Spoken with a raw Belfast accent, “terrorism” and “tourism” sound like the same word. Handy, as the city seems to have swapped one for the other in recent years. And it’s possible to experience a spot of both simultaneously, as I found a couple of weekends ago. After watching (in my case, guiltily) a boisterous crowd of SportRelief runners bounding through the smartened-up city centre,we got into a taxi by City Hall, and asked to be taken to Divis Tower, on the Falls Road.… READ MORE.... …
Month: July 2006
I did something pretty wicked while waiting for our Chinese takeaway yesterday evening. I read the the Daily Telegraph. A paradoxical organ. Like many things, I want to hate it; to dismiss it as part of the Other Side. But the older you get, the more blurred the lines become. A permanent miasma of indignation hovers over the barricades, and you sometimes forget which side you said you were currently on, and which direction that gun is supposed to be pointing.… READ MORE.... …
For 298,444,215 Americans and one fat old English bloke, today is Independence Day. Hang on while I dust down the old speech I like to deliver on such an occasion. [HEAVY BREATHING] But even speaking is too strenuous an activity right now so I’ll rely on that old stuck record instead. Ah, here it is. You may hear it crackling in the background now.… READ MORE.... …