2013

Tour de France 2013: Le roi est mort!

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After finishing second to Bradley Wiggins last year, when some speculated he could have challenged for the victory, Kenyan-born Chris Froome is set to become the second British rider in successive years to win the Tour de France when the peloton crosses the line on a floodlit twilit Avenue des Champs-Élysée later this evening.  It’s the 100th edition of Le Tour, which began in 1903. Even if convention didn’t dictate the final stage to be a procession for the maillot jaune, Froome holds a virtually unassailable …

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Your Predictions for Northern Ireland Politics in 2013?

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The thing about Northern Irish Politics is that it is both easier to predict than southern politics and more difficult. Who really, hand on heart, saw the flag protest coming? Perhaps we should have, since every year the Ardoyne troubles seem, if not to get worse, then to have no visible or political solution. Jason O’Mahony gives the next year south some caustic treatment, and comes up with a list of suitably pessimistic (and therefore plausible) bullet points… But, with …

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Happy New Year!

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Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year! Your captions are welcome. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

Looking back at 2012, and forward to 2013

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Doing some homework before taking part in a political review of the year on Lisburn’s 98FM community radio, I looked back at posts over the last twelve months. While there were lots of other significant political events during the year, below are some of the posts that caught my eye. Back in January, the DUP and Sinn Féin agreed to drop the Department of Employment and Learning. It hasn’t gone away you know! Aged 85, Lord Bannside stepped down from …

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