It was a poor week for the conventionally wise. Virtually every article I have read about the Palestinian elections has described the result as "a shock". The vast majority of the commentariat have been caught flat-footed by Hamas’ thumping victory in last week’s poll. Am I alone in feeling that the result was no shock at all, that in fact it has been coming for a long time? For those who take an interest in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it took no great expertise to predict that the ...

"We go around the world nicking other people’s stuff. What the fuck do we have to be proud of?" As a well-known up and coming journalist, I research these articles thoroughly before hitting the submit button. Rest assured, dear reader, that these blogs are the result of literally minutes of hard work. So when I read over the weekend that the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown had called for a new national holiday to celebrate Britishness, I resolved to canvas opinion among...

Another night, another meeting. Chin propped on hand, I struggle to maintain a facade of interest. How many of these meetings have I been to in my life? Dozens now, first as participant, now as observer. Slithering down the meeting food-chain, I’ll be putting the chairs out next. All of us present know the routine from so many other meetings held in cold, dark rooms on windswept nights: minutes, matters arising, agenda, any other business, date of next meeting, home. Through the motions w...

I happened to be in east Berlin in 1994 when the DDR’s long-time dictator Erich Honecker passed away in his South American exile. On hearing the news, my host reflected on his passing succinctly: "That’s one more for tea tonight, Satan." His words come to mind today as Ariel Sharon lies close to death in Jerusalem. It would be comforting to think that the Bulldozer will soon be sitting down to dinner with the Devil. But one of the disadvantages of being an atheist is that we do not believ...

Some years ago, a British documentary crew followed a group of soldiers as they patrolled the border of Northern Ireland. A young officer, squatting in the Irish mud of a wet weekday, pointed to the farmhouse in the distance. "You see that farm over there?" he asked. "Half of it’s in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the other half’s in the Republic of Ireland. It’s all very silly." Even those charged with defending borders can sometimes appreciate the absurd...

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...

"Legislate in haste, repent at leisure" runs an old adage, the evident wisdom undiluted by the consistency with which it is ignored. Laws should not be written while the first flushes of anger redden the cheeks or the initial gasps of excitement fill the lungs. In particular, it is a poor idea to react to a terrorist attack by reaching for the statute book. It is galling to see how frequently governments react to a bombing by introducing so-called "anti-terror" legislation. These new "tou...

As some of you know, I've recently moved country for the second time in a matter of months. After several years trying to teach bemused Asian children the difference between "these" and "those", I decided that a career in education was not for me. Following a pleasant summer in Belfast doing nothing in particular, I am now ensonced in the English city of Nottingham studying to be a newspaper journalist. I've no idea whether the ambition of writng for a living will ever be realised. My inc...

I have a rule of thumb that, in order to be hurt by someone's criticism of me, I have to first respect that person. If some half-wit wants to act like a six year old and fling insults around, it's of no concern to me. But if someone who I hold in high esteem criticises something I've said or done, then I take their views seriously. Such a relaxed attitude to abuse has served me well on Joeuser when the Neanderthals get into full swing. So it was that I reacted to Father Alec Reid's r...

It is almost enough to make you feel sorry for him. In interview after interview, Tory leadership contender David Cameron is interogated about his gilded upbringing. How, he is asked repeatedly, can an old Etonian hope to become Prime Minister of 21st century Britain? Each time I witness this sad spectacle, I can't help feeling a deep sense of unease at the sheer unfairness of the line of questioning. Cameron no more chose to go to Eton than he chose the colour of his eyes. The decision to...

The question “Can politics remain secular” is rather like asking “Does my bum look big in this?” Whatever the answer, the anxiety of the enquiry is evident. The very asking of this question indicates an unease with the direction of politics; a feeling that a political system predicated on the equality of all, regardless of religion, may give way to a system which favours one set of beliefs over others. Allied to this is a sense that religion will one day supplant economics as the key poli...

I never thought I would see the day that America would need aid from other countries to cope with a domestic disaster. Yet in the wake of hurricane Katrina relief has been offered by dozens of countries: three helicopters by Singapore, 1100 doctors by Cuba, a frigate by the Netherlands. Such was the immensity of the storm and the ineptitude of the response, that the world’s richest country has asked the world for assistance. It seems strange that such a mighty power, one which jealously g...

In times of crisis you get the measure of a person and perhaps, of a country. My overriding impression of the last great American disaster, 9-11, was how it showed up the innate goodness of so many Americans, from the fire fighters who put civic duty above their own survival to the passengers of flight 93 who sacrificed their own lives for the common good. Even the members of Congress, not a group I usually speak of fondly, rose to the occasion that day, with their singing of God Bless Ameri...

As you enter through the grand brass gates of Stormont estate, you are confronted by the statue of Edward Carson. Portrayed in full flow, the father of unionism’s hand is thrust upwards to the heavens, as if imploring the Almighty to come to Ulster’s help. At the base of the statue are small carvings depicting scenes from the Home Rule crisis era. There is Carson et al signing the Covenant at Belfast City Hall in 1912. Being gentlemen, the leaders of unionism made their mark in ink rat...

"When I was twenty I spent the summer on a kibbutz" It takes a while to sink in. It is 2001 and myself and Bob, an ageing English communist, are standing in Bir Zeit, home of the finest university in the Occupied Territories. Given that the pair of us are on a Palestinian solidarity visit, I find Bob’s Zionist youth somewhat surprising. But when he explains his rationale for supporting the Jewish state three decades earlier it all makes sense. Back then Israel, tiny, vulnerable, s...