Hats off to the admirable Máiria Cahill, with whom I became friends a decade ago. Her Rough Beast: My Story and the Reality of Sinn Féin is a best-seller. Published: 10 October 2023 The media in these two islands have been alive with her eloquent voice in print and...
I saw a documentary the other day that brought the late Brian Keenan vividly back to the forefront of my memory. Published: 22 August 2023 He’s not talked about much these days, for — as the driving force for decades of the IRA —he’s now an embarrassment to the Sinn...
I admit to having been rather irritated by Queen’s professor Colin Harvey’s recent complaints about being under threat, since I think he has a tendency to take himself unduly seriously, to see criticism as abuse and to flinch from the hurly burly that goes with...
At the weekend, I was in Dublin, where I was born and brought up, mostly seeing old friends. Published: 6 September 2022 When we got on to politics, there was the predictably gloomy view that there was no stopping the Shinners from getting into government. Some of my...
RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS pays tribute to a humble colossus of peace Published: 26 July 2022 My long and close friendship with David Trimble began in 1985 at yet another conference lamenting the sorry state of Northern Ireland. A friend and I decided to alleviate the...
Over-excited nationalists will say otherwise, but whatever happens on Thursday, the country will not unite in our lifetime Published: 3 May 2020 If the pollsters have got it right, by the weekend, although unionists will almost certainly have scored more votes than...
I am now even more proud of being a columnist for this honourable newspaper, which revealed last week how and why it had successfully defended itself against an unjustified libel case. Published: 22 March 2022 “We were determined to fight this case,” wrote editor Ben...
Sadly, Sinn Fein is perhaps the closest to power of all the populist movements in Europe that have displayed unhealthy sympathies for Russia Published: 15 March 2022 Last week, caught on the hop by the behaviour of Vladimir Putin, for whom it has a soft spot, Sinn...
I had a strange, draining and unforgettable Sunday. Published; 9 November 2021 It caused among many other emotions sadness, despair and occasionally laughter, during a tour of killing sites and memorials in south Armagh and at the launch in Belfast of a documentary on...
With some of the usual suspects still boring on about a border poll, I want to go back to basics. Published: 6 July 2021 I apologise to those who have heard this story before, but I think it one of the most telling comments about Irish aspirations to unity I’ve ever...
