I don’t want to hear another word of criticism against President Michael D Higgins. Not a peep, not a monosyllable. My reason for taking this stand derives from something I’ve noticed over the years: the Irish people are great talkers. I’m even a fair talker myself. But sometimes the talking has to stop. That time […]
April, 2016
1916 BAD FOR IRISH BUSINESS by Donal Kennedy
A TV News Report the other day showed a non-military target in the Yemen blasted from the air by the Saudis. It was a plant owned by a Yemeni educated in Britain, who wondered why the bombs had been manufactured there, for we were shown the remnants of one manufactured by Marconi, a British […]
A Letter to the Editor PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE by Michael J Cummings
March 30, 2016 Letters Editor PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE 358 North Shore Dr Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Dear Editor: Ms. Keating and Mr. McCabe offered a measured and qualified commentary on the Easter Rising implications (“The Easter Rising 100 Years later” 3/27) which eclipsed the British propaganda editorial in the New York Times. Well done. […]
‘The Land of Hy Brasil’ by Jessica McGrann
One of my favourite British exports is the Monty Python team. In The Life of Brian, where a group of revolutionaries are discussing the other groupings also aiming to overthrow the imperial Roman empire who occupied their homelands, the various initials and names such as the people’s front of Judea and how their […]
Michaela tells all to RTÉ
What is RTÉ up to? First they give us the brain-numbing Voice of Ireland and then they give us Michaela McCollum. When last seen, Michaela was in Peru wearing a very large bun on her head – or to be more exact, on her way to a Peruvian prison with a large bun on her […]
Another brick in the Wall
That Wall – it’s impressive, you have to admit. Glossy black/grey marble, names in gold or gilt or whatever. Making no distinction between those who died in 1916, no hierarchy of …I almost said victims there. No hierarchy of those who died during the violence of Easter week a hundred years ago. I applaud that. […]
Sir Bob and the f***ing martyrs
Some time back there was a fashionable notion called the Tipping Point. In the old days we’d have called it the straw that broke the camel’s back. Well, I’ve reached that point with Sir Bob Geldof. I know he’s done huge things in terms of getting the pop world – and the world – to fork out […]
Something’s missing
Do you have reservations? Do you find yourself waking in the grey 4.00 am light and wondering if there’s something missing? Do you detect an irony going brr-rrrr in your brain like a phone on silent? I do. Like so many others, I watched on telly the Dublin Easter parade. Well, not all of […]
Read this – a truly rare article
Reading this piece from the Irish Examiner, I was at first refreshed and then depressed. Refreshed, in that finally someone south of the border could talk about the Troubles in the north in a factual, understanding way. Depressed, in that such an article as this is such a rarity in the southern newspapers. Bainigi sult as […]
‘A Nation Never Again’ by Jessica McGrann
I am no historian so I appreciate the more knowledgeable readers of this blog to keep me right. But while conversing with the few unionist contributors of this blog, there is actually some gravity to their narrative if you are prepared to adjust your point of view. The rebellion of 1916 was an all-island […]