Liam Kennedy’s astonishing book Who Was Responsible For the Troubles? begins with his attendance at a play at the West Belfast festival in 1999 with the novelist Lionel Shriver and me. Published: 17 November 2020 I remember the occasion well, for ‘Forced Upon Us’ was...
Trump may be on his way out, which I find hard to regret, but Trumpism, fortunately, is alive and well Published: 10 November 2020 This was the second US election in a row where I didn’t know which candidate I most wanted to lose. With a choice between the incumbent...
In 2019 I was a guest speaker — the warm-up act for Kevin Myers, a great journalist who had been professionally destroyed by a Twitter mob — at a reunion in the Clogher Valley of ex-members of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Published: 3 November 2020 On the face of it,...
‘At today’s press briefing,” tweeted Sam Taylor, chief executive of the think tank These Islands, last week, “Sturgeon said she suspects that Scotland came very close to eliminating Covid over the summer, before it was (at least in part) re-seeded by travel from other...
The Irish Republic has much to be ashamed about in its attitude to the hell the Provisional IRA unleashed on Northern Ireland, which has spread south in the modified form of gang warfare, corruption and the erosion of democracy. I’m constantly amazed at the staggering...
It’s got to the stage that people are afraid to say anything in case they get sued, Ruth,” wrote Dr Ken Funston, manager of the Advocacy for Innocent Victims team of SEFF (South East Fermanagh Foundation) last week during a Facebook debate. Published: 13 October 2020...
I come from Dublin and live in London, but I love Northern Ireland and have been missing it and my friends here during lockdown Published: 7 October 2020 So I was glad to go to Belfast last week, even though it was for consultations with lawyers about yet another...
Well, the tweet from editor Alistair Bushe last Wednesday saying I was joining the News Letter certainly got the Shinnerbots excited. Published: 29 September 2020 For those of you who ignore social media, these are the armies of Sinn Fein supporters who assemble on...
UK’s critics guilty of double standards when it comes to Leavers Published: 21 September 2020 Many nationalists interpret the GFA to mean,” tweeted the commentator Owen Polley last week, “if a policy advances the cause of an all-Ireland state, it’s definitely,...
The Democratic Party has a habit of falling for bogus Irish republican narratives Published: 18 September 2020 If it wasn’t for that strain in the Democratic party that takes leave of its senses when it thinks about Ireland, we shouldn’t worry that President Joe Biden...
