Jude Collins

JUDE COLLINS: Is it fair to compare the KKK to the LOL?

THE Orange Order, you’ll have noticed, had its main but by no means only spasm of marching last Saturday. It’s an organisation that attracts many opinions, but one thing most of us would agree on this year: the thick-headedness of releasing toxins into the air from that bonfire in South Belfast was a defiant act of spectacular self-harm.

JUDE COLLINS: Stop the world – the Orangemen want to get off

AS we keep being reminded, we live in a quivering world. In the US, President Donald Trump is on a mission to make life as comfortable as possible for billionaires and as brutal as possible for the poor. Universities are fearful funds will be withheld, politicians fear opposing Trump as he might wipe out their political futures, and student protestors risk a visit from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) , which could end with their being hooded, bundled into a jeep and deported to some ghastly South American prison. In Ukraine, tens of thousands of young Ukrainian and American lives are ending on an endless battlefield. In Gaza, the body count of innocent, terrified people is almost too big to think about.

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.

JUDE COLLINS: Leo's intervention a game-changer for New Ireland project

SOME years ago, Mary Lou McDonald was asked what single word came to mind when she thought of the Fine Gael leader, Leo Varadkar. Mary Lou paused for a second and then said “Smarmy.”

JUDE COLLINS: Thuggery was just one part of the Ballymena equation

"PURE thuggery." That’s how the activities of those rioting in Ballymena, Larne and Portadown last week have been described. I beg to differ.

JUDE COLLINS: Miracles do happen – just not at Casement

MAYBE he meant it. Maybe when Chris Heaton-Harris just two years ago spoke of the Casement Park stadium, he actually believed every syllable dripping from his mouth: “We’ll get the money, don’t you worry,” he told us. And where it would come from? “All partners. I guarantee it.”

JUDE COLLINS: Adams win puts a brake on the Shinner-baiting

THERE must be a few fidgety figures with aching hearts in the Belfast BBC these days. Source of heartache? The Dublin High Court found that a ‘Spotlight’ programme had wrongly presented Gerry Adams as the man ultimately responsible for the shooting dead of the long-time informer Denis Donaldson. The court awarded Gerry Adams €100,000.

JUDE COLLINS: Let's not make the mistakes of Brexit in our border poll

THE late John Hume was a good and even a saintly man. But he had some political views that were patently... how shall I put it?... smelling of garden fertiliser.

JUDE COLLINS: Finding ways to respond to the Gaza genocide

WE are frequently reminded “For evil to thrive, it is sufficient that good men (and women) do and say nothing." That’s true.

JUDE COLLINS: Pope Leo finds himself a prisoner of his predecessor

HE may have similar views to Pope Francis, but he didn’t look like Pope Francis when he emerged on the balcony. While Francis appeared dressed in white, Leo wore a red mozzetta and stole. With his upright, dignified demeanour, he reminded me more of the Pope Pius XII of my boyhood.

JUDE COLLINS: Reconciliation is impossible while British bad faith remains, Micheál

BY now we’re used to the sight of them. Middle-aged and aged men and women, faces bleak with grief, standing outside a courthouse carrying pictures showing a close-up of their lost loved one. These are the people who didn’t go to war during the Troubles but had the war thrust on them, in all likelihood by the state. A solicitor or a younger member of the group steps forward and tries to tell how the murder of the loved one has created a permanent, bleeding wound in the family and how all they’re asking for now is for the state to come clean.

JUDE COLLINS: Francis's simple rules for life were in reality hard to live

FRANCIS was a polarising Pope. As I watched his funeral on TV last Saturday, like so many others I noted the respect and love that charged the crowds in attendance. For them, Francis led a life exemplifying Christian teaching rather than just talking about it.

JUDE COLLINS: Realising a dream 800 years in the making

Like the Christian story of Easter, the Easter Rising of 1916 went from open contempt for those at its centre, to a dramatic realisation of what the Rising meant. The risen Christ had first to endure pain and bloodshed before the rebirth of hope among his followers could happen. Likewise the Irish people needed the shock of sacrifice before they saw the true situation in their country.

JUDE COLLINS: Say hello to the law of unintended consequences, Donald

"DON'T shoot the messenger." You’ve probably warned yourself on more than one occasion not to focus on the person bringing you news, but to focus on the message itself. As with most things, Donald Trump makes that hard to do.

JUDE COLLINS: Big Brother Trump shows Fianna Fáil the way to do it

IT'S funny the way small events very often have a big brother. This happened over the past week or two, and both brothers – and their effect – are still reverberating.

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

Jude Collins

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