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These moronic headlines aren't to my taste

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

There's always the straw that breaks the proverbial's back. For me this week it was a headline in the Guardian, "I made pork taste like fish..."

Why Barack is fighting the wrong battle

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

What are we doing spending money on sending arms to Syria, as suggested by US President Barack Obama? Where do we draw the line on conflicts in which we involve ourselves?

Making up your own truth is the way to go, honestly!

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

There is a line from The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron that I try to keep to the forefront of my mind: "Leap and the net will appear."

Welcome mat and roadmap for peace awaits G8 leaders

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:20:02 GMT

So far so good. The loony lefties and anarchic demonstrators who usually inhabit G8 summits have stayed away.

Pippa Middleton's column hits a bum note with literary diehards

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 03:20:02 GMT

I made a 63-year-old man wince this week and I'm not proud of it. I was chatting to novelist Martin Amis about how much I hated name-droppers when I casually asked him if he'd heard about the newly announced Contributing Editor to that prestigious organ of highbrow investigative and cultural journalism Vanity Fair.

Bishops back a right to life ... until you exit the womb

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:11:00 GMT

Did the Catholic bishops feel no sense of irony when they declared on Tuesday that no government has the right to "legislate for something which will interfere with the inviolable right to life of every human person"?

Troubled Tulisa Contostavlos needs support after X Factor axe, love split and drug arrest

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:11:00 GMT

The 24-year-old singer/TV star is shaping up to be a salutary tale for our age. Last year, she had a No1 single and a plum judging job on the X Factor. Cover star of endless showbiz/gossip mags, she was voted Sexiest Woman in the World by FHM.

Could Cameron buy DUP votes with corporation tax?

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT

One big difference between the First and Deputy First Minister is that Martin McGuinness doesn't believe that corporation tax will be devolved here, while Peter Robinson hasn't given up so far.

Orange Order needs to show it means business in St Patrick's row

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT

The Orange Order's 'comprehensive template' on marching past St Patrick's Catholic Church in Belfast's Donegall Street leaves a lot of blank spaces which badly need to be filled in before the marching starts later this month.

Could David Cameron buy the DUP's votes with corporation tax?

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMT

One big difference between the First and Deputy First Minister is that Martin McGuinness doesn't believe that corporation tax will be devolved here, while Peter Robinson hasn't given up so far.

G8 is a chance to tell the world Northern Ireland is ready to do business

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 05:41:00 GMT

There will be several Peter and Martin moments — guest appearances by the First and Deputy First Minister — around the G8 summit.

How Natalie Holt left Simon Cowell shell-shocked

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:20:01 GMT

That the eggs were organic and from Marksies added a touch of class to the proceedings, and encapsulated the gulf between the thrower, one Natalie Holt, and the Cowell, a controversial individual whose peculiarly shaped head sums up all that's wrong with western civilisation.

My life's a beach, thanks to jellyfish

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:20:01 GMT

How sad to read of louts invading Helen's Bay in Co Down as decent citizens lay dormantly absorbing vitamin D.

Tulisa Contostavlos cocaine sting proves working class are still fair game

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

We need to talk about Tulisa Contostavlos. I know next to nothing about her. Never seen her on television, nor listened to any of her records, but I feel the need to write about her.

Why rapists always walk free in violation of justice

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

Do you know what the aftermath of rape looks like? Do you know what this most humiliating of crimes, this terrible violation, can do to a young life?

Tulisa sting proves working class are still fair game

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

We need to talk about Tulisa Contostavlos. I know next to nothing about her. Never seen her on television, nor listened to any of her records, but I feel the need to write about her.

Why don't people give a toss about where they throw their litter?

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

What is wrong with people?

Vladimir, here's Gr8 chance to find love

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

Single women of Fermanagh – now's your chance.

How Matt can't see big picture on policing riots

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:20:00 GMT

I have a friend who was invited along recently to a police station to "help with inquiries". Turns out he'd been "identified" from police photographs of flag protest participants.

The outbreak of ordinary life here really is Gr8 to see

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:22:00 GMT

Maybe it's because the sun is out, the garden is looking lovely and my cat Gissing is purring contentedly under the summer seat but today I feel like saying, "Hurry on up, leaders of the G8, this isn't a bad wee place."

Does no one care if lyrics of Robin Thicke and Pharrel's Blurred Lines read like rapist's charter?

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:21:00 GMT

Perhaps it's time to come out and admit that Mike Read might have had a point all those years ago. You'll remember how Read made himself a national laughing stock when he tried to get Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Relax banned from the airwaves. Oh, how the sophisticates sniggered at the hapless DJ.

The bottom line on Pippa Middleton

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:20:02 GMT

Just what has Pippa Middleton done to deserve the tidal wave of vitriol that washes towards her every time she is unwittingly papped in the street.

Queen's reign has been driven by Divine guidance

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 08:34:48 GMT

It was no surprise that this week's religious service to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation was held in Westminster Abbey.

SPAD: Lessons can be learned from missed chances

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 08:58:33 GMT

We have been here before. During the H Block protests and the subsequent hunger strike the republican movement made strenuous efforts to establish a right to special status for prisoners convicted of politically motivated acts of violence.

Lebanon is counting the cost in human lives of the Syrian conflict

Wed, 29 May 2013 01:02:01 GMT

Loulou Awad’s blood still stained the concrete of her broken home, the latest Lebanese innocent to pay the price of Syria’s war.