Peter Robinson – Peter Geoghegan

Rev Ian Paisley, statesman?

By peterPosted on 17th January 2014Posted in Northern Ireland, Politics, ScotsmanTagged Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson, Tom Paulin

In likely his final TV interviews, political firebrand the Rev Ian Paisley makes obvious how he wishes to be remembered. Is he kidding himself, wonders Peter Geoghegan IAN Paisley has come a long way since 1949. That year the novice preacher began a mission in Belfast’s docklands and joined the anti-Catholic Union of Protestants. Nowadays, […]

The Maze and dealing with the past in Northern Ireland

By peterPosted on 14th February 2012Posted in Northern Ireland, Politics, Society and CultureTagged Maze, Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson, Stormont

If ever a country was defined by a punctuation mark, it’s Northern Ireland and the forward-slash. A history of conflict has produced some awkward semantic contortions: Catholic/Protestant, Nationalist/Unionist, and, of course, Derry/Londonderry, that waggish ‘Stroke City’. Less celebrated, but no less contentious, is another double take, the Maze/Long Kesh. Last week it was revealed that […]

From Family Robinson Woes to Affairs of State

By peterPosted on 19th January 2010Posted in Northern Ireland, PoliticsTagged DUP, Iris Robinson, Peter Robinson, Stormont

I wrote a comment piece on the political fall-out from the Robinson affair for The Scotsman last week: (Published 13/01/10) A leading unionist politician in Northern Ireland laid low by a lurid sex scandal splashed across the red tops. Accusations of backhanders from property developers. Political unrest in Ulster’s bible-belt. The plot of The Bad […]