We have incitement to hatred legislation in Ireland. If what has happened in the past few days is not incitement to hatred, then what is? When you tell a community that they are victims of institutional racism, without any evidence; when you tell a community that one of their members was murdered, without any evidence; […]
Interesting fact of the day, for those of you who don’t think so much about the words you use: “Amen”, which christian people customarily say at the end of a prayer, doesn’t actually have anything to do with men. It’s derived from Ancient Hebrew, the language of the jewish people at the time of the […]
According to an RTE puff piece about its adult, animated satire series, Fantasy Ireland, we Irish ‘can laugh at ourselves’ and poke fun at ‘our sacred cows’. ‘No topic is off limits’. Yeah, right as we are wont to say down in Cork. The only thing that is the stuff of fantasy here is the […]
The taxpayer funded state broadcaster RTÉ has apologised after receiving 600 complaints over a supposedly humourous sketch that was aired during its New Year’s Eve countdown show. There was an outpouring of criticism of the clip and Archbishop Eamon Martin called for it to be removed from the station’s player because it accused God of […]
The Australian Cardinal, George Pell, recently released by the High Court of Australia after over 400 days in prison, had been wrongly convicted of five offences of sexual assault. The decision of the High Court is a finding that Cardinal Pell is innocent of the charges brought against him. Cardinal Pell was convicted by a […]
In their wonderfully tolerant and egalitarian fashion, RTÉ, the Irish State broadcaster, apparently thought it would be hilarious to air a “comedy” segment accusing the Christian God of being a rapist who forces himself on “young girls.” The Waterford Whispers segment, which aired on the night of New Year’s Eve on RTE One’s “NYE Countdown […]
The facts about the shooting in Hartstown today (Wednesday 30th), as currently known, are straightforward, and distressing. George Nkencho, a man of African origin, in his late 20s, entered a Eurospar shop in Hartstown and threatened staff with a large knife. One staff member is currently in hospital after being seriously injured. The Gardai were […]
In the wake of Cardinal George Pell’s successful appeal to the High Court of Australia, and his release from jail after 404 days, several books purporting to be “investigative journalism” have appeared about this astonishing miscarriage of justice. All of them have been hostile towards Pell. After reading The Persecution of George Pell, by Keith Windschuttle, it […]
Prof Ray Kinsella has provided a succinct appraisal of what the Brexit deal means for Ireland – not so much in relation to economic matters, but as a reflection of where the Irish state and the island as a whole stand in relation to the EU as a political entity. He notes in particular how […]
At this stage, the proverbial dogs in the street know that the Irish media is in crisis. With the setting up of the Future of Media Commission it seems that we are going to have a national conversation of sorts about just where the Irish media is going. The real question at this stage is […]
In today’s episode of The Van Maren Show, I speak with Dr. Charles Murray about why America has fallen apart and what we need to do about it. Dr. Murray first became well known in 1984 with the publication of Losing Ground, a piece which is credited with being the intellectual foundation for the Welfare […]
The EU blinked. There’s no point in attempting to put a gloss on it. You know the kind of thing: “This is not a time for triumphalism…” On the contrary, yes, it is. Europe should celebrate the Free Trade Agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson because it is a vindication of what democracy is about, and […]