Dealing with our past, never mind healing its wounds, has been an ongoing challenge since the signing of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement nearly twenty years ago. So far our politicians have not been able to form a consensus on how best to address the past. In the absence of any formal political agreement, it’s crucial more…
The Irish Independent has at last joined the Irish Times in entering the row over Kevin Myers, who has written for both papers in his time. Former Indo editor Gerry O’Regan resorts to psychology and family background in Leicester and Ireland to explain Kevin’s “ inner rage.” As his editor O’Regan says their relations were…. more…
The Irish Times for which he once wrote and even more significantly the Jewish Council of Ireland have mounted a limited defence of Kevin Myers. As I labelled him a disgrace for the bonkers claim that two BBC presenters won bigger contracts because they were Jewish, I’m very happy to carry here the case for more…
Complacency about the peace, about power-sharing, about cross-border cooperation, about, even, EU membership has allowed the unthinkable to happen. Such things that we have cherished and, indeed, brandished around the world as a sign of success have become playthings, tossed lightly up in the air in acts of outrageous political hubris. One after the other more…
Scenario two in the white paper, presents a much different picture of the future of Europe than that of scenario one (or what we recognise today). Under this scenario the EU recognises its failure to form a broad consensus on many of the critical issue facing the continent. Having found that issues such as migration, more…
The Irish Times reports that thirteen people, including a ten year old boy, had to be rescued from Croagh Patrick yesterday during the annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage. I climbed Croagh Patrick a couple of months back in aid of the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, and in memory of one of my wife’s ex-colleagues who more…
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I don’t think I did leave out “the important dimension” of the Irish border, one of three issues identified by the EU before trade talks can begin. On this I agreed with the Brexit Secretary David Davis who asked how the border issue could possibly be settled in advance. A settlement on the Irish border more…
Many thanks to Brian Walker for his posts yesterday and today about the latest developments in the Irish angle to the Brexit negotiations. I think one important dimension has been missed, however. Progress on the Irish border is one of the three priority areas of discussion where sufficient progress needs to have been made by more…
LABOUR PEER Baroness Helena Kennedy QC opened the John Hewitt International Summer School last Monday morning with an eloquent lecture that looked at dreams, responsibilities, the challenge of globalisation, the need to look seriously at how we improve cross-border cooperation and recalibrate what we attach value to in society.
We all felt sorry for the articulate young man whose apartment near Sandyrow was damaged by an 11th Night bonfire. He, sensibly, didn’t want to be recognised so the interview was done off camera. He wanted to live in safety, he wanted compensation for the damage but above all he didn’t want to annoy anyone more…
It’s hardly a surprise that the Dublin government’s latest expressions of concern about Brexit are focused on Ireland. But why should the Irish expect greater clarity and urgency from London on the border when London has been so vague about everything else? By itself, lack of clarity needn’t be taken as a sign of indifference. more…
SHARING A LAND BORDER WITH EU? Dominique Searle spoke about Gibraltar’s land border with Spain and the impact of Brexit at the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh. The efficiency of border crossing is crucial.
It’s now OK, according to a paper in BMJ not to finish a course of antibiotics. It is merely a myth according to researchers who can find no evidence that stopping your antibiotics when you feel well, does not lead to bug-resistance as we have always believed. Doctors, however, in spite of this finding are more…
Interesting and provocative piece from William Matchett, who’s recent book on the RUC has been getting rave reviews, at least on the Unionist side of the fence. He doesn’t like to pull his punches: The Troubles were due to a failure in politics, not a failure in security. No nationalist, or unionist, party is blameless. more…
Over the past few years, there has been a major issue with underage kids drinking in the Falls Park and City Cemetary. At weekends hundreds of children gather to drink, take drugs and do all the usual things that teenagers do. The problem is especially severe in the summer. Underage drinking is not exactly new, but more…
The Times of London lead “Irish want sea border after Brexit” is probably plugging a line from Dublin harder than it deserves, in claiming that the Irish government under new leadership is calling for an economic border down the Irish Sea as the only viable alternative to an unacceptable hardening of the land border. Sir more…
If you missed it, I had a good conversation with Sinn Fein’s Senator Padraig MacLochlainn on Matt Cooper’s The Last Word on Today FM a few weeks ago about the mega bonfires and other forms of tribal egregiousness: In it, Padraig talked about the leadership he had personally given over attacks on Orange Halls in more…
Another antidote for the ennui of summer and the silly season. Newton Emerson explains the politics of the ongoing objections from Wales and Scotland, and why they are likely to remain ongoing but are likely to be unsuccessful…
Nine months ago, the Chicago Cubs baseball team finally put a 108-year history of failure behind them to secure a World Series triumph that had eluded them, the pursuit of which gave rise to many suggestions that the team were cursed for a range of weird and wild reasons. That victory sparked scenes of jubilation more…
