ACROSS the city and across the island families and communities are making preparations for the Christmas holidays. It’s a time of great joy and excitement, but unfortunately for too many in the lower Falls and Divis area it’s a time of apprehension. We only have to cast our minds back to last year’s holiday season […]
Gun law always fails
THE circumstances surrounding the shooting to death of Edward Gibson in the Divis area on Friday remain unclear, although already charges have been levelled in relation to the chaotic scenes that led up to the fatal incident and those matters will ultimately and rightly be dealt with by the courts. The killing has evoked grim […]
Jeffrey’s dire warning
THE Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson has been writing in his blog about the dread prospects for unionism if unionist unity is not achieved ahead of next May’s Westminster General Election. His words are worth considering carefully, because while Mr Donaldson, like most politicians, has had his intemperate moments, he’s generally considered to be one […]
Transport in transition
WE report today that work on the much-heralded new Belfast Rapid Transit system is to begin in West Belfast in August. The new system has an impressive title, no doubt, but when you strip it right down it’s clear we’re not going to see anything nearly as visionary or as exciting as Dublin’s Luas service, […]
Paisley’s judgement day
WHAT was it that prompted Ian Paisley to say the words he said in Monday’s BBC programme during which the former First Minister and former Free Presbyterian Moderator spoke to Eamonn Mallie about his long life and political career? Was it intimations of his mortality, in the wake of a lengthy bout of serious illness? […]
Another drug death
THE death of 42-year-old Gerard Mulholland is another grim reminder of the devastating toll that drugs are taking on society. And it’s a reminder, too, that it is not just the young and impressionable who are at risk from the lethal substances being sold by ruthless and unscrupulous dealers. There has been much speculation about […]