May, 2020

A few days ago I read in THE TIMES of expensive, technically brilliant and damned near risk-free operations in IRAQ, by the British and American Air Forces, which killed in total about twenty ISIS – Islamic “terrorists.” Although the operation was filmed by the missiles involved, no pictures were shown to support the story. It […]

Yet another 20-minute chat with Pat. We kept it down to 20 minutes with a real effort: there were so many aspects of his work in Derry then, we could have gone on for an hour. But we agreed that people coming to this blogsite don’t want a loooong video. (If we’ve got that wrong, […]

Did you watch that RTÉ programme about Dana last night? I did, because like Reeling in the Years, it reminds me of where I was at the time. As it happens, I was in a pub-restaurant outside Dublin, and when the word got round that Dana had won the Eurovision Song Contest, the place was buzzing […]

The story so far was told in the August 2019 all headed  THE BRITISH FORCES’  NETWORK IN IRELAND Part One    1st August 2019 Part Two     6th August 2019 Part  Three  7th August 2019 Part   Four  12th August 2019 Part Five     17th August 2019 Part Six        26th […]

There is a Jesuit priest called Micheál MacGreil writing in the letter section of today’s Irish Times. His letter is given considerable space as he recalls the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and his own efforts to support the bereaved. Over five paragraphs he relives the experience and the pain involved that day in May 1974. But it is the […]

I  Sometime in 1988, I was asked by BBC Religious Affairs producer, Bert Tosh to take part in a BBC TV series to discuss violence and more specifically the Catholic Church’s attitude to violence. I agreed to take part on condition that the interview would be in the form of a conversation rather than a […]

Being human is to be alert. To leave the house is to be alert. So to “BE ALERT” seems like stating the obvious. I agree, we  need to be alert, all of us. Maybe we need to be alert to how life and politics actually works. The highs and lows of society and how  we […]

You Tube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvbEYkf9Hec ISBN 0 9528922 8 6 This story began some time ago . . . I’ll keep it brief. Away back in 2000/2001 I had travelled twice to Canada. First to Vancouver Island and then Sioux Valley Reserve two hours drive West of Winnipeg. My Great Grandfather  was born near Winnipeg in 1864. […]

I read his piece (online) on Friday with amazement.  I could swear it was in “AN IRISHMAN’S DIARY” but later when I sought it could not find it. When I eventually found it there was no mention of the DIARY. I know I’m getting old and wheels are falling off my wagon but I would like someone […]

Presumer Livingstone and me, we avoided Frankie Dalton.  He was too clean – all shiny hair and trimmed fingernails and short trousers that had a crease in them. If he came over when we were playing marbles, we’d pretend the game had just ended. If he held up a shiny brown chestnut on a bootlace, we’d tell […]