Editor of the News Letter, the world's oldest continuously published daily English language newspaper. All views expressed are my own
Belfast
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We're the world's oldest daily, albeit English language. An older German paper has sadly ended its print edition to be just digital but I get little pleasure at our move towards oldest of all because their change reflects challenges for the industry 1/3 newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Incredible. The best in the world! The first Northern Ireland person to win an individual gold since Mary Peters newsletter.co.uk/sport/other…
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This is remarkable. Irish flags and UK flag flown side by side at protest against immigration in Belfast. I am not aware of anything like this since the onset of the Troubles newsletter.co.uk/news/nation…
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Interesting press conference. We are fortunate in the UK to live in a country with outstanding scientific leaders. How contemptible that their motives have been maligned and traduced by fools
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The speech by @CatharineHoey in the Lords yesterday: "The army and police stopped a civil war from breaking out in Northern Ireland, for which they get few thanks, just unending re-investigations" newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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The latest evidence that Ireland is perhaps the unfriendliest country in Europe towards Israel (something I have been saying for years):
telegraph.co.uk/basketball/2…
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Mum once said that I always remembered Mother's Day. I take consolation from that, given that I had more than the odd shortcoming as a son over the decades. This is the first such Mothering Sunday without her. To those who still have one, savour the miracle of a mum!!
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Why is the key fact not more reported? Unionists are taunted about an inevitable all Ireland yet pulled 3% ahead of nationalists. We had @conormurphysf on @BBCNewsNI lecture us early yesterday about how we must discuss constitutional change. No we mustn't newsletter.co.uk/news/politi…
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To reiterate: I think Northern Ireland has in effect been denied a centenary (barely an institution with NI in its name dared even to say 'Happy 100th NI'). I also agree that @BBCnireland coverage of such a massive once in a century parade was lamentable:
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And yet another athlete from Northern Ireland wins gold! Incredible from Rhys @McClenaghanRhys . What an Olympics newsletter.co.uk/sport/other…
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A shameful collapse of collective responsibility on @bbctheview Will the other parties unite to condemn it? Or do we just have to accept that one party always gets special dispensation to do as it pleases?
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Instead of issuing grovelling apologies, our secretary of state should be on top of the shameful things that are happening in legacy to appease IRA terrorism and should be defending the overall record of state forces who prevented civil war. My column newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Getting messages of support&concern(&in case of some idiots, glee)about News Letter,our wonderful title,est 1737. We're in good health&v profitable. JP,who own us,had debt diffs,which management say will be addressed by new deal. BNL will be world's oldest daily for while yet!
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Wherever you are in Northern Ireland, indeed the whole island, you'll be able to look up to completely blue sky. This satellite image was taken 10 mins ago. Scotland and Wales almost cloudless too. Light cloud over midlands/east of England. There are days of this ahead. Glorious
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A letter from Arnold Carton: "Those who promoted Brexit failed to warn unionists that because of our cross-border links with Ireland which remained within the EU, there was never going to be a Brexit which applied to NI in the same way it would to England" newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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The Labour MP @KateHoeyMP reveals in the News Letter how she is voting today:
newsletter.co.uk/news/latest…
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Why is it that only now, when they shout extremist anti Israeli comments, there is this backlash against Kneecap? I make the point here that if a band was cladding itself in a pro loyalist balaclava it would not have been tolerated for 5 minutes newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
Why haven’t the Met investigated Kneecap under the Terrorism Act for glorifying Hamas and Hezbollah?
If a band were to glorify a proscribed far-right group, action would have been taken.
It’s inexplicable discrepancies like this that create the perception of two-tier policing.
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Really, if you are surprised by the travesty of a @belfastcc memorial service that acted as if Bloody Friday barely happened, let alone was an IRA terrorist bloodbath, you have not been paying attention to what is happening on legacy. My column: newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…?
