I watched the All-Ireland Hurling Final on TV last Sunday and I’m still trying to process what I saw and heard. Here are a few thoughts it has provoked so far. I note that, like soccer, Gaelic games now interview the winning/losing captain, the winning/losing manager, etc., with the interview going out on the […]
September, 2016
‘We need a Truth Recovery Process’ by Joe McVeigh
The British government has yet to take full responsibility for its’ devious political and military activities in Ireland. It has often been suggested, especially in academic and media circles, that the issue in the north of Ireland is that the people living here, the ‘Taigs’ and the ‘Prods’, have to learn ‘to live together’. It is […]
‘Condemning Violence’ by Joe McVeigh
There are two schools of thought in the Catholic Church about how to tackle tyranny. The traditional one is that it is justified to take up arms to defeat tyranny in certain circumstances. The other school of thought is that it is preferable to take the course of non-violent resistance. The debate about the […]
On not sweating the small stuff
It’s funny the things that set our blood simmering. I was online the other day, trying to enter for the Dublin Half-Marathon later this month. I got to a Required slot that demanded “Nationality”. Nothing wrong with that, except that it wouldn’t let me write “Irish”; I had to choose from a long list on […]
Shurely Shome Mishtake?
Further to my discussion on Talkback last week, and the indignation that greeted my reference to sectarianism and the Irish League.. .@FrankU105 N Ireland colony's 'shared' Windsor Park: Linfield -v- Rangers fans sharing their anti-Irish bigotry pic.twitter.com/b6ePN6gB10 — Ruaidri UaConchobair (@Irish_Belfast) September 3, 2016
Jaw-jaw is better than war-war – but thinking is better than both
The immediate occasion of this blog is an exchange (civilized, yes, Virginia) with Gio yesterday; the issue more generally is one that I find myself thinking about more and more. It is: are radio phone-ins, TV studio debates and blog-sites areas for the exchange of views and developed thought about topics, or bear-pits which are […]
Saturday pic(s) of the week
This week we have another splendid photograph by Antrim Lens. Here’s how he describes it: “Spent Sunday in the fields sitting under an oak tree dressed in my ghillie suit, when this buzzard passed by. It had a good look at me and then landed in a nearby tree and watched me for 2 or 3 […]
‘Revisionist myth, propaganda and fabrication’ by Manus O’Riordan
If you’re interested in Irish history and particularly the presentation of the period leading up to the Truce, you’ll probably enjoy this article by Manus O’Riordan. Thanks to Donal Kennedy for directing me to it. Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc exposes more revisionist myth, propaganda and fabrication
‘Catholicism in Ireland today?’ by Joe McVeigh
In light of the teaching of Pope Francis on the Care of Creation and on Mercy and Justice, we who claim to be Catholic and Christian in Ireland need to ask some serious questions about the kind of religion that is practiced and preached in Ireland – a country that is nominally Catholic and still claims allegiance to […]
THE TROWEL
It ‘s a worn old thing now. I was looking at the bricklayer’s trowel in my hand, once an extension of my father’s own hand and now on this particular day , a pointed extremity of my own.It was one of the few things I inherited from him .He wasn’t really one for amassing […]