In 1938 The Illustrated London News carried photos from London’s Euston Station that look like stills from A Hard Day’s Night. Ecstatic crowds, not waiting but rushing, a platform, and athletic fans running on the roofs of railway carriages, many of them waving the Irish Tricolour. Nearly 20 years earlier, crowds, flying the same colours, […]
December, 2015
That Hilary Benn speech
So did you watch the Hilary Benn speech? Listen to it? The one where he was applauded roundly at the end by MPs from both Conservative and Labour benches? I’ve just replayed it on my laptop and I’m a bit puzzled. Everyone, even those who disagree with him, accept that it was a dazzling […]
AW.. DEAR SUFFERIN’ SUCCOTASH
Aw dear Sufferin’ Succotash!! Here we go again. It would make you throw your hands in the air in exasperation at the madness , jumbled thinking and naievity of some of our denizens. Something called the “Protestant Coalition” is protesting about refugees coming into Norneverland. You ‘d know that Ooor Wullie Frazer would be in […]
Letter to the Editor by Donal Kennedy
From: d < donalmkennedy@aol.com> To: lettersed < lettersed@irishtimes.com> Sent: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 1:13 Subject: Incendiaries, the gun and the ballot box. Sir, Your obituary (June 8 2013) of Ruairi O Bradaigh has some striking phrases. Its subject was ” driven by a fundamentalist commitment to the tenets of incendiary nationalism.” The events of 1969 “drove […]
‘Don’t Mention Civilian Casualties’ by John Patton
BBC Political Editor, Laura Kernssberg , has assured us that each MP wrestled with the decision before voting on the War motion in the Commons. The Glasgow woman is absolutely right ; from the moment they are elected, the one question MPs automatically ask themselves is – ‘what are the implications of this for my re-election’. It is […]
I read the news today – Oh boy…
What was it the media have been telling us for the past couple of weeks? Yes, of course – bombing Syria is a great idea and Hilary Benn is a demi-god. But apart from that? Well done, Virginia. That the by-election in Oldham would be the first real test of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the […]
EVERYTHING STOPS FOR TEA
I see that tea’s good for you this year.Remember last year it was good old butter’s turn to be the health champion of the masses. I suppose if we wait around long enough they’ll discover that a smooth bottle of Malbec, sipped daily, will be a boon to the nation’s well-being too. On these issues […]
‘Remembering past deeds’ by Donal Kennedy
In Dublin last Thursday I walked the walk where the first shots fired in anger in Western Europe rang out in 1914. But there is nothing to inform today’s citizens or visitors about them Last Friday on Platform 4 of Amiens Street Station I saw again the memorial plaque erected to ex-employees of the Great Northern […]
On supporting violence to achieve political ends
They say Tony Benn wept in the Visitors’ Gallery of the House of Commons as he watched his son Hilary make his maiden speech as an MP. Had he been alive last night, he would surely have wept again, this time from shame rather than pride. By all accounts Benn’s speech was the speech […]
‘All changed, changed utterly, the Easter Rising was born.’ (Part 3) by Ciaran Mc
Previous blog: “England’s difficulty would be Ireland’s opportunity” – The IRB and the planning of the Easter Rising (Part 2) The failure of the Aud to land weapons and the subsequent confusion over Eoin MacNeill’s countermand order, had torpedoed the IRB Military Councils plans. Before the crucial crunch meeting at Liberty Hall on Easter […]