Roger Casement, on discovering the British plot to destroy her trade rival, Germany, wrote about what he saw as the crime against Europe. The British Consul in Christiana (Oslo) tried to have him murdered in 1915. In 1916, when he was captured in Kerry, he was taken to London, and tried by an English jury, […]
August, 2020
VJ DAY: SEVENTY FIVE YEARS OF TOMMY-ROT by Donal Kennedy
It seems to me that VJ-Day has always been a load of tommy-rot. It should be no surprise that Boris Johnson sought the limelight this year, before crawling off before a sea of troubles, to rough it on a camping holiday amongst the midges of the Scottish Highlands. British forces, (when they were fighting) in […]
The American election and democracy
Elections are central to Western democracy. When we don’t have them, people say democracy has failed. When we do have them and they appear to be rigged – that is, the end result does not reflect the wishes of the people – as recently in Belarus, where President Lukashenko is supposed to have got 80% […]
IRELAND AND THE EU POST-BREXIT by Ray Bassett
I once challenged Ray Bassett at a public meeting over his use of the word ‘Ireland’ when he meant ‘The Republic of Ireland’ , on the grounds that I didn’t think I’d married a foreigner when I married a Mayo woman. He smiled and held up his hands in apology. The title of his new […]
LOCKDOWN PHOTOGRAPHY 1 by John Patton
Occasionally, I remind myself that my website is a photography website and that posting something relevant might be a positive idea. It has long been a neglected intention to digitise slides that I made in Zambia and in 60s Ireland. Lockdown provided an opportunity because setting time aside has always been the major impediment to […]
Perfect response to 100th Anniversary of England’s partition of Ireland “ One Ireland, indivisible …” Internet Petition. by Fr Sean McManus
CAPITOL HILL. Monday, August 17, 2020— The popular and fast-growing internet Petition of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus is now being seen as a perfect response to the approaching 100th Anniversary of England’s partition of Ireland. Fr. Sean Mc Manus, Caucus president, said: “Our 1974 founding motto, ‘Ireland, too, has the right to be One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty […]
PAT + JUDE TALK ABOUT CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND WORKING FROM HOME
Pat and I stuck to just two topics today – conspiracy theories and working from home – but even with that we found our time was gobbled up. Covid-19 provokes conspiracy theories the way a dung-heap provokes dung-beetles, and working from home has so many sides to it, but plus and minus, you wouldn’t know where to begin or stop. Anyway, I hope we’ve provoked a few thoughts in you. As always, feed-back is VERY welcome. For starters, have we seriously over-talked by going on for approximately 30 mins? Let me know at judejcollins@gmail.com
Noah’s Life Matters by Fra Hughes
At 6.11 pm on Sunday August 16 a twitter storm was unleashed. #Week8 #RememberMyNoah As Fiona Donohoe, the friends and family of Noah Donohoe continue to demand answers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice and The Ombudsman office, we together as a community must call out loud and clear ‘I […]
The Noah Donohoe Case: Policing the PSNI amidst Pandemic by Donal Lavery
“It is the common people’s duty to police the police.” – Steven Magee “The absence of evidence is certainly not the evidence of absence.” – Donald Rumsfeld “It is not the function of the Government to stop the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from […]
The woes of Micheál
An earlier version of this blog appeared as a column in the Andersonstown News If he’s not careful, Micheál Martin will achieve Premier League status as the man most likely to put his foot in it. When he named his cabinet, the intensity of anger that shook Fianna Fáil voters and even Fianna Fáil politicians verged on epileptic. Prominent members like Jim O’Callaghan and Dara Calleary didn’t […]