February, 2017

There are a number of political figures who I admire, for their oratory and for their respective visions, even though I haven’t always agreed with their views. While I agreed with Tony Benn on virtually anything, I disagreed with Enoch Powell on virtually everything, yet still found him a formidable intellectual force. Enoch Powell was […]

 “Union has been imposed on Ireland by a combination of terror, torture, force, fraud and corruption. The instigators of the Union revived the fire of a dying rebellion. They set Protestant against Catholic and Catholic against Protestant. They stirred up internal discord, always with the object in mind of realising their plan of enslavement. While […]

Distraction alert: the topic below may get you thinking of something else – anything else – than the Cash-for-Ash half-billion bonfire. Resist this and keep Arlene’s Big Burn at the back of your mind at all times. This morning I was on the Nolan Show talking about the fact that the Tipperary Peace Award committee […]

The Green Fields of Fermanagh by Joe McVeigh (To be revised. Help needed)   The Green Fields of Fermanagh I Come all ye lads and lassies and listen to my song It’s about a strange phenomenon around the shores of Lough Erne. The weather’s getting warmer and the lake is nearly dry No one’s sure […]

“Let us compare mythologies”, as the bard ,Leonard Cohen ,would title his rare 1956 book.At this moment the election machines are cranking up for another tilt at the windmills of power .We’re experts on elections in Norneverland so there is now no novelty left in the process. How many times have I voted in this […]

Senator Barry Goldwater once wrote an intriguing book summarising what he believed the psyche of the American conservative involved. While there are few parallels with Irish republicanism, it was reflective of the fact that our political beliefs reflect our individual morality in life. I draw no distinction between the two. So what makes up the […]

Some years ago a friend of mine from Cavan showed me magazine or other publication from his native town. He pointed with glee at a piece with photograph demonstrating what he thought typical of its local paper The Anglo-Celt. A reporter had been detailed to interview a busker in the town centre and he dutifully followed his […]

Pretty ghastly, that killing of the eight-year-old American girl, wasn’t it? …No, not another crazy shooting in a US primary school. Nawar (sometimes known as Nora) al-Awiaki was the daughter of Anwar al-Awiaki, who was an al-Quaida propagandist and an American citizen. Nawar was one of at least fourteen people who died last Sunday, when […]

Sir, I’m bemused by the reported remarks (Nov 1) of Ireland’s Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen, during hi recent London visit – “Your first contact should be with an Irish person ……friendly and with an Irish voice.”   During recent years I’ve had many opportunities to compare the friendliness of Irish hospitality professionals […]

Whenever I read damned fool commentary on Daniel O’Connell I sigh for the time when every gentleman worthy of the name kept at least one brace of duelling pistols. But alas, I’m no gentleman,  nor even a scholar, and must rely on my laptop to secure satisfaction. Some years back Fintan O’Toole wrote in The Irish […]