Politics is not a lifestyle choice or some hippy form of self actualisation: it deals in the business of us, not me

Post truth society? As Ian Parsley notes on his blog this morning, we’ve have had a predilection for it here in Northern Ireland for as far back as anyone can remember. And we’re not alone. In 1956, speaking about writing, Ernest Hemingway noted in interview: Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him. It also should have a manual drill and a crank handle in case the machine breaks down. So, I have few sympathies for the …

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President Trump – Welcome to the post-truth world

 WARNING: the following article may contain elements of truth. The gongs of Big Ben that welcome 2017 will be greeted not but the clinking of glasses and a chorus of Auld Lang Sang, but rather a huge sigh of relief. 2016, the year from hell will finally be behind us. It brought a cull of beloved musicians and artists, Brexit, and now, the rise to power of the Donald. Yes, it’s true, the unthinkable has happened, a man who is …

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After Brexit and Trump, it is vital that the centre holds in France and across the world.

Like many sane thinking political followers, I awoke on Wednesday saddened at the news that an odious individual who traded on a campaign of fear had been elected President of the United States. Many commentators have rightly chastised Trump for his verbose demeanour and truly dreadful attitude to women, minorities as well as to those with disabilities. Added to that, Trump’s policies, what few he has actually discussed, could directly impact upon the world and indeed Ireland more specifically. By …

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Trump cannot stop himself making it about him at the very moment it should be about her.

Last week I wrote that I had watched the second Clinton/Trump debate and wish I hadn’t. I presumed that experience had taught me a lesson and that I would give the third debate a miss – I was wrong. No sooner had I returned home from appearing on RTE Radio One’s Late Debate show last night, but I found myself switching over to CNN and settling in to watch the pre-debate coverage. I am glad I did. Last night’s third …

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#USDebate: “Expectations and standards are now so low that not imploding is an achievement.”

Last night I stayed up to watch the second Clinton Trump debate. I really wish I hadn’t. It was truly awful. It did not merit the word debate. There was no engagement or exchange of ideas or views. Even as a blood and gore spectacle it failed as it delivered neither. Instead, there was a tired and turgid trading of insults, charges and counter charges. The “Town Hall” audience went largely ignored, though Clinton did at least make some attempt …

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