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Well at long last the UK hits back at flagrant Irish hypocrisy on legacy
newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/… Why has it taken so long to highlight the Irish amnesty for IRA that was obvious even if @SenatorMcDowell hadn't admitted it? I've been writing on it for years. A small sample 1/10
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"The 360 or so state killings during the Troubles were a tragedy, but they were also overwhelmingly legal. It is astonishing they are almost all being investigated". My column: newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Stephen White: "If not for the RUC, the Troubles death toll would have been far greater than 3,500 killed. They frustrated terrorist intentions. Their success is perhaps one reason the RUC is focus of so much opprobrium" newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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"We are in very real danger of allowing a false narrative on the past to be accepted," says @BeattieDoug
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Republicans have relentlessly demanded greater lockdown, Ulster Carpets must close, saying too slack compared to the Republic, etc. Across NI people are accepting the pain of heavily curbed funerals, or not being able to go at all, yet this happens again: newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/…
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What shame: @PoliceServiceNI closed west Belfast for a huge display for an IRA man, who wasn't even buried there, then @belfastcc closed Roselawn for this leader of terrorists so vile they bombed the cemetery before the funeral of an RUC man they murdered:
newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/…
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Where to begin with this thread? Let's start with your first line: "I don't get the British media. I really really don't." This is a ceaseless Irish criticism of Britain, less so its media because the latter charge is so silly. The UK people, particularly its pluralistic media 1/
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We are distraught. @henrymcdonald only joined us a year ago but we loved him from that very first day, bursting with ideas, anecdotes, enthusiasm, and stories. Our deepest condolences to Henry's family
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@GBNEWS said: “Our live coverage of the Twelfth was our highest-rating programme yesterday. We peaked between 11.30am and 11.45, when we had 98,300 viewers. In the same time slot TalkTV had 7,100 viewers, Sky News 76,500, and BBC News 115,900"
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Is it really the case that after one party collapsed the assembly and kept it down for three years, which if done by a unionist party for even three weeks would lead to massive retribution against them, there isn't even a mechanism to penalise a party that does this again?
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John Larkin KC was asked if the Windsor deal was compatible with Article 6 as per the guarantee of free trade, if it remedied 'subjugation' of the article, and if its proposals “strengthened the constitutional guarantee" for NI. He said in each case 'no'
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50 years ago today an IRA bomb outside the News Letter killed 7 people. It was an atrocious attack on the press/civilians but there were was so much terror in 1970s that it's little known today. Tomorrow's paper has a supplement to mark the anniversary
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Belfast city centre just now at almost 6pm. For almost four months it will get ever brighter even than this. And tomorrow is the first day of spring. Fabulous
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Ex Labour MP @CatharineHoey calls for the return of direct rule: "A basic principle of democracy is a strong opposition but the only credible opposition comes from one MLA Jim Allister" newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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It is looking like the EU might not in the end insist on exit declaration forms for goods going NI to GB. Why couldn't Ireland have helped speed things along by saying there was no real need for them?
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Republicans know well that demoralising unionists could be disastrous for future unionist turnout. So it's appalling that @BBCNewsNI ignored the fact that unionists outpolled nationalists, which was one of the three big stories of the election. My column: newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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And again, Northern Ireland gold. After Daniel Wiffen, now Jack McMillan!
Fabulous newsletter.co.uk/sport/other…
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Republicans have enjoyed special treatment since 1998. Irish governments push their demands in talks. Weak UK govts let Dublin have joint control of the process, then stay neutral. At least @uuponline have the option of going into opposition to it all: newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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A calmly laid out but ultimately devastating analysis of the scale of the ongoing border from a top haulier Paul Jackson who, like Peter Summerton, is rarely heard compared to business support for various post backstop iterations of an Irish Sea border 1/2 newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Jim Allister @JimAllister says: "The strain on this man was cruel, with him requiring regular dialysis, while being brought to Belfast to face a trial of dubious provenance.” newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/…
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Shocking figures: 5% of Holylands student are of a Protestant background. But unsurprising. When I tried to draw open a discussion about nationalist triumphalism making the environment around @QUBelfast at times a cold house for others I got weeks of abuse newsletter.co.uk/news/politi…
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Excellent to see @theresa_may stand up to this sneering, slug of a man, who routinely disgraces himself in public, staggering around like a drunk clown, yet has stayed in post for so long near the top of the EU
NEW - Two expert lipreaders tell 5 News that Theresa May accuses Jean-Claude Juncker of describing her as nebulous.
