I loved this little book of stories and poems which the author, Martin Connolly, autographed for me at Scribes at the Rock in August 2018 shortly after it was published by Snowchild Press. Martin (from Belfast) is Professor of English Literature at Tsurumi University,...

For many years I have been collecting quotes on a variety of themes from the books or poems I’ve read and which have appealed to me, made me smile, or made me think, or suggested a little insight into the meaning of life. In 2018 I discussed publishing these with Seán...

Continuing on in my novel, West Belfast, which deals with the rise of the IRA post-August 1969, here is Chapter Eight, titled, The Honeymoon Period. “You’re wrong!” said Dominic. “You’ve got it entirely wrong.” The men were in the upstairs bedroom of a supporter’s...

In 2002, my fifth book, a memoir, All The Dead Voices, was published. The book is currently out-of-print and I have sometimes thought about updating it but never got around to doing so. Anyway, the short Prologue to the book is a reminiscence on August 1969 when,...

Chapter 7, The Pogroms, of my first novel, West Belfast, covers this period from fifty years ago when thousands of people were burnt out of their homes in the Falls Road and Divis Street area. Click on link to download PDF. Chapter 7 The book can be purchased at the...

The research in this feature is the latest update from Dan Dowling of Shannonwatch. Compiling records of military aircraft identifies British Army surveillance. This map  shows seven days of all military aircraft around the world. Each dot on the map yileds the ICAO...

In West Belfast (and other nationalist areas) the tradition of bonfires celebrating the Feast of the Assumption on Our Lady’s Day, 15th August, lasted about one hundred years, and it was something we, as kids, looked forward to. But there were no nationalist bonfires...

Former SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon has come out against Irish reunification as proposed by the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, based on a democratic vote of the people in the North, thus reversing what he and the SDLP preached for forty years. Of course, Mallon...