, 2015

The late Dr Brian Inglis who had a glittering career in journalism, radio and TV, cut  his journalistic teeth with the Irish Times. He earned his PhD with a thesis on Irish newspapers in the 19th Century and revealed that some were secretly subsidised by the British administration in Dublin Castle. It appears that they […]

  So, the “lights are finally out” for Alasdair McDonnell as the SDLP leader, he has now left the stage – the first ever sitting party leader to be defeated by the party. On The View, Thursday evening, a sense of arrogance was exposed by McDonnell, as he exclaimed that “Colum’s people might not be […]

  The priest at Mass today prayed for those people who lost their lives in Paris on Friday night – 227 at last count. “Look into my eyes – and die!” Marian Finucane said on RTÉ radio a few moments ago, quoting a newspaper report. The man identified as the only British casualty so far […]

(This was first published in The Irish Democrat in May 1988.)   “A MAN would need to have a heart of stone, not to laugh.” Thus Oscar Wilde on the death of Little Nell. No cynic, Wilde was making a literary criticism of Dickens. Real death is never a laughing matter. But the British media’s […]

  So Remembrance Day in Stormont ends in a “battle”. Irony? Big question, can we ever progress to a situation in Northern Ireland where both sides can come together through commemoration without one side grandstanding or using it as a political weapon? It is often very frustrating when commemorative events (or historical events) expose the […]

Did last night’s events in Paris leave you sickened? A little afraid, even? Me too. Paris is a city which a lot of us have visited, a place of  sidewalk cafes, culture and style. If we know even a few words of a foreign language, it’s likely to be French. So the killing of well over one […]

  AT CHRISTMAS 1953 I was given a book token by my aunt Eileen, with which I acquired The Four Glorious Years extracts of which I had read in the Sunday Press. It was written by Frank Gallagher, under the pen-name ‘David Hogan’ and, as his daughter was in class with my sister, I had […]

    THE Stormont negotiations have entered a critical and decisive phase. Three things are happening. Significant progress has been made among the Executive parties towards achieving agreement on all the issues under discussion. The British and Irish governments have played a negative and obstructive role, particularly during the last week. Arguably, one of their […]

There have been many who have condemned Sammy Morrison’s anthem ambush at a Remembrance service the other day. On the other hand, there have been those, not inconsiderable in number, who think it was a jolly good idea. It annoyed the Shinners, what’s not to like? Prominent among those hailing Mr Morrison’s vocal initiative was […]

  The movie, ‘Suffragette’,  does not ostensibly intend  to establish parallels with other protest  movements elsewhere  but as the action unfolded, the early days of the Sixties Civil Rights movement in the Six Counties and, specifically in Derry where I had an active role, were vividly recalled. The action opens in an East London laundry […]