Belfast Telegraph

Columnists

Rain 15° Belfast Hi 15°C / Lo 9°C
Search Advanced search

Ed Curran

Modern Beijing lives up to its promise

Nothing that the television pictures have transmitted can truly convey the magnitude of Beijing which I saw for the first time today.

Inside Ed Curran

Ed Curran: Why is it always raining in Northern Ireland newsrooms?

Monday, 1 September 2008

Well, that was the summer that was. Or should I say: wasn't! I missed the worst of August thankfully through being on holiday in eat-your-heart-out, sun-kissed France, followed by the Olympics in Beijing.
Comment on this article

Usain Bolt of Jamaica broke the world record with a time of 19.30 in the 200m Mens final to win the gold medal at the National Stadium during Day 12 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Ed Curran: Why the 2012 London Olympics offer us a real sporting chance

Monday, 25 August 2008

Those of us who were privileged to be at the Beijing Olympics can be certain we will never see such an extraordinary extravaganza again. No country, not even the United States, not even a Roman Abramovich Russia, could afford what the Chinese did.

Usain Bolt of Jamaica poses by the clock displaying his winning time after the Men's 100m Final at the National Stadium on Day 8 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 16, 2008 in Beijing. Bolt clocked a new world record time of 9.69 seconds.

Ed Curran: The inspirational night that saw the Olympics soar to new heights

Monday, 18 August 2008

It was quite frankly the greatest sporting experience of my life. To be in the Olympic stadium on Saturday night around 10.30pm Beijing time and to witness the fastest man on Earth.

Ed Curran: It’s easy to sense China’s iron fist

Friday, 15 August 2008

With a rattle of thunder and a flash of lightning, Beijing played host to the Olympic Games yesterday in its downtown silk market.

Northern Ireland's Alan Campbell is through to the final of the Men's Single Sculls in Beijing

Joy as Campbell rows through to Olympic final

Thursday, 14 August 2008

It was a moment to savour when Northern Ireland’s Alan Campbell guaranteed his place in an Olympic final yesterday afternoon about 20 miles north of Beijing.

Ed Curran: Modern Beijing lives up to its promise

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

Nothing that the television pictures have transmitted can truly convey the magnitude of Beijing which I saw for the first time today.

Ed Curran: Why it’s difficult to see clearly through thick fog of confusion

Monday, 11 August 2008

Air quality in Beijing is a hot topic for international news reportersI’m off to witness the Olympic spectacle in Beijing and only sorry that my trip did not take in the awesome opening ceremony which surpassed any before. It’s clear to the world that no stone has been left unturned in Beijing to enable China to set out its stall.

Ed Curran: It’d be great if these men win like Mary, but there is a bigger prize

Monday, 4 August 2008

As I pack my bags for Beijing this week, my thoughts drift back to August 1972 in downtown Belfast. I was on my way to interview a woman in her early 30s who was just about to become a star.

Why we should beat the drum to make Twelfth even bigger

Monday, 28 July 2008

It was old but it was beautiful and its colours they were fine ... but in all the 318 years since the actual Battle of the Boyne, The Sash My Father Wore has never been like this.

Ed Curran: Could the Maze stadium really cost more than the Olympic one?

Monday, 7 July 2008

I am looking forward next month to attending what the BBC are billing as 'the biggest show on Earth' — the Olympic Games in faraway Beijing.

Ed Curran: Dear Gerry, now is the time for SF to get a facelift

Monday, 23 June 2008

It's time to take stock of Sinn Fein. For a moment, I wavered as to whether to direct this open letter to you or your colleague, the Deputy First Minister.

Ed Curran: How was stadium going to cost the a-Maze-ing sum of £379m?

Monday, 16 June 2008

An astonishing £379m for a new Northern Ireland sports stadium! Can you believe it? How, in the name of Luis Felipe Scolari, Sir Alexander Ferguson, or Nigel Worthington, did the ultra-prudent civil servants in the Department of Finance and Personnel arrive at that one?

Ed Curran: We are still caught between a Giant rock and a hard place

Monday, 9 June 2008

When the world was moulded and fashioned out of formless chaos, this must have been the bit over — a remnant of chaos: so said William Makepeace Thackeray.

