October, 2016

If you read my BLOG   “HISTORIC DOCUMENTS?”   (20 Oct) I covered two stories. One arose from its front page story for Easter Monday 1966 reporting that 900 veterans of the 1916 Rising (roughly half the total number of insurgents “out” in 1916) were present at the GPO for the Golden Jubilee of its outbreak. […]

     I suppose you can say it started early last Friday morning in the Titanic Building, as we heard the ideas from a number of speakers. They talked about the multi-million pound development of inner cities as triggers for quality of life differences for the most deprived residents in those same cities. It was […]

Pics 1, 2 and 3 are by John Patton. John blogs at phototilly.eu  Pic 1 “This is ‘Caker’ Casey Snr., whose son, Caker jnr., painted the original gable end – ‘You are now entering Free Derry’ ,one of the leading tourist attractions in the NW. Phil Coulter thinks that this pic embodies the spirit he […]

“Will the birds eat these?” asked the good wife…..”Will they what ? “,says I ,in response. Ten minutes later the bun -worry to end all bun worries was in progress across the garden ,as first the starlings tore into the bag of seeded rolls that the wife thought might be out of date by an […]

Will you be heading for the Ramada Inn at Shaw’s Bridge today? Mm, me neither. Though maybe we’ll be missing something important. Although then again, maybe not. Mike Nesbitt has the job of giving the kiss of life to the Ulster Unionist Party, which for a time looked as though it’d be better having a Do […]

In 1978 MacLysaght published a memoir “Changing Times – Ireland Since 1898.”  He had kept a diary for many years and some of the excerpts are priceless. His people were wealthy. A great-uncle had founded a steel works in Wales and his father travelled the world as an export salesman for it but arranged to […]

  Richard Rohr is a serious spiritual writer and Franciscan priest based in New Mexico who tackles all the big questions in his writings. I think he helps us to understand a lot about religion and the world we live in and about ourselves. He is a deep thinker and a man who practices what he preaches. […]

As Thomas Paine said, these are the times that try men’s souls. And women’s. And states. Theresa May has been to Europe (no one had the nerve to tell her she was already in it) to tell the European leaders how Britain would be looking for access to the single market. The other European leaders […]

  Recently I watched a favourite film from my childhood – Some Mother’s Son. Although not precisely accurate in the timing of the actual events, it’s a powerful depiction of one of the worst yet bravest episodes in Irish history. When I first saw it as a child, I suddenly knew what I wanted to […]

Since I cannot buy the hard copy of the Irish Times here in London I may have the opportunity to clear some of my clutter. I keep copies for months, meaning to separate the chaff from the chaff and comment on the most silly chaff, and keep the well written pieces for reference. In practice chaff […]