Yes they did shake hands after all?
Sinn Féin & Martin McGuinness accept’s the Queen’s hand in Belfast
Queen Elizabeth shakes hands with Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness watched by First Minister Peter Robinson at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast yesterday.
You do not initiate a handshake with the British monarch. You wait for her to make the first move. And you don’t touch Queen Elizabeth without her permission.
These are the niceties of British-Irish relations that Sinn Féin must become familiar with, following yesterday’s historic events in Belfast.
All is changed, changed utterly, and the Provisional republicans have irrevocably gone from the clenched fist to the open hand.
The Lyric Theatre in leafy south Belfast was a suitable location for this much-heralded exercise in civility between the commander-in-chief of the British armed forces and the former poster-boy of the IRA.
The news media were kept at a good distance from Ridgway Street where the Lyric is located. It is indeed a rare occasion when a theatre audience are told they must stay away.
In the end, Queen Elizabeth and Martin McGuinness shook hands not once, but twice. The first was in a private room, unseen by most of the other invited guests at the Lyric.
Perhaps taking his cue from the queen’s cúpla focal at Dublin Castle last year, he greeted her with the words, “fáilte romhat”: you’re welcome.
No title was used, but when he turned to greet President Michael D Higgins, he uttered a more generous, “céad míle fáilte” (a hundred thousand welcomes) and added, “a Uachtaráin” (Mr President).
Could this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Derry and Buckingham Palace, like that famous moment at the end of the film, Casablanca? Will the British monarch and the Deputy First Minister now start exchanging text messages on a regular basis? Probably not: McGuinness likes to talk and he may have blown it by delivering a homily to the queen praising her visit south of the Border last year and stressing the importance of leadership in building peace.
Then, on the way out, there was a further handshake . The queen smiled and McGuinness, we are told, said “slán agus beannacht” (goodbye and a blessing upon you).
A woman who did not wish to be named was watching the proceedings from across the street. She arranged to stay overnight in her daughter’s house so she could see the whole thing.
But she wasn’t interested in the former IRA commander from Derry: “I love the queen, I really do, she is such a lady.” She shrugged when questioned about the encounter between the British royal and the Irish republican: “A handshake is a handshake.”
Queen Elizabeth has a sense of occasion: she wore powder blue in Enniskillen on Tuesday but yesterday it was lime green with, as a gesture to the artistic community, a quill in her hat. McGuinness wore a green tie.
The Duke of Edinburgh can always be relied on for a laugh, and he commented on the size of the scones at the reception. “Who eats those?” he quipped.
Given that the IRA killed his uncle, Lord Mountbatten (who was also the queen’s cousin) there was speculation he might not shake hands with McGuinness, but he did.
At one point, the Deputy First Minister circumvented President Higgins and made his way closer to Prince Philip as though wishing to engage in conversation.
However, the prince moved on smartly to join the queen and that was the end of that. Perhaps Lord Louis was watching.
A set of portraits by painter Colin Davidson was on show, along with some of the real-life subjects. Classical pianist Barry Douglas asked the queen: “Which is better, the real me or the painting?” The monarch replied diplomatically: “I don’t know, what do you think?”
Once portrayed in a TV documentary as Britain’s most dangerous man, McGuinness insisted on his way out that “I’m still a republican”, but, reflecting the new atmosphere, he added that the meeting with the queen was “very nice”.
Singer Dolores Keane gets her 3rd driving ban and four years with a fine of €300
Dolores Keane at Glenties District Court (above) yesterday. She is now on her third driving ban.
Irish singer Dolores Keane has been banned from driving for four years and fined €300 for drunk-driving.
Judge Paul Kelly yesterday paid tribute to Ms Keane for her involvement with the best-selling album A Woman’s Heart, and wished her the best of luck in her career.
Ms Keane (58), who is now on her third driving ban, told the judge at Glenties District Court: “Thank you very much.” She had admitted being nearly twice over the alcohol limit when driving outside the courthouse and less than 80m from the Garda station on March 26th, 2011.
The court was told it was her second drink-driving incident within a few months as she was already banned for three years for an offence near her home outside Tuam, Co Galway, in November 2010.
The four-year ban, which started yesterday, will run concurrently with the three-year disqualification.
Judge Kelly was also told that Ms Keane, who spent three months this year at an alcoholic counselling and treatment centre, was first banned from driving for two years in June 2000.
Garda Insp Dennis Joyce, prosecuting, said Ms Keane’s latest drink-driving occurred in March last year outside the courthouse in Glenties when gardaí received a report of a car being driven in an erratic manner on the wrong side of the road. Ms Keane was co-operative with gardaí.
Solicitor Eric Gleeson, defending, said Ms Keane had two children, one of whom was blind. “She drank all her life, which affected her health and wellbeing, and more recently began to drink heavily,” Mr Gleeson told the court.
This year she went on a 12-week alcoholic counselling and treatment course in a Cuan Mhuire centre and, at one stage, she was removed for treatment to hospital in Limerick.
Mr Gleeson added that she was now off alcohol and medication and “a lot more healthy” than when he first took instructions from her last year. She was getting her career back on track and there was a forthcoming tour.
Judge Kelly said to Ms Keane that it was obvious her being in court was “sufficient” punishment. She replied: “Yes.”