This is how the conversation went, according to the lipreaders:
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One of the many revolting scenes today. Shame on those who hesitate in their denunciation of this barbarism
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A powerful piece by Kenny Donaldson of @SEFFLisnaskea newsletter.co.uk/news/uk-new…
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Imagine the outcry if the statistics had been reversed
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The News Letter turned 287 today! As we, the oldest English daily newspaper in the world, travel on towards our 300th newsletter.co.uk/heritage-an…
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Good letter: "Enda Kenny’s administration had been working with the UK to develop a light-touch surveillance system on the real boundary. Varadkar and Coveney jettisoned this work, adopting instead a high-risk tactic which they hoped would wreck Brexit" newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Incredible! Daniel Wiffen from Northern Ireland on course for another Olympic swimming gold! Wow newsletter.co.uk/sport/other…
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Your thread looks so clever about Britain, with its graphs. In truth it is an almost perfect example of an all too common condescending Irish worldview, from a country that has no shortage of people who are allergic to the slightest hint of such superiority in the British. END/
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Go on English Tory MPs. With details emerging of just how massive this internal UK barrier will be to Northern Ireland's most important trade, show us if there is even one of you - just one - who will say: actually no, this is a step too far in terms of the division of our nation
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To think that Northern Ireland has been put at the mercy of these people by @BorisJohnson who in 2018 came to Belfast and talked tough about the unacceptability of an internal UK border (in his bid for the top job he even specifically ruled out both customs & regulatory barriers)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has threatened to block vaccine exports to the UK and other countries with markedly higher rollouts of coronavirus jabs.
Read more: trib.al/d9OU0WG
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For Dublin to sue UK on legacy over its (now shelved) amnesty is breathtaking hypocrisy when Ireland has operated a de facto amnesty for IRA, and has escaped legacy scrutiny. But, worse, Britain's response to being sued has been lamentably weak. My column: newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Instead of joint legacy statements with @simoncoveney, @BrandonLewis should launch an inquiry into decades of Irish extradition refusals of terrorists, assessing the number of resulting killings. This should just be a start to a legacy overhaul. My column newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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I have said many times that it's striking that the UK has such reach in Washington and is a key Nato ally and yet rarely we get commentary like this from influential Americans. Typically there's reluctance to so much as hint at Ireland not being in Nato
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I have been ambivalent about Brexit but when I see the way Ireland meekly had to submit a male and female candidate for their commissioner (quotas) and now how the EC president has picked the candidate she had been predicted to pick, it reminds me of the benefits of UK quitting
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Our website is crammed with videos and pictures from today's magnificent centenary parade. On Monday the newspaper will include a picture supplement on it
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A warm tribute to the outgoing Ulster-born MP @CatharineHoey by @AileenQuinton
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Several unionist and Conservative politicians were murdered for their views. Incredible: murdered for their stated opinions. There will be no major inquiries into those heinous crimes and indeed there is no demand for them. There has been great dignity and forgiveness
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The first surviving Belfast News Letter (1738, a year after launch) leads on news from St Petersburg. Czarina Anna orders Te Deum sung after Russian defeat of 'the infidels'. Well sing Te Deum again today: the world's oldest daily paper in English is 283! newsletter.co.uk/news/uk-new…
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I took this an hour ago in Belfast, at 830pm. Northern Ireland has truly glorious skies. A very sunny location would rarely get such. We also get more daylight than London at this point in the calendar almost 40 mins more in the evening
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Latest good @3000Versts piece: "I'm a football fan and I'd love to see NI stage a major tournament if the circs were different. But £310m on a stadium for another sport, at specs that aren't needed long term, can't be justified for a few weeks of visitors" newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Why is this so wrong? If 2 members of the same household choose to do their daily exercise in such a remote place and keep a distance from everyone they pass, it's less dangerous that going to a shop where, despite efforts at social distancing, people pass close to each other
Despite posts yesterday highlighting issues of people still visiting the #PeakDistrict despite government guidance, the message is still not getting through. @DerPolDroneUnit have been out at beauty spots across the county, and this footage was captured at #CurbarEdge last night.
