Jude Collins

JUDE COLLINS: Democracies are often run by those who reject democracy

CHURCHILL wasn’t the first to have the thought, but it’s his phrasing of it that’s best known: “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time...”

JUDE COLLINS: Pollsters succeed only in spreading uncertainty

THERE are things we don’t like to think about, much less talk about. Maybe that’s what happened to a lot of commentators during the recent US Presidential election. They really really didn’t want Donald Trump to win, and they had this weird notion that if you didn’t think or talk about a Trump victory, it wouldn’t happen. All the commentators and pollsters and wise guys kept telling us that this election was so tight, if you listened you’d hear it creak.

JUDE COLLINS: Two elections down, one to go

I'VE long had a suspicion that politics is a dull game. Having to cope with constituents who want you to fix something over which you have no control. All those committees, all those yawn-inducing Assembly/Dáil sessions where representatives posture and preen and congratulate themselves and their leader

JUDE COLLINS: Northern rough edges should be welcomed and not smoothed

IT'S amazing what you’ll find on YouTube. Among the guys urging you to buy a cloth that’ll make paintwork scratches on your car vanish, or what foods to eat if you want to live to be 135, there is a considerable number of items that delight and inform.

JUDE COLLINS: Fate waits around the corner for all parties – not just Sinn Féin

HOW do you suppose Micheál Martin and Simon Harris are feeling right now? Are they optimistic? Quietly pleased? Giddy with delight?

JUDE COLLINS: Empty suit Taoiseach talks a lot while saying nothing

WE live in a globalised world, yet we can all feel helpless in the face of events. War in Ukraine, slaughter in Gaza and Lebanon: the blood and dust smears our screens night after night. It’s got to the point where many turn their eyes from the horror and switch channels or switch off. The big brutal world out there is not of our making, appals us, and so we withdraw our attention.

JUDE COLLINS: Morality police wave their blackthorn sticks again

DO you remember when the parish priest would patrol country roads in search of immorality? Or when the parish would have a week-long mission and the visiting missioner would often thunder damnation for sins which his terrified congregation had never heard of, let alone indulged in?

JUDE COLLINS: High-wire act has served southern parties well

BEING a politician means you face a number of dangers similar to those faced by a high-wire artist.

JUDE COLLINS: Targeting of Trump raises interesting questions

THERE may be unfeeling people who have thought or even whispered “Third time lucky, lads!” in the wake of the second attempted assassination of Donald Trump. I would not be of their number. The former US President may be an obnoxious being, but he’s also a human being, and it’s important to respect and even love the most primitive of God’s creations.

JUDE COLLINS: Don't ban mobile phones – use them better

THERE'S always a villain. We must ever be on red alert in case something evil comes to seize our children and turn them into zombies or monsters.

JUDE COLLINS: What of the questions that don't get asked?

NELL McCafferty in 1987 spoke the truth and paid the price.

JUDE COLLINS: Derry people need no lessons in history

TAKE a walk or drive round the centre of Belfast and you’ll find the place transformed. The Waterfront Hall and the Titanic building and the costly hotels and apartments soar skyward. In the downtown Ulster University there are 650,000 bricks, 22,000 square metres of glass and 606 kilometres of data cables that’d stretch between Belfast and Derry six times over. Oh, and they expect the buildings to last 300 years.

JUDE COLLINS: How do we end the horror of the bombs?

THURSDAY of last week marked the 26th anniversary of the bomb in Omagh. My home town, as it happens: Ten yards from the epicentre of the explosion I got my fortnightly hair cut, ten yards the other way I had my first date.

JUDE COLLINS: Two different views of death from the sky

LAST week, two horrific events happened within twenty-four hours of each other.

JUDE COLLINS: Olympic heroes restored our self-belief

SO what do you think of the Olympic Games so far? Does the fact that we in NEI must receive the Games strained through a B(ritish) BC filter annoy you as much as it annoys me? Is RTÉ determined to fortify the border by not showing the Games north of Dundalk?

Gaelic Games: Magherafelt a step ahead of St Brigid's in the Ulster Minor Club Tournament

Soccer: Rosario undone in extra-time by Rathfriland Rangers

NIFL Premiership: Gormley nets second hat-trick of the month as Reds romp to victory

Gaelic Games: Biddies and Magherafelt get the ball rolling at the Ulster Minor Club Football Tournament

OPINION: Praise the Lord, after half-century of decline, Castle St/Queen St is on way back

MINDFUL MOMENT: Here comes the judge - my testing task at Aisling Awards

SQUINTER: Plain-speaking Gordon lays it on the line

DÚLRA: Meadow Ladies are on a nature mission

Jude Collins

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