Virtual Methodist

Back to to the desk and back to blogging, tho I probably won't be as regular as during Lent... But this morning I'm posting a slightly adapted piece that went out as a Thought for the Day on Good Morning Ulster . If you want to hear my pre-breakfast growl, then you can find it at 25 minutes and 84 minutes in to this morning's edition, for a brief period. Before coming into the studio this morning I had get up at stupid o’clock to drop my eldest son to school in Holywood, as he’s heading off on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition… But I notice that they’ve now got signs outside the town pronouncing it to be Holywood, Home of Rory McIlroy … Now given that our Rory currently spends more of his time closer to the other marginally more famous Hollywood… you know, the one in California with 2 L’s and sunshine… there are those who suggest that this is a bit much… But at least they didn’t go the whole hog and actually change the name to Rorywood… Yet...  We’ve got a thing ab...

The circumstances that have prevented me blogging so regularly have been exacerbated recently by a number of crises, but once again I'm back on the blog... and once again Northern Ireland has been back in the headlines… for mixed reasons… On the positive side, Rory McIlroy united people right across Northern Ireland, and the world, in his victory in the US Open. Even I, who am happy to agree with Samuel Johnston or Mark Twain or whoever it was who described golf as a good walk spoiled, was really frustrated not to be able to watch it on TV (being too tight to give Rupert Murdoch money for Sky Sports) and had to make do with regular internet updates and good old BBC Radio 5 Live. I was right behind the lad from Holywood, Co. Down, and while the fact that he went to my old school gave me a soft spot for him, the combination of what happened in the US Masters a couple of months ago and his refreshing demeanour endeared him to everyone... And I think that has increased in the wake of h...