Author Jude Collins

Some of the establishment news media in the Free State have been reporting whispers of a potential government between two unlikely bedfellows, the Shinners and the Blue-Shirts. Indeed, the Fine Gael chief whip, Regina Doherty, has voiced her support for such a move recently. Let’s explore the possibility of that in some candid detail, as […]

Mark Thompson is By RFJ Director ( https://relativesforjustice.com/) Since taking up office James Brokenshire and the NIO have deliberately fostered an environment in which the victims of British state violence have been insulted, vilified and their experiences diminished. These now regular assaults have added insult to injury as families simply seek truth and accountability; decades after their […]

REGARDED as Ireland’s most “right-on” newspaper, The Irish Times has fallen foul of equality legislation. It has been censured at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for discriminating against a sub-editor who was paid less after she returned from maternity leave. In a ruling published this month, The Irish Times is found to have discriminated against […]

(John Patton blogs at phototilly.eu) What does one war- mongerer give another when visiting? Tony Blair found the ideal present in a bust of the notorious imperialist, Churchill. George W. was duly impressed and the gift was given pride of place in his Oval Office. As American and British forces bombed civilian homes in Baghdad […]

Having failed to bluster their way out of the Cash-for-Ash scandal, the DUP are busy with their Tory allies trying to find ways of muddying the waters and/or dragging public attention  from their incompetence and potential corruption. Here are just a few of their latest initiatives: Michelle O’Neill is partly to blame for the Cash-for-Ash […]

    President Trump touched a raw nerve with former CIA Director John Brennan by insinuating he leaked the “fake news” about Russia possessing compromising data on the President.  Days later Trump spokesperson Ms. Kellyanne Conway had a contretemps with Meet the Press host Chuck Todd.  She claimed Press Secretary Sean Spicer was offering “alternate […]

There is a theory that ardent right-wingers possess authoritarian personalities which repress emotional and sexual expression out of insecurity. It falls into line with B. F. Skinner’s observations on “operant conditioning” in human behaviour and psyche. Now no sensible person would doubt for one moment that everyone is entitled to a private life, but that […]

  It’s quite clear to anyone watching media footage from the past few years that Colum Eastwood is fighting for the soul of the SDLP in eternal defeat. He looks worn down by the political weather and offers no fresh ideas other than a status quo consensus with the Ulster Unionists; which suits his forlorn […]

I came across an old letter in THE IRISH TIMES by a Mr Bouchier Hayes and an IRISHMAN’S DIARY feature by him whilst starting to sort out the papers in my attic this week. The letter concerned an IRISHMAN’S DIARY entry by R.M. Smyllie in 1933. Smyllie had been in Germany when the UK declared […]