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Gail Walker

Madonna

Why we’re all still so hung up on Madonna

Nobody should be deluded that Madonna is just a pop star. Or that the vitriol poured on her by sections of the media as she turned 50 has to do with another superstar going off the boil. Or that she was simply being devoured by the beast that created her in the first place. So, some said she wasn’t wearing the best? That’s the usual misogyny.

Inside Gail Walker

Rose Neill has left the BBC

Gail Walker: Just what does Rose’s departure say about BBC?

Tuesday, 2 September 2008

Rose Neill’s abrupt and very mysterious departure from BBC NI last week raises more questions than answers. Once again, we struggle with the rationale as a face and voice beamed by the public service broadcaster into our homes daily for decades suddenly disappears as if kidnapped.
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Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Gail Walker: Why Jade Goody isn’t that bad

Tuesday, 26 August 2008

Want to know how wretched one’s life can be? It’s confirmed you have cancer but everyone immediately by-passes concern and goes straight to suspecting the dark art of PR.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Why Beijing really is one big turn off

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Not that it will matter much in the great scheme of things, but I’m boycotting the Beijing Olympics. I’ve had a bellyful of despots and tyrants this year. From the Chinese themselves and their initial reluctance to let foreigners in to assist with their earthquake disaster, regarding outside aid as an admission of communist failure.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Odd, yes, but Barry George is no killer

Tuesday, 5 August 2008

Barry George is not the type of man any woman would feel comfortable with. A man who had been convicted of indecent assault and attempted rape. A serial stalker who habitually approached and harassed women. When police raided his squalid home they found rolls of film with images of 419 women he had secretly photographed.

Why Reg’s Tory talks are running on Empey

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Good old Sir Reg. Always guaranteed to raise a chuckle, the UUP leader is going round floating the idea to his fellow turkeys that Christmas mightn’t be such a bad idea after all.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Why media row with Iris just doesn’t add up

Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Let’s get one thing straight — if I can still use that word without causing offence. Contrary to recent publicity in the wake — yet again — of comments from Iris Robinson on the BBC’s Nolan Show, it’s not actually ‘Christians’ who oppose abortion.
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Who's that girl? Don't ask Madonna's brother

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

There won't have been a Madonna fan in the country who will have been able to resist poring over the 'world exclusive' of her brother Christopher Ciccone's 'tell all' book.

Stab in back for victims of crime

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Home Secretary Jackie Smith has come up with a typical Labour response to knife crime.

Julian’s an out and out star

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

A big thumbs up to Julian Simmons, undoubtedly Ulster’s man of the year, who has talked publicly for the first time about being gay.

Why Opik had some cheek inflicting all this on us

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

According to reports, Lembit Opik has been dumped by his Cheeky Girl fiancee. Apparently Gabriela Irimia told pals that when they got together he just went on and on, “dominating the conversation”.

Gail Walker: How English served up a cringeworthy Wimbledon

Tuesday, 8 July 2008

Every now and then, something happens which makes it obvious — even to those of us naturally pre-disposed to liking them — just why the English are so disliked around the world.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Gail Walker: How good neighbours make great dictators

Tuesday, 1 July 2008

Take a good look at Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Why we hate a Singleton boring us with her sex life

Tuesday, 24 June 2008

Valerie Singleton. The name itself was — like Blue Peter and its world of famine drives and sticky back plastic — a vouchsafe for all that was good, decent and true. Val's lack of fuss, dignity and professional decorum earned everyone's respect.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

By George, we should be glad to welcome the President

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

We want their money. We want their firms. We want their investment. We want their jobs. We want their goodwill. We want to piggyback on their influence in the world. We want their help to outstrip the Republic. We want their tourists. We want their confidence. We want their big fat Yankee dollars.Our conscience only pricks us when George W Bush touches down on the tarmac.

Gail Walker: Who'll go to Peter's party?

Tuesday, 3 June 2008

Now that the Big Man has left the building, what of the DUP? If Big Ian was Elvis, is Peter Robinson going to forge his own identity out of the glamour, like Prince?

Gail Walker: Let's give fibbing Fern the elbow

Tuesday, 3 June 2008

No doubt Fern Britton will make it back onto the This Morning sofa to tell a sorry tale of how the pressures of life in the public eye coupled with her huge appetite left her with no choice but to have a gastric band fitted and lie to millions as the stones dropped off.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Why movies about the Troubles are all cartoons

Tuesday, 20 May 2008

You just have to see how Hunger, the new 'Troubles' movie which premiered in Cannes last week, is being summarised in the Press to realise how stupid and ineffective that whole industry is in capturing anything like the real world.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Gail Walker: Why so sexy Chelsy would make a right royal bride

Tuesday, 13 May 2008

This coming weekend's nuptials between Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly have given the tabloids - and the rest of us, too - a good excuse to cast an eye over the current crop of royal girlfriends. Kelly, a former Catholic, has converted to Anglicanism, presumably in a bid to keep her prospective royal in-laws sweet, but even that's not enough for the more curtain-twitching elements of the Press.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Can you be really sure there's no Fritzl living next door?

Tuesday, 6 May 2008

The slew of headlines trying and failing to reflect the mind-stunning horror that is Josef Fritzl and his secret incestuous family imprisoned for almost a quarter of a century in a claustrophobic dungeon goes on.

Gail Walker, Belfast Telegraph

Gail Walker: we must put focus back on Madeleine

Tuesday, 29 April 2008

How are Gerry and Kate McCann, British parents of missing Madeleine, Portuguese suspects in her disappearance, to navigate the rest of their lives and the search for their daughter?

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Day In a Page

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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


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