Author Jude Collins

I was at a play on Saturday night, a play I’d heard about dozens of times but never seen – Sam Thompson’s ‘Over the Bridge’. It’s the story of the Belfast shipyards in the 1950s and the fate of a Catholic worker, Peter O’Boyle, who has the courage – or foolhardiness – to stand his […]

I was at a play on Saturday night, a play I’d heard about dozens of times but never seen – Sam Thompson’s ‘Over the Bridge’. It’s the story of the Belfast shipyards in the 1950s and the fate of a Catholic worker, Peter O’Boyle, who has the courage – or foolhardiness – to stand his […]

I don’t even know the proper name for them – those websites where people put their comments on an article or an issue of the day. I probably should, since this site provides that facility (even though so few seem moved to write something, be that good or bad). But looking at other examples of […]

I don’t even know the proper name for them – those websites where people put their comments on an article or an issue of the day. I probably should, since this site provides that facility (even though so few seem moved to write something, be that good or bad). But looking at other examples of […]

Does the media onslaught directed at Catholic Church leaders like Cardinal Sean Brady and now Bishop Seamus Hegarty constitute a witch-hunt? Well no, in that we don’t believe in witches today, so all literal witch-hunting was against imaginary evil. The evil of child abuse within the Catholic Church in Ireland appears to have been sadly […]

Does the media onslaught directed at Catholic Church leaders like Cardinal Sean Brady and now Bishop Seamus Hegarty constitute a witch-hunt? Well no, in that we don’t believe in witches today, so all literal witch-hunting was against imaginary evil. The evil of child abuse within the Catholic Church in Ireland appears to have been sadly […]

It’s hard to listen to Martin McGuinness this morning and not think of that Japanese proverb. You know, the one that says ‘ If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by’. For years Cardinal Cathal Daly was the scourge of republicanism, denouncing their violence (although, […]

It’s hard to listen to Martin McGuinness this morning and not think of that Japanese proverb. You know, the one that says ‘ If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by’. For years Cardinal Cathal Daly was the scourge of republicanism, denouncing their violence (although, […]

The hard-heads, it seems, got it wrong. You know, those no-nonsense people who urge everyone to abandon silly talk about flags and identity and where power should reside, and concentrate on earning a living and feeding your children. Eminently sensible people. Well, if the Belfast Telegraph is to be believed, the hard-heads have mainly bone […]

The hard-heads, it seems, got it wrong. You know, those no-nonsense people who urge everyone to abandon silly talk about flags and identity and where power should reside, and concentrate on earning a living and feeding your children. Eminently sensible people. Well, if the Belfast Telegraph is to be believed, the hard-heads have mainly bone […]