When I was growing up, there was nothing I wanted each Christmas more than a toy robot. Those were the days of TV shows like Lost in Space in which ‘Robby the Robot’ featured. Every little boy wanted a robot of his own. In would go the batteries, the thing would make some noise, walk…
Shortly after the recent presidential election, Tánaiste Simon Harris said something a bit surprising. He told reporters: “Immigration is too high”. His statement was not surprising because he said immigration is high, it is and that’s a fact. What was surprising was that he said it at all. Immediately and predictably he was compared with…
And so the long-running saga that is called ‘Donald Trump’ continues, but this time with three big defeats in elections that took place in America last week. These were for the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey and the mayoralty of New York City. In Virginia, a Republican governor was defeated, while in New Jersey…
Mary ‘May’ McGee died last week at the age of 81. She earned a significant place in Irish social and legal history in 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled that the decision whether or not to use contraception was a private matter between husband and wife and the State had no right to interfere with…
There is a sense in which anyone of a certain age is a product of Catholic Ireland, including those who react against it, but some are more formed by it than others. You can just see the indelible impression Catholic Ireland has left on them, and one such person in my opinion, is our president-elect,…
Northern Ireland can no longer be viewed as consisting of two groups, religiously speaking, namely the Catholic and the Protestants. What must also be added into the mix are the non-religious, who are growing in number. This is one of the main findings of a major new poll on attitudes to religion in the North.…
When should you cancel your subscription to a streaming channel? I’m not referring here to trying to save yourself some money, but more to save your sanity and also to object to some of the content a given channel is streaming. Netflix is currently embroiled in controversy over a show called Dead End: Paranormal Park,…
When we were growing up, there were certain things that were so taken for granted we didn’t even think about it, such as that every baby would be baptised, and that later in childhood they would make their First Holy Communion followed by Confirmation. Most of us would go on to marry, and when we…
Last week, a very unusual package, no, ‘unusual’ is not the word, a sinister and menacing package arrived by post at the office of the Iona Institute in Dublin city centre. It looked innocent enough, but upon opening it, some kind of white powder poured out on my desk, hands and floor. I guessed immediately…
There is a good chance you had never heard of Charlie Kirk, the young American political activist, until he was murdered in America last week while addressing students at an open-air event at a university in Utah. Only those who follow US politics very closely will have heard of him. I was somewhat aware of…