Opinion Pieces | Belfast Media

DÚLRA: We have to clean up our act for the flycatcher

IT'S a special bird that you’ll probably never see – and not just because it’s in decline.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: An open letter to Gavin Robinson

DEAR Gavin,

SQUINTER: Fair faa ye, Jamie

LEE Reynolds, the new Commissioner for the Ulster Scots and Ulster British Tradition, seems like a decent spud. Squinter has crossed swords with him online on numerous occasions and Arlene Foster’s former SPAD comes across as a thoroughly reasonable and refreshingly self-deprecating bloke who understands that difference on the nationalist question does not have to mean pistols at dawn.

Gerry Adams: Civil trial ‘hearsay’ evidence part of a familiar agenda

IN May 2022 a civil case was launched against me in England. The civil trial will begin on March 9 in London and conclude on St Patrick’s Day.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Epstein obscenity reminds us of the impunity enjoyed by other monsters

IT'S amazing and instructive where the red lines are drawn. Red lines should and need to be drawn on sustained engagement with an international extortioner and procurer of children for rape. It is long overdue, even if the line is a little more light pink than red if we are colour-coding actual accountability for such crimes. But I am simultaneously interested in the crimes, and the criminals, and the people with contact with criminals, that go without sanction.

JUDE COLLINS: The US turning guns on its own is nothing new

RECENT events in Minneapolis are casting a giant cloud over the US. There are several reasons for this sense of gloom: Trump and Venezuela; Trump and Greenland; Trump and Iran; Trump and Palestine. But above all, Trump and Minneapolis.

MINDFUL MOMENT: Imbolc awakes within us the ancient fire of the Gaels

IMBOLC is not simply a date, it is a threshold. It speaks of ewes heavy with milk, of seeds held patiently in the dark, of life preparing to rise again. This knowledge did not come from books alone, but from generations who listened to the land and learned its language.

Gerry Adams says he'll challenge witness 'hearsay' in London civil trial set for March

GERRY ADAMS says he will “robustly” defend himself from “unsubstantiated hearsay” in a civil case which gets under way in London in March in which three victims of IRA bombs in London will attempt to hold him responsible.

PLATING UP: Spiced succulent Shawarma chicken breast with salad

We hope you enjoy our cookery column with chef Paul Watters who each week will take the fear out of cooking with his easy to follow recipes...

EYE ON THE PAST: JANUARY 1985 – Twinbrook Post Office shut after postmistress shot

WE look at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1985

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Can the US ever reclaim its fading allure?

THE thing I remember most vividly about my first visits to the United States all those years ago was the depth of my surprise at finding out that the movies hadn’t lied after all.

SQUINTER: Step out of the car again, please, Mr Próvaí

THE roadblocks are gone. They seem like another world to Squinter now, memory-holed in a flickering sepia-toned newsreel that seems to be from another century and not another decade.

DÚLRA: Is anything safe from the serial killer in the garden?

TERESA Girvan’s once-beautiful patio is quite the mess – thanks to a sparrowhawk.

HEALTHWISE: Inflammation is mostly but not always positive

INFLAMMATION is our body’s natural defence mechanism against injury or damage. Redness and swelling occurs when our bodies immune system reacts to threats.

GERRY ADAMS: Denial of national rights remains conflict driver

FOR decades now I have argued that self-determination is one of the big issues of our time. In 2005 I wrote: “In my view the big international struggle of our time is to assert democratic control by people over the decisions which affect their lives. This does not mean retreating behind existing borders and refusing contact with the outside world, but it does mean reasserting the primacy of democracy and working together in order to pursue this objective.”

Fruithill hosts successful speed chess tournament

Soccer: Cliftonville boss believes the Reds 'owe it' to their support to bounce back from derby defeat

Gaelic Games: Cushendall round off the year in style with Ulster Championship glory

Soccer: Crusaders claim Christmas derby bragging rights over Reds

PLATING UP: Sirloin steak with baby boiled potatoes and mange tout

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: The 2025 Top Moments Awards (PART II)

SQUINTER: Review of the year

HEALTHWISE: Beware of pseudoscience at this time of year

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