The news, it must be said, is often bad. There are several reasons for this, but mostly it comes down to the fact that people will usually react more strongly to bad news than good news. Bad news is generally more emotionally impactful. But good news matters, too. Every day, Irish people, and people the […]
Christmas is over, and it’s that time of year when we reflect on the year that has just passed, and what happened in it. In that spirit, here are the five politicians who we think had the best 2019, and the five who had the worst. Note: We’re primarily concerned with Ireland here, but of […]
A Christmas card featuring Karl Marx might have raised a few cheap laughs for Sinn Féin’s Fintan Warfield, but there was very little of good cheer about the father of socialism. Even apart from the fact that Marx was a militant atheist who hated both his own Jewish heritage – which he stereotyped much as […]
Fianna Fáil’s newly elected TD for Wexford, Malcolm Byrne, is making some waves today on the subject of Irish unity. Hugh O’Connell in the Independent has the full story: “A Fianna Fáil TD has suggested that a united Ireland could rejoin the Commonwealth, make July 12 a public holiday and reserve 30pc of Cabinet positions […]
When someone declares we need new laws to restrict and curtail “hateful” opinions, the absolute least that person can do is make sure their own track record is squeaky-clean. Fine Gael’s Justice Minister, Charlie Flanagan, has been doing the rounds in recent months, insisting that Ireland should expand its current definition of “hate speech”. However, […]
On the 20th of October, 2016, a 59 year old man called John Smith invited a 15 year old girl, who he did not know, into his van on the pretext of asking her for directions. Once she was in his van, he took out his penis and began masturbating in front of her. Later […]
When even the UN, the world’s largest NGO (non governmental organisation) is noticing that Ireland has a vast number of NGOs, we might have a problem: “NGO” is sort of a misleading term, to be fair. Non-Governmental kind of implies, to the casual reader, that these are truly independent, civil-society driven organisations made up of […]
Ireland has 4 living former Taoisigh – John Bruton, Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen, and Enda Kenny. Last week it was revealed that the Government will spend €300,000 annually to provide them with various perks – a secretary, a car, VIP passage through airports, and that sort of thing. This has generated considerable public anger. It […]
Seventeen years ago today, Fr Paddy McCafferty’s made a powerful call to Irish bishops on the cover-up sexual abuse of children. This Christmas he shared these memories to help others similarly suffering, to give them hope to find some healing. ******** For me personally, the weekend of December 13th to 15th in 2002, was momentous. […]
When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was being drafted in the late 1940s, it was the Soviet Union and its allies who argued against freedom of speech on the grounds that it would open the door to ‘hateful propaganda’. What they had in mind of course was the undermining of government power by the […]
Last week, Facebook went wild over photos of Rod Stewart who was snapped while he placed flowers on the grave of Grace Gifford in Glasnevin Cemetery. The singer’s championing of the Jim McCann song Grace is a somewhat curious landmark for those who remember when not only was the Section 31 ban in force, but when any […]
Since 2016, the Irish political and media establishment has clung to a single, unifying, and unshakeable theory about Brexit: It was a fluke result, fuelled by the confluence of several unique factors. A poor remain campaign. Lies by Brexiteers. A surge in anti-immigrant sentiment, or when they’re not being diplomatic, “racist bigotry”. Poor turnout by […]