Lord Bannside

Lord Bannside / Ian Paisley (1926-2014)

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Born in Armagh in 1926, Ian Paisley grew up in Ballymena. Religiously he shifted from being an independent baptist preacher to found the Free Presbyterian Church after a Presbyterian church was forbidden to allow him to speak at a meeting in their church hall. Politically, his journey started by campaigning for a West Belfast Ulster Unionist Party candidate through the National Union of Protestants, activism through Ulster Protestant Action and Ulster Constitution Defence Committee, the Protestant Unionist Party and then … Read more

Paisley: Genesis to Revelation (New Testament) – betrayal, hurt and a lack of grace and forgiveness

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After last week’s warm-up, the second programme featuring Eamonn Mallie’s extended interviews with Ian Paisley (recorded between October 2012 and March 2013) began with an introduction to Ian Paisley’s strong relationship with his wife Eileen. It went on to cover: The Leeds Castle talks. Tony Blair’s admission that he was converting to Catholicism. You can hear Eileen laughing off-screen as he jokes about “getting a cane” if any of the Paisley children had come with a Catholic boyfriend/girlfriend. Clips of … Read more

DUP: “the public may well ask whether then or now they have been misled” #Paisley

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In the internet age, rebuttals come in fast. Tonight’s statement from the DUP manages to arrive just in time to make it into some of tomorrow morning’s newspapers and news bulletins and even before those media outlets’ journalists have been able to report their analysis and opinion on what they gleaned from Friday afternoon’s embargoed preview of the second part of Eamonn Mallie’s documentary. Statement from Democratic Unionist Party Spokesman “Lord Bannside is entitled to his own opinions – however, … Read more

Paisley: Genesis to Revelation (Old Testament)

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Last week’s papers and news bulletins spoiled many of the story lines in last night’s first part of Eamonn Mallie’s conversations with Ian Paisley on BBC One NI. (Available to watch on-demand.) Forty hours of interviews were conducted between October 2012 and March 2013, so we’re only scraping the surface of their discussions and there are many gaps in the timeline that some viewers might have wanted to explore. Expect a book to mop up the rest! There was little … Read more

The feast of Columbanus accompanied by speeches from Lord Bannside & the Irish President

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Irish President Mary McAleese with artist Ian Fleming

If you listened to Thought for the Day on Radio Ulster yesterday, you’d have been aware that Tuesday was the Feast of Saint Columbanus. The speaker described him as “a bit of a stirrer”. Which set the tone for the lunchtime celebration of Columbanus organised by the Ullans Academy in an East Belfast hotel and featuring speeches from academy president Dr Ian Adamson, Lord Bannside and the Irish President. As far as I can tell, the Ullans Academy is very … Read more