ON THIS DAY: 16th May 1920, Joan Of Arc was cannonised a saint “You Englishmen, who have no right in this Kingdom of France, the King of Heaven sends you word and warning, by me Jehanne the Maid, to abandon your forts and depart into your own country, or I will raise such a war-cry against […]
Like rivets popping on the hull of the sinking Titanic, the stresses of the pandemic are revealing unexpected weaknesses in our societies. Suddenly we’ve realised that it wasn’t a great idea to source protective masks from China, that warehousing the elderly is dangerous, that we need check-out chicks more than we need managers, and so on. But […]
Irish media often present surrogacy as an uncontroversial option for couples who struggle with infertility but we rarely hear reports about children who have been abandoned by commissioning adults, or about the poor women who have acted as surrogates and regret it. A new documentary by the Australian ABC TV covers the story of baby Bridget, who […]
Every year thousands of people are brought before the Irish courts for failing to pay their TV licence, of which several hundreds are sent to prison – a hugely disproportionate number compared to the UK. In the 1920’s, entertainment-based broadcasters took the first hesitant steps toward the wireless revolution, but nations across the world imposed a […]
This week the name of this place we live in caused a bit of a political stir. The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar called Belfast members of Fine Gael, “overseas members” and a former Tyrone football player referred to Tyrone as “Up here in the UK”. But the truth is the names used for Ireland do matter […]
Several health experts have proposed a “herd immunity” strategy for managing the coronavirus pandemic. This would involve allowing the virus to spread in a controlled way so as to achieve population immunity — even though this may expose vulnerable members of the community to an increased risk of infection. While Australia has managed so far […]
Data from several studies indicates that surfaces remain unsafe for longer periods, with the implication that refrigerated plastic food packaging could carry a greater amount of Coronavirus than other surfaces. Broadly speaking, Western health authorities, as well as the mainstream media, have supplied a rather straightforward public health message on dealing with potential sources of […]
Prior to the cancellation of the Leaving Cert exams, a clear and unmistakeable picture of the educational inequalities that continue to exist within our state were brought sharply into focus. The geographical disparities in terms of broadband access and the resource inequalities that thousands of students endure have been laid bare. Some schools had the […]
Over the next few years the working-age population will decline dramatically The demographic winter continues in East Asia. As well as Japan, the other democratic, Western-leaning allies in the region are all facing similar issues: very low fertility rates, low or negative natural population growth and rapidly ageing populations. China is also grappling with these problems, […]
A new study published by researchers in the US warns that COVID-19 could lead to an unprecedented increase in ‘deaths of despair’ — a term used to describe deaths due to drug or alcohol abuse and suicide. The new report, from the Well Being Trust and researchers affiliated with the American Academy of Family Physicians, estimates […]
Statistical evidence has played a central role in our society’s response to Covid-19. We gather and publish data on so many aspects of this epidemic – the number of deaths, the number of cases, the number of tests, the number of intensive care units available, the recovery rates among hospital admissions, the number of clusters […]
While Ireland plans to keep the ban on public religious ceremonies until July 20th, the Italian government has announced that celebrations in churches will resume from May 18th. After a long negotiation between the Bishops’ Conference (CEI) and State representatives, this week the approved protocol for public masses was presented in a joint briefing by […]