Reading a recent Perkins BLOG, I was distressed to read of Seamus Mallon, that after nearly twenty years decorating the green benches at Westminster he described the Parliament there as “the Mother of Parliaments” and that he did so in Dublin’s College of Surgeons, a very learned institution, famed for sharp wits and sharp […]
Author Jude Collins
‘Oppressed Protestants in the early years of the Free State’ by Niall Meehan
An interesting article from the Irish Times in 1924 detailing Southern Irish Loyalist Relief Association (SILRA) propaganda on ‘starving’ unemployed ex-servicemen, republicans gaining everywhere, IRB running the show and in the grip of bolshevists and communists. The Roman Catholic Church, a force for good (‘up to a point’), losing its grip. I tackeled this issue […]
“King George V & ‘The Six Counties’” by Joe McVeigh
The first person ever to refer to the occupied part of Ireland as ‘The Six Counties’ was King George V in his speech at the official opening of the Northern parliament in Belfast City Hall on 7 June 1921. (The parliament moved from the City Hall to the Presbyterian Church’s college, later Union Theological College, until they […]
The DRUIDESS is the MELINA MERCOURI of MOTHER IRELAND, not . (Parthenon 2) by Perkin Warbeck.
The career of Melina Mercouri was entwined with that of the great Greek composer, Manos Hatzidakis who magicked up the music for ‘Never on Sunday’. Manos Hatzidakis was, ar bhealach, the Seán Ó Riada of Greece in the way both explored and enhanced alike the folk music of their native countries. If Hatzidakis (like […]
Those Shinner and their pesky red lines – they’ll be the ruin of this wee country
Facing into life on a grey Monday morning takes courage. You try not to think of that person at work with the smarmy ways, that boss who’s devoid of reason, that daily commute which leaves your lungs stuffed full of carbon dioxide and your nerves shredded. The state of political affairs doesn’t induce delight either. […]
Getting real about Brexit and Irish reunification
Reccntly I find myself cheered mightily by the fact that people who would have cut out their tongue before talking about a reunited Ireland are now raising the issue. That’s good. The more people who take a sober look at this age-old aspiration, the better. Issues like this need to build a momentum, and from […]
The Féile and unionism
The Féile An Phobail which we’ve recently enjoyed has many benefits, but outstanding among these must be that it encourages us to think. Most of us, of course, can think without being plugged into a Féile; but our thinking can fall into a pattern and even a rut, and getting heaved out of that rut […]
THE DRUIDESS is the MELINA MERCOURI of MOTHER IRELAND, not. (Parthenon 1) by Perkin Warbeck.
There is a bust of Melina Mercouri on the side of a street below the Parthenon in Athens. It is positioned in a such a way that is looks eternally upwards in the direction of the fabled temple on the top of a classical hill. It is to sculpture what Opus 113 by Ludwig […]
‘The British Proposals re Brexit’ by Joe McVeigh
The decision of the British government to hold a referendum in 2016 re their membership of the EU was taken without regard for the implications for the peace process in Ireland and the sensitivity about the issue of the border which was imposed on Ireland in 1920. Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, people […]
SATURDAY PICS OF THE WEEK
PICS 1- 4 are by Perkin Warbeck pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 “A MALTASTY MOUTHFUL Pic 4: ‘This traditional Maltese house was built in the turn of the 19th Centre. Constructed in Maltese lime stone, it holds a number of Maltese stone handcraft, such as traditional apertures, iron works […]