July, 2017

“I think therefore I am,” René Descartes is famed for saying. Our awareness of the fact that we can think, he argued, was proof that we exist. Nice one, René. But there are other ways of persuading yourself that you exist, that you have a life. One of these is memory. “I remember therefore I […]

  One national newspaper has hailed yesterday’s decision by the Government to pay £1400 to pregnant women to travel from Northern Ireland to Britain to end the life of their unborn child as a great victory. If this is a victory what constitutes a defeat? Every abortion is a tragedy – a tragedy for a […]

   I see letters in THE IRISH TIMES calling for a re-imagining  Ireland’s flag. Sir Anthony O’Reilly, formerly known as the British Lion Tony O’Reilly, tried to run that idea up the flagpole in New York many years ago, but Brian Lenihan Sr. shot it down with style. The Irish Rugby Football Union, long the […]

The above Act under which procuring an abortion is a crime which can carry a life sentence for the procurer remains in force in England,  Scotland and Wales. By remaining in force I mean the Act still has the force of law. It  is widely believed that the law approves and supports abortion on demand […]

  When the knell sounded for the melancholy death of Little Nell at the tale end of The Old Curiosity Shop there were contrasting reactions from two fairly well known Irish celebs. The normally stoical Oscar Wilde could not control his tears: – ‘One would have to have a heart of stone to read the […]

Under the heading “CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS” the paper carried the following on June 24 – “A picture agency error led us to misdescribe the 6th Marquess of Cholmondley, photographed with the the Queen at the state opening of parliament in 1974 (News,June 21). He was the Lord Great Chamberlain, not Black Rod.” An  innocent reader […]

Last week I visited the Seamus Heaney centre, HomePlace, in Bellaghy Co Derry. I came away from this wonderful exhibition thinking what a uniquely gifted man this man was – a man who grew up on a nearby farm, the oldest of nine children, whose father Patrick, a quiet man, was a cattle dealer and […]

 ­ As the SDLP re-launch­ their branding in a ­simplistic and minima­list fashion, they ha­ve again called for a­ City Deal for Derry ­and Belfast. This loo­ks great on paper, bu­t in reality there is­ more chance of Derby­ and Birmingham getti­ng treasury millions ­before Derry and Belf­ast. On 31 October 2015 Ma­rk Durkan (previously­ […]

    The “not guilty” verdict in the Jobstown water protest trial in Dublin has raised various questions about political policing and the political use of law enforcement for corrupt intent. It has exposed a police force whose sworn testimony was so suspect that it prompted the judge to instruct the jury to disregard it […]

  The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee appear to have no knowledge of the Brexit border security review provided by the intelligence services to the Norther Ireland Office. When asked to confirm their knowledge of the security review a Committee official responded. “I’m not aware of the review you mention, but we will look into the matter.” […]