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Older stars were 2020 social media triumphs

On an average day in 2020, you could find Sir Anthony Hopkins dancing to Drake on TikTok, Dame Judi Dench dressed as a dog on Instagram, and Dionne Warwick using Twitter to mock young rappers.

Letter of the day: John Finucane sides with political wing of the IRA despite having lost his father to sectarian violence

AS a member of the Protestant community and someone who lost a cousin during the Troubles, I found the article from the new Lord Mayor of Belfast, John Finucane (News, May 23), where he states a willingness to engage with the unionist people, the Orange Order and members of the royal family, very plausible and, if sincere, very welcome.

Extension to health service consultation

A public consultation on proposals to reshape stroke and breast assessment services in Northern Ireland has been extended by a month.

Letter of the day: Love of God and being 'born again' most important things for Christians who have same-sex feelings

Andy Barr states (Write Back, February 27) that people are born gay and no amount of praying will change that. I would like to see Andy's scientific proof for this. As far as I know, no one has located the so-called 'gay gene'.

Letter of the day: West Belfast has major anti-social problems and all bodies must unite to help find lasting solution

Anti-social behaviour in west Belfast has been dominating headlines and social media sites in recent months, with a particular focus on Dunville and Falls parks.

Letter of the day: If the DUP had practised what it now preaches on divisive language, we'd likely be in a better place

NIGEL Dodds' language, in asking the Irish Republic's Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, to tone down his language (News, January 25), deserves to be welcomed by all concerned about the impact of Brexit on these Britannic islands, interrelated as they are in the movement of people and in culture and commerce.

Letter of the day: The study of natural science can provide no answers to the vexed question of God's existence

DONALD Gale (Write Back, January 16) argues that the complexity of biochemical mechanisms involved in life is such that they are unlikely to have originated from the random processes of nature, and so must be a divine act of creation.

Letter of the day: By highlighting links between the peoples of these islands, Brexit could bring an end sectarian politics

BREXIT may owe more by way of reaction - an assertion of English nationalism - to media pandering to the loud voices of Irish separatist nationalism and Scottish separatist nationalism than to nostalgia for past glories, as Brian McClinton (Write Back, January 14) all-too-sweepingly suggests.

Letter of the day: Governments must let families of victims know who they believe carried out Lockerbie atrocity

I AM grateful to Kim Sengupta for his article (Saturday Review, December 29). Like Kim, I was privileged to meet Baset Al-Megrahi in Tripoli just before his death in 2012, by which time we had become good friends. Years before, I had met him while he was in prison at Greenock in Scotland for a crime I knew he had not committed.

Letter of the Day: Do the traditions surrounding Christmas make us any more aware of man's inhumanity to man? (PA)

Letter of the Day: Do Christmas traditions make us any more aware of man's inhumanity to man?

The film The Man Who Invented Christmas makes the big claim that Charles Dickens was its inspiration. It was his short novel, A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, that is said to have transformed a fading pagan tradition into a popular family feast.

Letter of the day: Article about people coming back to church to celebrate Christmas season moved me to tears

I have just finished reading Michael Kelly's article: "Why even those who do not darken the door of a church all year are still pulled back in by the Christmas story" (Saturday Review, December 22).

Letter of the day: Time for Northern Ireland and British Industry to bring pressure to bear on PM's deal doubters

Faced with a significant number of her own MPs, as well as all of the DUP, refusing to accept Theresa May's withdrawal agreement, which is backed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in Northern Ireland and the Ulster Farmers' Union, one wonders if the DUP lives in a "parallel universe" and in complete disregard of its own business community which survives to a large extent through trade with Europe?

Letter of the Day: Collapse of the Assembly is a chance to sweep away two decades of failure and start afresh

Your Viewpoint (December 17), 'Public must speak out about Stormont', misses the point about the absence of our devolved Assembly and Executive.

Letter of the day: Teachers are damaging their students' education by refusing to cooperate with school inspectors

THE announcement, on Wednesday, from Northern Ireland's chief education inspector, Noelle Buick, in the Educational Training Inspectorate's (ETI) biennial report, revealed only 39% of Northern Ireland schools "fully co-operated" with school inspectors. This revelation is not entirely surprising.

