Opinion Pieces | Belfast Media

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: The Orange Order doesn't like Catholics. Okay, so what about women?

IT is of zero importance to BBCNI, UTV, the Belfast Telegraph and the News Letter that the Orange Order literally exists because it doesn’t like the Church of Rome. Every year the broadcasters do happy-clappy round-ups of parades across the North, studiously avoiding those aspects of the parades that ensure the pubs of Donegal and the beaches of Benidorm are packed in July.

CELTIC STORIES: Fulham youngster Callum has reasonably priced promise

CELTIC’S busy summer transfer window continues, with multiple signings already confirmed. The proactive approach marks a welcome change from previous seasons, when last-minute deals often left the squad scrambling for cohesion. One likely reason for the early flurry of activity is Celtic’s return to the Champions League qualifying rounds, an uncommon position for the club in recent years and one that demands better squad preparedness. Regardless of the motivation, the early business has been encouraging and suggests a club keen to avoid past mistakes.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Kneecap and Bob Vylan take the rap – it's a familiar old story

IF I tell you that I’m going to explain my feelings about Kneecap and Glastonbury by way of celebrity paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, you may raise an eyebrow, but try to stick with me and we’ll see how we get on.

SQUINTER: Kick-the-Pope top ten on the BBC

JUST over a week until the Twelfth and the incitement is building. Sorry, the excitement. The excitement is building.

EYE ON THE PAST: Gaeilgeoir fined £50 and refused interpreter in court

We look at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News on this week in 1984

HEALTHWISE: Here’s a berry worthwhile addition to your diet

TAYBERRIES are not one of our better known fruits, but they’re well worth incorporating into your diet.

DÚLRA: House martins are a pure joy – just ask a Robin

AN enriched life – isn’t that what we all strive for? Whether it’s sitting down on the settee to watch a good film, going to a gig or for a meal, or just a walk in the park, it’s often that wee bit extra that makes the difference. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, that wee bit extra comes free-of-charge and without you even asking for it.

Starmer will pay for multi-billion pound defence splurge out of our pockets

IF you want to judge the values of any society, you could do worse than ask how well it funds its libraries.

MINDFUL MOMENT: When time moves faster, take a second to slow it down

'THE moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.' Henry Miller.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: US visitors tell us truths that we can no longer ignore

TWO 'influencers' came to visit Belfast and they called out some unsavoury truths about our shared city. Tana Mongeau and Brooke Schofield were, until this week, entirely unknown to me but they are big on YouTube. During their trip to Belfast they said that they felt afraid. They witnessed violence, open drinking and open drug taking. And they said what many of us have been reticent about saying.

'Force of nature' Galvin at the heart of RTÉ Noraid film

THE RTÉ documentary 'Noraid: Irish America and the IRA' was something that needed to be made. Despite its sensationalist title it is a sensitive two-parter that breaks with tired formats and relies entirely on archive materials, with primary interviews. Examining our recent past, in particular the political figures engaged in it, has become almost formulaic for film makers, and while hours of exceptional investigative journalism has been produced, even more hours of boring, repetitive and grating broadcasting has been made. This programme inserts itself as unique, fresh and thought-provoking.

JUDE COLLINS: Trump's attack on basic freedoms is gathering pace

IF you watched TV news over the past week, you’ll have seen and heard President Trump lose his rag with Israel and Iran. Or at least President Trump pretending to lose his rag. ““We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing”. This was in the wake of both countries breaking the ceasefire he had encouraged.

GERRY ADAMS: Reject Dublin government's shameful betrayal of sacred GPO site

THE Dublin GPO and the streets and laneways around it are forever linked with the Easter Rising of 1916. This is a battlefield site of major historic and international significance which successive Irish governments have failed to develop properly. Successive promises of investment and planning in Moore Street have come to nothing. Successive governments have reduced the National Monument to four houses, leaving the rest of the historic area to be destroyed by a London based developer.

KNEECAP: List of Glastonbury bad boys and girls make Belfast rappers look like choirboys

IT'S never been Glastonbury's practice to judge the talent that has played the Somerset field since the first summer festival in 1970 on anything other than, well... their talent.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: ‘A bit more Protestant?’ These days it’s a bit less, actually

"THAT’S a bit more Protestant."

NIFL Premiership: Reds boost playoff hopes with comeback win at Carrick

NIFL Premiership: Magilton excited for Cup final build-up as Reds return to league action

Gaelic Games: Rossa fend off Ballycastle rally to claim opening win

Gaelic Games: Carryduff win cross-city clash at Sarsfield's

TUV want Casement renamed after a British royal – and Andytown doesn't rule it out

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: David Trimble’s Catholic problem was well hidden

SQUINTER: Loyalist Human Resources departments thrive

WE SAY: Irish language signage victory was inevitable

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