Oh! The joy of it. The hunt for anything that would burn in the days when people had little by way of furniture or other possessions, did not deter us children from scouting the back lanes for material for our bonfire. It was the 15th August and practically every street in the Nationalists areas of […]
August, 2020
Unholy war: Frank McNally on controversial memorials of a Dublin cathedral. (An Irishman’s Diary, IRISH TIMES, 6 August 2020)
The case for keeping unpopular historical monuments, on display somewhere, for educational purposes, is well illustrated by one of Dublin’s two great Cathedrals, St Patrick’s. There, alongside the tomb of Jonathan Swift, and other tourist attractions, is a pair of monuments that, had they been located elsewhere in the city, unguarded, might long ago, have […]
EXPLANATION OF BLOG “UNHOLY WAR” (Aug 13) by Donal Kennedy
The remarks posted as a BLOG (August 13) arose from reading Frank McNally’s IRISHMAN’S DIARY in the IRISH TIMES of August 6th. They are excerpts from a long and hurried email sent to Jude “McNally is by far the best columnist writing in any daily newspaper in Ireland, if not the world. His columns are […]
JUDE AND PAT TALK ABOUT MICHEÁL’S VISIT NORTH, A LEVEL MARKS AND…
I thought we were going to be talking about Micheál Martin’s visit north and the uproar about A Level results being fiddled with, but Pat as you’ll see throws me a curve ball, which takes the (initial) conversation in a totally different direction. Watch it and you’ll see how it all works out…
UNHOLY WAR- MEMORIALS IN ST PATRICK’S (ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL) by Donal Kennedy
Living In England I have visited many beautiful and beautifully kept Anglican Churches and Cathedrals predating the “Reformation”and been welcomed by informed and friendly guideThe memorials and graves of generals and admirals from landed families who benefitted from the suppression of the monasteries, dispossession of English peasants, the murder, pillage and genocide on all continents […]
An A level tale
I’ve tried to keep my trap shut as Mark Carruthers manned the Talkback phone lines today, where people were queuing to tell how this bloody algorithm had taken their children’s grades a notch lower and was blocking them from the university of their choice. I’ve tried but I’m out of patience (and modesty). When, in […]
Biden, Harris and teenage tears
PERSON 1: Holy shit, this is amazing! PERSON 2: We could appeal, I suppose. Although these appeal panels are always stacked against the appealer. PERSON 1: Never mind that now. He’s chosen Harris! Biden has announced that Harris will be his running mate! PERSON 2: The poor child – she’s been upstairs crying her eyes […]
Donald and Stephen: separated at birth?
During the last five minutes, I’ve suffered a double air-head whammy. I was tuned to B(ritish)BC Radio 4, where the voice of Donald Trump was heard, and I switched to B(ritish) BC Raidio Uladh/Radio Ulster, where the voice of Stephen Nolan was to be heard. Now I know what John Keats was talking about when […]
Making political capital of children by John Patton
We were shown into a closet in Victoria Quay rather than the conference room where we usually met with Scottish Education officials. A section along the back wall was piled high with Higher Still ring binder resource files. Clearly, this was wallpapering with all the subtlety of a JCB. I was part of an EIS […]
The Indo’s attempt to present black as blinding white
Since Pat McArt and I will be discussing this topic on Friday, I don’t want to get into it too comprehensively here. But there are a number of points I’d like to put up for consideration between now and Friday, regarding the Sunday Independent/Irish Independent assaults on John Hume during the period when he was […]