I had planned to pen an obituary to George Best, who died yesterday at the age of 59. It was my intention to focus on his Protestant awkwardness, a trait he shared with this humble author. However, having read Eamonn McCann's excellent tribute in today's Irish Times , I've decided to provide a link to his piece instead. What an insightful article it is, with a very rare "to your extreme credit" given to Eamonn for his use of the phrase "no guru, no method, no teacher." It's inte...

There's never a good time to go to a fancy dress party as a Nazi soldier but Prince Harry managed to choose a most inappropriate moment to make his sick joke. He was pictured in his fascist get-up only two weeks before the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. His idiotic actions have caused outrage and deep offence. Quite rightly he has apologised. More importantly for his own sake, I hope he takes time to consider his menatality which led him to believe that such a costum...