Thursday was a tale of two cities: Edinburgh and Belfast. Those gathered in both shared a similar goal – to govern their own country. Not really asking too much. In Ukraine, the Western world hails the Ukrainians . Only yesterday Britain delivered three war helicopters to add to the massive supply of arms the Ukraine […]
DULCE ET DECORUM? by Donal Kennedy
This was first published here in January 2016. Another stop on Memory Lane.. Under “NAUGHTY” I alluded to the fact that in England the Prime Minister comes next in precedence to the Archbishop of York, who is himself less honoured than the Lord Chancellor and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It’s a […]
A new Ireland From an Old Union – by Michael Lagan
.Listening to last night’s Ireland’s Future contributions from Glenn Bradley, Denzil McDaniel, Claire Mitchell, Lorraine Hall, and Ben Collins, something became extremely clear: more and more Protestants in the North not only see a united Ireland as viable…but see themselves as Irish. Claire Mitchell, in her contributions, said she had spoken with many Protestants from […]
WHO WROTE JFK’S SPEECHES? – by Donal Kennedy
In June 1963, I was working in Irish Shipping HQ at Aston Quay by O’Connell Bridge, and like perhaps half of Dublin I stayed in town to welcome JFK in Ireland. That meant staying two or three hours after work. The miracles of TV and jet travel allowed me to watch, through a shop window, […]
Counting The Shadows – by Michael Lagan
There’s a huge amount of denial within Unionism and Loyalism and indeed the British government, that British forces had anything whatsoever to do with the war here in the North Eastern 6 counties of Ireland. That, of four men arrested over the weekend after the PSNI raided and searched residential and business properties in East […]
ROGUES CASTING STONES – by Donal Kennedy
On behalf of the United Kingdom. Rishi Sunak has labelled Russia a Rogue State. England/ “Great” Britain/ the “United” KIngdom, was long ago labelled “Perfidious Albion” by her neighbours. She is in dispute with them today over a protocol she signed quite recently. She has been and has continued to be a Warfare State […]
Arlene’s Brush With Ooh, ah, up the Ra – by Michael Lagan
Another ‘Ooh, ah, up the Ra’ moment. This time, overtly intentional by a woman who clearly didn’t care that Arlene Foster’s dad was shot in the head by the ‘Ra. When moments like this happen, the first thought that comes to mind is – did this woman know Arlene’s dad was shot […]
FLASHES UPON THE INWARD EYE – by Donal Kennedy
THE TIMES QUICK CRYPTIC CROSSWORD (November 21) has the clue “Conjure up memories of Short Skirts at Church”. I believe the answer is REMINISCE – RE MINIS CE, the Church being that of England. I am transported back to the summer of 1966 when I was 24. It was the tercentenary of the […]
Ireland is neutral. No, wait a minute…
Tell us this: what is neutrality? That’s easy, you tell me. It’s when you refuse to belong to one camp or another, but remain firmly on the sidelines. Like, say, the Alliance Party. Or Ireland’s southern state. Neutrality has been a treasured jewel in the state treasure-house. And we all remember Dev’s response to Churchill’s […]
ABOUT DAVE MURPHY’S RESPONSE TO DONAL KENNEDY – by Donal Kennedy
I suspect that Mr Murphy was prompted to write by my criticism of Fintan O’Toole. though he did not defend O’Toole’s smears on Dr McQuaid nor O’Toole’s woeful ignorance of his own home patch, Crumlin. I lived in Howth from December 1941 until November 1964 with a break in Rockwell College, Cashel, from […]