The judge said: “I am sure you would rather be remembered for A Woman’s Heart and your other fine productions.”
He added that he wished her the best of luck with her continued career. She replied: “Thank you very much.”
The judge said he would impose only a fine instead of a prison or suspended prison sentence. He also banned her for four years.
“You are seriously in peril if you find yourself in this situation again,” he told her.
Ms Keane, Caherlistrane, Tuam, once more replied “thank you” as she left the court with a sister and her manager.
Donegal Priest found not guilty of indecent assault in Derry court
A Catholic priest who is originally from Moville, Co Donegal, has been found not guilty at the crown court in Derry of five charges of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl 20 years ago.
Fr Eugene Boland (66), the parochial house, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, was found not guilty yesterday of the charges by majority verdicts. He had denied claims he had indecently assaulted the girl in the parochial house at St Joseph’s parish in the Galliagh area of Derry between June 1990 and June 1992 when he was the then parish administrator.
The verdicts followed an eight-day trial before Judge Stephen Fowler and almost four hours of deliberation over two days by the jury. Following the verdicts, the complainant wept in court.
Through his solicitor Kevin McGuigan, Fr Boland told reporters the last three years had been a nightmare and he thanked the jurors for bringing that nightmare to an end.
Elderly woman from Ballyshannon dies after her car collides with lorry in Cliffoney Sligo
A Ballyshannon Co DONEGAL pensioner has died after a car crash on Wednesday afternoon @ about 1:30. The elderly woman of eighty died when her car collided with a lorry near the village of Cliffoney in Co Sligo at around lunchtime yesterday.
The woman in her 80s was seriously injured when the car she was travelling in collided with a lorry on the N15 Sligo to Bundoran road near Cliffoney village at around 1.30pm today.
She was taken by ambulance to Sligo General Hospital where she was pronounced dead. The drivers of both vehicles were also taken to hospital.
Forensic collision investigators are at the scene and diversions are in place, Gardaí say.
They have also appealed for any witnesses to the collision to contact them at Sligo Garda Station on 071 915 7000, or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
Two cups of coffee a day can reduce the risk of heart failure (but five are not good for you)
Two mugs of coffee a day could help keep the heart healthy. A study has linked the drink with a lower risk of heart failure.
With up to 40 per cent of those affected dying within a year of diagnosis, heart failure has a worse survival rate than many cancers.
The latest research suggests that regularly drinking moderate amounts of coffee can cut the odds of cardiac trouble – though too much could be counter-productive.
Coffee may protect against heart failure by reducing the chance of developing diabetes, said scientists
Crunching together the results of five previous studies, involving almost 150,000 men and women, showed that those who enjoyed one or two mugs of coffee a day were 11 per cent less likely to develop heart failure than those who had none.
Heart attack survivors gained as much benefit as those with healthy hearts.
BUT DRINKING FIVE OR MORE MUGS A DAY APPEARED TO BE BAD FOR THE HEART, THE JOURNAL CIRCULATION HEART FAILURE REPORTS.
Researcher Dr Murray Mittleman, of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said: ‘As with so many things, moderation appears to be the key here too.’
The researchers aren’t sure why coffee seems to cut the odds of heart failure, in which the organ, weakened by a heart attack or disease, struggles to pump blood around the body.
They say it may be because the drink reduces the likelihood of high blood pressure and of diabetes – both of which boost the odds of heart failure.
Dr Mittleman said: ‘It stands to reason that reducing one’s odds of developing either one of them, in turn, reduces one’s chance of heart failure.’
Colleague Elizabeth Mostofsky added: ‘This is good news for coffee drinkers.’
Other recent research to hearten coffee drinkers includes a study that credited the drink with helping people live longer.
The US government-funded researchers found the more coffee you drink, the less likely you are to die from a number of different ailments.
These include heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries, accidents, diabetes and infections, but not cancer.
It is also known that some people inherit genes that make them more reliant on caffeine than others.
Those with the ‘caffeine addict’ genes, need to drink more coffee to get the same buzz.
Cheetah’s the gold medalist’s of sprinting cats
With the Olympics around the corner in London, we could see a few world records smashed.
But when it comes to sprinting, the cheetah is nature’s gold medallist. A new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology sought to find out more about why the cats are so fast by comparing them to the less speedy but still fleet greyhound.
By comparing force plate and high-speed video data of galloping cheetahs and greyhounds, the researchers saw that the cheetah’s stride length and frequency, and how the cat supports a greater percentage of its body weight on its hind legs at high speeds (18 metres per second) could be factors that help it outrun the dogs.
At the other end of the scale, there are plenty that could overtake Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus). A separate study used data-logging tags on six of the fish and saw cruising speeds of 0.34 metres per second with “bursts” of up to 0.7 metres per second.
“We showed that Greenland sharks swim at the slowest speed for their size among fishes studied to date, presumably because of the depressing effect of cold polar waters on locomotor muscle functions,” write the study authors in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology.
The term “sluggish” springs to mind, but their lack of speed doesn’t seem to lead to a lack of dinner – Greenland sharks apparently attack live seals.
So why does their prey not just swim away? The authors hypothesise that the slow-moving sharks might target seals that are sleeping in the water to avoid polar bears.
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