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Thanks @naomi_long, no need, I'm not embarrassed. @EoinTennyson explicitly backed Ireland suing UK, @StephenFarryMP implicitly did saying it needs "addressed as matter of international law". You sidestepped our query if you did as leader newsletter.co.uk/news/politi… Therefore, 1/2
It's Christmas not April Fool's Day, @BenLowry2.
Actually embarrassed for you with this headline.
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All but the most obtuse unionists should be coming to see that it is arguably as important as ever that we do not join an all Ireland. My column
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Dublin is agitating on UK legacy failures yet there has never been a specific process agreed to examine how Ireland was an IRA safe haven or into other horrors such as the murder of judges
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Dr James Dingley: "It is worth recalling for President Biden that if America has an Irish heritage it is fundamentally that of Ulster-Scots (Protestant Dissenters)" newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Yet they're on their high horse on legacy,lecturing UK on how it must be'balanced'. Balanced?No,it isn't. It's imbalanced in favour of terrorists. Nothing in coming structures will shine light on Irish failures to extradite fanatical murderers,etc,as result of which many died
Well, well, what a surprise: "Republic of Ireland played integral role in supporting IRA, says historian" newsletter.co.uk/news/republ…
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Where are the 'human rights' lawyers and academics when it comes to a murder like that of the lawyer and academic and politician Edgar Graham? Go on, where are they? And where have they been for 35 years?
newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/…
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This contemptible moment was noted and remembered by influential Americans, thank goodness newsletter.co.uk/news/people…
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Peter Taylor has secured fascinating interviews and important Troubles footage, but he has subtly promoted the brutal British state rubbish. It is long overdue that a journalist of his stature has a closer look at the evidence and statistics. My column
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What a pity that the Ulsterwoman Labour politician @KateHoeyMP is not leading the Brexit negotiations, writes Chris Moncrieff in his weekly Westminster column
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Kate Hoey @CatharineHoey speaking tonight in Newtownards in a protest against the Irish Sea border newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Given that there were people along almost the entirety of the 4.5 mile route, which is 50,000 feet of roadside, at points several people deep as you can see from start of this long clip, it isn't surprising PSNI estimate the crowd to have been so large
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With around 10,000 people having died in NI since lockdown began, it is reasonable to speculate that hundreds of thousands of obedient people missed funerals to comply with rules. Hence the sustained anger at the Bobby Storey funeral breach. My column
newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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"Our security force veterans must ensure the moral compass of history does not portray the terrorists as anything other than the parasitic and murderous plague on society they were," writes @BeattieDoug newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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Can we please have an end to this analysis: The UK proposals won't work but are the basis of negotiations. What it is saying is that the UK has conceded 50% on backstop but must concede 100%. If that is your view, say it, but stop pretending that you are interested in negotiation
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When the history of this time is written, the muted unionist opposition to the multiple assaults on the Union (a few voices like @3000Versts excepted, who as usual lays things bare here) will be a key feature of it, as will be the lavish UK funding for it
thecritic.co.uk/irish-nation…
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One thing has been missed about this interview on Friday. I listened to it in full at weekend: @moneillsf says 3 times she never deviated from health advice, indeed followed it "to the letter of law". Not once in 5 mins is she asked about the IRA funeral
rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/htm…
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Article @richardtgarland on abuse from republican trolls, who yell 'bigot!' yet are deeply sectarian. They're so relentless that many non republicans hide their views out of fear. But Richard and those who challenge the hypocrites shouldn't get demoralised newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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It's extraordinary that @DublinAirport still has this post up three days after it emerged that we had seen little of William and Kate because she is battling cancer but had not divulged that until she had to do so to quell relentless and cruel speculation
