The introduction of vaccine certification in this country and elsewhere, apart from leading to instinctive revulsion among those not yet inured to greatly increased state curtailments of basic freedoms, has led to comparisons with other systems of control. The requirement for proof of vaccination has been likened to the internal passport system that was in […]
In a surprising development, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has over-ruled objections from China, and has backed a decision to again investigate the possibility that Covid-19 originated in a leak from the Wuhan virology laboratory. The initial finding of a joint investigation by WHO and the Chinese research team was criticised as being inadequate and […]
There is no doubt but that the large protests against the Government’s proposals to pass legislation requiring people to provide proof that they have been vaccinated in order to access some services, caught the establishment by surprise. Some of the biggest crowds of any protest in Covid times turned out at both the Convention Centre […]
Some this week were attempting to perhaps distract attention from what is currently taking place in South Africa with reminders that in July 1984 Dunnes Stores workers in Henry Street, Dublin began a three year long strike in opposition to the stocking of food produce from South Africa. It was indeed a brave stance to […]
In a significant victory for the local community of the south Dublin quays, the High Court this morning upheld an appeal against a heroin injection facility at Merchants Quay. The proposal included a needle exchange and the provision of what locals describe as a “shooting gallery” for heroin users in a basement at the facility […]
Sixteen European political parties, including some who are in government, have launched what they call a ‘Manifesto for Freedom” saying the EU is “becoming a tool of radical forces” who aim to build a “European superstate” to cancel “European traditions” and ‘transform moral principles’. The context of the document is the recent attempt by the […]
Is the Communist one party state in Cuba on the verge of collapse? The weekend has seen unprecedented protests across many cities including the capital Havana. It comes after a series of hunger strikes and other events largely ignored by the world media, though covered on this platform. Cubans, incensed by food shortages, lack of […]
Hungary, as every bien pensant knows, is beyond the Pale these days, mostly due to the decision by the Hungarian government not to facilitate the promotion of transgenderism in state schools. Of course, that is only the latest of the offences, as perceived by the establishment, to have been committed by Viktor Orban, Chief of […]
There were all sorts of rumours and speculation as the polls closed in the Dublin Bay South bye-election. The slightly higher turnout in Ringsend and Pearse Street as compared to the places where people dress up for dinner, apparently, had some pundits predicting that Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin was going to emulate Mark Ward […]
Last night the Government succeeded in passing a last minute amendment to the Finance (Covid and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 that will allow institutional investors, otherwise “vulture funds”, to avoid paying stamp duty on housing units if they agree to lease them to local authorities. This represents a huge concession to the investors who have […]
While Sinn Féin continue to attempt to portray themselves as opponents of the ham-fisted ongoing restrictions in the Republic, it would appear that where they have actual control that their approach will be somewhat different. In the wake of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s statement that almost all restrictions on masks and gatherings will […]
There is an interesting snippet of Irish republican history available on You Tube. It is part of Belfast IRA volunteer Jimmy Drumm’s oration in 1969 at the reinternment of Peter Barnes and James McCormack who had been executed in England in February 1940. The speech was a significant gambit in the simmering split within the […]