Author Jude Collins

Casement Park, to the GAA, is a stadium. To the DUP and TUV, it is a looming cultural megastructure, a sort of Celtic Death Star capable of firing beams of Gaelic at unsuspecting suburbs. Here are five things they particularly hate about it: 1. Its existence in Belfast If Casement Park were located somewhere safely […]

St Patrick’s Day in Washington is that magical time of year when Irish politicians fly 3,000 miles to hand over a bowl of vegetation and call it diplomacy. It’s a ritual combining horticulture, geopolitics, and faintly disguised lobbying. Everyone smiles, everyone wears green, and everyone pretends this is perfectly normal behaviour for adults. Traditionally, the […]

The Facebook page of the Official Protestant Coalition reacted to the PSNI announcement with the digital equivalent of dropping a tray of teacups. The PSNI, in a moment of administrative daring, had declared it would deal with all unauthorised flag flying equally. All flags. The word “all” hung in the air like an unexpected bill. […]

  Is the South of Ireland ‘a bunch of freeloaders’ because they won’t cough up military money and protect itself (and Britain, of course) from possible assault from Russia?     Gordon Lyons says benefit fraud is a moral as well as a financial matter. We compare the figures for benefit fraud with those for tax […]

Prince Andrew has always been less a man and more a cautionary bookmark left in the pages of a fading institution. His recent public re-emergence—blinking awkwardly in the light like a chandelier that has somehow learned to sweat—has done the monarchy an unintended favour. He has reminded everyone what royalty looks like when stripped of […]

The United States has always liked to think of itself as the world’s head prefect: striding down the global corridor, straightening ties, confiscating contraband, and occasionally throwing smaller nations against the lockers “for their own good.” Venezuela and Cuba are merely the latest pupils summoned to detention. In Venezuela, Washington has gone far beyond tut-tutting. […]

Dublin Central has seen many things in its time: revolutionaries, reformers, republicans, and the occasional optimist with a clipboard. But few plot twists rival the sight of Gerry Hutch stepping into a by-election triggered by the departure of Paschal Donohoe, who has wafted off to loftier and more remunerative pastures. Donohoe’s exit leaves the usual […]

Dublin Central has seen many things in its time: revolutionaries, reformers, republicans, and the occasional optimist with a clipboard. But few plot twists rival the sight of Gerry Hutch stepping into a by-election triggered by the departure of Paschal Donohoe  who has wafted off to loftier and more remunerative pastures. Donohoe’s exit leaves the usual […]

There was a time — perhaps imaginary, perhaps last Tuesday — when employers believed they were hiring saints. Or at least people who could convincingly impersonate them between 9 and 5. References were scanned not for competence but for traces of halo polish. “Strong Excel skills” was nice. “Has never harboured an uncharitable thought” was […]

At its heart, football reflects politics because it represents nations — their identity, pride and history. Flags, anthems and national colours aren’t merely tradition; they’re symbols of collective memory and often unresolved tensions. That’s why a football match between the United States and Iran in the 1998 World Cup wasn’t just about goals — it […]