This week marks the start of the Government’s Stay and Spend scheme introduced to help the hospitality sector by encouraging people to spend on food, drink and accommodation over the autumn, winter and spring months. While that is a laudable aim, the scheme excludes by design a wide range of people including those on disability benefit, […]
“Clontarf was too important to be left to the historians, so passed into the legend-maker’s hand.” Gwyn Jones, “A History of the Vikings” Written around 1280, “Njál’s Saga” is an Icelandic tale of vengeance and blood feuds among various groups of Vikings. It also includes a section on the Battle of Clontarf in Ireland and […]
A controversial genetic study published in 2003 suggested that one in every 200 men alive today is a descendant of Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. In central Asia, this figure rises to one in 12 — or about 16 million men. Impossible today? Not so fast. There were 20th century superspreaders, to borrow from the jargon of Covid-19 […]
The Whiteboys (na Buachaillí Bána) were a secret Irish agrarian organisation which defended tenant farmer land rights for subsistence farming. They sought to address rack-rents, tithe collection, excessive dues, evictions and other oppressive acts. As a result they targeted landlords and tithe collectors. Their operations were chiefly in the counties of Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and […]
John Devoy was an Irish nationalist leader and exile. He was the owner and editor of the Gaelic American, a New York weekly newspaper, 1903-1928. He dedicated over 60 years of his life to the cause of Irish independence. He is one of the few people to have played a role in the rebellion […]
Father of, well, many of us.
“The IPCC is partly a scientific organisation, partly a political organisation”. That was what Richard Tol, a convening lead author of the 5th review of climate change from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Michael Shellenberger when he interviewed him for his recently released book, Apocalypse Never. In 2010, Tol was assigned to the team to draft the […]
Anyone who loves Dickens’ novels will always be curious to learn more about his life. They ponder: what lies behind the extraordinary universe that sprang from one man’s mind? Where did he find the sources of his inspiration? Indeed, what kind of man was he? A.N. Wilson does not disappoint. A writer who has published […]
As in most countries, a large proportion of coronavirus deaths in France are taking place in nursing homes. Of 32,000 deaths in France, about 14,000 were in nursing homes. Confirmed cases and deaths are rising again for the first time in months. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted this week that “our elders, more fragile, are more […]
“If there was an election tomorrow, who would be your preferred choice of Taoiseach? VOTE in our Poll below and leave your comments here and on social media.
ON THIS DAY: 25 SEPTEMBER 1917: Thomas Ashe died from force feeding during a hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison Thomas Patrick Ashe, Tomás Pádraig Ághas was a member of the Gaelic League, the Gaelic Athletic Association, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers which he joined in November 1913. […]
Mayo agent, Captain Charles Boycott, was sent to a ‘moral Coventry.’ He described his plight in a letter to The Times: “…people collect in crowds upon my farm and order off all my workmen. The shopkeepers have been warned to stop all supplies to my house. My farm is public property, I can get no […]