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Online January 17, 2017

Fine Gael making strange overtures to Sinn Féin

  NO Sunday morning is ever complete without an extended browse through the (electronic) pages of my second-favourite Irish news organ, The Sindo. I always find something that encourages me to think further on a given topic; often (but not always) the pen of Eilis O’Hanlon or (more recently) Mairia Cahill will gently lead me […]

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Online January 12, 2017

Stepping together into the minefield of 2017

  THERE are two ways of looking at where and how we are – the W way and Y way. The W is for Walt (Disney), and it involves looking at a happy world awash with balloons and smiling people and adorable puppies. In this world the politicians resemble our favourite uncle who always had […]

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Online December 13, 2016

You just can’t please everyone

  Sometimes you have to laugh. And often, I find, a fit of the giggles comes on just at those moments when it would be highly inappropriate to let them out. But this is not one of those occasions. This time, giggles and guffaws and near-painful belly-laughs are the only sane response. The man to […]

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Online December 6, 2016

Extending the Presidential vote

  “WE could be discussing the A6 and A5, improvements to our port and the 100 new jobs announced in our area. Instead we have nationalist councillors trying to outdo one another with pointless motions.” Those are the words of Councillor Graham Warke (DUP). He was reacting to a motion passed by Derry City and […]

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Online November 24, 2016

North heading for a nuclear disaster

  Arlene Foster is a conflicted woman. I don’t mean that she isn’t interested in conflict – as leader of the DUP, Conflict is her middle name. Her predecessors took a similar line. Ian Paisley promoted conflict with the same zeal he brought to denouncing the Catholic faith; and who could forget Peter Robinson’s remarks […]

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Online November 24, 2016

McClean withstands peer-pressure

  ANOTHER year, another poppyfest put to bed. As with so many other things, poppy-wearing and Remembrance Sunday came to us, largely, through the lens of television. Not for the first time James McClean was a focal point. Given the general acceptance in the Premier League that all players’ shirts should be emblazoned with the […]

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