“So what Irish football club do you support?” The questioner was the guide at Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona, last summer. Questions like that make you think. Or they do me. What Irish football club (soccer, that is) do I support? Um, none. I support Arsenal, I told the Camp Nou man, and I […]
Author Jude Collins
Still cringeing after all these years?
“So what Irish football club do you support?” The questioner was the guide at Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona, last summer. Questions like that make you think. Or they do me. What Irish football club (soccer, that is) do I support? Um, none. I support Arsenal, I told the Camp Nou man, and I […]
Knuckle-draggers and the new Lord Mayor
How will the anti-Irish knuckle-draggers cope now that Niall Ó Donnghaile has been installed as Belfast’s new Lord Mayor, I wonder? Given that a single word of Irish can be seen as a subversive signal (see the brilliant blog http://ansionnachfionn.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/irish-ireland-meets-english-ireland-in-the-eurospar/ for a southern version of the same problem), every time they use Ó Donnghaile’s name […]
Knuckle-draggers and the new Lord Mayor
How will the anti-Irish knuckle-draggers cope now that Niall Ó Donnghaile has been installed as Belfast’s new Lord Mayor, I wonder? Given that a single word of Irish can be seen as a subversive signal (see the brilliant blog http://ansionnachfionn.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/irish-ireland-meets-english-ireland-in-the-eurospar/ for a southern version of the same problem), every time they use Ó Donnghaile’s name […]
Our grate skool system
Well, looks like it’s started again – if it ever stopped, that is. I mean the education debate. The new Education Minister, John O’Dowd, was on the BBC’s ‘Hearts and Minds’ last night and two things immediately became clear: Sinn Féin have no plans to row back on the abolition of the 11+ that began […]
Our grate skool system
Well, looks like it’s started again – if it ever stopped, that is. I mean the education debate. The new Education Minister, John O’Dowd, was on the BBC’s ‘Hearts and Minds’ last night and two things immediately became clear: Sinn Féin have no plans to row back on the abolition of the 11+ that began […]
Was the death of Mary Travers murder?
Judge Tom Travers and his daughter Mary Consider three situations. In the first, I take my recently-serviced car out, the brakes inexplicably fail, I hit your teenage daughter and kill her. In the second, I take my car out and, while busy changing radio stations, I hit your teenage daughter and kill her. In the […]
Was the death of Mary Travers murder?
Judge Tom Travers and his daughter Mary Consider three situations. In the first, I take my recently-serviced car out, the brakes inexplicably fail, I hit your teenage daughter and kill her. In the second, I take my car out and, while busy changing radio stations, I hit your teenage daughter and kill her. In the […]
Open letter from Enda to Sir Alex
Dear Sir Alex, You may not know me – the name’s Kenny, Enda Kenny. No, I’m not actually a woman, at least not the last time I looked, ha ha ha. Enda is a common enough name for a bloke here in Ireland although I’m not a common bloke myself, any more than you are, because […]
Open letter from Enda to Sir Alex
Dear Sir Alex, You may not know me – the name’s Kenny, Enda Kenny. No, I’m not actually a woman, at least not the last time I looked, ha ha ha. Enda is a common enough name for a bloke here in Ireland although I’m not a common bloke myself, any more than you are, because […]