Yesterday 20 June marked the day two-hundred and fifty-seven years ago on which Wolf Tone was born. His father was Robert Tone, a coach-maker and a member of the Church of Ireland; his mother was from a Catholic merchant family. When Theobald Wolfe was born, she became a Protestant. The infant’s godfather was one Theobald […]
June, 2020
AN AMERICAN VIEW OF BREXIT by Michael J Cummings
Until President Clinton and the 1998 Belfast Treaty, American voices against British Army and police human rights abuses in N. I. were too few and too often met with disbelief and indifference. Then and now Departments of State and Justice ignore the facts of British lawlessness, the McAllister case for example, and dismiss British faults. More than two […]
HOW FOREIGNERS, UNBLINKERED BY OUR ENEMIES, HAVE SEEN IRELAND by Donal Kennedy
In a BLOG – “I MET A TRAVELLER FROM A DISTANT LAND” I told the story of the man, who, when introduced to me, told me that he had lunched with Eamon de Valera in Dublin in the early 1960s in Aras an Uachtarain. The Traveller had a distinguished career as a journalist, a diplomat […]
Statues: the good, the bad and the morally outraging
Here. Guess who said this: “We deny that it is a crime, or a wrong, or even a peccadillo to hold slaves, to buy slaves, to keep slaves to their work by flogging or other needful correction. We wish we had a good plantation well-stocked with healthy negroes in Alabama.” Right first time: John Mitchel, […]
A May Day to remember by Mary Elliott Nelis
I have good reason to remember May Day 1978, for on that Day two of my sons were arrested. The previous night I attended a meeting of the Derry Relatives Action Committee. The Committee had been informed that the Peace People, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, would be coming to Magee University College, to speak […]
Pat + Jude on how the British see us
Why do the British press choose to comment on the formation of a government in Dublin? And if the Irish press commented on a British election, would the British give a monkey’s what they had to say? And should we be good-humoured when referred to as ‘Paddy’ or Irish jokes are told? I found we hadn’t half enough time to explore this important topic. Bain sult as…Enjoy.
Irish people as the object of racism
The English view of Irish people: that’s the topic I’m going to be talking to ex-Derry Journal editor Pat McArt about, later this morning. But as I always do, I like to sort out my thinking on a topic by writing it down. The fact is, I’ve lived in England for two years and in […]
52 years ago at Caledon… by Colm Gildernew
Today, 18 June is the 52nd anniversary of the Caledon eviction On the 12th of October 1967 Dungannon District Council convened its monthly meeting. One of the decisions they were about to take would reverberate across decades and bring the northern Unionist state to its knees and, some argue, ultimately led to its demise as […]
Eamon de Valera by Donal Kennedy
A British Movietone coverage of de Valera’s life from 1882 to 1973 when he retired from the Presidency. It is detailed and fair and shows the the popularity he enjoyed at home and the respect he earned abroad.It is a rare example of honest examination and fair coverage of Dev by a British news medium. I […]
Reckless British decision making has now escalated potential for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit by Declan Kearney
. The potential for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit escalated on Friday when British MInister, Michael Gove officially informed the European Commission (EC) at a meeting of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee, that his government would not seek an extension to the transition period out of the EU, which ends on 1 January 2021. It’s a reckless […]