What a week it’s been for those of us who follow the soap opera that is contemporary politics! Published: 13 June 2023 We had the arrest over mysterious SNP finances of Nicola Sturgeon, erstwhile first minister of Scotland — a inept administrator but a...
It is one of the oddities of these two islands that while many people proudly describe themselves as Irish, Scottish or Welsh nationalists, English nationalism is used as a term of abuse. Published: 16 May 2023 Celtic nationalists of various kinds have rebranded...
I hope everyone’s been having a good Easter. Published: 11 April 2023 Apologies for the graphic detail, but I’ve been out of action for three weeks since I slipped on a wet pavement, broke two small bones in my lumbar region and incautiously accepted painkillers that...
The President uses his Hibernian heritage to burnish his image, but seemingly knows little about Ireland or the Church’s teachings Published: 14 March 2023 President Joe Biden’s self-delusion seems to be boundless. When he looks in the mirror, he apparently sees an...
Last year, Michelle O’Neill was telling us that Brexit would “inevitably lead to the breakup of the current constitutional arrangements in Britain and in Ireland”. Published: 21 February 2023 No more than Nicola Sturgeon, whom she described last week as a friend...
Nicola Sturgeon, the usually surefooted Scottish First Minister, is risking her political future on a crazy cause: extreme trans ideology. Published: 24 January 2023 In the United Kingdom, to change your legal sex you must be over 18, have a medical diagnosis of...
The SNP’s new gender recognition reform is a danger to the safety of women and girls Published: 23 December 2022 Like many other Western countries, we are in an almighty, polarised mess about transgender rights, particularly competing trans and female rights in...
Protocol woes aside, the last couple of weeks have been good for unionists. Published: 6 December 2022 The night before she became a non-aligned peer, Arlene Foster launched the Together UK Foundation (https://www.togetherukfoundation.com/) in London, emphasising the...
Last Christmas was the first for years that I didn’t write a column about people I would like to deport to a desert island. Published: 28 December 2021 With Covid busily ruining the lives of so many, it seemed tasteless to wrench from their families even people like...
The sun is shining, the weather forecast is encouraging, the target of vaccinating the 15 million most vulnerable people in the United Kingdom by February 15 was met ahead of time, and despite the mean-spirited way in which Brussels is persecuting Northern Ireland, I...