Mar 31, 2011 | Latest
Finished a biography on Philip Larkin by Richard Bradford, ‘First Boredom, Then Fear – The Life of Philip Larkin’. From the intro: “The defensive strategy of the pro-Larkinists, that a writer’s prejudices are separable from and irrelevant to their literary...
Mar 14, 2011 | Latest
Got a call from Flair Campbell late on Saturday night to tell me that Brian Moore had died suddenly after a short illness. Brian was one of life’s gentlemen, intelligent, witty, dedicated, selfless and hugely talented as a singer and songwriter but also as the...
Mar 8, 2011 | Features
Four years is a long time in politics but it was four years ago that Eoghan Harris accepted a bet from Jude Collins which eventually cost Mr Harris one thousand pounds. Here is the story as told by Jude Collins! MONEY TALK AT TALKS BACK There are stories that have a...
Mar 8, 2011 | Latest
Did an interview today with Sarah O’Neill whose thesis is a literary biography of Jennifer Johnston, and Jennifer was one of the writers who came into the H-Blocks whilst I was there to teach creative writing. 7th March. Did interview along with David Hume of the...
Mar 4, 2011 | Features
Wrote a feature about the hunger strike which appears in today’s print edition of An Phoblacht. I called it The Night of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and its relevance becomes clear. Here it is. Sometimes the bell didn’t work so you banged on the door. If he didn’t know you,...
