April, 2023

  Address by Dr Ray Bassett, former member of the Irish Government Delegation to the All-Party Talks in 1998. Oulart, Co Wexford , Easter Sunday 2023   Introduction Thank you very much and I would like at the outset to give thanks to the organizers and in particular Brian Cleary for the invitation to be […]

The letter below was emailed by me to THE IRISH TIMES On 2nd December 2015. With its customary courage the paper refused to publish it..     The American feminist Gloria Steinem was interviewed deferentially on British TV a few days ago. She appeared compos mentis and in good physical shape at 81 years old. […]

  There can be no doubt that the Good Friday Agreement was a positive change for NEI.  It was initially a good deal for everyone, no matter what some may think, but is it still?  A country that stands still, either politically, culturally, or economically will at some point become stagnant and that is what […]

Dr Ray Bassett is a formidable figure. He was one of the south’s negotiators in the Good Friday Agreement, he was Irish ambassador to Canada and Bermuda, and on Easter Sunday he will give the republican address in Outard, County Wexford. Pat and I consider what things he might touch on and what things we […]

Twenty-five years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Has it fulfilled nationalist/republican hopes? Has it quelled unionist fears? And what work needs to be done still? Resist the urge to waffle, as I hope we do. Our special guest today is Gabriel McCaffrey, who lives in Ottawa, Canada. He’s from Belfast originally and […]

                                      I was thinking today the garbage masquerading as wisdom served up for years in  THE IRISH TIMES, and of two cowardly charlatans in particular.   One of them is Fintan O’Toole who is pitifully ignorant of […]

Rev. Chris Hudson MBE, Cllr Dr John Kyle MRCGP, Trevor Ringland MBE, and Professor Graham Spencer have put together a sort of Think Positive list of points to transform unionism. The full list of 25 points can be found on Slugger O’Toole, where Mick Fealty himself tells us the foursome are The Northern Ireland Development […]

  What is it about mainstream media that they get so upset at the very thought of the words ‘reunited Ireland’? I watched Prime Time’s special programmes on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and a more hopelessly apolitical programme you’d be hard-pressed to find. The ‘men of violence’ = IRA = Sinn […]

  On 16 June 1916 I had a BLOG here mistakenly headlined “ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE”     It was a review of ALL HELL  LET LOOSE by Max Hastings, dealing with the Second World War.   Whatever his expertise on warfare, his remarks on Ireland’s neutrality and on Eamon de Valera had me worrying […]

    Some people opposed to books about LGTBQ+ matters have taken to removing these books from library shelves. They see themselves as protecting the young. So should young people be exposed to the full range of sexuality? And if so, what would be a suitable age at which to start? Has the GFA delivered […]