Expect plenty about N. Ireland identity issues in 2013, as Derry/Londonderry is the new UK City of Culture this year. William Crawley from my neck of the woods has made an interesting programme for Radio 4 on the rise of a specifically Northern Irish identity (vs solely British or solely Irish) in the 2011 census.Continue reading “A place where demographics are politics”
Tag Archives: Northern Ireland
Culture on Radio 4; Kulturkampf in Ulster
Melvyn Bragg on the Value of Culture Happy New Year! Caught some of this Melvyn Bragg series yesterday (link above for those in the UK) and today while dragging myself up from hibernatory winter sleep, exploring the history of debates over the last century and a half about ‘culture‘ – what the word means andContinue reading “Culture on Radio 4; Kulturkampf in Ulster”
How We Took Control Over Our Stiff Upper Lips
Ian Hislop’s Stiff Upper Lip – An Emotional History of Britain I never tire of watching Peter Cook‘s WW2 officer announcing to valiant subordinate Jonathan Miller in Beyond The Fringe: Perkins, I want you to lay down your life. We need a futile gesture at this stage … Miller as Perkins accepts his fate withContinue reading “How We Took Control Over Our Stiff Upper Lips”
Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film goes to … The Shore
Don’t worry, I’m not claiming credit for it. But great that a short film called The Shore, set and made in my native Northern Ireland, won an Oscar last night. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m of course heavily into shore metaphors and a sucker for anything Ulster-ish, so I expect at the veryContinue reading “Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film goes to … The Shore”
Boiling it down should make you sweat
Diane Abbott‘s twitter controversy last week was something of a storm in a teacup (white or black tea, it certainly could have done with some more sweetener in it). But what interested me was her defence: that it was hard to capture the context – discourses about the legacy of colonialist thinking – in 140Continue reading “Boiling it down should make you sweat”
Happy Christmas from Shore
Saying Merry Christmas with a seasonal Shore image from my native Northern Ireland: the two mile beach at Portstewart. The gorgeous white sands could be Antigua, except they are actually snow. Even by Portstewart standards, this picture must have been taken in a cold year. 2011 was a funny old year, from manically busy periodsContinue reading “Happy Christmas from Shore”
“Countries” and the UK: who do we think we are?
I was of course thrilled, as an Ulsterman, at Rory McIlroy‘s first major title win last night. Brilliant for what many Northern Ireland football fans call “Our Wee Country”. I’m always amused and intrigued by the semantic fog we disseminate, though, when we refer to parts of the UK as “countries”. It is common usageContinue reading ““Countries” and the UK: who do we think we are?”
The North Will Rise Again
Thinking Allowed on the future of the north Interesting piece of futurology in Thinking Allowed on Radio 4 this week, about the possible impact of global warming on the fortunes and demography of the most northerly areas of the world, hitherto languishing under ice and forbidding weather conditions. One factoid that grabbed me was theContinue reading “The North Will Rise Again”
Strangers on the Shore 