Letter of the day: Looming centenary of partition poses interesting questions for both the nationalists and unionists

FORMER Fianna Fail adviser Martin Mansergh is lecturing Irish nationalists on the allegedly positive aspects of Northern Ireland.

Letter of the day: By abandoning abstentionism, Sinn Fein would serve the interests of people North and South

A THOUSAND nationalist signatories from both parts of Ireland published an open letter to the Taoiseach, calling on him to ensure the rights of northern nationalists after Brexit.

Letter of the day: Justice Kavanaugh's reputation could be unjustly tainted because the mob didn't get its own way

I HAVE read and re-read Dr David Capper's statement about Justice Brett Kavanaugh not being entitled to the presumption of innocence because he was not facing a court of law, or in danger of losing his liberty, with a feeling of incredulity (Write Back, October 18).

Letter of the day: Supreme Court's ruling a victory for Ashers, for the faithful and for freedom of conscience

THE Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland welcomes the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court in favour of Ashers Bakery.

Northern Ireland people interested in cross-community socialism deserve the opportunity to vote for the Labour Party

Earlier this week at the Labour Party annual conference in Liverpool, two very significant developments occurred.

Letter of the day: Councillors urged to reject discriminatory proposal to light town hall with rainbow colours on Pride Day

Members of our congregations have expressed deep shock and sadness upon learning of the divisive recommendation coming before Ards and North Down Council on Wednesday, September 26.

Letter of the day: Security forces operated under the rule of law and suggesting they are not also victims is offensive

In Friday's Belfast Telegraph (September 21), Professor Tom Hadden made a number of statements in his piece in the Comment section on Legacy proposals, which I feel I must respond to.

Letter of the day: Unionists should be at the top table in the EU talks over Brexit's impact on the Irish border

On BBC Panorama, the Prime Minister said: "The people of Northern Ireland deserve to be listened to in these negotiations by the UK as people elsewhere in the country, and it's important that we deliver for the people of Northern Ireland."

Letter of the day: In a landscape full of political jokers, perhaps Donald Trump could make Ulster great again

WHO is steering Northern Ireland? The Secretary of State seems pleasant but as unwilling to take control as her predecessor was. Perhaps that is the instruction from Westminster, concerned not to upset the DUP on one hand and Sinn Fein and the Irish government on the other.

The RHI inquiry, chaired by Sir Patrick Coghlin, hears evidence

letter of the day: Revelations at the RHI Inquiry show that our political masters are utterly unfit to govern

The latest revelations emanating from the costly Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Inquiry resemble a pantomime farce and only reinforce the view that Northern Ireland politicians, especially in the DUP, are totally unfit to govern.

Letter of the day: O'Loan and Collins caused enormous pain with their ill-advised remarks on the Omagh bombing

The 20th anniversary of the Omagh bombing is now over and no direct apology has been received from Nuala O'Loan for her comments on that most painful day.

Correspondent has been taken in by hype of LGBT lifestyle and fails to acknowledge its darker side

I WAS very disappointed to read Alf McCreary's article (Saturday Review, August 11) on the Pride parade, as he appears to have succumbed to the polished PR of the LGBT community.

Letter of the day: People from arts and sport should not be afraid to identify themselves as 'British' or 'unionist'

HAS anyone else noticed how rare it is that someone of note in the arts, sport, entertainment or the media from a unionist background to declare themselves, without qualification, as British, or unionist, when the occasion to do so arises? How different for those of a nationalist background, who seem to have no problem declaring for Ireland.

letter of the day: Why all the sudden outrage when the Presbyterian Church is merely clarifying its theological stance?

THE letter by 230-plus Presbyterians (News, July 6) has a certain stable-door-closing ring about it.

Presbyterian Moderator Dr Charles McMullen

Letter of the day: Hardline Presbyterians would do well to remember that Jesus taught compassion, love and humility

In response to Dr Billy and Jean Boyd, of Newtownabbey (Write Back, June 25), let me say that to pick quotes from Timothy, Paul and Joshua is disingenuous if we consider what Jesus - who was often seen in the company of "publicans and sinners" - might say about the current state of a small part of his universal Church, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, if he were here today.

Letter of the day: The Bible was not written by philosophers, but by multiple authors inspired by the divine

I refer to Brian McClinton's letter (Write Back, June 21) regarding the Bible and philosophy.

Letters

January 2021

Older stars were 2020 social media triumphs

May 2019