by RuthDE | Jan 30, 2025 | 2025, Belfast News Letter, January, Journalism
Does president Michael D Higgins read his press coverage? Fortunately, he loves attention and can’t get enough of it. And he appears never to think he might be wrong. Published: 30 January 2025 For a long time, he’s been a cheerleader for Palestinians which has...
by RuthDE | Dec 19, 2024 | 2024, Belfast News Letter, December, Journalism
As befits someone so often called a “Jew-lover”, I’ve been thinking a lot about Jews in Ireland since Israel announced the closure of its embassy in Dublin. Published: 19 December 2024 “Ireland’s antisemitic actions and rhetoric against Israel are rooted in...
by RuthDE | Aug 29, 2024 | 2024, August, Belfast News Letter, Journalism
There are people who get on one’s nerves for no particularly good reason. They don’t murder people, torture kittens or invade Ukraine. They just irritate. Published: 29 August 2024 My father was an historian preoccupied with the importance of keeping an open mind and...
by RuthDE | Oct 24, 2023 | 2023, Belfast News Letter, Journalism, October
On Sunday I went with two other gentiles to a rally in Trafalgar Square, London, in support of Israel. I found it almost unbearable to listen to close relatives of some of those murdered or kidnapped, as it has been when I’ve heard at first hand the stories of...
by RuthDE | May 10, 2023 | 2023, Belfast News Letter, Journalism, May
One of my favourite moments from the past few days was listening to Lord Carrington. Published: 9 May 2023 The Lord Great Chamberlain had been explaining that one of his most important roles at the coronation was to present golden spurs — symbolising knighthood and...
by RuthDE | Sep 14, 2022 | 2022, Daily Telegraph, Journalism, September
Apart from a few extreme Republican trolls, Queen Elizabeth is being mourned in Ireland, north and south Published: 9 September 2022 Apart from a few extreme Republican trolls shouting on social media about colonial wrongs, Queen Elizabeth is being mourned in Ireland,...
by RuthDE | Dec 31, 2021 | 2021, Belfast News Letter, December, Journalism
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...
by RuthDE | Nov 25, 2020 | 2020, Belfast News Letter, Journalism, November
I’m not a great fan of Michael D. Higgins, mainly because he sometimes lets his ego and his socialist ideology obtrude grossly on his usually good performance as Irish president — a job which requires him to be above politics. Published: 24 November 2020 For instance,...
