Opinion

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Unionists need to locate their own comfort zone

DUTCH is a tough language to master. Not as tough as Portuguese, which I’ve been trying to get my head round without a great deal of success for some years now as a mark of respect for my Portuguese son-in-law and my Portuguese-Irish granddaughter.

GERRY ADAMS: Féile opens another chapter on women’s experience

FÉILE an Phobail is the launch pad each year of exiting new projects, and especially new books. One such book this year is ‘Women’s Voices, Hopes for a New Ireland’. The book is published by Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland and will be launched at 1pm on August 4 in Áras Uí Chonghaile by Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald TD.

MIKE TOMLINSON: Will Burnham bring budget relief to Northern Executive?

Within days of becoming prime minister in July 2024, Keir Starmer visited Stormont, stating he was committed to “rebuilding strong public services”. After years of Tory austerity and Brexit chaos, the mood was promising, but not for long. First Minister Michelle O’Neill recently said that Starmer refused to meet with the Executive over the past two years and, in effect, treated the people of the North as “second class citizens”. When Andy Burnham visits, what will he be faced with and will anything change?

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Chris Bryant unlikely to be a champion for victims

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s decisions on the Secretaries of State for the regions voting for parties who campaign for independence tell us something important.

JUDE COLLINS: Feisty Argentinians ignored no-politics charade

CELTIC STORIES: A club like no other or a business like no other?

IT is safe to say I think fans are starting to get tired with the after-dinner charade that Martin O'Neill has continued since the pre-season started a few weeks back.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: Hillsborough parade a right royal poser

ROYAL Hillsborough.

JUDE COLLINS: Time to shame Martin and Harris into action

IRISH people can be great and they can be ghastly. Two events from last week highlighted the ghastly side of the Gaels.

TRÓCAIRE: Belfast donations have changed lives in Zimbabwe with UK government support

THE Trócaire Lenten Appeal in 2022 focused on Zimbabwe and the huge challenges faced by the people there. Regular droughts affect the southern African region and pose significant challenges for families trying to grow enough food to feed themselves, accessing safe water and general economic stability. The droughts also have negative impacts on people’s health. Agriculture, a cornerstone of Zimbabwe's economy, has been severely impacted, resulting in reduced agricultural output and a heightened dependence on food imports.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: The gods of fair play were AWOL on Sunday in Croker

Dublin Kerry was always the Golden ticket when I was growing up. My father would go out looking dapper in his slacks, sports jacket, shirt and tie and Chelsea boots. The coming home was a different story, with the tie in his pocket, the jacket tied round his tiny waist, and a torn navy- and sky-blue paper hat on the side of his head, and the ends of a Kerry one shaped into an origami-like rude figure (the da always had a creative side).

ANDRÉE MURPHY: It's a dog's life – and we're all the better for it

The memory you reach for when someone asks “what is your first memory” is ever changing. I am not sure what came first. Was it the other memory from my Nana Murphy’s farm when we went to collect eggs and she laughing at the chickens who tried to attack me? Or was it running through the lashing rain with my mother shielding me under her coat, when I am half holding her legs, standing on her feet?

GERRY ADAMS: More pieces of the unity jigsaw being put in place

THIS week significant developments that can shape the future direction of constitutional politics on this island are taking place in Leinster House. On Tuesday Sinn Féin’s Bill setting out a practical plan to achieve a united Ireland is up for discussion. Fine Gael is moving ahead with its plan for a blueprint for Irish unity for November. And other parties, including the Social Democrats and Labour, have expressed their support for unity and, notwithstanding Micheál Martin’s opposition, it is obvious that there are many within Fianna Fáil who understand that planning for unity makes sense.

ROBIN LIVINGSTONE: That Orange Order invite list needs rewritten

THERE will come a time in the future when we look back at the active role that the Orange Order played in the great partition experiment, shake our heads and ask ourselves if that really happened. Just when the centrality to our public life of the loyal orders and their hyper-sensitivity to the smell of Mass and the rattle of rosary beads will be seen as the sectarian travesty that it was is not clear. 

DÚLRA: Run rabbit, run – here come’s Dúlra with his... pot

DÚLRA knows a guy who, every time he drives past cute lambs running in the fields, rubs his stomach and says he suddenly feels hungry – to the consternation of his kids in the car!

HEALTHWISE: Supplements: Choose well and watch the dose

SUPPLEMENTS are any product that aims to supplement your diet with nutrients that you would otherwise lack.  Popular ones include vitamins D, C and B,, calcium, fish oils and probiotics.  But who needs supplements?