Robin has been with the Andersonstown News and subsequently the Belfast Media Group for over 30 years. He began his career in journalism with the company writing cinema and TV reviews as a freelance before becoming a staff reporter and going on to be appointed editor of the Andersonstown News in 1993. He became Group Editor of the Belfast Media Group with responsibility for all titles in 2016. He's the author of The Road, a memoir about growing up in Belfast.
I think Irish Catholics deserve the same consideration and protection from the BBC as Jews, don’t you?
I WENT back on the radio on Monday, and let me tell you it’s been a while.In case you’re thinking ‘a while’ means a few months, a couple of years, even, or that sepia-toned era we now call pre-Covid, I’m talking decades.
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.
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’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.
"THAT’S a bit more Protestant."
SUCH was the panting enthusiasm of unionist politicians for the US bombing of Iran, I got the distinct impression that some of them had been reading their newspapers with one hand, or watching the TV news on their phones in the privacy of their bathrooms.Let’s face it: Loyal Ulster has never met a war involving the west that it didn’t get off on.
AFTER the Gerry Adams libel trial, BBCNI had two options: Suck it up or appeal. Given the savage battering that was dealt to the local branch of the corporation, an appeal would at first blush appeared to have been a no-brainer.
THE fact that BBCNI thinks that its adherence to a British ethos is a matter for debate instead of a simple statement of fact is perhaps the most powerful indicator of BBCNI’s adherence to a British ethos.
THE victory of Gerry Adams in his libel case against BBCNI could be the best thing that could happen to Ormeau Avenue, if they could but bring themselves to acknowledge it.
THE days of journalists being given a week, two weeks, a month, to go off and pursue single stories are virtually at an end. Long-form investigative pieces to all intents and purposes don’t exist any more and as newspapers struggle to come to terms with falling sales and dwindling readerships, the reality of life as a reporter has changed utterly.
TODAY, we exclusively reveal the two vital documents that saw a court this week clear definitely-not-in-the-UVF man Winkie Irvine of being in the UVF. The first is a Sunday newspaper lifestyle piece from 2021 in which Mr Irvine gives details of a typical day in the life of Loyal Ulster's most famous non-UVF peacebuilder. It provides a vivid insight into the mind of the Ballysillan Gandhi and blows out of the water the claim that Mr Irvine is a member of the feared loyalist paramilitary group.
SSE Arena management and its various licensees aren’t known to be lacking when it comes to basic forward planning, otherwise they’d be picking up their P45s this week along with those Rangers fans filmed singing The Billy Boys there on Friday night.
YOU’D have to ask somebody who knows a lot more than I do about military history why VE Day in this little corner of Paradise was marked by duvet-sized union jacks, sword-dancing and loyalist bands.
Tough decision for judges in a year chock-full of outstanding contributions to consistency