In recent times, the passing of some celebrity leads to expressions of barely controlled grief by admirers. Arguably , the work of trade unionist Rodney Bickerstaffe, who died this week, impacted on the lives of the vast majority of working people. The achievement of the Living Wage
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‘Let me smell your breath!’ , Ian Paisley demanded of Martin Bell, the BBC’s Northern Ireland correspondent during the early years of ‘ The Troubles’. Bell had asked for a comment on a recent display of militarism in East Belfast by a loyalist group. The exchange was
Read more →On April 30th,2013, a blog on this site repeated a widely circulated media story, attributing racist/nazi attitudes to Mr Alex Wood, a UKIP candidate in the elections for Somerset County Council. The Daily Mirror, the primary source of the story, in 2015 issued a retraction and apology
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‘I want Scotland to be at the heart of Europe’, the young Mary Queen of Scots tells her courtiers in David Greig’s fine production of Linda Mclean ‘s play, ‘Glory on Earth’, at the Lyceum Theatre. Sharing the stage for most of the action is volatile preacher,
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‘Fxxx off back to your chapel’, Father, ‘where you belong’. Along with others, I was on the street in Derry in January 1969, trying to stop a group of youngsters from throwing stones at the RUC. A futile exercise but a social learning experience with the
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Those few remaining Church goers in Scotland may have find some additional challenges to face tomorrow morning. As well as the polite smiles exchanged between worshippers, covert glances will seek to answer the question – did they vote Tory? It was a secret ballot and only those
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In ‘At the Purchaser’s Option’ , the superb Rhiannon Giddens in her bravura performance at the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh , on Sunday, reminded us that the buyer had the choice whether to buy or refuse their new slaves’ babies. That number was inspired by an 18th century
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Margaret Thatcher came to Edinburgh in 1988 and delivered, what the Scottish Press branded, ‘The Sermon on the Mound’ to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It was largely a para-theological justification for her views on capitalism and the free market. ‘Christianity is about spiritual
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Gerald Beadle, the first Station Director at the BBC in Belfast was appointed by Reith in 1926. Fake News must have been foremost in his mind when he wrote later that year to Reith saying, “I am sure that our position here will be strengthened immensely if
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What does one war- monger give another when visiting? Tony Blair found the ideal present in a bust of the notorious imperialist, Churchill. George W. was duly impressed and the gift was given pride of place in his Oval Office. As American and British forces bombed civilian
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