I heard the DUP MP Gregory Campbell on Talkback today talking nonsense as usual-about the danger of even talking about a Border poll and Irish Unity. He felt it was much too dangerous to talk about this issue because, in this very divided society, it would provoke some people to violence. He did […]
Author Jude Collins
Jim and Jack and Micheál too…
It’s hard to think of an election campaign that sank so quickly with all hands on board. If this had happened with a group of innocents who had no experience of the election world, you might excuse it. But Jack Chambers is no fledgling and Micheál Martin is canny old crow. But this one has […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT FAREWELL J GAVIN, WILL H HUMPHREYS BE TOO BRASH, WILD DRIVERS & COST OF LIVING
This morning (or last night, maybe because that was a better time to break bad news), Jim Gavin tossed in the towel and put away his bid to become President of Ireland. It seems he forgot about some £3K he owed a former tenant. Which means he was a landlord back in the day.Oh dear. […]
Dismantling the clerical Church – by Joe McVeigh
“The Church can only be resurrected,” says Canadian spiritual writer, Jacques Gauthier, a 72 year-old Catholic author, preacher and retreat master. Gauthier says that not even the mess the Church is in now, can kill the good news of the Gospel. ‘The Catholic Church is up to its neck in crap,’ says Jacques Gauthier. Actually, […]
That RTÉ Presidential candidates’ debate just now
I said I’d come back after viewing RTÉ’s presidential candidates’ quizzing, so here I am. Did I learn much? Well yes. Definitely. Both Heather and Jim have looked at that poll with Catherine Connolly headed for the horizon with 32% opinion poll support, and Heather waaaay back at 23% and Jim at 15%. Having more […]
Going Up, Going Down: the race for President of Ireland
So how are the three candidates for President of Ireland doing? Well, two days ago I spoke with a man who said Paddy Power had put Catherine Connolly ahead after Monday night’s debate, but she had fluctuated between first and second since then-sometimes ahead of Heather Humphreys, sometimes behind. Looking at PP odds just now, […]
PAT+JUDE TALK TO EX-UNIONIST BEN COLLINS(NO RELATIVE) ABOUT HIS BOOK ‘THE IRISH UNITY DIVIDEND’
TODAY WE TALKED TO BEN COLLINS, A FORMER UNIONIST, ABOUT HIS TRAJECTORY FROM BEING AN EAST BELFAST UNIONIST TO BEING AN ADVOCATE OF A UNITED IRELAND. IN RECENT DAYS HE HAS PUBLISHED A BOOK ‘THE IRISH UNITY DIVIDEND’. WE’RE BIASED, OF COURSE, BUT WE FOUND HIM AND WHAT HE HAD TO SAY FASCINATING. SO CHECK […]
The three gladiators enter the arena
So – did you watch last night’s presidential candidates’ debate? I did. It was a parson’s egg of a Virgin programme – good in bits. The presenter, Kieran Cuddihy, I hadn’t encountered before. I liked him. When he asked a question and the candidate went off at an angle of avoidance, he dragged them back. […]
I Lit A Candle – by Randall Stephen Hall
RSH I Lit a Candle . .By Randall Stephen HallWith a song link inspired by my dadPHOTOGRAPHSListen to These Photographs by Randall Stephen Hall on #SoundCloudhttps://on.soundcloud.com/PAWxVFI9dHvk289JAb I lit a candle this eveningFor my father’s birthday 27.9.1927 It burned brightly this night.Almost a contradiction in termsAnd yet I’m one of those PresbyteriansWho has […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT THE RYDER CUP, TONIGHT’S PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, ASSAULT IN TEMPLE BAR , & GUNS
Well, the good guys won. Despite all the foul-mouthed barracking by spectators, the Europe team beat the Americans. But abuse was so rife, Rory McIlroy’s missus got hit by a paper cup. Should we feel sympathy for Mrs McIlroy?? Tonight, the three presidential hopefuls line up in a TV debate. Should they be judged on […]