In the opening passage of his latest book, How to be a Dictator, Dutch historian Frank Dikötter quotes British novelist William Thackeray’s caption of a satirical engraving depicting the Sun King Louis XIV in his unadorned, sickly body. “Thus do barbers and cobblers make the gods that we worship.” Dikötter’s book is the verbal equivalent of […]
What is it with the British and being desperate to leave reasonably successful, if controversial, institutions? “The Royal Family are said to be “hurt” at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s announcement they will step back as senior royals. Prince Harry and Meghan did not consult any senior royal about making the statement, it is […]
The EU has diverted from its original vision, but the restoration of a Christian Europe is possible, a conference in Galway later this month will hear. The conference entitled, “The Restoration of Europe: By the Liturgy and the Saints”, is being held in Galway on January 18th, and will feature acclaimed international speakers and prominent […]
Tomorrow on TG 4 (Wednesday, Jan 8th), viewers of Irish Television, will get a rare opportunity to see a documentary that gives an honest assessment of our nation’s fishing industry. Little attention is ever given to the fact that our fisheries is our greatest natural resource. Since 1975, foreign boats netted over €240 Billion worth […]
The Prime Minister should walk his talk about empowering women and confront the powerful IVF industry Indian author and activist Pinki Virani has been given a national award for her book Bitter Chocolate: Child Sexual Abuse in India, which ripped the lid off the extent of this secretive crime in Indian homes across class and gender […]
Don’t like guns? Fine. Just remember other people (mostly men) are at your beck and call carrying guns so that you don’t have to. Somebody has to have the courage to do what you would rather not. Have some gratitude.
A tale of family traditions and the inculturation of a Christian feast. My great grandfather was the first Christian in my family tree. I figure he converted to Catholicism around the time of the first World War. Like nearly all his contemporaries, he was polygamous. He did not quite get why he needed to leave […]
Western exceptionalism is one of the fiercest battlegrounds of contemporary history. And far from being a purely academic argument, it has immediate repercussions on today’s culture wars.
We’ve selected 20 films from the hundreds released during 2019. Not all of them are Oscar material, but they all have that combination of artistry, engagement and reasonably humane values which put them a cut above the rest. We’ve done our best to cater for all ages and interests. No doubt we’ve left out some […]
With the release of “The Rise of Skywalker”, last weekend, there have now been nine “Star Wars” movies. And with the saga coming to an end, without delivering any spoilers for the latest and last film, we can now say one thing, definitively: Palpatine, Darth Sidious, Emperor of the Galaxy, was the good guy, all […]
In the December Scientific American, brain expert Christof Koch takes up the question of whether a machine will ever manifest consciousness. This seemingly abstruse issue may arise in actual systems sooner than we think, and so considering it is worth doing before it happens.
There’s a couple of days to Christmas and there’s no better way to capture some of the magic than to forget the shopping and the drinks for a while and enjoy some of the wonderful traditions that make Christmas so memorable and special. 1. Indulge in Christmas baking Nothing else smells quite like Christmas […]