Journalist, author, broadcaster
This review of Chloe Schama’s excellent debut book Wild Romance appeared inThe Sunday Business Post on May 30. In February 1861, the Four Courts hosted a trial that gripped the public imagination, not only in Ireland but in Britain also. Thelwall v Yelverton was one of the most explosive cases ever to come before a […]
Having voted LibDem in the recent UK election, this comment piece for the excellent Holyrood magazine betrays an anger with Clegg and his ‘new politics’ that I think plenty of left-of-centre voters felt in the immediate aftermath of the coalition agreement, and many still feel today. “This is the start of the new politics I […]
Review of Philip Pullman’s controversial – and impressively engaging – The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ from latest edition of The Sunday Business Post ‘This is a story.” The back of Philip Pullman’s latest book features no blurbs from writers or flowery descriptions – just these four words in gold capitals. Despite the […]
News feature on the imminent closure of Belfast’s big Wheel from the latest edition of The Sunday Business Post It may not be as old as Samson and Goliath, Harland and Wolff’s famous yellow cranes, yet in just two and a half years, the Belfast Wheel has become an iconic feature of the city’s skyline. […]
Feature on the spectacular Easter celebrations in the Costa Blanca from todays Irish Times. IT’S ALMOST midnight, but the street lights are off in El Barrio. Thousands of people line the narrow backstreets of this part of Alicante, creating a din of excited chatter in the warm evening air. The scent of fresh flowers and […]
This comment piece on Monday’s dissident bombing in Newry appeared in The Scotsman on 24 February. In November, the International Monitoring Commission, charged with keeping tabs on Northern Ireland’s paramilitary groups, suggested dissident republican ranks were being swelled by ex-Provisional IRA members. The Newry car bomb has now confirmed the worst fears of the security […]
Edinburgh is proving a happy hunting ground for two Irish internationals, as I reported in The Sunday Independent a few couple of Sundays ago: “I doubt I’ll ever tire of Edinburgh,” bestselling crime writer Ian Rankin once said of his hometown. With its spectacular views, historic old town and lively nightlife, the Scottish capital certainly […]
This review of Peter Baldwin’s insight new book The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe are Alike appeared in The Sunday Business Post a few weeks back: Last summer, US president Barack Obama announced plans to extend medical cover to more than 31 million uninsured Americans. To judge by the reaction of certain […]
This piece on budget cuts in Northern Ireland appeared in today’s Sunday Business Post The protracted talks between Sinn Féin and the DUP to rescue the North’s power sharing government may have hinged on the devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont. However, a way from Hillsborough Castle, the big issue for many in […]
This brief analysis piece on the Hillsborough agreement appeared in today’s The Scotsman. “This might just be the day when the political processes in Northern Ireland came of age,” Martin McGuinness said during yesterday’s press conference at Hillsborough Castle. Only time will tell if the deputy first minister’s optimism was well-founded, but there are grounds […]