What do Peter Robinson,Ian Paisley Jr, and Barry McElduff have in common? Well, not much, actually. Ian Paisley is a devoted unionist, despite his brief flirtation with being the de Klerk figure of his community, Barry McElduff is a devoted republican from West Tyrone who had a holy water font inside the door […]
July, 2018
NOBODY EXPECTS by Donal Kennedy
“NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION” was a favourite line in Monty Python’s Flying Circus and I do hope nobody expects me to know much about said Inquisition. I do believe that Spaniards of Moorish and Jewish origin, many of whom had converted to Christianity under the influence of conscience or the threat of burning at […]
Ian Paisley Jr, Sri Lanka and doing (or not doing) the right thing
I’ve heard a number of people tut-tutting about Ian Paisley Jr and the luxury Sri Lanka holiday row. I disagree: I think it’s better that such matters have come to light – it’s a tribute to the integriy of the independnent standards commissioner Kathryn Stone. Because this case is so patently riddled with dodgy elements, […]
Dark money and the subversion of democracy – but does anyone care?
In everyday life, if you break the law and get caught, you’re punished. In some cases it’s a fine, in other cases it’s life imprisonment. Why the difference? That’s because, as Gilbert and Sullivan put it, we must “let the punishment fit the crime”. Minor offence, minor punishment; major offence, major punishment. Brexit is now […]
Brexit and facing the facts
It’s getting near, isn’t it? October, that is – we’re heading towards the latter part of July, which leaves August, September, October. That’s it. Three months to solve the Brexit brain-teaser. In matters of this kind, there’s a great temptation to deceive ourselves, because to face up to the reality is too scary. That’s what […]
LAPDOG BITES BULLDOG (1) by Perkin Warbeck
Anam an Diabhail ! Arch-Anglophile Fintan O Toole has become quite the model of a modern Anglophobe of late. Deora Íosa ! Tree-hugger O Toole morphs into Slugger O Toole. His latest lash at ‘D’Auld Enemy’ took the form of nutting both BoJo and Dav under the head-banging heading: Britain has gone to huge […]
PRESIDENTS AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES, AND SECOND TERMS by Donal Kennedy
I’m rereading “BURR” by Gore Vidal, a novel based on the life of Aaron Burr ,who was Vice President under Thomas Jefferson and probably best remembered for shooting Secretary For The Treasury Alexander Hamilton dead in a duel. In America, as in Ireland, gentlemen, particularly lawyers, were given to shooting one another over […]
Gregory and Nelson speak out boldly
There was a time when politicians in Ireland lived in fear of saying or doing something that would earn them ‘the belt of a crozier’ – a Catholic bishop criticizing them in public. Gregory Campbell of the DUP has no such fears. In fact, on the Irish Examiner’s website yesterday, he’s the one that’s doing the belting, […]
BREXIT – ONE HUNDRED YEARS ON by Donal Kennedy
A couple of years ago, by a wafer-thin majority British voters indicated that they wished the United Kingdom to leave the European Community. In 1970 they had elected a Government which favoured joining the Common Market and in 1975 had, by referendum shown that they wanted to stay in it. In the UK the Queen […]
Eight thoughts on Michael D and the presidency
So now we know: Michael D Higgins would like to be President of Ireland for another seven years. When he took the job originally, he made it clear that he would serve for just one term. Now he’s changed his mind and wants a second. I think there are a number of things worth noting […]