Robert McMillen https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/ Journalist, Commentator and Blogger Wed, 26 Dec 2018 13:08:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.7 https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/cropped-Irish-News-Irish-Language-editor-Robert-McMillen-scaled-1-32x32.avif Robert McMillen https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/ 32 32 A visceral night’s entertainment in store as Eibhlín Dhubh Ní Chonaill mourns Art Ó Laoghaire https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/a-visceral-nights-entertainment-in-store-as-eibhlin-dhubh-ni-chonaill-mourns-art-o-laoghaire/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/a-visceral-nights-entertainment-in-store-as-eibhlin-dhubh-ni-chonaill-mourns-art-o-laoghaire/#comments Wed, 31 Oct 2018 18:51:34 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1948 What a night we are in for on Friday as all the elements come together for a visceral night’s “entertainment” at the MAC in Belfast. Let’s look at the ingredients. First of all you have one of the greatest poems ever written in Irish, Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, translated into English by Pulitzer-prize winning poet…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/a-visceral-nights-entertainment-in-store-as-eibhlin-dhubh-ni-chonaill-mourns-art-o-laoghaire/feed/ 1 Re-kindling the fire and fury in the Civil Rights-era music of Nina Simone https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/re-kindling-the-fire-and-fury-in-the-civil-rights-era-music-of-nina-simone/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/re-kindling-the-fire-and-fury-in-the-civil-rights-era-music-of-nina-simone/#respond Thu, 18 Oct 2018 21:06:03 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1943 I don’t know if you can put a primal scream to music but Josette Bushell-Mingo’s show, Nina – A Story about Me and Nina Simone has all the power of a holler against racism, whether it is in her native London or in Simone’s North Carolina or anywhere else in the world. Bushell-Mingo comes from…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/re-kindling-the-fire-and-fury-in-the-civil-rights-era-music-of-nina-simone/feed/ 0 An Ulster-Scots Quiz – I hae stairted sae I wull en.. https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/an-ulster-scots-quiz-i-hae-stairted-sae-i-wull-en/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/an-ulster-scots-quiz-i-hae-stairted-sae-i-wull-en/#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2018 18:00:16 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1897 Okay. I was wrong. I had thought that the long-term strategy of using Ulster Scots as a counter-balance to Irish was dead and buried when the February “agreement” between the DUP and Sinn Féin which promised an Ulster Scots Act as well as a (watered down) Irish language Act was rejected by the people who…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/an-ulster-scots-quiz-i-hae-stairted-sae-i-wull-en/feed/ 1 Ballymurphy: The massacre that foreshadowed Bloody Sunday https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/ballymurphy-the-massacre-that-foreshadowed-bloody-sunday/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/ballymurphy-the-massacre-that-foreshadowed-bloody-sunday/#respond Wed, 22 Aug 2018 18:00:54 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1912 It’s beautiful when it happens, seeing a seed develop out of the dark soil to become a beautiful flower. It’s the same with truth. Sometimes it too lies hidden in soil, waiting for the time and the conditions to bloom into something beautiful. That time and those conditions have surely arrived for the families of…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/ballymurphy-the-massacre-that-foreshadowed-bloody-sunday/feed/ 0 John Prine at the Ulster Hall https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/john-prine-at-the-ulster-hall/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/john-prine-at-the-ulster-hall/#respond Mon, 13 Aug 2018 16:18:15 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1902 It’s very rare that a song takes up a baseball bat and hits you on the head with it, but that is what happened metaphorically to me sometime in 1971, one eye on my homework and the other watching The Old Grey Whistle Test. Then a song came on that blew me away. The song…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/john-prine-at-the-ulster-hall/feed/ 0 Hitler, Sinn Féin and the association fallacy… https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/hitler-sinn-fein-and-the-association-fallacy/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/hitler-sinn-fein-and-the-association-fallacy/#respond Sun, 01 Apr 2018 22:54:47 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1884 I recently wrote an article in the Irish language online newspaper tuairisc.ie about a false logic called Reductio ad Hitlerum. The term was first coined by the German-born Jewish political philosopher and classicist Leo Strauss in the 1950s – although versions of the phrase go back centuries depending on who the bête noire of the…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/hitler-sinn-fein-and-the-association-fallacy/feed/ 0 Suibhne Geilt le tuirlingt sa Cheoláras Náisiúnta anocht https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/suibhne-geilt-le-tuirlingt-sa-cheolaras-naisiunta-anocht/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/suibhne-geilt-le-tuirlingt-sa-cheolaras-naisiunta-anocht/#respond Sat, 17 Mar 2018 12:48:44 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1878 Tá Neil Martin iontach sásta leis féin – agus cad chuige nach mbeadh? Beidh an cumadóir Feirsteach ag stiúradh coirme de shaothar úr dá chuid  i gcomhair le Ceolfhoireann Shiansach Náisiúnta RTÉ sa Ceoláras Náisiúnta, sa phríomhchathair ar lá éarlamh na hÉireann, anocht, 17 Márta. Anuraidh, d’iarr RTÉ ar Neil saothar a chumadh do Lá…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/suibhne-geilt-le-tuirlingt-sa-cheolaras-naisiunta-anocht/feed/ 0 Is BBC NI a propagandist for the Union? https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/is-bbc-ni-a-propagandist-for-the-union/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/is-bbc-ni-a-propagandist-for-the-union/#respond Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:50:25 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1853 I was taken aback somewhat by a phrase in an article entitled Scottish Six news programme plans are dead, Whitehall insiders confirm in the newspaper Herald Scotland. According to the paper’s UK Political Editor, Michael Settle,  these so-called insiders “referred to the draft BBC charter stressing how the corporation must “contribute to the social cohesion…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/is-bbc-ni-a-propagandist-for-the-union/feed/ 0 Heather Humphreys vs Irish Speakers https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/heather-humphreys-vs-irish-speakers/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/heather-humphreys-vs-irish-speakers/#comments Thu, 19 May 2016 11:05:18 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1839 Sorry, but I don’t recognise the stereotype that “Minister for the Gaeltacht” Heather Humphreys dragged up from the depths of her ignorance when she  “warned against fluent Irish speakers lecturing others who lack proficiency.” At the weekend, I judged the Feis at Carn Tóchair in Co Derry where for the past six years I have…

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]]> https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/heather-humphreys-vs-irish-speakers/feed/ 6 Congrats to director Tom Collins https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/congrats-to-director-tom-collins/ https://www.robertmcmillen.ie/congrats-to-director-tom-collins/#respond Wed, 24 Jun 2015 13:00:07 +0000 http://www.robertmcmillen.ie/?p=1830 Having interviewed Tom Collins recently about An Bronntanas and previously about Kings, I know what a hardworking, conscientious film director he is so I am delighted that the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland (SDGI) has presented the Foras na Gaeilge Award to the Derry wan and all-round good egg in recognition of his Outstanding Contribution…

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