Opinion
Protecting Woodstock’s beauty for future generations
CHOICES SHAPE YOUR FUTURE By Judith Ashton I have visited many big cities in the world. Polluted, overpopulated, frenzied, noisy, crazy places where everything is 24-hour flashing lights and whatever your over-stimulated brain wants is just a phone-tap away. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out and return to some modicum of sanity; always …
Billy Boland: Man of a Thousand Stories
By John Fitzgerald (Part two) (Continuing the story of Billy Boland of Glenmore, who himself had a thousand stories to tell. Part One from last week can be read on the Observer website) On a memorable day in his youth Billy helped to convey milk to the creamery for a neighbour who had fallen ill, but the …
Does Your Gut Have You On The Run?
BY CLAIR WHITTY When we think of diarrhoea, we might think of it more in relation to illness or to food poisoning, but most of my experience has been talking to customers at the shop where it is related to the food we eat. Many of you will have been to your GP and maybe …
When ancient spirits come out playing
CHOICES SHAPE YOUR FUTURE By Judith Ashton All the spirits, good and evil, fairy and pixie, witch and wizard, on this night will sure be stirring!” Cultures around the world honour their ancestors and the dead, and Ireland’s distinctive traditions have spread worldwide. Before the Catholic Church, Celts and ancient Britons celebrated Samhain to mark …
Billy Boland: Man of a Thousand Stories
By John Fitzgerald (Part One) There was a time when every town, village, and stretch of road in Ireland had a character that enlivened the district around him or her. Billy Boland of Glenmore was one such individual. He was known and loved across the length and breadth of South Kilkenny, and in neighbouring counties …
Feeling tired all the time
BY CLAIR WHITTY This is a common complaint from many of you and I hear you, you are not alone. Depending on your age and your lifestyle the answer will be different. But the basic advice will remain the same for most people. A healthy balanced diet, good quality and quantity of sleep, managing stress, …
You need to plan your pension now
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR This is pension season. For many people, the next few weeks offer an opportunity to put money into a pension and claim tax relief. The standard Pay & File deadline is this Saturday, October 31, with an extension to November 18 for eligible taxpayers who both pay and file through …
Is there a doer-upper out there for you?
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON Empty properties in a streetscape can look like a broken tooth in a smile. Sad and unattractive, they sit there empty while levies on their owners mount and the housing crisis grows. On the other hand, they can represent an opportunity for those in search of a bargain …
Living in hope, with my miracle drug
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS I was nine and my mother was crying in our small kitchen, my dad trying to console her. “What’s up?” I asked. “Auntie Madge has died,” my father said and my mother cried further. “Why?” I asked innocently. My father placed his finger on his pursed lips …
Troubles afoot as North march to same ol’ drum
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS “Every day here is Drumcree Day. Has been for decades. People ask ‘why dredge up all these old conflicts?’. But they have always been here. It has never stopped,” I am told by Gail Walker, former Editor of the Belfast Telegraph, now its Editor-at-Large. I first met …
