Not many people, likely, remember the name of Richard Reid, or the way he changed a small part of our lives forever. On December 22nd, 2001, Reid, an American national who had, nonetheless, fallen into the fever-swamps of radical Islamism, boarded a plane in Paris, France, bound for Miami, Florida. About halfway through the flight, […]
That flat line in the graph below represents cases in the State of Texas over the past thirty days. Texas lifted its lockdown, mask mandate, and all covid restrictions…. Nearly sixty days ago. In Ireland, you’ll recall, the alleged symptoms of our “going wild at Christmas” (which is now an unchallengeable part of our national […]
Tricky pub quiz question – who is Ireland’s Minister for Defence? The reason it’s a tricky question is that Ireland, uniquely amongst countries, doesn’t have a Minister for Defence or certainly one with sole responsibility for the defence of the country. Given that the defence portfolio is stitched on to Simon Coveney’s responsibilities as Minister […]
One can reasonably expect harsh austerity measures are not far away after this year of largesse however, as the country mimics a bi-polar dog going back to its vomit.
We live in an open society, in which social relations are marked by individual freedom, personal responsibility, and mutual trust. In an open society, we rely on people to make their own risk assessments in matters of personal and public health, without the need to carry health certificates on them at all times, or be […]
Like her or loathe her, Arlene Foster has had an uncanny ability to survive the minefield of Stormont politics.
Young Fine Gael is not an organisation that customarily evokes our sympathy, here at Gript. It is, after all, the youth wing of the largest party of Government – a Government that has, over the past year, led an almost relentless assault on people’s civil liberties and freedoms. Signing up to Young Fine Gael means, […]
Many Irish people will be familiar with the old English phrase to describe an atmosphere of complete chaos: “It’s Bedlam in here”. Fewer, perhaps, will be aware of where the phrase comes from. In the 1300s, London’s first hospital for the mentally unwell was opened – St. Mary’s Bethlehem hospital, better known as Bedlam. In […]
It’s a long-held political axiom among nationalists in the north that the demographic trend would eventually put Sinn Féin in power in Northern Ireland. Because Catholics tended to have larger families they would eventually outvote unionists, or so it was commonly believed. This, of course, contributed to the sectarian violence and terrorism of unionist militias, from […]
Ma Yinchu was born in 1882 in Zhejiang, China. The son of a small business owner, he was inclined towards scholarship. After earning an undergraduate degree at Tianjin University, he studied at Yale, subsequently earning a PhD in economics and philosophy from Columbia University. He returned to China and helped found the Shanghai College of […]
The media was predictably full of images of crowds of young people in parks and on beaches again last weekend. The narrative is that they are somehow exposing the vulnerable to risk by this- but is that really true? I am a vet based in Co. Kildare. Like many, I was quite content to go […]
If you think you’re having a hard time of it in Lockdown, then spare a thought for the poor souls in Hollywood. Bear in mind, before you read this, that just seven years ago, the Oscars pulled in forty million live viewers, making it one of the biggest television events in the world. This Sunday, […]