I’m never been much of a garden person – rather concurring with whoever described gardening as ‘outside housework’. That is, chores done to maintain some kind of domestic order, rather than for any kind of fulfillment. But the Covid-19 lockdown did make me aware that there are people who have no gardens, and no access…
Surrogacy is a complicated issue – the demand for surrogacy services certainly indicates that while there have been so many well-financed pressures to get rid of babies, there is also a strong global demand to acquire babies. Surrogacy is big business. A recent drama on BBC TV, The Nest, broadcast in April, portrayed a wealthy…
I’m fascinated by the cycle of history and the way in which things discarded as outdated often come back into fashion again. The classic example is the tram: declared redundant in 1949, the city tram has returned as a wonderfully efficient and environmentally-friendly form of public transport. And now the wretched coronavirus is producing a…
Is the coronavirus ‘God’s judgement’ to punish humanity for the errors of its ways? Surely not, and Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick is quite right to describe such ideas as a form of blasphemy. Pope Francis had previously given the lead in dismissing any such notion that the virus is some kind of Old Testament…
Historic memories of the Spanish flu of 1918-20 have been frequently invoked during the present pandemic – the novelist Emma O’Donoghue, who wrote Room, will be publishing a new novel in July based on the so-called Spanish flu. (Unfair to blame the Spanish for that pandemic: Spain’s press simply reported it, being free of wartime…
It is said that time heals all wounds, although the motto doesn’t specify just how much time may be required. Still, it happens. Just look at Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and their plans to govern together during this time of crisis. The plans may not run smoothly, and there may be arguments over the…
Just as the coronavirus (Covid-19) took hold in America – and all over Europe – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, familiarly known as Harry and Meghan, launched their new project. This is a charitable foundation called ‘Archewell’, and it will replace their previous ‘Sussex Royal’ brand, which, having chucked their relationship with British royalty,…
Even the grimmest times – as this Holy Week will be for many – bring revelations. And one of the aspects of the coronavirus (Covid-19) that most puzzles experts and scientists is – why are men much more likely to fall victim to the pandemic than women? Men in their 40s and 50s are more…
What does it mean to be pro-life? To me it means defending human life from conception until the natural end of life; not deliberating taking human life, unless in extreme cases of self-defence. If a mad axeman is coming towards you with homicidal intent, you would be reasonably entitled to defend yourself, and those around…
For most of my lifetime, the material circumstances of our lives have steadily improved. The panic-buying of toilet paper – perhaps worse in Britain than in Ireland – illuminates just how spoiled, even decadent, we have become. In my childhood, back in the 1950s, it wasn’t unusual to enter a loo and find squares cut…