The late great-hearted Manus O’Riordan had many things in common with Fintan O’Toole, the main target of the article. Both their fathers were CIE Bus Conductors. They were both raised in Dublin, south of the Liffey. Both went to Christian Brothers schools, both took degrees from UCD. Both became familiar with the United States .Manus took a […]
November, 2021
PAT & JUDE TALK ABOUT OFFICIAL TROUBLES HISTORY, THE RISE OF SF, MAGEE COLLEGE AND XMAS COVID
Our proconsul Brandon Lewis has announced that an official history of the Troubles is to be compiled by historians, presumably selected by him. What are the chances it’ll be even-handed, honest and open? In the South, Sinn Féin have opened up an even wider gape between themselves and the other main parties. Is this growing […]
Subject: CULTURE SHOCK -ST PATRICK’S DAY – by Donal Kennedy
Sent to THE IRISH TIMES AND SPIKED IN 2007. Madam Two of Fintan O’Toole’s remarks need comment. “The unity of Church and State in independent Ireland” is a bit problematical. The State never celebrated the Christian Holidays recognised in Europe. The President from 1938 to 1945 was a member of the Church of Ireland, as […]
TV Review: THE VIEW
This TV review first appeared in The Andersonstown News THE VIEW (BBC ONE) was thigh-deep in pie- charts last week. The man who gave birth to the pie-charts, Prof Pete Shirlow, was a bit testy about criticism. Was he satisfied his poll was accurate? “Of course I am. We’ve been doing these kinds of polls for twenty years.” He directed us to four […]
SERMONS IN STONES by Donal Kennedy
“My first night in the trenches” said my Uncle Ned, an old, then still in his sixties, Dublin Fusilier. “I’d peep over the parapet, duck, Bless myself, then peep over again”. Yours truly, less couth, Christian and courageous than he, would have substituted another verb […]
ANTI-RATIONAL, ANTI-NATIONAL – WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO ADMIRE ABOUT FINTAN O’TOOLE? – by Donal Kennedy
An international survey, quoted by Fintan O’Toole in THE IRISH TIMES (13 November) finds a low level of nostalgia in Ireland. Fintan tells us that the average age of Ireland’s inhabitants is 38 and that his or her parents will most likely remember- “mass unemployment , a repressive Catholic State with a ban on homosexuality, […]
Brexit is the Burning Question: Burning Buses Appear to be the N.Ireland Loyalist Answer -by Fra Hughes
When the British Parliament finally completed the negotiations with the European Parliament on Britain’s long-awaited departure from the European Union on January 31, 2020, for many the deal had been done, there were winners and losers but Brexit had been delivered. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was now outside of the […]
PAT & JUDE TALK ABOUT BOJO’S AMNESTY, THE US & ARTICLE 16, & NEWTON EMERSON’S UI PREDICTION
John Teggart, representing those who lost loved ones in the Ballymurphy massacre of 1971, has been addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.This body is composed of MPs, Senator and TDs. Teggart stressed that all of those killed had been found innocent – and he expressed his opposition to the closing […]
CENTENARIES EAST AND WEST by Donal Kennedy
The Chinese Communist Party celebrates its Centenary this year and it has a lot to remember with pride The country has recovered territory which was under the heel of murderous thieving Britain ( Shanghai and Hong Kong) and Portugal (Macau) and survived the unspeakable atrocities of Imperial Japan. In the 1940s after the defeat of […]
TV REVIEW: Joe Duffy and The Meaning of Life
This TV review first appeared in The Andersonstown News Joe Duffy’s mentor at RTÉ was Gay Byrne, so of course when Gay exited this life, it was no surprise to see Joe take over as interviewer of THE MEANING OF LIFE (RTÉ ONE). This week he interviewed EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness. The setting was Ardee Community School, Ardee being Mairead’s home town. She […]