June, 2023

Last week, Micheål Martin used the Shared Island fund to push €50 million towards the development of third level education. This follows Stephen Donnelly (also of Fianna Fail) shoving €10 million towards creating nursing places In the North. Is this creeping reunification of Ireland, or politicians getting read for the next election? The Orange Order […]

  I have just watched, for the first time, Ryan Tubridy’s ignorant and vain attempt to get the better of  Martin McGuinness. It was as shameful as Gay Byrne’s attempt to have Gerry Adams lynched by guests chosen for that purpose, which backfired on THE LATE LATE SHOW inherited by Tubridy.   The Late, Late […]

  The DUP, as you will no doubt be aware, is not only a unionist party but also a very right-wing conservative party.  Historically it has enjoyed a close relationship with British Conservative governments but only when it has found itself, to the consternation of the Tories (and everyone else), in the Kingmaker role. However, […]

    As a veteran newspaper reader ( and listener to the wireless since birth) I have failed to discern either a sense of humour or a sense of honour, in, amongst others, Fintan O’Toole, Father Seamus Murphy SJ, Stephen Collins, Kevin Myers and Fergal Keane, OBE, and the late Gay Byrne. I am familiar […]

                             Because we see scenes of devastation in Ukraine – destroyed buildings, distraught civilians – we naturally tend to sympathise with Ukraine and see the invasion of Ukraine as ‘Putin’s war’ – a democratic state invaded by a more powerful neighbour. There’s truth in that, but there are some awkward facts we must not […]

What is going on in Russia? One minute the leader of a huge mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin,  part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is marching angrily on Moscow, the next he’s saying “Ah no, I don’t want to spill Russian blood” and he’s taken off to live in Belarus. It’s in the West’s interest […]

          For 25 years now the PIRA, many of whom were and are members of Sinn Fein have openly denounced dissident Republican violence, have called for peace to prevail, and called for all armed groups to disband, going so far as to offer to meet with the RIRA to talk about […]

Michael D Higgins has criticised the neutrality conference that’s being held at present, and the woman who is its chairperson –  he believes the seats are too inclined away from neutrality. He also criticised the chairperson, on the grounds that she was a Dame of the British Empire (DBE). He’s since apologised for these ‘off-the-cuff’ […]

Wednesday, 21 June 2023 at 21:28:59 BST Subject         Dear Sir,   On June 1942 Adolf Hitler visited Finland to congratulate the Commander  in Chief of that country’s Armed Forces, Field Marshal Carl Gustav Von Mannerheim on his 75th Birthday.   Hitler’s address was recorded. It is unique because it is the […]

When history looks back – assuming that history can look and that we’ve not trashed the world to the point of extinction – it will surely look with amazement at our world and wonder at the things that happened side-by-side. We have a prime example at the moment: as I type this, the lives of […]