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Philip Wilson, a young unionist, writes: "The protocol has sent a very clear message about how nationalism treats unionists and unionist rights whenever nationalism is intoxicated with political power" newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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It was incredible that the Irish foreign minister was allowed to sermonise at length. He wasn't asked about Ireland's extradition refusals, so fanatical murderers were allowed to use it as a base for decades, and the hundreds of border murders that were made easier as a result
Simon Coveney questioning the commitment of the British Government on @bbcgmu to dealing with the past is an example of arch hypocrisy.The IRA used the Republic of Ireland as a launch pad for its murder campaign.Stormont House has been rejected by the vast majority of IRA victims
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Wonderful footage from 1901 Belfast. The very youngest child in the clip would have been born late 1890s and has perhaps been dead 40+ years (certainly 15+ because I interviewed Elizabeth Yensen, born 1895 died Co Down 1905, NI's then oldest person by far)
nitter.app/JoaquimCampa/status/12…
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Some proBrexit unionists still think @BorisJohnson will change his deal. Clearly he won't. While it's understandable perhaps that unionism was in denial post Dec 2017 backstop,it isn't understandable now. Brexit has been a disaster for unionism. My column:
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With all but two of the 43 constituencies having reported first preference votes, @sinnfeinireland can't now get more than 19% of the overall vote across the Republic. That's a sharp 5.5% fall on 2020, the biggest drop of the three main Irish parties 1/2 newsletter.co.uk/news/nation…
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Few things better illustrate a decline in civilisation than architecture. Grand buildings of the 17/1800s are almost invariably beautiful centuries later. Even expensive buildings of today are rarely admired 30 years later (civilisation has of course leapt forward in other areas)
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A major internal UK trade barrier will come into force later this year in the Irish Sea. It is remarkable how muted the reaction to it has been. Thank goodness there are voices like @3000Versts prepared to question and challenge something so massive
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A hint of where this society is going? Stormont was lit up for an appalling death in the US but isn't for thousands of appalling deaths here: victims of terror. Does talk of an inclusive lighting policy mean it will one day be lit to honour perpetrators? newsletter.co.uk/news/politi…
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A scathing piece that the former Ireland rugby international Trevor Ringland has written for @News_Letter on the Supreme Court ruling. That a man as moderate as him feels such contempt about what is happening over the legacy of the Troubles is telling newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/…
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Irish signs appearing where they're not wanted in unionist parts of Magherafelt, Saintfield, perhaps soon east Belfast. This is happening with little coverage outside our paper. Meanwhile the consensus (@uuponline excepted) is we need a language act 1/2
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Meanwhile,Dublin has the nerve to place legacy cases before EU,to embarrass UK,the nerve to take hooded men case to point of humiliation at Strasbourg,nerve to call for Finucane probe when Ireland has much to answer,harbouring murderers for decades. Spineless UK says nothing back
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The Ulsterman is a big signing for @GBNEWS newsletter.co.uk/news/people…
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The eye rolling, 'move-on' brigade are looking pretty silly tonight @BBCNolan
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This is a major addition to the assembly not only for the Ulster Unionist Party, but for unionism. In fact for local politics, because @JonBurrowsNI has shown himself to be sharp over a range of issues that others either duck or perhaps do not grasp newsletter.co.uk/news/politi…
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What a scandal this saga has been, the special treatment @belfastcc and the @PoliceServiceNI gave to the terrorist funeral when law abiding people across Northern Ireland from all communities stuck to funeral social distancing limits, despite their grief newsletter.co.uk/news/politi…
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Sir Jeffrey Donaldson @J_Donaldson_MP said: “If the checks that have been imposed on Larne and Belfast were taking place at the Aughnacloy /Monaghan border, Sinn Fein would be singing a different tune.”
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Great news!! Welcome Ruth. Looking forward to the columns
I'm delighted to announce that @RuthDE has joined the @News_Letter as a regular columnist. I'm sure her thought-provoking and brave writing will be hugely popular with our readers
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If Colum Eastwood and other constitutional nationalists had spent more time making a clear moral distinction between themselves and Sinn Fein rather than chastising unionists, perhaps they would have retained more support, writes @3000Versts newsletter.co.uk/news/opinio…
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