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Mike Gilson

Eddie Grenfell

Eddie Grenfell deserves to win his final battle for recognition

Eddie Grenfell told himself he was too young to die. The icy waters of the arctic were numbing his legs as he clung on to a floating barrel, oil and debris from what used to be his ship swirling in the blackened waters around him.

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Inside Mike Gilson

English restaurant serves invisible mangoes and fingers your sauce

Thursday, 11 October 2012

When was the last time the manager of a restaurant accused you of being a liar? Never, you say? The customer is always right, isn't that the mantra?
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Harry Potter author JK Rowling can't re-write her life's new chapter of fame

Thursday, 4 October 2012

I reckon this column might be viewed as the journalistic equivalent of the men who go onto the iceflow to club baby seals.
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Early Bird meal deals beckon now I'm an empty nester

Thursday, 27 September 2012

I could hear the clock tick in the kitchen. It was probably the first time in 20 years I had done so. Upstairs, Iggy Pop wasn't competing with LCD Soundsystem to see who could upset the neighbours the most. The buzz of guitar amps left on at top volume wasn't there, either.
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Scientists not playing God by killing shape-shifting super mosquitoes

Thursday, 20 September 2012

The mosquito is completely useless and completely deadly. Now the wasp, compared to the bee, say, is also useless.
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Delayed flight gave an insight into airline’s dark arts

Wednesday, 12 September 2012

The airline regrets to announce a continuing delay to Flight 123 to Belfast City. This has been caused by the late arrival of the incoming aircraft.’
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How Gorky's Zygotic Mynci singer Euros Childs let me glimpse the future

Thursday, 6 September 2012

The brown package dropped through the letterbox last week. My name and address was written on it in awkward black felt-tip.
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How I weep at the memories of our sweet music

Thursday, 30 August 2012

My guitar gently weeps, but unlike George Harrison's, it's not because it plays a ballad to Eastern mysticism. No, it weeps through neglect.
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How our divisions condemn our young to penury

Thursday, 23 August 2012

Imagine a government deciding people of pensionable age in some countries of the UK were to be charged up to £50,000 for three years' use of the NHS, while elsewhere it was to remain free.
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Just how long could you listen to the sound of silence?

Wednesday, 15 August 2012

Last night at the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall thousands of people paid good money to listen to nothing. Four minutes and 33 seconds of nothing to be exact.
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Footballers simply outclassed by the beautiful Games

Thursday, 9 August 2012

Two little vignettes from Super Saturday over at the London Olympics. "I can't believe we've won. We're gonna be on a stamp tomorrow," says newly crowned gold medal winner Kat Copeland, her face a joy of stunned non-comprehension as her lightweight double rowing partner Sophie Hosking weeps blissful tears behind her.
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Forget the Med, I'm having a field day closer to home

Thursday, 2 August 2012

We are stuck in grey mud. Mud the colour of long-dead flesh, gelatinous ooze that sucks you down to your knees, wants to take you slowly under to Hades.
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Jim's Real Music Club should strike a chord with us all

Thursday, 12 July 2012

I'd like to talk to you about Jim Heaney. Jim's a bit of an unsung hero in the cultural life of Belfast. You'll find him collecting ticket money upstairs at the Errigle Inn on gig nights. But he's not just the ticket-taker, he's the promoter.
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Spain's Euro 2012 team made the game beautiful again

Thursday, 5 July 2012

Life mostly disappoints. A series of expectations build and the reality fizzles like a damp Catherine Wheel. Nowhere is this more apparent than in sport.
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One way or another, let's shed some light on road chaos

Thursday, 28 June 2012

Between my Belfast home and the office there are 17 sets of traffic lights. The distance to work is about two miles. If I am lucky I can sometimes reach the xanadu that is fourth gear in my little Fiat, but those times are rare.
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Forget football, the best action is nuthatch of the day

Thursday, 21 June 2012

I did something the other day I could never conceive of a few years back. I switched over from the football. There I was reaching for the controller and turning over to see how the nuthatches were doing.
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Step inside this shop and rekindle your love of books

Thursday, 14 June 2012

This is going to sound pretentious but there's no avoiding it. There is an English language book store in the middle of Paris called Shakespeare and Company. It is a petanque toss away from Notre Dame cathedral but it is on a pilgrimage of a different kind that tourists and Parisians alike seek out the studied shambles of a shop front and the cool nooks and crannies inside.
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