Author Jude Collins

  Authoritarian government has been a reality throughout history and it is very much a reality in the world today. You only have to mention Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, Orban, Xi Jinping,  Kim Jong Um –to name but a few. According to Sarah Kendzior  (We’re Heading into Dark Times The Correspondent, Nov 18, 2016):  “Authoritarianism is […]

Rory McIlroy brings out something of the mother in all of us – or maybe a compound word of which ‘mother’ is the first half. We could sit here and yarn all day about Rory, but I’m a busy man, involved with much high-level work. So I’ll confine myself to a few points. Money Even […]

Rory wins it! Yahoo!! A great day yesterday – 35-year-old Irishman Rory McIlroy won the Masters’ title in golf!!! …Or wait a minute. Were you sympathetic as Rory wept with the emotion of it all? Is he a poor little rich boy? Six women including singer Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos’s fiancée will do a […]

  Are the Number of Palestinian Deaths Relevant for pro-Israel Commentators? John Stuart Mill once wrote, “He who only knows his own side of the case, knows little of that”. In this spirit, I feel it’s important to engage seriously with arguments from the opposing side. One of the most prominent pro-Israel voices is Douglas […]

Hands up who remembers Leo Varadkar? Right – former leader of Fine Gael, a party once seen as the party of the West Brits. Not so now, it appears. In Philadelpha at an Irish rally, Leo urged on his listeners to help Ireland organise itself and make plans for Irish unity. Is he saying that […]

 Map showing the watercourse from the proposed site of the Dalradian gold mine in County Tyrone which flows into the River Foyle, Lough Foyle and into the Atlantic. catherinemcginty16@gmail.com Citizen rights under international environmental treaty hampered by lack of ‘precise, legally defined, mutually agreed international boundary’ between the North and the Republic of Ireland An […]

  Should the south of Ireland make nice to D Trump? Yes, Micheál Martin has already done the obsequious thing in the White House, but hadn’t we better go easy or Trump may target pharmaceuticals,  big tech companies in Ireland, and God knows what? Or maybe Ireland should do the right thing for once. That […]

  Trump is such a ghastly ham. A man of bulk who wears long expensive overcoats and is used to being worshipped by all his followers. That doesn’t mean there’s no choreography when he delivers his Big Moment. As he marched into public view shortly after nine o’clock yesterday evening, he walked to a pre-agreed […]

I’ve just been listening to BBC Radio Six Counties, where they’re united in amazement that Blair Mayne from Newtownards (known as ‘Paddy’ in those good old days) was never awarded a Victoria Cross. Their wonder springs from the fact that Mayne – tall, good-looking, boxer, rugby player – was also a founder member of the […]

It’s  not a perfect comparison, but when I see Donald Trump galumphing across  my TV screen these days, I find myself remembering Dick Nixon. Ah , poor Dick Nixon. The faithful Deputy President of President Eisenhower, the man who in turned down a scholarship to Harvard because it would have involved too much travel expenses […]