A new, dystopian order.
A favourite pastime, writes Margaret Hickey, is Bashing the Church.
Alice, of Wonderland fame, said she could imagine six impossible things before breakfast. Leo Varadkar can imagine at least one when he finds himself in a tight corner even if the ‘corner’ in question is an outdoor dining area of a plush Dublin hotel. It certainly took some imagination, as well as chutzpah, to scramble together […]
Speaking to Portlaoise County Council personnel during his tenure as President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox lauded the EU’s commitment to liberal democracy and its institutions. By contrast, he described in graphic terms the charade that was China’s National Peoples’ Congress. It was, he observed, a bloated assembly of ‘yacking donkeys’ whose brays might be heard […]
The protocols and safeguards for dealing with the challenge of Covid-19 should apply fairly across all sectors of society. There should be logic, coherence and consistency in both their formulation and application. That should be obvious but of course prejudice blinds and leads to anomalies and the singling out of certain groups for specified additional […]
Revised rules about handling allegations of wrongdoing against clergy and others in the employment of the Catholic Church were published by the Vatican in June (New Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, 01.06.2021) and were generally received as a positive step towards holding offenders to more stringent account under a wide number of […]
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) plans to incorporate the new Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) within the framework of Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE). It has also indicated that there will be ‘a whole school approach’ to the subject which suggests the curricular content will not be confined to timetabled classes. […]
In her book Primal Screams, American writer and widely respected culture critic, Mary Eberstadt, traces a direct line from the sexual revolution of the 60s to the febrile identity politics of our time. The title references the trauma of animals taken from their natural habitat and familial unit and the longterm, emotional damage caused by […]
Recently Naomi Campbell announced she had become a mother to a baby girl at the age of 50. Everybody thought it was something wonderful to celebrate. Previously, Naomi had said she was not overly worried about the ticking biological clock as science had overtaken nature’s limitations. She is of course far from unique if she […]
A young writer explains on Mother’s Day in the US why she became a mother at 25. Harmless enough you might think? On the contrary, it aroused feminist fury on social media. A nerve had been touched. It’s worth asking, why? In her opinion piece for The New York Times, titled, ‘I Became a Mother at 25 and I’m Not […]
Journalist, Eoghan Harris, is the most recent high profile personality to be punished for posting offensive comments on social media, on twitter to be precise. His offence was greatly exacerbated by his use of an anonymous handle. ‘Barbara J. Pym’ was a flag of convenience that allowed Harris to post the kind of comments in […]
After many skirmishes along the boundaries between Church and State, between traditional faith values and post-modern liberal ones, it appears the question of who should control the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in Irish schools may be the one to finally draw a hard, new line in the sand between goverement and hierarchy. The question […]