Tony Gabriele of the Daily Press in Hampton Roads VA provides some excellent reasons why newspapers are still superior to other media. “Newspapers are handy things to grab for soaking up spilled coffee, or grease splatters in the kitchen. I think “Soaks up grease better than Bill O’Reilly!” should be […]

On the plane to Belfast I was handed a Wall Street Journal and found this story about how the lack of health insurance in China causes deaths and heartache to millions. China’s health system is strictly pay as you go. Cash upfront or you don’t get treated. Fewer than one […]

We drove up to County Antrim today on Northern Ireland’s rocky coast. Here we felt the stiff winds and driving rain that the country is known for, and found a remarkable geological wonder called the Giant’s causeway. Along the cliffs of the shore, astonishing hexagonal shaped rocks about one-foot wide […]

Yesterday we took a ride to County Down, a land a poet once called “a basket of eggs,” because of the rolling hills. We met Eugene McConville, who is one of Ulster’s last flax farmers, the plant from which linen is made. He showed us how he takes the flax […]

This morning in Mal Maison, my cool and very dark Belfast hotel, I read the Independent, Britain’s fiercely liberal tabloid. I leaned into a spotlight in the dimly lit dining room and read a feature by Simon Usborne profiled “Doctor Dora” a brave Nigerian woman who is called ‘the scourge […]

Tonight I joined other journalists at the All Ireland premier of Belfast-born CS Lewis’ new Narnia movie, held at a waterfront arena called the Odyssey Center. A little while after we arrived and stood sipping champagne, a man entered who looked a little bit like Kirk Kirkorian. The deference with […]

Tonight after dinner we got a chance to sample Irish music in Belfast. We went to a crowded little pub on a side street where a folk band called Brier was ready to play. The people in the pub were all locals, drinking a lot of Guiness and joking and […]