Paul Tempan

Bradley and other US players bear a big responsibility for having incited the ugly behaviour in advance of the tournament.

A sad reflection on the state of the USA today. The constant insulting shouts to put the Europeans off their stroke was not just blatant interference. It was also vile personal abuse of the players and their families. The American PGA did not seem capable of controlling the situation.

Ptolemy’s Irish Names - The Linen Hall, Belfast More than fifty geographical names from the island of Ireland were recorded by the Greek scholar Claudius Ptolemaius in his Geography, c. 150 AD.  Although his own map has not […]

linenhall.com/event/ptolem...

Peter Lerner is British, born in London, as is fairly obvious when he speaks. What's he doing invading Palestine? Isn't about time we extradited British citizens involved in Zionist genocide?

Hello? Yet another British invader of Palestine, along with David Mencer, Peter Lerner, etc. Isn't about time we extradited British supporters of Zionist war crimes?

Very true. Is he a rabbi at all? Does he have any religion? Seriously? You would think that some with the title of Chief Rabbi of the UK would occupy himself with the spiritual welfare of Jews in the UK. Instead, he is a political lobbyist, constantly banging on about Israel. Apologist for genocide.

www.belfaststreetnames.com/newsletter/
See what we have achieved in our first year

UPNS lecture 8pm tonight: Justin Ó Gliasáin on Place-names of Inishowen
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-deirdr...

www.facebook.com/share/p/1BXs...

Conference was excellent. They are always good, but this one was particularly stimulating. Unfortunately, I was not in great form. I had a cold beforehand and it developed into a chest infection, so I couldn't join in with the evening social activities. Otherwise, great.

Yes, 2024, based on a 2016 lecture. Argues that Fortrose contains the Pictish population name Fortriu and this is evidence of the Picts being north of the Mounth until defeating Northumbrians at Dún Nechtain / Nechtansmere in AD 685, as per Alex Woolf.

Trump's USA is becoming more like Putin's Russia every day. Very depressing to see, but it is good that Harvard is pushing back. A university's credibility stands or falls with its independence. And let's be clear: legitimate criticism of Zionist genocide is not anti-Semitism.

President Obama SLAMS the trump admin's "unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom" starting with Harvard, but leading elsewhere unless Harvard takes a stand, and others follow suit.

Thank you, President Obama.

Picked up a copy of this at the conference.

Very interesting. I'll have to pick your brains on this some time.

There's a book launch for vol. 1 of Place-Names of Berwickshire which Simon has co-authored with Eila Williamson and Carole Hough

🤣

Will do, Allie. There's a good chance he'll be there. What was your subject at St Andrews?

Ah, poor fella!

Reminds me of when I found out that harper Donncha Ó hAmhsaigh / Denis Hempson was born in the 17th century and died in the 19th. He appears to have fathered a child at the age of 77 and played at the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792 at the age of 96. He died aged 111 or 112.

Looking forward to the annual conference of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland this weekend in Stirling. www.snsbi.org.uk/2025_Stirlin...

Fr Martin Magill and I have been invited to give a talk on street-names to the North Belfast Historical Soc, this Thursday, April 10, 7.30pm. I'm looking forward to it very much. I've prepared some new material on Ligoniel as a mill village and streets connected with Disraeli, politician and author.

I totally agree, and I have deleted my accounts with Twitter, Amazon Prime and Netflix to keep these malign influences out of my personal space.

Former top judge condemns ‘unjustifiable interference’ by Trump over UK free speech Lord Sumption, the former head of the UK Supreme Court, has lashed out after it was revealed the US State Department had attacked Britain, citing concerns about ‘freedom of expression’ in the UK

Lord Sumption “calls-out” MAGA’s dubious intervention into UK “Free-speech”…..

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Lord Sumption on the US using UK abortion clinic protests as a free speech stick with which to beat the UK.

But as Sumption rightly added, there is no free speech infringement here. (And besides, a populist Conservative govt with a solid majority voted for abortion clinic buffer zones.)

Uh-oh, here comes trouble.... 😁

Had this article about historian John J. Marshall published in the latest issue of the Ulster Journal of Archaeology

4 Corners Festival 2025: Street Names Monday night of this year’s 4 Corners Festival took us to a favourite haunt, the Duncairn Arts Centre on the Antrim Road, where a packed hou...

Another reflection on a superb night at The Duncairn looking at Belfast Street Names with Martin Magill, Brian Houston, Linda Ervine and Paul Tempan as part of 4 Corners Festival Belfast 2025

virtualmethodist.blogspot.com/2025/02/4-co...

I also gleaned from this programme that one of the reasons Samuel Johnson went with Boswell on "A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland" was his determination to expose Macpherson's fraud. They had a heated correspondence and it nearly came to "claymores at dawn".

Also featured were the short stories of Brian Friel (another writer who sometimes provoked adulation and sometimes was accused of mythologising, particularly for Translations). I love his farce The Communication Cord.