June, 2023

PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT SOUTH-TO-NORTH MONEY, RTÉ, THE ORANGE ORDER, F O’TOOLE …AND PAUL McCARTNEY

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 […]

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The DUP: Isolation Through Intransigence – by Michael Lagan

  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, […]

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SENSE AND SENSIBILITY by Donal Kennedy

    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 […]

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Bad Russia, good US?

                             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 […]

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PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT IRISH NEUTRALITY, THAT SUBMERSIBLE, AND RYAN TUBRIDY LOOKS IN HIS BANK ACCOUNT

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’ […]

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Death and the submersible

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 […]

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