August, 2016

Nobody likes to be humiliated or undermined as a human being. That is what the British authorities tried to do to the Irish republican prisoners in Long Kesh in the 1970s. The British, first under the Labour government and then under Thatcher and the Conservatives, decided to change the status and conditions for the Irish […]

THE IRISH WORLD (London)  on August 13th carried a piece by one Mick McDonagh publicising the staging in London of Sean O’Casey’s “THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS”. I suspect Mick MacDonagh was not about in 1966 and has done no research on 1916 nor even on 1966. He cannot possibly be a true revisionist. He appears to […]

Here’s a thought. How many people are aware of what exactly was being investigated by that Stormont Finance Committee and what the upshot of its investigations were? I’d be brazen enough to echo Michael Caine and suggest not many people know that. And I’d include myself in that number. When I’ve attempted to research what exactly […]

There’s a point being missed regarding the Daithi McKay/Jamie Bryson debacle over Peter Robinson and the NAMA scandal.Put bluntly …It’s the unusual pragmatism involved in an ultra -loyalist sharing a stealth assault on the leader of the unionist DUP with a member of Sinn Fein…..any member of Sinn Fein! The fact that he actually took […]

THE TIMES (13 August) and the BBC (12th August) referred to Lloyd George’s appeal a century ago, for the British public  to go the their cinemas to watch the Government-sponsored film on the Battle of the Somme. The paper said some of the film covered the first day of the battle six weeks previously. Plenty of […]

This press release from the Life Institute suggests the Irish Times cannot be relied on to report honestly on at least one topic (abortion), so one wonders what its reliability would be if a similar study were undertaken of its coverage of SF or the Peace Process etc., I’ve copied & pasted the press release […]

Whether you like them or not, we have some very able people in the Assembly. Our Health Minister has a great talent for engaging with people and communities; Our Finance Minister understands the challenges and prospects of enterprise; Our Economy Minister grasps the financial markets. Some individuals present there are extremely gifted people, irrespective of […]

  Remember the rage about the Belfast City Hall flag ‘tearing-down’? That was a good use of time and energy, wasn’t it? And now, since our politicians  have only one brain each(well, most of them, Virginia) , aren’t there other areas today that might merit attention ahead of Daithígate feeding-frenzy? Here are four modest proposals. […]

I am, of course, wildly biased, but I really like this blog kept by my niece. Somebody once said Jane Austen dealt with ‘the twigs and straws of life’. Likewise in these blogs. Have a read and tell me if it’s blood being thicker than water… https://joeyandus.wordpress.com/

There is only one all-Ireland political party actively promoting Irish unity.Only one.  Why is this? Brexit has highlighted the risk maintaining a border and separate jurisdictions has economically in both parts of Ireland, but even this is not enough to make the Dublin establishment pay more than lip-service to a potential future united Ireland.  Why […]