I’m surprised somebody hasn’t cut off George Monbiot’s writing hand, or at least ripped out his tongue. He is what you could call a dangerous truth-teller: he informs the British public of facts they’d rather not hear, in fact that they’d do nearly anything rather than hear. His latest example is an article on British […]
Author Jude Collins
The Orange: an awkward colour on the flag
As 12 July 2012 fades into history, two events stick in my mind. The first was the Kesh-Orange-banners-in-a-field-world-record-attempt: once remembered, it takes some forgetting. The second was the Shankill loyalist band pirouetting outside St Patrick’s Church, playing the Famine Song. That three-minute clip did more to lay bare the dark side of Orangeism than a hundred […]
The Orange: an awkward colour on the flag
As 12 July 2012 fades into history, two events stick in my mind. The first was the Kesh-Orange-banners-in-a-field-world-record-attempt: once remembered, it takes some forgetting. The second was the Shankill loyalist band pirouetting outside St Patrick’s Church, playing the Famine Song. That three-minute clip did more to lay bare the dark side of Orangeism than a hundred […]
Bloody Friday and how to use it
It’s an inexact comparison but it’s worth making. When Stephen Roche won the Tour de France, Charlie Haughey hurried to France to be photographed with him. When the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Friday came round, Nigel Dodds and Alban Maginness hurried to the radio microphone.I’ve just finished listening to both. Nigel said that anyone – […]
Bloody Friday and how to use it
It’s an inexact comparison but it’s worth making. When Stephen Roche won the Tour de France, Charlie Haughey hurried to France to be photographed with him. When the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Friday came round, Nigel Dodds and Alban Maginness hurried to the radio microphone.I’ve just finished listening to both. Nigel said that anyone – […]
Flag-burning and culture
It’s odd what you hear on the radio. And what you don’t hear. This morning on BBC Radio Uladh they had a man from the Polish community, talking about the burning of Polish flags on top of Twelfth bonfires. Naturally it was something he felt fairly strongly about and he urged that action should be […]
Flag-burning and culture
It’s odd what you hear on the radio. And what you don’t hear. This morning on BBC Radio Uladh they had a man from the Polish community, talking about the burning of Polish flags on top of Twelfth bonfires. Naturally it was something he felt fairly strongly about and he urged that action should be […]
Show me the figures
Some subjects you get so much of, you feel like cutting off your ears and having the holes cemented over. Orange marching falls into this category, although you can forgive the frequency of discussion, considering the thousands of marches. One thing we’ve been hearing surprisingly little about is the 2011 census. Those of us who […]
Show me the figures
Some subjects you get so much of, you feel like cutting off your ears and having the holes cemented over. Orange marching falls into this category, although you can forgive the frequency of discussion, considering the thousands of marches. One thing we’ve been hearing surprisingly little about is the 2011 census. Those of us who […]
Jean McConville’s death: uniquely evil?
Of all the people who were killed in the course of our Troubles, why is it that everyone knows and most feel deep sympathy with the violent death of Jean McConville? Well, because she was a mother of ten children and her violent death had a seriously damaging effect on the family. This sympathy is […]