I THINK those who erected the Bobby Sands statue in Belfast should have applied for planning permission. Why they didn’t is anybody’s guess. Perhaps they were concerned about it being knocked back by City Hall, although I can’t see that having happened.
THE war of words over the axing of funding for an English-Irish placename project is another depressing example of the determination of unionism to keep scoring petty points that delight their staunchest followers but mean a drearily familiar round of division and anger that exhausts and dispirits the rest of us.
WHEN I was a wee buck growing up in Ballymurphy there was a river at the back of the houses across from our home place at the corner of Glenalina Road and Divismore Park. The river ran the length of our street and the length of Ballymurphy Road before exiting below the Whiterock Road and into the City Cemetery. From there it meandered down to and under the Falls Road beside the bus depot and onwards to the Bog Meadows. You can see it there to this day. The stretch which used to border our street was long ago captured and incarcerated in a pipe below ground.
THREE games remain in the 2025/26 Scottish Premiership season, and it seems that after the second round of post-split fixtures - we lost a horse. Bye bye Rangers.
ANTRIM’S 2026 Tailteann Cup Campaign begins this weekend with the Saffrons set to make the trek to the South-East of the island where they hope to get revenge on Carlow following defeat in the previous meeting this season.
This is not a good time to be a Jewish person in the UK. In the past week, two Jewish men were attacked and hospitalized. In 2025, there were 170 antisemitic assaults in the UK alone, with four cases of extreme violence. Jewish people throughout the UK speak of feeling fearful, especially when there are marches in support of Palestinians.
THIS past week has been a complete whirlwind for those involved in Antrim's small ball with attention grabbing headlines, rumours and parodies doing the rounds be-smudging the name of the Saffron County amongst their peers either side of the invisible line some call the border.
BELFAST City Council is inviting residents to pick up their trowels and join the 2026 Belfast in Bloom competition, which features an exciting new addition: the ‘Best Alleyway’ category.