Ed Curran: Why Basil Fawlty is working somewhere near you

Monday, 2 June 2008

It was lunchtime on a quiet day at one of Ulster's leading tourist attractions and I was hungry. The shop boasted sandwiches and snacks but the assistant inside was talking on her mobile phone.

Ed Curran: Dear David, what a pity you will never feel like this at the Maze

Monday, 26 May 2008

I wish to apologise to you on behalf of many of your fans in Northern Ireland. That is because you are destined to play out your stunning goal-scoring career for your country in a third-rate stadium watched by a diminishing number of spectators.

ear US visitors, so you wonder why you should invest over here?

Monday, 5 May 2008

So what is there about this place that would persuade you to set up business here? Let me give you my thoughts, prejudiced though I most certainly am, since I have lived in Northern Ireland all my life, through thick and thin, and really never wished to go anywhere else.

Dear Caitriona, do you have to be so dismissive of anyone who disagrees?

Monday, 28 April 2008

The clock ticks on and still we wait. No 11-plus and little or no idea from you as to what will take its place. Just to remind readers, this is the peg upon which you have hung your hat ...

Why big malls are bad for our local shops

Tuesday, 22 April 2008

Did you notice the annual profit revealed by Tesco the other day? £2.8bn. I'll write that figure out in noughts: £2,800,000,000. That's roughly a third of Northern Ireland's total public spending for our population of 1.7 million people.

Why it was right to hold Diana inquest

Monday, 14 April 2008

I have a very special reason for dwelling on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and last week's verdict of the coroner's inquest in London. While millions watched on television, I was privileged to be among the 2,000-strong congregation at her funeral on that brilliantly sunny September morning in 1997.

Why we are still waiting for the long Good Friday to end

Monday, 7 April 2008

On Good Friday evening 1998, the scene in the shadow of Stormont's famous facade resembled an Arabian encampment. The world's media had assembled in strength, shivering on the windswept lawns close by Carson's statue.

More ed curran:

Day In a Page

Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat

Select date

World in Pictures: September 2008

  • An anti-government supporter reacts to a speech by Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej at Government House Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008, in Bangkok, Thailand. In a live radio speech Samak vowed not to resign and to stay on to protect democracy.
  • People wade through flooded streets after Tropical Storm Hanna hit the area in Gonaives, Haiti, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008. Three storms have killed at least 126 people in Haiti in less than three weeks.
  • Parents of newly arrived freshmen students sleep in a gym at the Central China Normal University in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province Wednesday Sept. 3, 2008. The university opened its gym overnight to allow parents of freshmen students to accompany their children on their first day of school.

Stunning images from around the world

Heading Out In Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Nightlife in Pictures

In Pictures: Flooding Northern Ireland

  • A car abandoned on the Westlink Road is seen at the junction with the M1 Motorway in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008. Severe flooding swept across Northern Ireland Saturday after torrential rain.
  • This bike fan was unconcerned about the bad weather which led to the Ulster Grand Prix being cancelled
  • A bridge is swept away as the River Straid burst its banks at Nursery Road in Ballymena on Saturday afternoon

Wet and wild photographs from around Ulster

Most popular

Family Notices

Olympics closing ceremony

  • A general view showing the Olympic flame during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.
  • A general view showing the Olympic flame during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China
  • Performers are seen during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China

Spectacular show closes 2008 Games

Beach boy Bush at the Olympics

  • U.S. President George Bush watches a practice as U.S player Kerri Walsh warms up at the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008.
  • U.S. President George Bush watches as U.S. team of Misty May Treanor, left, and Kerri Walsh warm up at the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008.
  • President Bush gestures toward the back of Misty May Treanor as he visits the practice of the U.S. beach volleyball team the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing, China Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008. At right is Treanor's teammate Kerri Walsh.

