I spent hours yesterday clearing bindweed and brambles, ivy and other nuisances in our garden, whch had originated in what was for centuries part of an ancient convent. Our house was built in 1923 and we have lived in it since 1976 when we were the youngest couple on the road When we moved in […]
Author Jude Collins
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT IRISH JEWS, UK NATIONAL SERVICE, & WILL UNIONISTS FORM AN ELECTORAL PACT?
President Michael D Higgins has come in for some criticism by the South’s Chief Rabbi, who says they were’lectured’ by him about what was happening in Gaza. So what is the link between ordinary Jewish people living in Ireland or the UK or the US, and Israel? Or is there in fact no link? An […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT RISHI IN NEI, RECOGNISING PALESTINE, AND THAT THERE PORTAL IN O’CONNELL STREET
Rishi Sunak has kicked off his election – in the rain. Was that an example of the elements saying that this man is going to have, um, moisture dropped on him from a great height? And he’s visiting the occupied Six Counties of our nation today. Will the IFA and GAA manage to persuade […]
Reconciliation by Joe McVeigh
Laurence McKeown is a well-known writer, playwright and a former Republican prisoner, who spent 70 days on Hunger-strike in 1981. Laurence McKeown is a thinker and what he has to say is worth listening to and thinking about. He has thought and written about the history of the conflict and related issues especially the […]
WHY JESUS WEPT? – by Donal Kennedy
In September 1960 the United Nations’ General Assembly President, Ireland’s Frederick Boland, broke his gavel trying to impose order following an angry tirade by the Soviet Union’s Nikita Khrushev who had brandished a shoe while banging his (Khruschev’s) desk. The Soviet leader’s behaviour was considered “Infra Dig” at the time but it was that […]
PAT+JUDE TALK ABOUT MAN CITY, HEATON-HARRIS, AND THE RISE OF THE FAR RIGHT IN THE SOUTH OF IRELAND
Manchester City won the Premier League yesterday. Has success become something possible only for vastly wealthy clubs? Do you long for the days of cloth-caps and 3.00 pm every Saturday? The British secretary of state, Chris Heaton-Harris, is not going to stand for re-election. Will you miss him? How much? And has the anti-immigrant far-right […]
The Right Wing Catholics have nothing to offer – by Joe McVeigh
I read an advertisement in the Irish News on 1st May. “Following Christ as a Catholic in Ireland Today”- Conference and Gala Dinner in Guildhall Derry on Saturday 11 May –with Grace before meals by Bishop Donal McKeown. The first question I have to ask -who is paying for this advert? It is not […]
‘Stay Resilient’ by Joe McVeigh
In an article in the Irish Times on 15th May 2024 the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland, Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid wrote: “Since October 7th 2023, Israel launched a vicious aggression against our people in Gaza, with 35,000 killed and tens of thousands maimed or missing under the rubble, the vast majority being women and children.” “Over […]
PAT+ JUDE TALK ABOUT THE COVID INQUIRY,, THOSE DUP WHATSAPP MESSAGE LAUGHING AT POLITICAL OPPONENTS, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF BARONESS ARLENE AND MICHELLE O’NEILL BEFORE THE INQUIRY. SPOT THE DIFFERENCE…
The inquiry into how Covid was handled is becoming more and more interesting. Over 1,000 DUP Whatsapp messages reveal something of how they regard Catholics, nationalists and individual political opponents. Then there was Michelle O’Neill’s performance in front of the inquiry, and Baroness Arlene’s. Some contrast, methinks. Immigration, it appears, is going to dominate […]
DANGERFIELD’S HISTORICAL MASTERPIECE OR A DAMNABLY FLAWED EFFORT? by Donal Kennedy
Garlanded with praise by A.J.P. Taylor (Observer), F.S.L.Lyons (New Statesman) and Robert Blake (Sunday Times) on its publication in 1976, George Dangerfield’s “THEDAMNABLE QUESTION” A Study In Anglo-Irish Relations had lain unopened on my shelves for over twenty years. Until this week. It’s over forty years since I read and enjoyed THE […]