April, 2016

I note that next week sees the launching in Belfast by Air Vice-Marshal D.M.Niven of a book entitled “IRELAND’S AVIATION HEROES OF WORLD WAR II” by John C.Hewitt. Irish aviators committed to Ireland’s defence, a forlorn hope in the event of Ireland engaging in hostilities, served in the Irish Army Air Corps, and never rose to […]

Today on RTÉ Willie O’Dea of Fianna Fail was asked  a key question: “What’s taking you all so long?” Willie, in his inimitable way, replied that southern politicians find themselves in totally new political waters, so of course it’s going to take a lot of time and effort. Well you’re right, Willie, if you’re talking […]

I wish I knew my birds a little better. Oh , I know what a thrush looks like ,or a starling and a swift or swallow. I can pick out a robin or a bluetit, a magpie or a dove .What I’d dearly love to know is what that little fellow with the white breast […]

According to Robert Fisk’s “IN TIME OF WAR”  the Stormont regime was more anxious to protect the statue of Carson than the inhabitants of Belfast from German bombing during the Blitz. Why the Luftwaffe would have wanted to bomb Carson I can’t imagine. He had been hailed by one of his MP followers as the […]

I don’t know when she started wearing it, but it’s a constant feature now.  I’m talking about the jewelled brooch in the shape of a royal crown which Arlene Foster now wears, whatever her outfit. I don’t think I’ve heard any nationalists/republicans objecting to it, nor should they. What Arlene chooses to wear in her […]

…Or  with THE TIMES, or the BBC this Wednesday morning as the integrity of the Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, comes under scrutiny. For he is supposedly responsible for  setting standards for media and sport. One morning in February 1982 I turned on BBC  Radio 4 News and was intrigued to find the  that the Press […]

The most important factor in the coming elections was mentioned by just one of the leaders – Colum Eastwood. The fact that he simply mentioned it and then moved on is a pity, but at least he used the key phrase. And the phrase? Voter turn-out. The prod in the garden centre has been joined […]

I don’t know who Craig Murray is, but he’s opened my eyes on the Panama Papers… Whoever leaked the Mossack Fonseca papers appears motivated by a genuine desire to expose the system that enables the ultra wealthy to hide their massive stashes, often corruptly obtained and all involved in tax avoidance. These Panamanian lawyers hide […]

At LAST! Read this article – it finally gives a lethal injection to the phoney image of Patrick Pearse as a blood-crazed loon – or as Ian Paisley Jr told me in an interview: “He was a madman!”  And to think this is from the pages of the Indo! Maybe there is hope after all…   http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/1916/rising-perspectives/putting-the-language-of-pearse-in-context-blood-sacrifice-and-1916-34611012.html

I attended a conference a few weeks’ back on this subject. I’d urge everybody to read this press release: what the issue comes down to is how we treat the most vulnerable in our society. Inez McCormack was a truly great woman; Sean Brady, Dessie Donnelly and the other people in Participation and Practice of […]