Author Jude Collins

Oh dear. If you’re to believe the Irish Times this morning, RTÉ has got its knickers in a fearful twist about that tweet. You remember, the one that purported to come from Sinn Féin during the famous presidential Frontline  debate – or that was announced as same by Pat Kenny. You can get the timeline […]

The last time I wrote about Mary McArdle,  I got abuse – some spoken, some silently acted on – from those in high places and in conspicuously low places. So it’s with my sinews, such as they are, stiffened that I tiptoe towards the topic again. Mary McArdle, you’ll remember, was convicted for being part […]

The last time I wrote about Mary McArdle,  I got abuse – some spoken, some silently acted on – from those in high places and in conspicuously low places. So it’s with my sinews, such as they are, stiffened that I tiptoe towards the topic again. Mary McArdle, you’ll remember, was convicted for being part […]

I’ve been reading a biography of Alice Milligan,  an amazing woman from the wonderful town of Omagh. She came from a fiercely anti-Home Rule Methodist family, yet she spent her long life (she died in the 1950s) promoting Irish republicanism. An integral part of that work, she believed, was the promotion of Irish culture in […]

I’ve been reading a biography of Alice Milligan,  an amazing woman from the wonderful town of Omagh. She came from a fiercely anti-Home Rule Methodist family, yet she spent her long life (she died in the 1950s) promoting Irish republicanism. An integral part of that work, she believed, was the promotion of Irish culture in […]

OK – let me put my cards on the table: I like Jim Allister. He’s a smart guy and he doesn’t mind swimming, as  he sees it, against the tide. And while he does talk much of the time in complete sentences – not necessarily a good thing, despite what your teacher told you – […]

OK – let me put my cards on the table: I like Jim Allister. He’s a smart guy and he doesn’t mind swimming, as  he sees it, against the tide. And while he does talk much of the time in complete sentences – not necessarily a good thing, despite what your teacher told you – […]

Gerry McGeough – now there’s a name to set people’s teeth on edge. If you’re a unionist, you may think he’s a very lucky man. After all, he did attack and unsuccessfully try to kill UDR man Sammy Brush in 1981. On Friday last Mr Justice Treacy told him he’d have to serve his two […]

Gerry McGeough – now there’s a name to set people’s teeth on edge. If you’re a unionist, you may think he’s a very lucky man. After all, he did attack and unsuccessfully try to kill UDR man Sammy Brush in 1981. On Friday last Mr Justice Treacy told him he’d have to serve his two […]

And so, as the sun sinks slowly in the West, the figure of Tom Elliott rides off towards the horizon, growing smaller and smaller, until even the faintest twangy echo of his accent has been washed clean of the Ulster Unionist Party.  Yes, he had many of the traditional unionist virtues that made the party […]