By July 29th, 1848, most of Ireland had been truly devastated by the Great starvation. Outside of Ireland, Europe was being convulsed with revolutions. In France, King Louis-Philippe was overthrown, to make way for the second republic. Revolutions seeking the vote, and liberalisation, broke out in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and elsewhere. Inspired by these […]
The British statesman, Thomas Cromwell, was beheaded on this day in 1540. It was a messy affair – the executioner was drunk (some say, because Cromwell’s enemies spiked his drink to make the execution worse) and it took three swings of the axe to remove Cromwell’s head. It was a spectacular fall from grace: Cromwell […]
Most people have come across an incident of the German people being called “the hun” – a derogatory nickname applied to the German army by allied soldiers in both world wars. But where did the nickname come from? On July 27th, 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor (he was deposed at the end […]
ON THIS DAY, July 26th 1914, hundreds of Irish Volunteers met the Asgard at Howth and took deliverance of 900 guns and ammunition which would arm the rebels of 1916. The need to arm the Irish Volunteers had gained a fresh urgency after the Ulster Volunteer Force landed almost 25,000 rifles and between 3 and […]
Director Lulu Wang reflects on family ties, caring for an ageing population, and the clash between East and West The other night my husband and I watched the movie The Farewell. We picked it out randomly, but it turns out we are a little behind. Upon further research, the 2019 film comes highly recommended by […]
The rebellion was crushed and he was captured then tried and executed for high treason against the British king George III of Great Britain Emmet’s speech to the court [The Speech from the Dock] could be regarded as the last protest of the United Irishmen: ‘ I have but one request to ask at my […]
There is a continuing lack of access to basic therapeutic services for thousands of children in this state. This is not only manifestly unjust, it is also a betrayal of enormous proportions. Indeed, the tragic reality is this; the problems being faced by some of these children now will almost inevitably lead to unnecessary levels […]
The numbers are in and it looks as if JK Rowling has defied her critics in the best way possible – by increasing her book sales. Her books have been a “lockdown hit” according to publisher Bloomsbury, and their sales have pushed revenues at the children’s division of the group up more than a quarter in the […]
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As The Guardian UK runs a whole series on being childfree, I wonder where they’ve put all the articles that make the case for having kids. Of course there are many reasons for choosing not to have a baby, but somehow we live in a world where that opinion seems more educated and high-minded than the choice to […]
Born in 1550, Aodh Mór Ó Néill (Hugh O’Neill) came from a line of the and the successors to the Chief’s of the O’Neills. He was the second son of Feardorcha Ó Néill and grandson of Conn O’Neill, the first Earl of Tyrne. At the age of nine he became a ward of Giles Hovenden, […]
Dubbed “deaths of despair”, opioid deaths are a significant reason why the life expectancy of Americans is falling. In 2017, the rate of drug overdose deaths (21.7 per 100,000) had increased to 3.6 times the rate in 1999. The demographic of America’s opioid epidemic is non-Hispanic white Americans, Native Americans and the working class, and […]