September Articles

President Michael Higgins should say sorry for his Northern Ireland centenary snub or resign

The row over President Michael D. Higgins’s bizarre rejection of the invitation to the ecumenical church event in Armagh has generated oceans of comment in the media, but one of the most acute analyses I’ve seem was in an email. Published: 28 September 2021 Michael...

The new Northern Ireland Office minister is a Gay Catholic Tory who will listen to unionist fears

Before I get on to two subjects with which I hope to cheer up at least some of my readers, just a few words about something else. Published: 21 September 2021 The media’s seemed to me to show extraordinary lack of compassion about the unexpected death of the prime...

Gove is learning to his cost that we’ve lost the art of debating

People don't say what they mean in debating societies. They speak to provoke, entertain and win arguments Published: 14 September 2021 They seek to suck all the joy out of life, these new Puritans. Consider the Lib Dem response to the airing on Monday of a few old...

Both Sinn Fein and the SNP fuel divisions and search for grievances

I always scan letters to newspapers. Published: 14 September 2021 Contributors know they have to be brief to be published, so they often can sum up very pithily what columnists tease out at much greater length. This, last week, in the Irish Sunday Independent,...