In 1945 at the end of the war in Europe, the fruit of British intrigue and incompetence, Winston Churchill unleashed a bilious attack on Ireland’s refusal to repeat John Redmond’s disastrous 1914 marching to the beat of a British drum. Churchill singled out Irish people,such as Brendan Finucane, who marched or flew to […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT GAZA HUNGER, GEORGE GALLOWAY AND ROCHDALE, AND BRENDAN’S GOOD GIRL..
As all of us have known for quite some time, Palestinians in Gaza are being killed by the thousand – mainly by Israeli shelling but now by hunger. Children in Gaza are literally starving to death. So when a few truckloads of food were allowed in, there naturally was a stampede to get at that […]
DO STATES HAVE FRIENDS? by Donal Kennedy
Individual persons have friends among their communities and beyond them. And they have neighbours they do not know whom they generally seek not to offend but consider as potential friends. But do states have friends? I doubt it. States have interests. And governments, if ethical, pursue such interests and collabourate with other states […]
Sir Jeff D and David J : it’s the way they tell them…
“They would be better to focus on justice and reconciliation in respect of the terrible deeds of the past, rather than seek further instability with a divisive border poll.” That’s Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s judgement on those who would be concerned about a border poll. He figures any focus on a border poll would be divisive. […]
Love and light negate the reason for war – by Kieran McCarthy
If I were to ask you, what is the opposite to love, you would probably say hate. You would be wrong. The greatest emotion any human can experience after love is fear. Show me a person with a heart filled with hate, and I will show you someone experiencing fear. The world today is in […]
Michelle in Windsor Park (gasp)
I’m sure Michelle O’Neill attending that soccer game in Windsor Park recently was a very significant, part of her being a ‘First Minister for all the people”. But something about celebrating such an attendance, any more than Arlene Foster’s attendance at an Ulster Gaelic football final in 2018, and (gasp) Arlene standing for the Irish […]
WHO WANTS TO BE ONGONE? – by Donal Kennedy
At my age the actuarial odds suggest that I shall be ungone in the next twenty years. I’m 82 now. But I cringe when I read or hear of something “ongoing”. And I expect my cringing to continue until my demise. I suspect the expression has its origins amongst descendants of Germans in the united States. But it sounds ugly […]
David Jeffrey, Casement Park and magic realism
David Jeffrey has been manager of Linfield FC and is currently manager of Ballymena FC. He is also a man of seriously limited vision, or else he takes the rest of us for fools. If you are of a nervous disposition, maybe stop reading here. Because David Jeffrey was on the radio today urging those […]
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT 31,000 DEAD UKRAINIANS, CASEMENT, AND IF THERE ARE THREE TRIBES IN IRELAND
The latest figures from Ukraine saying that over 30,000 Ukrainians have died in the conflict so far. There is a belief that an awful lot more Russians have died also. So what to do? You’ll get a lot of suggestions – fight to the last man; if Russia takes Ukraine, Latvia and other states […]
A New Ireland –a discussion in Enniskillen? – by Joe McVeigh
Last Thursday (22 Feb 2024), I attended an interesting discussion about Ireland’s future, held in Enniskillen. It was one of a series of meetings organised by the Commission on the Future of Ireland. Uachtarán Shinn Féin, Mary Lou MacDonald was welcomed by local MP Michelle Gildernew. There were three speakers on the panel – Dr […]