September, 2026

Does it strike you that EU countries are getting ready to wage war? Eighteen of them, including Germany, Poland, France and Belgium have “activated the special fiscal flexibility”- in other words, they’re allowed to spend more on weapons than would normally be permitted in EU countries. Poland is spending about 4.7% of GDP on armaments. […]

The FAI makes  Ed Sheeran look like a fearsome opponent of Israel. Sheeran has failed to follow the lead of his band and supporting acts, who have spoken out at gigs against the genocide in Gaza. He finally has come up with a milk-and-water complaint about how  October 7, 2023 was a terrible atrocity but […]

  It is often said that clericalism is the enemy of the church and of Christianity. The Church founded by Jesus of Nazareth and his apostles was a community of men and women who set out to restore human dignity in a world where many were treated as less than human. In that society women […]

At the SDLP conference on 12 September, Colum Eastwood described Provisional SinnFéin’s refusal to take its Westminster seats as a “terrible dereliction of duty”. His argumentwas that decisions concerning a future border poll will ultimately be taken in London,“whether we like it or not”.For clarity, I refer here to the contemporary party led by Mary […]

Ed Sheeran’s tour controversy is not simply celebrity gossip. Macklemore was removed from upcoming shows after he used the stage to say “Free Palestine” and condemn Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Stadium owner Robert Kraft said the decision reflected concerns about antisemitic rhetoric; Sheeran said the promoter made the final call. But the effect is unmistakable: […]

We live in strange times. The Catholic Church’s traditional obsession with sexual sin has been scoffed at and dismissed, and for many that will be a relief and not before time. For others it serves up an irony that we would do well to note.   Which is?  That the one sin which contemporary Irish […]

There are things which happen that leave you winded. Open-mouthed, speechless. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry.   It seems that in a loyalist parade in Banbridge (Yes of course, Virginia, it may have been marching in circles, but I have no verification of that) their  trusty band played and sang a ditty called […]

Micheál Martin has turned political supplication into an Olympic sport, and his masterclass in bending the knee to Donald Trump deserves its own gilded medal. Watching the Irish Taoiseach navigate a room with Trump is like watching a golden retriever attempt diplomacy with a lawnmower—desperate to please, entirely outmatched, and vaguely aware that one wrong […]

  AMERICAN BREXIT COMMITTEE Philadelphia, PA   A recent news article (“Trump, breaking with precedent …says Irish unification would be fantastic.”) addressed remarks made by President Trump in his visit to Ireland.   It may surprise your readers to know that Britain’s governance in Northern Ireland has inspired many ‘precedents’ by both the British and American leaders.  In […]

Let me start by congratulating Donald J Trump. The guy’s a master of the deal and all things flim-flam. I watched him last night seamlessly insert himself into Shane Lowry’s golfing win with his repeated support for a united Ireland and his celebratory removal of the 10% tariff on Irish whiskey.  I had to make […]