As I looked out from the press box at the Aviva stadium in Dublin last night on the 44th anniversary of his finest hour in Lisbon I realised the simple wisdom of Jock Stein.
“Football without fans is nothing.”
Month: May 2011
Britain down among the little nations of Europe.
Those are not my words.
They are a direct quote from Lord Dannatt, the former chief of the defence staff in yesterday’s Sunday Times (news page 4).
A respectful tribute to our Fenian dead.
A simple bow of the head said so much.
The British head of state was honouring the men and women of 1916 and the volunteers of the Irish Republican Army.
The best small country in the World?
I have recently been stating the following sociological data on several radio stations about the structural inequalities faced by Irish Catholics in Scotland. A few people have emailed me and asked for some clarification. I am happy to provide that.
Scottish journalism’s shame.
Facts are sacred and opinion is free.
CP Scott’s famous dictum about journalism still holds true.
Attack on Neil Lennon at Tynecastle.
I was watching the Celtic match against Hearts tonight in a bar in the West of Ireland.
At the bar was a Scotsman travelling the island for a pharmaceutical firm.
Clear and present danger.
Denial is the default setting for humans in trauma. I have written on this site and in other mediums for over a year about the impending Rangers tax case. I have been largely disbelieved by people who did not want to countenance that:
(1) It was true
(2) They were being told by one of the opposing tribe.
Asking important questions.
I recently wrote on here about the on-air spat between James Traynor and Chick Young about the importance of asking precise questions.
In that much listened to tiff I came down on the side of the Daily Record man despite his abrasive ad hominem style on BBC Radio Scotland.
Remembering an honourable man.
Thirty years ago today.
Thirty years.
I remember exactly where I was and I remember exactly how I felt.
Óglaigh Na hEireann in England.
As Jim Cusack’s short piece in this week’s Sindo states the laying to rest of Captain Lisa Jade Head will be marked by the appearance of members of the Irish Defence forces in the UK in uniform for the first time.