US President finds time for some volleyball fun

Entertainment

War in the Caucasus

  • Russian armored vehicles enter a tunnel, moving toward the border with Russia's North Ossetia, 70 km (43 miles) north of Tskhinvali, the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia's capital, on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. Russia pulled the bulk of its troops and tanks from Georgia on Friday after a brief but intense war but built up its forces in and around two separatist regions and left other positions deeper in the former Soviet republic.
  • Smoke rises from a fire in the Georgian village of Kekhvi, some 15 km (9 miles) north of Tskhinvali, in Georgia's breakway province of South Ossetia on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008. Many ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and Georgia have been looted and burned down after Russian troops entered Georgia.
  • Fire fighters extinguish a fire on a train carrying oil products after it hit a mine about 10 km (6 miles) east of Georgia's strategic central city of Gori on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the blast hit near the end of the train and one third of its 30 tanker cars were on fire.

A conflict in pictures

Columnist Comments

david_healy

• David Healy: World Cup qualifying - here we go again

Ever since we lost to Spain and failed to qualify for Euro 2008, I’ve been waiting for the World Cup qualifiers to start.

robert_fisk

• Robert Fisk: It's never good to swap people for bodies

Al-Jazeera – much praised by the now-dying US administration until it started reporting the truth about the American occupation of Iraq (at which point, you may recall, George Bush wanted to bomb it) – is back in hot water. And not, I fear, without reason.

adrian_logan

• Adrian Logan: There’s no place like Tyrone for believing

The dream final is on. After yesterday’s thrilling All-Ireland semi-final, it’s Tyrone against Kerry in Croke Park in three weeks time.

laurence_white

• Laurence White: If you’ve finished posturing, can we get on with politics, please?

Maybe DUP leader Peter Robinson is starting to warm to Sinn Fein after all. In a statement in the wake of the Independent Monitoring Commission report which said that the IRA is now a spent force incapable, even if it wanted, of starting up a terrorist campaign again, Mr Robinson made it clear he is not entirely convinced that the Provos Army Council is totally redundant.

frances_burscough

• Frances Burscough: Why I won’t miss smarmy Laurence off my TV screen

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, the dandy decorator from Dulwich with big hair and an even bigger head, must be one of the most annoying ‘personalities’ on TV, don’t you think?

lindy_mcdowell

• Lindy McDowell: Why Gordon should put a cork in it

Not since the days of Oliver Cromwell have we had a dourer bunch at the helm of the ship of state. Not since the days of Nostradamus have we had to listen to more dire predictions. Gordon Brown’s government has become the political equivalent of a hen house that’s just got a whiff of a prowling fox.

pol_o_muiri

• Pól Ó Muirí: Going back to school teaches us all patience

In January people join gyms; in September they enrol in night classes. Yes, it is that time of year when you decide to challenge the brain and go to that evening class. The impetus varies.

ed_curran

• Ed Curran: Why is it always raining in Northern Ireland newsrooms?

Well, that was the summer that was. Or should I say: wasn't! I missed the worst of August thankfully through being on holiday in eat-your-heart-out, sun-kissed France, followed by the Olympics in Beijing.

billy_simpson

• Billy Simpson: Every swan has to sing sometime

A recent trip to the breathtaking North Antrim coast reminded our writer of growing up in the ‘best location in the world’

cooper_brown

• Victoria Brown: My husband has been kidnapped and sent to prison in Mexico

Recent readers of my husband Cooper's column will undoubtedly know that he was having some problems with the immigration authorities here in the United Kingdom.

Loadzajobs

Northern Ireland Troubles

In Pictures: The Northern Ireland Troubles

A Conflict in Pictures

Miss Universe

  • Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza is crowned Miss Universe 2008 on stage during the 57th Annual Miss Universe Competition at the Crown Convention Centre on July 14, 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
  • Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza one of the top 15 semi finalists performs on stage during the final of the 57th Annual Miss Universe Competition at the Crown Convention Centre on July 14, 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
  • Miss Vietnam Lam Thuy Nguyen one of the top 15 semi finalists performs on stage during the final of the 57th Annual Miss Universe Competition at the Crown Convention Centre on July 14, 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

Nha Trang, Vietnam


Belfast48 Hours in Belfast
Our guide to the city		 Belfast Party time in the capital
New use for Troubles relics