I’m rather ashamed of an episode of my life that has recently come to mind, but I think it’s instructive. I was in my early twenties, and, in an effort to break into journalism, I was working as a secretary for The Guardian in London, previously called the Manchester Guardian. Society today has more sympathy…
Under a new protocol, religious symbols across State-run primary and secondary schools in the Republic (see page x), must be reflective of the “entire community”. If I were a Catholic parent with a child at such a school, I’m sure I’d have no objection to a school mirroring the faith diversity of the local community.…
There’s a new musical group who are expected to sweep to success in 2023 bearing the name of ‘The Mary Wallopers’. They are a trio of guys from Dundalk, and are already being compared, in the folk music tradition, to The Pogues and the Clancy Brothers. And they’re not just about music. They also have…
Is the institution of marriage doomed? According to a leading British think-tank, ‘Civitas’, wedlock is declining possibly beyond repair – it is now subject to “exponential decay”. About one in 100 couples are currently married; in 40 years’ time, the researchers predict, the numbers will be one in 400. The statistics apply to England and…
While the Catholic Church in Ireland faces a weekly battering – sometimes through mismanagement and misjudgement by the Church’s own leadership – in Britain, the monarchy is the object of obloquy, sometimes driven by a similar motivation to destroy the institution. They are aware that a Netflix series is going to be produced for profit…
Elon Musk, allegedly the richest person in the world, sometimes seems a stereotype of the eccentric billionaire. He is an extraordinary innovator in areas from neurotechnology to futuristic engineering: he has controversial views about Covid-19, thinks that Artificial Intelligence is the greatest threat to the human race, and believes we should colonise Mars. He marries…
The BBC is celebrating its centenary this year – it was founded in 1922 (Radio Éireann, the ancestor of RTÉ, came along in 1926) – and has certainly become an institution with a global outreach. Those who have worked for the Beeb, as it’s sometimes known (which included my late sister, in New York City),…
It’s an old saying that ‘England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity’ – and an entirely understandable one given our mutual history. Too often Britain ignored the woes of Ireland and their responsibilities towards those woes: Ireland often had to take whatever opportunities were available. But in these days, I rather wonder if the phrase should be…
Does marriage and family life make women happier? That’s a debate going back centuries. Queen Victoria herself, though founder of a dynasty of marriages and families, opined that it was better to be happy and single than married just for the sake of wedlock. Conservative women were twice as likely to be satisfied with their…
Many aspects of a united Ireland are being currently discussed – and rightly so. What will the impact be on the economy, the health service, education? And how might we salute flags, anthems, and other symbols? And what about the role of faith in a reunited Ireland?” Shall we use kilometres or miles (or a…