Author Jude Collins

I’m feeling just a bit culturally/politically starved today, since I missed listening to Stephen Nolan on – what else?  – ’The Nolan Show’ in the morning,  and William Crawley on ’Talkback’ over lunch. But half a loaf is better than no bread, and I did get part of Crawley’s interview with a man with an […]

Ed Koch was one of New York’s most popular mayors. He would ask audiences “How am I doin’?” and if  they expressed dissatisfaction, he’d get stuck in and resolve the problem. Don’t expect Micheál Martin or any other Fianna Fail ministers to ask that question. Some 100 days into their governing period, they’ve registered  Miss […]

Did you see the final ‘Match of the Day’ featuring Gary Lineker?  Will he be a serious loss? Is ‘Match of the Day’ maybe out-dated?  Pat McArt was Managing Editor of the Derru Journal. How much was his work that of a journalist and how much as a manager? And would he advise his younger […]

    If we are serious about following Jesus today, we need more Prophets who speak the truth to power. We need people like Des Wilson, Dan Berrigan, Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Dorothy Stang, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King,  Sr Joan Chittister, Fr Rohr to name a few. Prophets are the only people who will keep […]

Ever fancy a holiday in South Sudan?Get in touch with D Trump and his ghastlies and they’ll arrange for it. When did the Dublin government give over the running of Shannon airport to the US? Oooh – about twenty five years ago. Can you believe it? And is it possible that Israel has lied about […]

  Yesterday in Washington DC, a man shot dead two young Jewish people.  Israel’s embassy in the US has named the couple shot dead i as Yaron and Sarah. Levi Shemtov is a rabbi in Washington who met the couple. They were “nice people, popular” people he says, and this was “brutal news”. ON October […]

  Micheål Martin is not feeling well. “I am deeply shocked and horrified that the Israeli Defence Forces today open fire on a. group of diplomats visiting the town of Jenin”. Simon Harris is also feeling upset: “”I am shocked and appalled at reports that the IDF fired shots in the vicinity of a visit […]

      You’ve probably heard the news by now. The UK, France and Canada have warned Israel they will take “concrete actions” if it continues an “egregious” expansion of military operations in Gaza. Sir Keir Starmer joined the French and Canadian leaders to call on the Israeli government to “stop its military operations” and “immediately […]

So – did you tune into Eurovision? Watch all those wonderful singers and people lepping about. Pat and I boycotted it but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about the shame of (the south of) Ireland’s trotting along. Sad, sad, sad. And did RTÉ make the decision, or the Dublin government? Keir Starmer has achieved […]

      My father still calls to me. Across the years, my ears Are ever alert to his presence. The ancestors, never let you go. No matter how rough or random Things become, the words They give you from off their tongues Help your voice, help it to rejoice In building ideas with a […]