As a friend of the Irish language, I hate the thought of the squalid deal now being negotiated between the DUP and Sinn Fein. Published: 15 June 2021 Irish has been ill-served by uncompromising advocates, few of whom seem no more fluent in it than Edwin Poots is said...
I was delighted for two reasons on Sunday afternoon when I saw this tweet from the Northern Ireland Office. Published: 8 June 2021 “Secretary of State @Brandon Lewis has announced Trevor Ringland MBE as the UK’s first Special Envoy to the United States on NI. He will...
What a moment in the politics of Northern Ireland! Published: 1 June 2021 Just now, the DUP, Alliance and Sinn Fein should be very nervous. Now I know that at the moment some of the most bitter enemies of Edwin Poots are members – or about to be ex-members – of the...
“Well when the votes were counted one parochial, backward looking, regressive who is 50 something and from Lagan Valley beat another one,” tweeted Alliance councillor Michael Long after the DUP leadership election. Published: 25 March 2021 “What is clear is that...
Every time I hear the sanctimonious voice of Peter Hain — that one-time rebel and enthusiast for Irish unity who in 2015 swapped his Commons seat for a peerage — I struggle to understand why the media think him an expert on legacy issues. Published: 18 May 2021 There...
On Friday Twitter explained why it had permanently suspended a Twitter account in the name of Barbara Pym that had been founded and run by the Sunday Independent columnist Eoghan Harris and friends. Published: 11 May 2021 “Using technology and human review in...
I’m writing this on May 3, Northern Ireland’s hundredth birthday. Published: 3 May 2021 My hope is that the next hundred years will be free of the violence and misery that was so often up to now imposed on peaceful people all over Ireland by intolerant, murderous...
First, the bad news, though you know it already. Published: 27 April 2021 Until the Sinn Féin leopard changes its spots there’s no hope of having a stable government in Northern Ireland working for all its people. The Province is stuck for now with a disruptive...
I’m writing a book about Royal consorts, so every part of his funeral that Prince Philip so meticulously planned was of interest to me. Published: 20 April 2021 From the poignancy of the jar of sugar cubes alongside the cap, gloves and lap blanket on the seat of the...
I’ve been thinking and reading about Prince Philip since I heard the news of his death. Published: 13 April 2021 It surprised me how upset I was. As he had kept pointing out, he was old and it was his time to die. For Covid-related reasons, I was alone as I watched...
