David Blake Knox writes: A literary storm raged during this summer. The eye of that storm could be found in the UK, but it concerned a book that has been an international multi-million bestseller. The book provided the basis of a movie that was released to critical acclaim earlier this year – with the promise…
Alena Dvořáková writes: Writing means turning things into words. But when is it too soon to turn people into words? When the dead are prolific, hugely successful writers, this worry is easier to dismiss. After all, they have made a lifetime career out of turning things as well as people into words incessantly, obsessively and,…
Hiram Morgan writes: In Holy Trinity, a white Moorish-style church built in the late nineteenth century overlooking the port of Algiers, there is a memorial to Devereux Spratt, the first Anglican minister to come to the great African city. Reverend Spratt didn’t however arrive of his own free will – he was a captive of…
John Fanning writes: Sarah Wynn-Williams is the latest critic and whistleblower to highlight the egregious behaviour and gross irresponsibility of the tech giants. Her book Careless People is a damning indictment of Facebook, now rebranded as Meta, one of the most profitable and powerful companies in the world. An idealistic young New Zealander working in…
Brian M Walker writes: There is at present much interest in the Irish diaspora, with television programmes on the subject and a new five-year strategy planned by the government. Thirty years ago President Mary Robinson delivered her groundbreaking address on the Irish diaspora to the joint houses of the Oireachtas. She reminded us of the…
Martin Tyrrell writes: Half a century has passed since Pink Floyd released their game-changing album The Dark Side of the Moon. I first caught up with it some five years after the event, by which time it was already deeply unfashionable. Pink Floyd were the definitive progressive rock band – arthouse film soundtracks, an abortive…
The presidential, and subsequent legislative, elections in France earlier this year told us a number of things about the changing nature of the nation’s politics. First, that the main contest is now, and has been since 2017, not that between left and right but that between centre and far right
Brian M Walker writes: The recent TG4 documentary Marú in Iarthar Chorcaí (shown on December 7th) looked at the killings of thirteen civilians which occurred in West Cork in April 1922. The fact that all the victims were Protestant has drawn special attention to these events. The programme highlighted the controversy over the deaths. We…
When Johnny Goes Marching Maurice Earls writes: As some may recall, a few years ago genetic studies emerged which revealed that in excess of twenty per cent of males in the northwest of Ireland are descendants of one individual (possibly Niall of the Nine Hostages) or, perhaps more likely, of a few closely related males…
Ahead of Ireland’s referendum on the subject of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples, Una Mullally charts the development of the movement, one of the most rapid and transformative changes in Irish society over the last century, from its origins to the present day.