Squinter has been a regular feature of the Andersonstown News since the early 1970s. The diary column has been written by a number of people over the years and the present incumbent has been taking a sideways look at the week just gone – or indeed the one to come – for over 20 years now. The column has a wide remit, wandering from humorous items of local interest to local and national politics. See Squinter on Twitter for daily doses of the funny, the strange and the totally bonkers.
THREE days after the sensational verdict in the Gerry Adams versus BBCNI libel trial, journalists, legal experts and observers are still trying to make sense of the outcome of the biggest defamation case ever heard on the island of Ireland.
IT seems that ringing 999 because you see somebody putting a Stop-Killing-Babies sticker on an ATM is the right thing to do. Before Saturday Squinter would have said that the non-emergency 101 number would have been the one to call, given that somebody putting up stickers is not something that the ordinary person would consider to be a life-threatening or even dangerous activity.
THE Guinness Book of World Records is not desperately keen on considering loyalist tyre and pallet dumps in its ‘Biggest Bonfire’ section. With typically woke arrogance, it prefers bonfires which don’t belch out cancer smoke built by people who aren’t ten times over the legal limit for driving.
’PARNTLY the Kneecap thing is a question of art. Or more specifically, a question of art and its limits.
JAMIE Bryson’s JWB Consultancy (New York, Paris, London, Hong Kong, Donaghadee) got involved in the Moygashel UDR/UVF commemoration parade at the weekend.
VAR’s killing football.Big wages are killing football.Ticket prices are killing football.Over-exposure is killing football.Saudi princes are killing football. It may well be that if and when soccer’s death certificate comes to be signed, all of these things will be included in the cause of death section as contributory factors. But true fans of what used to be known as ‘the Beautiful Game’ know that football is being kept alive on a ventilator because the soul went out of it a long time ago. And football didn’t lose its life’s breath in a single traumatic event, it died a death by a thousand cuts, some of them deeper than others, but all of them drawing blood.Here's the non-exhaustive list of the things that killed the game. If you’ve got others to add, then go ahead and knock yourself out… 1. The Long GoodbyeIt used to be that when players were substituted they slapped hands with the guy taking their place, sat down and had a drink. If we were lucky, they’d have kicked an innocent water bottle or mouthed an obscenity at the coach. But now they high-five not only their replacement and their coach, they high-five every single player and every member of the backroom staff in the dug-out. At times they’ll leave the dug-out when they’ve finished and start high-fiving the gallery of injured and underage players in the row of seats behind the dug-out. Just sit down, ffs. You’re doing a lap of honour because you’ve just been subbed. Think about it.
DONALD Trump has become the hero of those who are opposed to the pressing problem of ‘men in women’s bathrooms’. The problem is so pressing that Squinter never heard of it before the Daily Mail decided it was a problem some six or eight years ago. But regardless of how often women actually encounter men in the bathroom when they nip into a public loo, it’s undeniable that increasing numbers of people view it as one of the great issues of the day.
SQUINTER’S seen a lot in his three-plus decades in conflict journalism. With a nod to his Andytown News debut as a movie reviewer, he has to admit he hasn’t seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, or C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. But he’s seen some pretty out-there things.
GORDON Lyons. He’s the embodiment of that internet meme that depicts Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons surrounded by rakes and every time he moves he steps on one and bashes himself in the face.
KATIE Hopkins is to appear in Belfast and Derry in June as part of her Batshite, sorry Batshit, Bonkers Britain stand-up tour.
SQUINTER had words with Naomi Long this week. It’s not the first time and probably won’t be the last. Squinter enjoys the back and forth and it’s conducted in a good spirit. Mostly. And anyway, if things ever get too heated we both know who’s going to break first because Squinter told her a secret once that would end his career if she revealed it.
UP until recently a GAA pitch had more lines on it than Gordon Ramsay’s bake. You’d have thought that any sport played on a surface that includes a large and small parallelogram as well as a hefty array of standard straight lines would think twice about adding to the mix. But it’s the GAA. The simple and obvious is never an option.
NEWS Letter editor Ben Lowry has had an idea. He thinks it might be instructive, á propos of the Republic’s harbouring of the IRA all these years (look, it’s Ben, just stay with this), that a historical precedent can be profitably invoked.
The Labour Party’s done for, Tories laughing up their sleeve,So Starmer’s off on the government jet to the lovely town of Kyiv. For hugging Vlod Zelensky is the dying man’s reprieve,There’s nothing Murdoch’s mates love more than a PM visiting Kyiv. It warms the hearts of the military men and makes the pinkos grieve,When the head of the United Kingdom spends a few days touring Kyiv. There’s no mention of his woes at home and nothing to aggrieve,As long as he doesn’t mention the Nazi hordes in Kyiv. He can promise lots of lovely cash before he has to leave,And chat about Vlod’s offshore accounts (that definitely aren’t in Kyiv). He can shower them with missiles too lethal to conceive,And he won’t be asked about Rachel’s sums by the journalists in Kyiv. As the PM’s so-called colleagues gripe and some even plan a heave,A man’s not likely to find himself backstabbed in Kyiv. It’s a bit like a teacher’s half-term break or a sailor on shore leave,He can laugh and drink and takell on offer in Kyiv. No pensioners in freezing homes or WASPIs to deceive,It’s beer and skittles (or vodka and borscht) when the airplane lands inKyiv.
16 people died in County Armagh in less than 24 hours in a torrent of sectarian slaughter spanning January 4 and 5, 1976.