Author Harry McAvinchey

I missed some of the election fun and games.unfortunately .I’d been watching television throughout the afternoon as the votes were counted and the panel of politicians and pundits squabbled.Things were getting very interesting but I’d previously arranged to be in Belfast for the latter part of the day attending a gig at the excellent Nashville/Belfast […]

There has been some discussion on passports recently. i found myself chewing over the details at some length .It’s a topic that is rarely discussed in any detail until such time as we are possibly preparing to pack our cases for that four-day city break, only to discover that said document is out of date […]

On Stephen Nolan’s BBC Radio Ulster show he is currently arguing the toss with the Ulster Unionist Party’s representative Steve Aiken MLA…ex Royal Navy Submarine Commander (Order Of The British Empire). He’s giving him a right old grilling and he’s covering a lot of ground about the UUP’s opposition to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) […]

Is there room for decency in politics or does that concept have to be abandoned completely? Is a “decent politician” in reality , an oxymoron? It’s a while since I heard the expression.”He was a decent man”.The word “decent ” or even the word “decency” seem like very old -fashioned words these days.They’re the kind […]

My eyes glazed over as she spoke the words .”I’ve got “man-flu””. That is how the female leader of the Democratic Unionist Party started off. Well there goes any pretence at femininity , I thought to myself. Freeze that image! What a start indeed? Did she deliberately say the word “man” to strip herself of […]

The evening before , I watched the latest version of Alex Haley’s “ROOTS” about the the black Mandika warrior Kunta Kinte who had been enslaved in Africa and brought to the Colony of Virginia in America to work and breed , as good as any horse ,on a tobacco plantation. A version of the story […]

Liam Neeson , the Irish actor will collect his Old Age Pension in June this year for the first time .I know this because Liam and myself are exactly the same age .Well actually he’s about two weeks older than me so he will score his those few days sooner. We both grew up in […]

The DUP(Democratic Unionist Party) has just aired another Party Political Broadcast. This time they want to present themselves as an impossibly more cuddly bunch.For such a deluded gathering of political grotesques that is a big ask.They’ve decided that the image needs some buffing up for the less-astute pilgrims ,in wake of their long list of […]

At last Arlene Foster has surfaced like some multi -toothed …erm….crocodile .Aye “crocodile” is the current buzzword for “bogeyman” or possibly for Nationalism itself, as the DUP prepares for battle in the coming election …Maybe she’d been watching Walt Disney’s version of “Peter Pan” and heard that old ticking clock that Mr Crocodile had swallowed […]

“Let us compare mythologies”, as the bard ,Leonard Cohen ,would title his rare 1956 book.At this moment the election machines are cranking up for another tilt at the windmills of power .We’re experts on elections in Norneverland so there is now no novelty left in the process. How many times have I voted in this […]