Opinion Pieces | Belfast Media

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Hillsborough parade a right royal poser

ROYAL Hillsborough.

JUDE COLLINS: Time to shame Martin and Harris into action

IRISH people can be great and they can be ghastly. Two events from last week highlighted the ghastly side of the Gaels.

TRÓCAIRE: Belfast donations have changed lives in Zimbabwe with UK government support

THE Trócaire Lenten Appeal in 2022 focused on Zimbabwe and the huge challenges faced by the people there. Regular droughts affect the southern African region and pose significant challenges for families trying to grow enough food to feed themselves, accessing safe water and general economic stability. The droughts also have negative impacts on people’s health. Agriculture, a cornerstone of Zimbabwe's economy, has been severely impacted, resulting in reduced agricultural output and a heightened dependence on food imports.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: The gods of fair play were AWOL on Sunday in Croker

Dublin Kerry was always the Golden ticket when I was growing up. My father would go out looking dapper in his slacks, sports jacket, shirt and tie and Chelsea boots. The coming home was a different story, with the tie in his pocket, the jacket tied round his tiny waist, and a torn navy- and sky-blue paper hat on the side of his head, and the ends of a Kerry one shaped into an origami-like rude figure (the da always had a creative side).

ANDRÉE MURPHY: It's a dog's life – and we're all the better for it

The memory you reach for when someone asks “what is your first memory” is ever changing. I am not sure what came first. Was it the other memory from my Nana Murphy’s farm when we went to collect eggs and she laughing at the chickens who tried to attack me? Or was it running through the lashing rain with my mother shielding me under her coat, when I am half holding her legs, standing on her feet?

GERRY ADAMS: More pieces of the unity jigsaw being put in place

THIS week significant developments that can shape the future direction of constitutional politics on this island are taking place in Leinster House. On Tuesday Sinn Féin’s Bill setting out a practical plan to achieve a united Ireland is up for discussion. Fine Gael is moving ahead with its plan for a blueprint for Irish unity for November. And other parties, including the Social Democrats and Labour, have expressed their support for unity and, notwithstanding Micheál Martin’s opposition, it is obvious that there are many within Fianna Fáil who understand that planning for unity makes sense.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: That Orange Order invite list needs rewritten

THERE will come a time in the future when we look back at the active role that the Orange Order played in the great partition experiment, shake our heads and ask ourselves if that really happened. Just when the centrality to our public life of the loyal orders and their hyper-sensitivity to the smell of Mass and the rattle of rosary beads will be seen as the sectarian travesty that it was is not clear.

DÚLRA: Run rabbit, run – here come’s Dúlra with his... pot

DÚLRA knows a guy who, every time he drives past cute lambs running in the fields, rubs his stomach and says he suddenly feels hungry – to the consternation of his kids in the car!

HEALTHWISE: Supplements: Choose well and watch the dose

SUPPLEMENTS are any product that aims to supplement your diet with nutrients that you would otherwise lack. Popular ones include vitamins D, C and B,, calcium, fish oils and probiotics. But who needs supplements?

CELTIC STORIES: The Hoops return to Ireland and a superstar from Santa Marta?

AS the World Cup heads for it’s final few rounds the anticipation that is often built when the club season creeps around the corner.

MINDFUL MOMENT: Lessons I learned from the cat and the lama

Sometimes our lives are changed not by great dramatic events but by the quiet moments that seem almost insignificant at the time. Looking back over the years, one such moment came in the early 1990s when I found myself searching for a Buddhist teacher. My life was full of questions. I wanted to understand the mind, suffering and, above all, whether lasting peace was truly possible. That search lead me to the beautiful monastery of Jampa Ling in the rolling countryside of County Cavan.

JUDE COLLINS: Is the damage to the DUP too serious to fix?

Brendan Behan’s most famous quip was that, when republicans met, the first item on the agenda was the split. Aucontraire, Brendan. Gerry Adams and others have stressed how careful they were to keep all republicans up-to-date during the period leading up to the Good Friday Agreement. The unity notable among the various strands of republicanism contrasts sharply with our near neighbours and our really near neighbours.

OPINION: 'Enduring taint in the American order of things'

Ahead of Bastille Day, John Gray, reflects on America's 250th birthday.

GERRY ADAMS: A new plan for 1916 battlefield site is the way forward

THE 1916 Moore Street Battlefield site in the centre of Dublin is a hugely important historical and cultural location whose significance has been ignored by successive Irish governments for over a century. Currently much of the Moore Street terrace and adjoining lanes are under threat of demolition by the London-based developer Hammerson.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Wordcount wizards know how it's done

WHEN I say journalists write some shite, trust me - I know that of which I speak. What bricklayer hasn't walked past a wall he laid ten years ago and winced a little at the thought of how much better a job he'd do now? What teacher hasn't read a newspaper report of wee Johnnie getting sent back to Maghaberry and wished he'd spent more time with him instead of putting him in the Mooners first chance he got? We can't always be on our A-game and the most effective way we have of coming to terms with thatlamentable fact of life is to try to do better next time.

Gaelic Games: Sarsfields avoid the drop after stunning second-half performance earns win over Tír na nÓg

Gaelic Games: Antrim Ladies Croke-bound after clinching semi-final victory over Sligo

Gaelic Games: St Enda's condemned to relegation after second-half collapse to Ballygalget

Sporting success celebrated as Bunscoil Phobal Feirste honours remarkable year

ANDRÉE MURPHY: It's a dog's life – and we're all the better for it

GERRY ADAMS: More pieces of the unity jigsaw being put in place

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: That Orange Order invite list needs rewritten

DÚLRA: Run rabbit, run – here come’s Dúlra with his... pot

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