The vast crowds of ‘ordinary people’ paying their respects to Pope Francis understand things academics, media figures & naysayers have forgotten - about good people, values & faith. We saw it for the late Queen too. The public’s instinct is never wrong belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

The scale of public drug abuse in Belfast city centre is horrifying & bad for business. It unnerves shoppers, workers & tourists. A needle bin just conceals the problem. The drug lords who wreck lives need to know they’re going to jail for a very long time belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

I’m finally out of hospital spectator.co.uk/article/im-fin… CRACKING piece by me in the Spec - and nowhere near as mis as the headline suggests!

Refusing to give the media mugshots of guilty people, faulty investigations, appeals for information using absurdly altered photos...The PSNI must be credible but the bad habit of clumsy spectacle-making it has fallen into has reached chronic proportions belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

Tyrone family McGirrs, wrongly branded ‘dine & dashers’ by an English pub, deserve every penny of their libel win. Their good name was trashed. The landlord faces a hefty bill but it should never have happened. The blameless McGirrs are the real victims belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

Andy Cardy, dad of murdered Jennifer, was an extraordinary individual. A man of deep Christian faith, talking to him was thought-provoking & profoundly moving.He faced a nightmare & missed Jennifer every day. His views on justice still deserve to be heard belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

'Dad of murdered schoolgirl was an extraordinary man... I’ll never forget his fearless statement the first time I met him' ✍️ Gail Walker ➡️ belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column… belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

Damage to Giant’s Causeway by coins shoved between rocks proves some people can’t leave anything alone. But the attitude comes from Stormont down - so much is bulldozed, left to rot, defaced. We need a cultural change in how Gov protects our surroundings belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

👏 to Belfast Telegraph & its journalist James McNaney for taking the time to interview me about my campaigning on raising awareness of the “sneaky symptoms of #OvarianCancer, an insidious form of cancer affecting our women including my wife #MyJulieRIP❤️ belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/health/ex…

C’mon Michelle O’Neill Emma Little-Pengelly BL Mike Nesbitt Aidan Dawson NI Executive Department of Health Public Health Agency help save women You have a campaign from some years ago! Going to a GP knowing the symptoms & knowing your body will help earlier diagnosis & better outcomes PLEASE!

Women murdered, beaten, paid less, trafficked, not allowed to choose what they wear…there are more urgent issues to get angry about than beauty contests. Besides it’s a mean heart that would knock Carly Wilson being crowned Miss NI after cancer all-clear belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

NI women were viciously trolled on Tattle Life. Business owners & influencers were left broken by hatemongers. Well done Neil & Donna Sands for exposing the gossip site’s owner. Let’s hope the lynch mob now have sleepless nights as net closes in on them belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

Delighted to receive an Honorary Doctorate for services to journalism from Queen’s University Belfast. Thank you to all those involved in this decision. It’s more than 30 years since I graduated from QUB and yesterday was another very special occasion ow.ly/ibHy50WfzMg

Van Morrison is a musical genius. Thinking he can be told not to mention a pub in a song because it later became notorious is nonsense. His stock-in-trade is the streets of his youth.This place can never repay Van for what he’s done for its image & culture belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

Chancellor Rachel Reeves wields huge power. She didn’t baulk at savage decisions re the disabled, OAPs, farmers & business owners. But she wept in the Commons for 36 minutes on live TV. No male MP would politically survive such a public emotional collapse belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…