December, 2009

It’s as well we can’t see the future, or that we can’t see the present from the future. The dangers springing from the first are obvious, since few of us would like to know the day we’re going to be fired from our job or let down in love, much less the day we’re going […]

It’s as well we can’t see the future, or that we can’t see the present from the future. The dangers springing from the first are obvious, since few of us would like to know the day we’re going to be fired from our job or let down in love, much less the day we’re going […]

I’ve been listening to Joe Duffy’s ‘Liveline’ on RTÉ Radio One. All this week Joe’s show is based in Áras an Uachtaráin, with President Mary McAleese leading the charge to try and awake optimism among all those Irish people who are suffering seriously from the recession. Now I’ll yield to no one in my admiration […]

I’ve been listening to Joe Duffy’s ‘Liveline’ on RTÉ Radio One. All this week Joe’s show is based in Áras an Uachtaráin, with President Mary McAleese leading the charge to try and awake optimism among all those Irish people who are suffering seriously from the recession. Now I’ll yield to no one in my admiration […]

Caught up in the sobbing despair of this year’s Christmas travel and the financial apocalypse that our politicians have allowed to happen in 2009, it’s easy to forget we have reasons to rejoice in our blessings. One example: the quality of the press, both in Britain and in Ireland. Despite the temptation to be caught […]

Caught up in the sobbing despair of this year’s Christmas travel and the financial apocalypse that our politicians have allowed to happen in 2009, it’s easy to forget we have reasons to rejoice in our blessings. One example: the quality of the press, both in Britain and in Ireland. Despite the temptation to be caught […]

I usually manage to avoid QE2’s Christmas Day message to Her country and Her Commonwealth, but this year I came into the living-room and there it was, on, before I’d time to grab the zapper and zap it over to The Incredibles or whatever rubbish movie was playing on another channel. For a full ten […]

I usually manage to avoid QE2’s Christmas Day message to Her country and Her Commonwealth, but this year I came into the living-room and there it was, on, before I’d time to grab the zapper and zap it over to The Incredibles or whatever rubbish movie was playing on another channel. For a full ten […]

As I write it’s Christmas Eve and I’m reluctant to intertwine the arrival of the saviour of the world with the stinky world of journalism, but there are a couple of examples of how stories should NOT be reported that cry out to heaven for comment. Stinky Story 1: The Irish Times a day or […]

As I write it’s Christmas Eve and I’m reluctant to intertwine the arrival of the saviour of the world with the stinky world of journalism, but there are a couple of examples of how stories should NOT be reported that cry out to heaven for comment. Stinky Story 1: The Irish Times a day or […]