belfasttelegraph.co.uk - Ed Curran RSS Feed

Leaders must bridge divide to calm our turbulent peace

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:00:00 GMT

The brutality of the Boston bombs brought back distressing memories for people in Northern Ireland. So many of us can relate to the loss of life and terrible suffering from our personal experience of living through the Troubles.

How Thatcher failed, but showed us that terrorism was futile

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:00:00 GMT

The coincidence of Margaret Thatcher's death in the same week as the 15th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement should not be lost on Northern Ireland.

Thatcher failed, but showed us that terrorism was futile

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:00:00 GMT

The coincidence of Margaret Thatcher's death in the same week as the 15th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement should not be lost on Northern Ireland.

Balanced broadcasters a rapidly diminishing breed

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:00:00 GMT

The bar on broadcasting standards has been lowered again. The BBC's Eddie Mair has taken opinionated and aggressive interviewing on television and radio to a new level of disrespect for people in authority.

David Cameron ignores Northern Ireland at his peril

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:00:00 GMT

A warm welcome back to the First and Deputy First Minister after their travels to the Americas. We must hope that such an extensive tour will bear investment fruit and that their talks with the Prime Minister, David Cameron, today will give Northern Ireland some hope of countering the grim fact that unemployment is now higher than before the Good Friday Agreement.

Mixing politics and courts a very dangerous cocktail

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:00:00 GMT

The recent public spat between unionist politicians and the judiciary is a worrying development in the devolutionary process at Stormont.

Ballot box sectarianism is an addiction we can't beat

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:00:00 GMT

What would it take to persuade Catholics to vote unionist? That's the $64,000 question, which the Mid Ulster by-election certainly didn't answer.

Those in office must admit their part in our dirty war

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:00:00 GMT

The terrible tragedy of Thomas Niedermayer and his family is a reminder that there are still two distinct groups of people living on this island – those involved in such barbarity and the vast majority who had nothing to do with it.

Why we're not polls apart over border issue after all

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 04:20:02 GMT

Yet another opinion poll confirms that differences over the constitutional future of Northern Ireland do not correlate with the sectarian divide.

Why Seamus Heaney sees no rhyme nor reason for united Ireland

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 08:00:00 GMT

There's never going to be a united Ireland. So why don't you let them fly the flag." The searing honesty of Seamus Heaney, illustrious son of Catholic nationalist Ulster, cuts to the chase as his words have done so eloquently in so many volumes of Nobel prize-winning poetry.

Why Heaney sees no rhyme nor reason for united Ireland

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 08:00:00 GMT

It's right to rethink as our EU gravy train runs dry

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 08:00:00 GMT

David Cameron has set the Downing Street cat among a flock of European pigeons in his challenging speech on the UK's future membership of the EU.

All parties have to share blame for flags debacle

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:00:00 GMT

The past two months have seen this society lost in a crazy maze from which, until the last few days, it seemed incapable of escaping. Nothing has been gained through the Union flag dispute and much has been sacrificed, and now we are charged collectively with picking up the pieces.

Loyalist anger at equality agenda is new peace crisis

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Another weekend of total madness leaves the people of Northern Ireland in helpless despair.

Apathy rules and violence flourishes when politics fails

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:50:10 GMT

No one should underestimate the threat from dissident republicans, or loyalist flag protesters, to the fragile stability of Northern Ireland in 2013.

Ulster rugby triumphs over our love of settling old scores

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Given that togetherness was the theme of the Queen's Christmas message, who in the past year deserves an award towards that end?

A ghost returns to haunt us wrapped in Union flag

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Who would have believed that, having come so far, Northern Ireland could threaten to implode so swiftly? The ghost of Christmas present has stalked the streets, wrapped in a Union flag.

Flag row is really all about a fear of what future holds

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Thank heavens it's almost Christmas. The new Northern Ireland has never needed a breathing space like it does now.

Sinn Fein's prodding on flags only heightens fear

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

When Alex Maskey became the first Sinn Fein Lord Mayor of Belfast, he invited me to lunch.

Media won't be marking its own homework any longer

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Ashamed. Deeply ashamed. That's how as I as a journalist and former editor felt as I stood outside the Queen Elizabeth conference centre in London last Thursday where Lord Leveson had just delivered his findings into the scandalous behaviour of sections of the media.

Will we ever have our own flag for everyone to honour?

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:00:00 GMT

Flying a flag can be a fairly vexed issue in Northern Ireland. Indeed vexed is the appropriate word since the study of flags and emblems is actually known as 'vexillology'.

BBC chiefs have to tell us how they spend our money

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 08:00:00 GMT

How unfortunate for the BBC that the 90th anniversary of its radio service has coincided with a crisis of confidence.

Dissident dinosaurs cannot stop us from moving forward

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 08:00:00 GMT

There are two ways of looking at the politics of the island of Ireland, north and south. One is forward, the other is back. Two events within 48 hours of one another last week illustrated that choice.

Jimmy Savile stench lingers -BBC running out of time

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:00:00 GMT

By the time the full truth about Jimmy Savile and the BBC is known, the public will have stopped being shocked. That is the nature of scandalous revelations these days.

Beeb running out of time as Savile stench lingers on

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:00:00 GMT

By the time the full truth about Jimmy Savile and the BBC is known, the public will have stopped being shocked. That is the nature of scandalous revelations these days.