July, 2020

In the late 1940s, THE KERRYMAN newspaper published four books in paperback at a reasonable price. “Limerick’s Fighting Story” , “Kerry’s Fighting Story”, “Dublin’s Fighting Story” and “Rebel Cork’s Fighting Story.” Each volume was attributed to “the men who made it” and each contributor was identified by name. As women, and indeed children, suffered and […]

I’m listening to the Nolan Show. It’s the Twelfth, although it’s the Thirteenth, so Stephen is having a balanced discussion. On the one hand there is Jamie Bryson, and on the..uh…other hand there’s Malachi O’Doherty.  I mean, come on, guys. The BBC balance in action?  Either they’re indulging in a cynical act of hypocrisy, or […]

People tell us, directly and indirectly, that the Orange Order is not a divisive organisation, that Catholics/nationalists/republicans should re-learn to love its colour and music and mid-summer baton-twirling drum-thumping delight. I heard its Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, Mervyn Gibson, on Talkback a few days ago . That was the grand message […]

This blog first appeared in Belfast Live IRISH Republican Socialist group Lasair Dhearg has joined the street battles ranging from Minneapolis to Bristol to Belfast in confronting  colonialism, its enduring legacy and unchallenged history. The latest brutal murder of a black man at the hands of American law enforcement, George Floyd in Minneapolis, has triggered […]

This blog first appeared as a column in The Andersonstown News The public interest in the case of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe is intense, certainly among nationalists and republicans. Last week I provided a platform on my blogsite for a guest blog by a young man called Donal Lavery. At the time of writing,  his blog […]

Two of the three stories Pat and I discuss today come from the RTÉ  NEWS NOW  website. More and more people are using sites like these  to get their news, rather than newspapers in hard copy or even online. We run our beady eyes over three items. The first is Donald Trump,  who has been ordered by the US supreme court to hand over his  financial records including his tax returns.  The second story is the appointment of the south’s Pascal Donohoe as     president fo the group of eurozone finance ministers. This a big deal,  as  the EU prepares to face the post-Brexit, post-Covid world. Our third item is the prevalence of conspiracy theories to be found  online. Many of these are wild and fantasy; but could some of them  be   true? Check and see….

Some Irishmen were festooned with laurels by a grateful Empire. Those laurels were paid for by theft – oil from the spoils of the Ottoman Empire or from Iran, taxes levied by the aerial bombing of Iraq, tithes and rack-,rents from Ireland, fish from her rivers and lakes, profits from drug-pushing in China, to name […]

This years Féile an Phobail in West Belfast was to include a discussion on the life and times of Fr Des Wilson. Unfortunately, because of Covid 19, that has had to be postponed. The following are some reflections that I had intended to present by way of introduction to that proposed event. Fr Des Wilson was such […]

Has BBCNI changed? Once perceived as the bastion of British interests in the North of Ireland, its recent wall-to-wall coverage of the funeral they won’t let rest in peace has dogged the media for almost a week. The Nolan and Crawley shows seem intent on poring over every last aspect of the funeral and cremation of Bobby Storey. We […]