May, 2017

I may be mistaken but I believe that Syria is a sovereign state recognised by the United Nations where it has a seat. I also understand that no other state has the right to attack it nor station troops, naval or airforce personnel on its territory without the invitation of its Government or a resolution […]

There are no political figures in the North more insufferable than South Belfast GP Dr. Alasdair McDonnell. The man approaches the world from an imagined stature which even Churchill could not countenance; with below-belt mudslinging towards political opponents in a way more pious than a Bishop on a Sunday (and that’s an insult to the […]

I hear that Daniel O’Connell is to have a new monument and cannot understand why it is needed. I suspect it is to abuse his memory in order to attack other patriots who used his, together with other, methods,  to rid Ireland of British troops. In his last years British troops were instrumental in ridding […]

Outrage is frequently expressed by certain politicians who very selectively “campaign for justice for disappeared victims” but start looking closer at their motives and rhetoric. If the act of secret burial is what so offends these certain politicians, why avoid showing support and compassion for all cohorts of families pained by secret burials in unmarked […]

Politics is a funny old business. You’re here today and gone tomorrow – as Philomena Begley used to sing. However, Enda Kenny lasted a long time, longer than I, or most people, expected. He had not a lot going for him –not much of charisma which is supposed to be necessary for a politician and […]

Seize the day. I just realised that if we didn’t have a working thumb we couldn’t grab things so effectively. We would waste opportunities. They would pass us by. So many things depend on the use of our thumb for leverage. You could say we take it for granted as we do with many things. […]

Did British Empire builders and ISIS Caliphate builders perpetrate the very same crimes? Yes. Both invaded countries and engaged in mass murder of civilians. Both foreign entities beheaded, tortured, raped and robbed native peoples. Can this plain and accurate comparison be credibly denied? No!!! ‘Britain’s governments and civil service have been engaged in the greatest […]

Sic transit gloria Enda – With the sun setting in the West, we bid farewell to the Mayo primary school teacher who was fortunate enough to have a father who was a TD. End slipped into his late father’s seat in the 1970s and has occupied it comfortably since. As I discovered when I interviewed […]

Colonialism has done much harm on this island and throughout the world, dividing communities and provoking and promoting violence. Colonialism  is about greed and the lust for power and property. In many colonies people seeking freedom and dignity  have always reacted with physical force when they saw no alternative. Martin McGuinness did not wake up […]