As regular readers may have guessed, I have collected and kept loads of written material over a long(ish) life, some of which I have read and memorised for as much as seventy years, some of which I have barely put my nose into, and others, perhaps the most worthy, which I had resolved to read, but […]
March, 2021
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT JOE BIDEN, THE NEED FOR A CIVIC FORUM, AND ‘THE KERRYMAN’ OR ‘THE KERRYPERSON’?
Is President Biden all talk and no action in terms of Ireland? That in essence is what Prof Diarmaid Ferriter has suggested in his Irish Times column today.Another Professor – Pete Shirlow at Liverpool University – has established a ‘Civic Space’ where nationalists and unionists can talk and discuss the possibility of constitutional change. Emma […]
Rebel Cork by Kieran McCarthy
This brings me back to Cobh and the story of one particular East Cork towns fight against British rule and how it sent them packing during the southern leg of the independence struggle. The town shortly before had the unionist title of Queenstown, but had that name abolished on July 2nd 1920 by the republican […]
Is Arlene Foster Irish?
If there had not been a world pandemic, where would Arlene Foster have spent today, St Patrick’s Day? No, not down on the farm checking out the Spring lambs. Not at a meet-up with Sammy Wilson so she could tell him how much she admires him. She would have been in Washington DC, along with […]
Whose History Is It Anyway? by Kieran McCarthy
They say the victor in every war gets to later write the history of it. So, when it comes to Ireland, who exactly was the winner in its war of Independence? Many in the south who today live in an independent state, would say they enjoy the fruits of freedom and democracy in a state […]
Centenary or Partition – by Michael Lagan
“We gave nationalism space to understand, explore and celebrate who and what they are” proclaimed Ian Paisley on Sunday Politics. This coming from a man who is an MP from a party which perpetuated a sectarian divide between Catholics and Protestants in the North. DUP MP Sammy Wilson once applauded a UDA ‘Doomsday plan’ to […]
Waiting On Our Independence Day by Kieran McCarthy
Note: This is the first of three linked blogs from Kieran – second and third due on Wednesday and Thursday I would like to thank Jude Collins for allowing me space to tell you about an historical Mecca that exists on the south coast of our island. The place is called Cobh, a very historic and beautiful town situated along the mouth of Cork harbour. Perhaps when this current Lockdown comes to an end […]
The wit and wisdom of Sammy Wilson
Some people have been shocked that DUP MP Sammy Wilson has referred to newly-elected US President Joe Biden as “that ignoramus.” No one should be shocked – Wilson has previous. When the world was young and the Troubles here were raging, Wilson was a vocal presence. And if we heed Wilson’s words down the years, […]
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT RANGERS CELEBRATING, THE ASTRAZENEKA PAUSE AND THE HALF-PAGE AD IN THE NEW YORK TIMES + THE WASHINGTON POST
Are the PSNI doing their job? When a small group assembled on the Ormeau Road to commemorate the attack on the Sean Graham bookie shop, the PSNI descended and ended up arresting a man who had survived the attack. When Glasgow Rangers fans in the Shankill celebrated their team winning the Scottish premier league, the […]
Being a Northerner is a dispiriting business. by JOE BROLLY
This is Joe’s recent column in the Sindo BBC Northern Ireland’s newsreader Jo Scott introduced the jubilant tidings on Newsline last Sunday night with the words: “Well, supporters of Glasgow Rangers came out onto the Shankill Road in Belfast tonight to mark their team winning the league title in Scotland. Rangers became the Scottish premier league champions for the first time in […]