BHÍ AN-SPÉIS sa tír seo i bhfeachtas toghchánaíochta Uachtarán Mheiriocá, agus cosúil liom féin is dócha gur theastaigh ó fhormhor an phobail go mbeadh an bua ag Obama thar Romney. Free article

NEVER BELIEVE a politician who tells you they don’t pay attention to opinion polls. We all do. Premium service article

MARTINA ANDERSON MEP has signed a declaration calling on the EU to ratify the Council of Europe’s convention on domestic violence. Free article

ISRAEL has repeatedly said that it never targets civilians but when your warplanes are bombing and warships shelling an area that is 360km and has a population of over 1.65million, civilians are always going to be casualties. Free article

MAYBE IT WAS the neon signs which festooned Belfast City Hall. Maybe it was the huge Christmas tree behind the platform. Maybe it was just because it’s one of few seasonal songs to which I know the lyrics. Premium service article

An Phoblacht Editor JOHN HEDGES caught up with Alfred again in Barcelona prior to November’s regional elections, when Alfred was again standing for the Republican Left of Catalonia. Free article

The revelations around Jimmy Savile and the suspicions that people in authority knew about and covered up his abuse have clear echoes of the scandal surrounding the Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast in the 1980s Free article

ON 1 DECEMBER 1972, the first unionist car bomb exploded in the 26 Counties during ‘The Troubles’ – at Liberty Hall, then the headquarters of the Irish Transport & General Workers’ Union. In a second bomb near O’Connell Street, two bus workers were killed. MARGARET URWIN of the Justice for the Forgotten campaign group looks back, 40 years on. Premium service article

FOUR DAYS in December 1922 saw tragic events that were the working out of the British Government’s plan to divide and rule Ireland. Partition had been legislated for under the 1920 Government of Ireland Act. At the time of its passing, that Act was a dead letter throughout most of the country, where the Republic had the allegiance of the majority of the people. But in north-east Ulster, the Act led to the establishment of a sectarian Orange state. Partition and the creation of a Six-County state were confirmed in the Treaty that now divided nationalist Ireland. Free article

IRREPRESIBLE republican raconteur and wit Barry McElduff will be coming to a venue near you soon to launch his new book under the title of his famous catchphrase ‘Keep ‘Er Lit’. Free article

THE THUNDER is a Celtic fanzine that captures the spirit of a new generation of Celtic fans, the authentic voice of fans who refuse to sit down and shut up and instead have turned Celtic Park into one of the most vibrant, go-to stadiums in European football once more. Free article

PANA - the Peace and Neutrality Alliance - has produced three excellent, handy, easy to read, packed with information booklets on Ireland and international affairs. Free article