Belfast Telegraph – NI’s leading news site where you can have your opinion via blogs or letters

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21:02 Six-year-old dies after boat crash
21:02 Woman linked to mummified remains
19:52 Ex-UB40 singer rests after collapse
19:42 Walliams and Lucas unveil next show
19:22 Man battered wife and girl to death
18:22 Paedophile arrested after tip-off
18:12 Traveller life expectancy unchanged
18:12 Bishop issues sectarianism warning

Don’t blame the police chief for the priest who got away

Respected, pleasant but ineffectual. With these words, Field Marshal Lord Carver dismissed Sir Graham Shillington, RUC Chief Constable at the time of the Claudy atrocity in 1972.
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Why Dublin is risking a right royal shambles

When Brian Cowen issued a formal invitation to David Cameron, in June, that the Queen should pay a state visit to the Republic next year, the mandarins in Dublin's Department of Foreign Affairs were duly satisfied.
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The Beeb’s got talent. Pity it doesn’t dare to use it

It was one of those moments of quiet smugness at which the British excel.
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Israeli settlements still occupying minds in the West Bank

Even with tension high in much of the West Bank after Hamas gunmen killed four Israeli settlers on Wednesday night, Sana Shabitah, 40, had been determined to come here yesterday to register her disapproval of Mahmoud Abbas's trip to Washington.
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Inside Opinion

Let’s name and shame all the Claudy killers

The Sperrins surround it, the Faughan flows by, At each end of Main Street the hills and the sky, The small town of Claudy at ease in the sun, Last July in the morning, a new day begun ...

Not everyone has the appetite for sticking to a healthy diet

Did you know that some hospitals in the UK have fast food outlets in the foyer? A standard fast food meal, including a burger, French fries and a fizzy drink, could contain 1,000 calories. But presumably those people counting calories could ask for a burger, no fries and a diet drink?

Why Aussies’ danger alert rings so true

It's beyond me why there’s been so much outrage over the Australian government’s advice to visitors to exercise caution when visiting Northern Ireland.

The Right has got it all wrong. King was a real social reformer

The fifth of Americans who believe that Barak Obama is a Muslim were well-represented at the rally in Washington on Saturday marking the anniversary of Martin Luther King's 1963 'I have a dream' speech.

Britain should compensate Ireland

Mary Dejevsky's article took my breath away.

Editor's Viewpoint: Blair's reputation is not enhanced

Remarkably for someone who has been out of office for a significant period of time, Tony Blair continues to attract criticism from a wide range of people to the point where he is regarded by many as something of a hate figure.

How great a world it would be if honesty was the best policy

Imagine how the world would be if we could rely on ourselves and others to be honest.Claudy — sorted. Bloody Sunday — sorted. The Disappeared — sorted.

How all the inquiries are just pouring money down the drain

Hardly a week passes in Northern Ireland without another investigation being launched into some issue of public accountability.

Why I won’t step up to the plate for the Pope

I can remember clearly the last time I felt genuinely proud to be a Catholic.

Church must now come clean and admit collusion in Claudy cover-up

The cover-up by the Government, the Roman Catholic Church, and the RUC over the Claudy bombings which killed nine people in 1972 was one of the most disgraceful episodes in recent Irish history.

Why do women love putting down other women so much?

Just what is it about the female psyche that makes it so keen to criticise, judge and shake its head sadly at its own gender?

How self-service tills really make sure that every customer pays

If it weren't for visits to the supermarkets, I'd have no social life at all.

People demonstrate against a proposed mosque near ground zero in New York

Try telling people there is no Ground Zero mosque

You'll get nowhere, although the truth is there are plans to build an Islamic centre, with a swimming pool open to everyone, two blocks away from Ground Zero.

From Cromwell to the Taliban, with God on their side

To Saint Canice's, then, in the ancient city of Kilkenny, its ninth-century round tower still watching for Viking invaders, home of the forgotten Gaelic Irish-Old English Confederation, its citizens spared by Cromwell.

Justified and ancient – middle-aged bloggers get all nostalgic...

Holidays are a great time to escape the daily bustle and to think over life in general. So it is with the local bloggerati who are in reflective, even nostalgic, form this week.