In 1972 Conor Cruise O’Brien and his wife Maire Mac an tSaoi, two formidable scholars and diplomatists had their jointly prepared CONCISE HISTORY OF IRELAND published. It was a very short book covering our country’s history from ancient times. For some years I had read much of the Cruiser’s work. I’m no […]
Author Jude Collins
Liz Truss (Tory) versus Mick Lynch (trade unionist) Is this a re run of Margaret Thatcher versus Arthur Scargill? – by Fra Hughes
In 1979 Britain elected its first ever female prime minister. Margaret Thatcher came to power at a time of national crisis in the United Kingdom. She stood on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street on May 4, 1979 and recited a part of the prayer of St Francis ‘ I would […]
Talkback: you’re becoming a pain in the ear
I’ve just been eavesdropping on a smugfest on TalkBack. Identity politics. Orange and green. Two tribes. Evolve beyond. And whatever you’re having yourself – you are Northern Irish, aren’t you? Oh dear. Talkback, please don’t talk about people being stuck in the same old same old Orange and Green rut. Or the Protestant or Catholic […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT UNIONISM, THE DUP GOING FOR A GENERAL ELECTION, AND WILL BORIS RETURN ONE DAY?
Dr Brendan O’Leary (late of this parish) has a new book out – we’ll have the title for you on Friday, swear we will – and he says that the unionist-dominated state is gone. What can we conclude from that? And whither the DUP? Will the Tories hand them something that looks like a goody, […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT LIZ TRUSS, EMILY MAITLAND, ROBERT TROY AND A DRUNK COP IN A CHANGING ROOM
In a short few weeks – barring the mercies, as my mother would have said – Liz Truss will become Prime Minister of the UK. How hard a job will she face in reuniting her party? And might she call an election? Emily Maitlis, she of Newsnight and that disastrous Prince Andrew interview (disastrous […]
Have the DUP feinted? – by Michael Lagan
It really came as no surprise that the DUP and Unionism had a problem with the NI Protocol, in fact they told us so before the last election. The DUP outright said it would have serious implications for the power-sharing institutions if it remained in its current form and now we see they were right. […]
Who won the war? – by Donal Kennedy
“None of us want this Treaty. None of us want the Crown. None of us want the representative of the Crown. None of us want our harbours occupied by enemy forces; and none of us want what is said to be Partition; and we want no arguments against any of these things…….I, personally, see […]
A child in England dies
I’ve just been listening to BBC Radio Four reporting on the death of that nine-year-old child Olivia Pratt-Korbell in Liverpool. She was fatally shot when a man who was being chased by another man with a gun ran into her house. The gunman followed, the child was fatally wounded. Not surprisingly, the reporters and even […]
DR FITZGERALD’S GENOCIDE – by Donal Kennedy
– I just found in my attic part of a letter I wrote in 1984. I do not know what paper it was addressed to or if it was published. You may find it interesting. “In his address to the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis the […]
Michael Collins was killed 100 years ago today. Yesterday Fine Gael and Fianna Fail came together to praise this man, one of the founding fathers of the southern state. We wonder why… Polls tell us that 7 out of 10 people believe there’ll be a united Ireland in 15-20 years’ time. Why do I grind […]