Robin Livingstone

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

DAVID Trimble didn’t like Catholics.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Me and the drink: How Covid advanced then ended my beer career

I HAD the worst hangover I’ve had in twenty years on Sunday. It started out as a dull but manageable frontal lobe ache, but by mid-afternoon it had promoted itself to an all-cranium eye-scruncher oblivious to the ministrations of Messrs Nurofen and Panadol.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Orangemen and the DUP should be careful what they wish for

ARLENE Foster's had enough of the glorification of terrorism. Speaking recently in the House of Lords after members had risen from their afternoon nap, the former First Minister said Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O'Neill's appearance at a Magherafelt commemoration in January for three IRA volunteers “should be a matter the Security Minister should delve into.” She went on: “A change in the law is required to deal with those in authority who continue to exalt and deify terrorists who caused so much hurt and pain.”

Bik McFarlane and Glenn Barr: A tale of two deaths

LET me just set down my mug of tea and get comfortable in my faux-leather swivel chair here before I click on Google, key in ‘Bik McFarlane death’ and push the Enter button.

CATHOLIC-KILLERS AND NAZI MASS MURDERERS: The Rangers banners that don't make the headlines

ARMED Forces Day tomorrow at Ibrox, home of Rangers FC, will see the usual militaristic celebrations, which in the past have included British soldiers abseiling from the stand with the match ball, parade drilling on the pitch and gun salutes being fired from the centre circle. But as another round of unionist fury erupts in the local media – this time over a Bik McFarlane tribute at Celtic Park and an abusive Rangers’ fans banner response presented as ‘hitting back’ – Robin Livingstone has questions. Will SS banners paying tribute to the Nazi elite force that slaughtered captive British soldiers be displayed by Rangers fans again? Or will they be kept diplomatically folded? Will tributes to Catholic-slashers from history be displayed on banners again, or just merely sung? And, perhaps most intriguingly, if there are any such displays, will the Loyal Ulster media’s new-found indignation about Scottish football banners be extended to Ibrox...? BANNERS at Celtic Park on Tuesday evening paying tribute to the late republican Bik McFarlane, who was buried earlier that day, provoked a predictable round of fury among unionist politicians and commentators.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Faux funeral rows are going to get more common

THE death and burial of Bik McFarlane was the signal for another round of unionist hand-wringing about death and memorialising. Bik was, we were told, the most heinous and evil IRA man since the last IRA man that died. Expressing solidarity with his family, acknowledging long years of friendship, remembering his role in the conflict – all of these things, we were further told, are a vile insult not only to victims of the IRA, but to the very concepts of peace and justice.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Congratulations, Rich, you’ve lost

‘BBC News NI picks up three RTS NI awards’.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Saying Clonoe out loud isn’t so easy

A LOT of republicans will be either uncomfortable or disgusted when I say I can fully understand why unionism is generally appalled at the verdict by a Coroner that the shooting to death of three IRA men in a church car park in Clonoe in 1992 was unjustified.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Trump told us who he was and we didn't believe him

IN a roiling ocean of misinformation and nonsense, the human mind can only navigate by way of small pointers; it manages to keep itself afloat by clinging on to the nearest of the bobbing buoys. Or at least mine does.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: The BBC's new Gaza fireside mystery

THE English love a good mystery. From Agatha Christie to PD James, From Midsomer Murders to Death in Paradise, there’s perhaps no other nation on the planet so enthralled by the lure of a stabbing in the billiards room, a poisoning at the dinner table, or a shooting in the library.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Joe won’t be coming back any time soon

YOUR starter for ten: Who said the following:

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Help, Naomi – I don’t understand the British Army Covenant

THE Armed Forces Covenant, which our city has just signed up to via the casting vote of Alliance Lord Mayor Micky Murray, is a short enough document, as you can see for yourself lower down. But for the TL/DR generation, it holds that members of the British armed forces should be accorded “special consideration” as and when the occasion demands.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: The lonely death of a BBC headline

THE story on the BBC News website on July 16 last year was headlined ‘The lonely death of Gaza man with Down’s syndrome’. The bland and determinedly neutral 10-word sentence is gone now, replaced with another by the BBC after a torrent of objections, most from readers familiar with the story who rightly felt that the headline came nowhere near to reflecting the dark and horrific truth of the killing that the headlined referenced. But other objections came from people shocked to the point of disbelief that a news outlet which misses no opportunity to trumpet its trustworthiness would suck the life – and death – out of a story with a thoroughness that would make an IDF spokesperson gasp in admiration.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Starmer: Grand plan or sheer stupidity?

EITHER Keir Starmer’s the worst Prime Minister ever to have stood up in the Commons or he’s playing a game of 3D chess so fiendishly calculating that we’re going to wake up one morning and he’ll be President of the Galactic Federation.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Education Authority gets some creative thinking

DUP Education Minister Paul Givan has appointed his DUP colleague Mervyn Gibson Chairman of the Education Authority. Not surprisingly, questions are being asked about the part-time appointment, which pays a chunky £50k to £60k a year for three days work per week.

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

Robin Livingstone

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