IT doesn't take a Hercule Poirot to deduce why St Patrick's Day is not a public holiday in the North while for the Twelfth – celebrated by a minority of the populace and from one community only – there are TWO public holidays.
CHIEF Constable John Boutcher says he’s talking to the key British government adviser on ‘terrorism’ about the possibility of “additional legislation” allowing police to take down flags supporting paramilitary organisations.
IT’S extremely encouraging to see the extent of unanimity this year among non-unionist parties in relation to the annual White House St Patrick’s Day jamboree.
THE shooting of Sean O’Reilly as he sat in his taxi in Poleglass on Sunday morning is a warning to us all not to take for granted the deepening insignificance of anti-peace process dissident groups across this city and beyond. The confused and confusing collection of groups, sub-groups and splinter groups never commanded a scintilla of the support they needed to legitimise their existence, never mind their actions, and in recent years these already peripheral organisations have been slowly but surely fading ever further from the public consciousness.
WE report – of course – this week on the outstanding success of the Kneecap movie in scooping a Bafta at Sunday night’s glittering awards ceremony in London. Director Rich Peppiatt took the Outstanding Debut award in the latest of a host of awards that the rap trio and the movie have garnered recently.
NOW that the pleasant but short-lived dream of the European Championships coming to Belfast has been destroyed by the don’t-come-here-with-your-superstars crowd, a space has opened up for a serious discussion about the future of Casement Park.
THE unity of the island of Ireland is “not where my priority is today”, said Tánaiste Simon Harris, speaking recently during his first visit to Stormont since the formation of the new Dublin government.
THE knives are out – again – for President Michael D. Higgins, after he dared to mention Gaza during a weekend event commemorating the Holocaust.
PERHAPS the most salient point about the shameful failure of the putative new Dublin coalition is its failure to address the unity question.
WHEN the health of a loved one fails, it's time for a senior medic to step in and break the bad news.
THE decision by the British government to appeal a High Court order for a public inquiry to be held into the brutal murder of Bellaghy GAA official Sean Brown in 1997 is another sickening blow to a family who have spent over quarter of a century overcoming hurdle after hurdle in their battle for truth and justice.
OVER three-quarters of a century after the human and political obscenity of the Nakba, the issue of Palestine remains as much an insult to the very concept of peace as it did when the first Arabs were expelled from their homes in a murderous rout.
WITH the clanging inevitability of Morecambe and Wise repeats on the BBC at Christmas, Michelle O’Neill’s Remembrance Sunday gesture has been thrown back in her face by the unionist media and elected representatives.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher finds himself at a crossroads – a place which he may or may not know to have a historically important place in the politics of the North.
THE desire for instant gratification is an entirely human trait – and one of our least attractive. And it’s that trait that lies behind the current round of whingeing and lecturing we’re witnessing about traffic gridlock in Belfast.