Archive for December, 2008
Brrrrr….
Posted in Uncategorized on December 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
No Pope Here
Posted in Uncategorized on December 23, 2008 | 3 Comments »
It is hard to knock a Pope in Ireland without being seen to be taking sides in an old sectarian quarrel – or are we passed that? When the MP Iris Robinson said that she found homosexuality an abomination she was gloriously pilloried by those of us who defend gays as equals and friends. Now [...]
Do humans disappoint the humanists?
Posted in Culture and Society, Religion, Uncategorized on December 20, 2008 | 4 Comments »
There are two separate articles attacking me in the current issue of Humanism Ireland. The humanists are always having a bash at me; it’s because I am a humanist and they are not. It seems that fundamentalist movements like this are always more annoyed with people who nearly completely agree with them, but won’t go [...]
All men are meant to have beards…
Posted in Uncategorized on December 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I remember as a little boy, kissing my father or grandfather before going to bed, wondering if I could strike a match on their rough cheeks. Nature never intended a man to be so abrasive.
There is surely much more comfort for our partners in kissing natural masculine fur than in brushing against stubble.
Allelujiah
Posted in Uncategorized on December 16, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The cool atheists – as distinct from those of us for whom this is a phoney argument – are in a flap over the prospect that some people will think Leonard Cohen’s Allelujiah is a religious song. This follows the news that X Factor winner Alexandra Burke will record it for Christmas, singing it like [...]
Whose Telling Porkies?
Posted in Uncategorized on December 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We are getting mixed messages about pork; we are being told not to eat it but also that what has been eaten so far has done no one any harm. Apparently it is a confidence issue, not a health issue. One commentator on RTE said yesterday that eating pork now would present as great a [...]
Wee Rosie Hughes ….
Posted in Uncategorized on December 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Wave is a support group for the bereaved of the Troubles and they are holding a carol service in Belfast on December 9, before a Christmas tree with 3,700 lights, to represent the dead. They invited me to their rehearsal last week.
How do you solve a problem like Maria?
Posted in Politics, Northern Ireland on December 3, 2008 | 3 Comments »
The risk of Maria Gatland (as she is now known) being shot is low – about as low as the risk to Mark Gartland and Sean O’Callaghan. I don’t see them relaxing their security.
