The first thing that any new British Prime Minister has to do, upon taking office, is to pen “the letter of last resort”. We have no idea what’s in it, but we know what it is: Instructions given, in a sealed envelope, to the commanders of Her Majesty’s nuclear submarines, only to be opened in […]
It was a big weekend in media land for lengthy pieces about the apparently dangerous “rise of the far right” in Ireland. The Journal, the Irish Times, the Irish Independent and the Examiner (to a lesser estent) featured couple-of-thousand-word plus pieces this weekend claiming to be detailed investigations into the phenomenon, and its apparent connection […]
“The town of Balbriggan they’ve burned to the ground While bullets Like hailstones were whizzing around; And women left homeless by this evil clan. They’ve waged war on the children, the bold Black and Tan.” (From the ‘Bold Black and Tans, Irish Songs of Resistance, Galvin, 1950) The sack of the north Dublin town […]
Robert Emmett was an Irish Republican and patriot, orator and rebel leader. After leading an abortive rebellion in Dublin against British rule in 1803 he was captured then tried and executed for high treason against the British king George III of Great Britain. When asked if he had any thing to say in response to […]
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The opening words […]
“What simpering, shallow wokeness”, wrote one critic yesterday. “Possibly the worse tweet ever sent by an Irish public representative.” Can anyone, in good faith, disagree? Keeping 'To Kill A Mockingbird' and 'Of Mice and Men' on the JC syllabus isn't worth the hurt they are causing. Dept should see sense here. "Government urged to drop […]
Around the turn of the millennium, 1000 A.D., European civilization and all the rudiments of Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian knowledge and tradition were on the verge of being violently extinguished. Historian, Richard Erdoes, details how the common people of Europe fully believed their world was coming to an end. Small wars among feuding Christian barons were […]
ON THIS DAY: 12TH SEPTEMBER 1919 Dáil Éireann was declared illegal by the British Parliament when Sinn Féin TDs refused to sit in Westminister and set up their own parliament in Dublin, Dáil Éireann The British authorities called it a ‘dangerous assembly, because of this the first Dáil had to meet in secret at different […]
Democracy, as some of you will know, is a Greek word which means “rule by the people”. “Irish Democracy”, on the other hand, is an English phrase which means “rule by the right sort of people”: Quotas for young people in politics, similar to gender quotas, and lowering the voting age to 16, were among […]
“Quinctilius Varus, where are my eagles?!!!” is what Brian Blessed’s Emperor Augustus exclaims, in the BBC Classic “I Claudius”, upon hearing of the battle of the teutoburg forest, which took place on this day, September 9th, 9AD. The battle was the most catastrophic defeat the Roman Empire would suffer for several centuries. Three Legions, and […]
Newspapers report a potato blight has hit Ireland. High rents imposed by absentee landlords meant that most people could only afford to live on small tenant farms with inferior soil that only potatoes could grow on; but the potato crop was prone to disease and the farmers did not have extra land to rotate crops. […]
Michelangelo’s “David”, probably the most famous sculpture in the world, was first unveiled to the public on this day, September 8th, 1504, in the Piazza della Signoria, in Florence. The statue, as the name suggests, represents the David who defeated Goliath in the bible. David was a favourite of the Florentines because, as a small […]