Patrick Corrigan

Alan in Belfast has done a better summary of the East Belfast Speaks Out event from earlier this week than I could hope to. In the comments section he even includes a link to the BBC radio news report from the event, which features...

This event has already been picked up on the Northern Ireland blogosphere over on Slugger and on Alan in Belfast but, seeing as I'm one of the panellists, I'll give it a plug here too! East Belfast Speaks Out is basically (the hugely...

I reviewed this new comedy / politics documentary film for the BBC's Sunday Sequence programme, along with actor and writer Dan Gordon (you can listen again, here , 22mins 30secs in). I'd never heard of the Yes Men before now –...

In my day, a snog at the end of the ceilí at Loch an Iúir during Irish language summer camp – Donegal Gaeltacht-style – would get you no more bother than a ribbing from your house mates and a red face when you met the girl at class the...

The First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson has been making a bid for his party's representatives to have seats on the Equality Commission when they come up for appointment later this year. If the DUP want to be taken seriously on...

With her green silk headscarf, designer sunglasses and classic Persian features, she was every inch the Iranian beauty. Yet when the UTV camera crew hoved into view, she moved off to the side. When Donal, our photographer for the day...

Sonia Sotomayor , the soon-to-be-confirmed , Obama-nominated US Supreme Court judge, has been the subject of much debate in the American (and indeed local ) blogosphere. Is she liberal, conservative, pro-choice, anti-death penalty...

New revelations have emerged from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) that the Bush White House may have helped to cover up a reported massacre in Afghanistan in 2001 by a CIA-payrolled warlord. Using forensic analysis and satellite...

As NASA's PR machine gears up to mark the fortieth anniversary of the moon landings, it's time to take an alternative look ( also see previous blog: 'Moonwalk this: rockets or rickets? ' ) at this stunning human achievement. It's my...

This blog has previously noted the suspicious shadow cast over intelligence about the Omagh bombing. There is little doubt who caused the death of 29 people and two unborn children – the 'dissident' republican paramilitary group known...

Amnesty International is using the latest in advertising technology to challenge the scourge of domestic violence. This Amnesty bus stop advertisement, recently erected in Hamburg, changes whether or not someone's looking at it. Using...

Will the outgoing Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde leave a multi-million pound, Taser-sized headache behind for his successor and the NI Policing Board? That could be the prospect facing the new PSNI chief following the settlement of a...

There was a fascinating footnote to last night's BBC4 programme, Man on the Moon , which told the story of the US space programme and the billions spent to put a man on the moon before the Soviets. On the eve of the Apollo 11 mission...

A whopping 83% of people in Northern Ireland now think that a Bill of Rights is important for the region. That's the finding of a survey published today by the Human Rights Consortium , a campaign coalition which Amnesty International...

My old friend, former colleague and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire was among the peace and justice activists aboard a Greek cargo ship intercepted, rammed and boarded by the Israeli navy yesterday. The Amnesty office in...

Conall (who's been providing plenty of food for thought recently on Belfast and Beyond ) notes that the Belfast, unlike Dublin, does not yet fly rainbow flags to mark the city's Gay Pride. But the numbers participating in the Belfast...

I see that over on oconallstreet public affairs specialist Conall McDevitt is suggesting it’s time for Northern Ireland to mature its relationship with the United States. I’m all for that. For too long, Northern Ireland has played the...

I wrote this opinion piece a couple of days ago and it was published today in the Belfast Telegraph under the headline, ' Refugees face more hardship than most of us could endure' . It's not in the online edition, so am reproducing...

A politician and a journalist in Northern Ireland are today both facing the prospect of jail for refusing to disclose sources to the authorities. The politician, Ian Paisley Jr, was yesterday served with papers to appear in Belfast’s...

UPDATE (1:20pm): The decision of the Court has just been announced and four of the five people at the centre of the case have been found 'liable' for the bombing. This will go down as a landmark case. This blog has repeatedly visited...