Brave new book examines what really happened in the Troubles
by RuthDE | Nov 18, 2020 | 2020, Belfast News Letter, Journalism, November
Liam Kennedy's astonishing book Who Was Responsible For the Troubles? begins with his attendance at a play at the West Belfast festival in 1999 with the novelist Lionel Shriver and me. Published: 17 November 2020 I remember the occasion well, for 'Forced Upon Us' was...
Donald Trump understood the plight of poor white Americans
Trump may be on his way out, which I find hard to regret, but Trumpism, fortunately, is alive and well Published: 10 November 2020 This was the second US election in a row where I didn't know which candidate I most wanted to lose. With a choice between the incumbent...
Official Ireland will hate this wonderful memoir by Kevin Myers
by RuthDE | Nov 3, 2020 | 2020, Belfast News Letter, Journalism, November
In 2019 I was a guest speaker — the warm-up act for Kevin Myers, a great journalist who had been professionally destroyed by a Twitter mob — at a reunion in the Clogher Valley of ex-members of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Published: 3 November 2020 On the face of it,...
Edwin Poots was right to raise behavioural factors in the spread of Covid-19
by RuthDE | Oct 27, 2020 | 2020, Belfast News Letter, Journalism, October
'At today's press briefing," tweeted Sam Taylor, chief executive of the think tank These Islands, last week, "Sturgeon said she suspects that Scotland came very close to eliminating Covid over the summer, before it was (at least in part) re-seeded by travel from other...
The south of Ireland should be ashamed of its response to IRA terrorism
The Irish Republic has much to be ashamed about in its attitude to the hell the Provisional IRA unleashed on Northern Ireland, which has spread south in the modified form of gang warfare, corruption and the erosion of democracy. I'm constantly amazed at the staggering...
When it comes to the law, cards are heavily stacked against critics of republicanism
It's got to the stage that people are afraid to say anything in case they get sued, Ruth," wrote Dr Ken Funston, manager of the Advocacy for Innocent Victims team of SEFF (South East Fermanagh Foundation) last week during a Facebook debate. Published: 13 October 2020...
Too few people down south know how brilliantly republicans distort history
by RuthDE | Oct 6, 2020 | 2020, Belfast News Letter, Journalism, September
I come from Dublin and live in London, but I love Northern Ireland and have been missing it and my friends here during lockdown Published: 7 October 2020 So I was glad to go to Belfast last week, even though it was for consultations with lawyers about yet another...
Lack of libel reform in NI helps republicans to bully critics, and is a serious threat to free speech
by RuthDE | Sep 29, 2020 | 2020, Belfast News Letter, Journalism, September
Well, the tweet from editor Alistair Bushe last Wednesday saying I was joining the News Letter certainly got the Shinnerbots excited. Published: 29 September 2020 For those of you who ignore social media, these are the armies of Sinn Fein supporters who assemble on...
Nationalism okay for Irish people, but not for Brexit supporters
by RuthDE | Sep 21, 2020 | 2020, Belfast Telegraph, Journalism, September
UK's critics guilty of double standards when it comes to Leavers Published: 21 September 2020 Many nationalists interpret the GFA to mean," tweeted the commentator Owen Polley last week, "if a policy advances the cause of an all-Ireland state, it's definitely,...
Time for Joe Biden to face facts on Northern Ireland
by RuthDE | Sep 21, 2020 | 2020, Daily Telegraph, Journalism, September
The Democratic Party has a habit of falling for bogus Irish republican narratives Published: 18 September 2020 If it wasn't for that strain in the Democratic party that takes leave of its senses when it thinks about Ireland, we shouldn't worry that President Joe Biden...