Jamie Doran in Belfast My first memories of the Troubles comes from 1968. The local news that come on after children's TV, still in black and white, reported on events from Londonderry (it was the BBC). What I later learned was the conclusion of a Civil Rights march had ended with the now famous scenes... Continue Reading →

All the Unionist parties have been dragged along an anti-Protocol road by the hard right conservative wing of their culture. That the same thinking rejects the Irish language, seeks to maliciously blame the Republic of Ireland for an agreement signed by the UK Government, and rejects any attempts to create a socially modern society shows... Continue Reading →

Remember when all those young pups were changing the world? Sergei Brin and Larry Page were all about not doing evil. Mark Zuckerberg was going to make us all beffers. Spotify was Swedish, from the land of Abba and lovely people. Apple was Steve enabling us all to access our creative souls. But. Money wins... Continue Reading →

Here we are, in Northern Ireland, or the six counties, or the North, depending on your political upbringing. A small place, one hundred miles up and down and across, with a population of less than two million. So you might think we would know ourselves. But to take a lead from Fintan O'Toole's excellent book... Continue Reading →

There appears to be a pent up anger in society that is being unlocked by s sequence of events that have opened the door to it being expressed across society, from all sides. So what is going on? Anger is part of being human. It is sparked, according to the Mayo Clinic, by a number... Continue Reading →

I am enjoying Get Back, the new version of the 1971 movie Let It Be that showed the Beatles breaking up. It shows how we are affected by communication. Since 1971 the story has been of bitter interactions, a break-up as vitriolic as the most vicious divorce. Watching the new edit, we see young men,... Continue Reading →

I was five when the Beatles entered my life. Early 1963. She Loves You. Here there and everywhere the yeah yeah yeah was sounding. Yet to this day I am not sure how. There was no Radio One, let alone the multiple commercial stations that now fill the air. We had one old radio in... Continue Reading →

100 Years since partition. Since Ireland was separated from the United Kingdom, or Northern Ireland was separated from the rest of the island. Since one Protestant State was created and another Catholic one came into being. Looking at my two previous posts, about needing to look at the reality of history, not the mythology, has... Continue Reading →

I was brought up in a small unionist home. We had all the usual trappings — not least half the family being from Ballymena. Every 12th of July we sat on the Lisburn Road to watch the parade. I went to mono-cultural schools. Sundays were for putting on the church outfit, going to church and... Continue Reading →

We are a land of storytelling, myths, and legends, across the geography of the island. Giants and warriors, queens, and princesses. All told from age to age, and with each telling, the magic grows. But in 2021if we are going to move forward we need to move past myths and legends. We need to work... Continue Reading →