The hunger strike is still a very emotive subject in Ireland. For many, even though it is 35 years ago, it is like it happened yesterday. The pain is still there. I meet relatives of those who died and I sense their pain. I met with Bik McFarlane, the leader of the prisoners during […]
August, 2016
Daithí McKay – off with his head!
A few questions and some conclusions… My enemy’s enemy is my friend. Although it’s harnessed in government with the DUP, Sinn Féin correctly see that party as their principal political rivals. So didn’t it make sense that they’d want Jamie Bryson’s evidence against Peter Robinson to be as targeted and powerful as possible? Was […]
‘Brexit –the end of the empire?’ by Joe McVeigh
Occasionally I bump into an old school friend and class mate in Enniskillen. He is a retired teacher who now spends most of his time on the golf course. He does not take much part in politics now but one of his favourite sayings when asked about the current situation is, ‘Britannia Delenda Est.’(He […]
Why the Olympics are a red herring
There was a man from Irish sport on BBC Radio Four this morning. He was talking about how abysmally Ireland has done in the Olympics and how well the British have done. He managed to squeeze in that the British hadn’t been doing so hot in the early 1990s, but that then a development programme […]
MAKING MERRY WITH THE NEWS AND CALLING A SPADE A SPADE
“John Hennigan, from Harlow, Essex, was jailed for 18 months on Tuesday after pleading guilty to breaching his Asbo again in April last year when he made racist comments to a black woman shopper and her children in the town.” There was a time when there was a thing called a “family newspaper” .This was […]
Michael Conlan: sore loser or telling it like it is?
From my earliest years I’ve never been a good loser, so when, after his defeat to a Russian boxer, Michael Conlan shouted “They’re fucking cheats- they’re known for being cheats!” I felt his pain. Besides, how could you not like a lad who tweets Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, with the query “Hey Vlad..How […]
‘The Fall and Demise of the SDLP’ by Donal Lavery
The election of the young Colum Eastwood hasn’t caught the hearts nor amazement of many people (if any) across Ireland. If the election results are anything to go by, he should have resigned just a few months after becoming leader. From the start I regarded the party’s sense of faith in him as a vehicle […]
BREXIT CHANGES EVERYTHING? by Michael J Cummings
After the BREXIT vote a friend of Ireland’s re-unification remarked: This changes everything! Perhaps. But having observed Ireland’s conflict for some time and how much British bias and arrogance, United States ignorance and the Irish governments resignation have plagued resolution, I was not optimistic. Let me posit a few recent examples which inspire my pessimism. […]
Generous fenian bastards
I’ve always been a bit amazed at how Derry has succeeded in overcoming the Apprentice Boys problem. It was the Apprentice Boys’ march, remember, that sparked off what is now known as the Battle of the Bogside in 1969. Then the British troops arrived (and were cheered by nationalist crowds), disillusionment set in and conflict […]
Raise your hand if you loved that Bogside bonfire
That Bogside bonfire put Eamonn McCann and Chris Donnelly in opposite corners. McCann described it as “an act of defiance”, while Donnelly said it was no such thing, it was an anti-social act, showing no respect for the environment or the surrounding community. In my usual role of oil-pourer on troubled waters, could I suggest […]