In July 1534 Thomas FitzGerald, acting Lord Deputy of Ireland and the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, attacked Dublin Castle. Thomas and his followers wore silk fringes on their helmets thus giving this event the name “The Silken Thomas Affair”. The attack on the Castle, the seat of power in Ireland, had […]
On 30th January 1972, British Parachute Regiment shot dead civilians in a civil rights march in Derry city. It sent shockwaves through Britain and Ireland and people south of the border were angry and distraught. The first night 50 people picketed the British embassy, but on Monday morning walkouts took place at factories in Shannon […]
Every once in a while, a bioethics article appears which is so powerful an indictment of injustice that it sends shivers up the spines of its readers. In 1949 Leo Alexander published “Medical Science under Dictatorship” in the New England Journal of Medicine, about Nazi medicine. In 1966 Henry K. Beecher published “Ethics and Clinical Research”, […]
Feast of Saint Brigid of Kildare – Naomh Bríd – (c. 450 – 525) one of Ireland’s patron saints. She was an early Irish Christian nun, abbess, and foundress of several monasteries of nuns, including that of Kildare, which was famous and revered. Her feast day is shared by Dar Lugdach, who tradition says was […]
ON THIS DAY: Bloody Sunday – 14 civilians were shot dead on the streets of Derry by the British Parachute Regiment on 30th January 1972. They had been taking part in a civil rights march against internment without trial. 26 civilians were shot; 13 were killed outright while the death of another man happened four […]
Promoting marriage is likely the most successful way to promote more births in Asia, according to recent research by Mengni Chen, a research scientist at the University of Cologne in Germany and University of Louvain in Belgium, and Paul Yip, the chair professor (population health) at the University of Hong Kong. 2020 estimates continue to place the […]
Around this time last year, the streets surrounding Leinster House and Merrion Square were brought to a complete standstill by furious beef farmers. This followed years of having their produce and their work undervalued. They were fed up to the back teeth. They demanded change. Beef prices were on the floor. Morale was at all […]
Amid the political ads with which we are bombarded during every election, one theme emphasised by progressive candidates concerns the evils of business. Corporate America is especially singled out for allegedly not paying enough taxes, underpaying employees, under-serving customers, and exploiting ordinary Americans. Yet the same political candidates are among the biggest recipients of financial […]
Remember in the first weeks of the pandemic last year when Italy was the focus of the outbreak? News out of China was sketchy, so most of what we saw and heard of the new virus was from northern Italy: ambulances racing along narrow and dark streets, locked down towns, rows of coffins in churches […]
Although the pro-life movement has faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalising abortion in the U.S., the movement continues to make legal and cultural gains. This is one of the latest. In July 2019, I wrote the blog “The Last Planned Parenthood Clinic in Missouri Again Evades Closure” about how the lone Planned Parenthood clinic […]
In an astonishing revelation, it has been claimed the Vatican actively intervened to prevent the release of a statement from US Bishops which was critical of Joe Biden’s policies of abortion ahead of the President’s inauguration. This ensured that a statement from Pope Francis, widely seen as a “warm blessing” for Biden, was firstly issued and made headlines. The Pillar […]
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