Editorial Pieces | Belfast Media

Starmer will pay for multi-billion pound defence splurge out of our pockets

IF you want to judge the values of any society, you could do worse than ask how well it funds its libraries.

WE SAY: Racism needs a robust response

THERE have always been links between unionist politicians and the far right. The axis of sub-fascist loyalist ideology, Old Testament fundamentalism and political unionism was central to the chaos and unrest of the mid- and late-60s that exploded into a 30-year conflict.

WE SAY: Back to the future for the PSNI

THIS week we carry vivid testimony from an 83-year-old man for whom current events are bringing back unwelcome memories of a dark past.

WE SAY: No surprise – DUP is targeting artists again

THE attempt by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons to bring the arts sector to heel is the latest in a dreary litany of attacks by the DUP on artists and creatives.

WE SAY: Shocking Arts Council decision over loyalist bands' funding

THE Arts Council has just told us that grants of around £10,000 to each of three bands who took part in the annual Brian Robinson UVF commemoration parade have been paid out in full.

WE SAY: Extend this non-aggression pact

THE relationship between the DUP and Sinn Féin both in the Stormont Executive and in the chamber is a curious one. And maddeningly frustrating to boot.

WE SAY: Kneecap marathon continues

KNEECAP have topped the news agenda here in the North for over a week. On a perhaps apposite note, Jeffrey Donaldson was arrested and charged with rape and a number of other sex offences almost exactly a year ago. That story – arguably the biggest news bombshell to have dropped here in the past decade – bestrode the news agenda like a colossus for two or three days and then dropped like a stone from the top of the news to find itself gracing the ‘In other news’ sections.

WE SAY: We saw in Francis the values of our own courageous clergy who walked the walk

UNIQUELY among Irish newspapers, this organ spent much of the seventies, eighties and nineties excoriating the Catholic Church for its egregious shortcomings when it came to protecting its flock.

WE SAY: What are Leo and Micheál up to?

IT’S unlikely that former government colleagues Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin are engaged in an act of good cop, bad cop choreography when it comes to their respective takes on the constitutional future of this island, no matter how devoutly we might wish that to be the case.

WE SAY: BBC hears no Windsor evil... but wait until Féile comes around

OUR story this week on BBCNI’s response to our questions about sectarian singing at a live match it broadcast on Saturday is not primarily a criticism of the Linfield fans guilty of the singing, although it is of course that too. It is first and foremost a criticism of the BBC, who annually set the dogs loose on Féile an Phobail over a Wolfe Tones song in the Falls Park, but turn a Nelsonian eye to a similarly divisive and contentious song it put out on its own platforms.

WE SAY: Irish language signage victory was inevitable

WITH tiresome inevitability it’s been announced that dual-language signage is to be erected at the new Grand Central Station.

EDITORIAL: Time to make St Patrick's Day a public holiday

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.

WE SAY: Flying the flag for sensitivity

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.

WE SAY: Shooting is a warning to us all

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 SAY: BBCNI in the kitchen at the Kneecap party

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.

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

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