Author Jude Collins

OK – this thing about voting ‘cross-community’ – who’s for it or against it? The Belfast Telegraph is for it. Or says it is. In an editorial a while back it lamented that ‘Tribalism still reigns after twenty years of peace” and commended Mike Nesbitt’s statement that he was giving his second-preference to the SDLP. […]

I grew up in a home with parents and grandparents close by who had a habit of watching the clock and hearing the hands tick with obsession. I used to ask what their fascination was with the time, and when I got old enough to stomach the reality of it they informed me it was […]

As many of you will know, I have an affection that borders on love for Nelson McCausland. But the affection is,  mór an trua,  one-way: Nelson has weighed me in the balance and found me wanting: “One of the most sectarian journalists I have ever come across”. Now that hurts. To be called a journalist […]

I was at the annual Pat Finucane memorial lecture last night in the Europa Hotel. In some ways it was a moving evening, in some ways disappointing and in some ways enraging. There was a fairly large audience, but far from lan go doras – completely full. Professor Bill Rolston, who was the MC,   made […]

  Heather Humphries TD Minister for Something or Other in the Free State/Republic was asked about the idea of Fine Gael joining Sinn Fein in government in Dublin after the next election. ‘No’ she replied categorically, “Definitely not!  That would not work. They are like oil and wather”. She’s right there.  I always knew FG […]

Sinn Féin: red-lines, conflict narratives and remembering our dead Equality of citizenship in a civilised modern society is not a privilege to be gifted by Unionist politicians. Sinn Féin must expose the red-lines within the UUP-SDLP sham union – before the resumption of Stormont are these parties able to agree a timetable to implement the […]

A former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray described the UK as a “Rogue State and a danger in the world and a State prepared to go to war to make a few people wealthy”. He was speaking in the context of the invasion of Iraq and shortly before the Referendum on Scottish independence. The […]

Last night I watched a tape of Arlene Foster’s interview with Paul Clark on UTV. In some ways it was similar to any of these interviews – the presenter tries to tie down the politician, preferably with some damaging admissions, the politician wriggles and avoids the question. This one was a bit like that too, but contained […]

A Better Future: towards a culture of life, care and hope for all “Voting for those who will govern our society is a moral act. Each vote cast, or not cast, potentially influences the values that will shape future law and policy” – see catholicbishops.ie for both the bishops’ media statement and pastoral reflection on the Assembly Elections. […]

Today, the Ulster Unionists Party are the polite supremacist bigots. No longer do they scream “We don’t want a Fenian voice about the place!”; instead they whisper “Please be quiet, your rights are unimportant to our never-ending socio-economic aspirations.” The UUP governed Northern Ireland from its inception in 1921 until the Stormont parliament was prorogued […]