One Friday afternoon in 1911 an almost empty House of Commons passed the Official Secrets Act with less than an hour’s debate. In 1848 in similar haste the Treason Felony Act was enacted. Both Acts are still in force. How much in force is itself an Official Secret. On the face of it a person […]
Author Jude Collins
THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS , THE CRUISER, A POSER AND SWEET FANNY ADAMS by Donal Kennedy From September 1948 to June 1957 I went to St Fintan’s CBS, then on the Burrow Rd, Sutton, Co Dublin. I was first in the Primary,and then in Secondary when I did my Inter Cert. As I lived near Howth Summit I […]
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT THE DEATH OF REFUGEES, ANTI-VAXERS, GARTH BROOKS + CROKER, AND THE BRIT AWARDS
Are you saddened by the deaths of those refugees who died recently, trying to make it to England? Or are you enraged? Should vaccination be made compulsory? Or is that an infringement of personal liberty? Croke Park sold out in full for a Garth Brooks concert. It could have sold out five nights in a […]
Three letters from this morning’s Irish Times
There are three letters of note in the Irish Times this morning which, taken together, go to the heart of the border poll issue. In the first, Letter Writer 1 from Dublin 5 declares “If a nationalist solution is imposed by whatever means, other than the inclusion of a willing majority of unionists, the result […]
SCHOOLS OF VIOLENCE – BROTHERS AND ARMS – by Donal Kennedy
To read some commentators, the Irish Christian Brothers were distinguished mainly for violence and the approval of its use for Republican ends. My father and his brother, my mother’s four brothers, my own two brothers and myself were Christian Brothers’ Boys, so I think I know something about the Order. I have before me a photo of my […]
A victim of state violence – by Joe McVeigh
The murder of my cousin Michael Leonard by the RUC on 17th May 1973 affected us all as a family and it greatly influenced my thinking about the conflict in Ireland and the role of the British state in the murder and intimidation of Irish citizens. Not only was I deeply affected by my cousin’s killing but I […]
ONE TIMES – TWO KEIRS – AND RMS TITANIC by Donal Kennedy
ONE TIMES – TWO KEIRS – AND RMS TITANIC – by Donal Kennedy Inbox On April 11 1912THE TIMES thundered in an Editorial “SOLDIERS AND CITIZENS” –“Mr Keir Hardie made the totally absurd proposal that men joining the Army should be given the option as to whether or not they shall be liable to take […]
How to become a lord
This blog originally appeared as a column in the Andersonstown News I wonder how Michael Fawcett is feeling these days. He used to be chief executive of one of Prince Charles’s charities, but whether he was pushed or jumped, he is no longer so. That’s because there were accusations that he’d helped secure a knighthood for a Saudi billionaire. My guess is that Mr Fawcett […]
How can you tell for certain“? – by a Man in the Street
HOW CAN YOU TELL FOR CERTAIN? to the tune of “I am the very model of a modern Major-General)How can you tell for certain who’s a public intellectual Unless they cheat in politics and partnerships And matters inter-sexual Are bums with Academic ChairsAs well as Editorial Who operate a censorship That’s crudely Dictatorial?*Inspired by lines by W.H. […]
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT THE KID WHO KILLED AND WALKED FREE, MAN UTD., AND CHILDREN’S PHOTOS….
Karl Rittenhouse is innocent! Or at least that’s what the US court that tried him decided – innocent on all charges, even though, at 17 packing a semi-automatic rifle, he killed two people and seriously injured another at a Black Lives Matter protest. Young Mr Rittenhouse, I hardly need add, is white. So – out […]