August, 2016

  Roger Casement, the Irishman born in Dublin, arrested in Kerry, conveyed to London, hanged by an Englishman after conviction by an English Jury of High Treason wasremembered and honoured outside Her Majesty’s Prison Pentonville,  London  on Wednesday 3rd August ,the centenary of his death there by between a gathering of 60 and 70  drawn […]

When our Taoiseach offered a forum for post-Brexit talks, inviting all of the interested parties on this island a direct line of communication to the influencers in the government of Ireland, a state that does 1 billion pounds of trade with Britain every week and  with whom we share a land border which in the […]

I remember Eddie Daly. It’s 1958 and he’s in the back of a car driven by my big brother. The two had been fellow-students at the Irish College in Rome and I’m struck by how informal Eddie Daly is – talking to everyone, even me, as though they were his equal. I remember him again […]

  It’s unlikely that Jeremy Corbyn will ever be Prime Minister. England, the dominant country in the United Kingdom, has for centuries been in love with militarism, dreadnoughts and nuclear bombs, deferential towards Kings, Queens, Dukes and Duchesses, Earls and Countesses.If the partner of a Countess was called a Count some of the deference might […]

August 7, 2016 Letters Editor   NEW YORK TIMES 620 8th Avenue New York, New York 10018   Dear Editor: Mr. Castle’s “BREXIT Complications…” (8/7) wonderfully captures some simple truths of the potential impact of the UK’s exit from the EU.   Castle claims the fear of BREXIT will  “drive  a wedge between” the countries.  […]

I have been trying to figure out why self-proclaimed moderate unionists get so upset when I claim that unionism in Ireland has bigotry at its core It seems for some at least to be more about the use of a catch-all term, ‘sliding scale of bigotry’, which they feel unfairly encompasses them. Apparently, there are […]

Now there’s a thought….What would be your opinion on” NIMBYS”? You know those guys who are ostensibly liberal about all sorts of things until they are confronted with a hard reality right at their door, or in the sanctity of their home. Every man’s home is his personal space and some might say it is […]

By now you’ve probably heard all about it, since most papers have been covering the story in some detail. Francie Molloy, the MP for Mid-Ulster has said that Sinn Féin has been able to work with the IRA to help it move away from paramilitarism, but the INLA is proving to be ‘a real problem’ – […]

If I’d ever had a doubt that Owen Smith is either hypocritical or thinks the British public are stupid, or is maybe a combination of both, that doubt has this morning been laid to rest. He has announced to the world that, in the wake of the brouhaha about David Cameron’s honours list, he would, […]

  I’d like to thank all the kind and thoughtful people who have expressed their condolences on the recent death of my dearly-loved sister Patricia. You have no idea how comforting it is to know that so many people, regardless of political views, have the graciousness and humanity to empathise at a time like this. The […]