The Netflix drama series The Crown, drawing, sometimes semi-fictitiously, on the private lives of the British royal family has been so successful that the BBC now plans to launch its own particular royal drama along similar lines. This new drama will be about the lives and loves of Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth’s sister, who died…
The economic boffins are now saying that a united Ireland is an entirely realistic proposition in the wake of Brexit. Indeed, that it could be the most sensible solution to the problem of the United Kingdom planning to leave the European Union while the island of Ireland, as a whole, wishes to remain within the…
I’ve been invited to participate in an American television programme on Pope Francis’s forthcoming visit, which will focus on “how the evolution of the women’s movement in Ireland changed aspects of society and culture”. To be sure, the development of women’s rights and the women’s movement did contribute to changed aspects of Irish society and…
Has the time come to abolish the concept of a written Constitution? As clause by clause is unpicked from our present Constitution – first composed in 1937, and with added amendments since – a self-evident truth emerges: what is accepted as a general good in one generation will often be dismissed as an outdated irrelevance…
From her own point of view, Josepha Madigan’s decision to lead prayers in Mount Merrion church recently – in the absence of a priest – was a bold career move which has brought benefits. She will have realised this when she saw comments on social media, and letters to the papers from people saying they…
Some people are stroppy and rebellious when they are young. They proclaim themselves red-hot socialists and challenge the inherited traditions of their society. Then, as time goes by and they gain experience in life, they begin to revise or modify some of their youthful opinions. Shouting “property is theft” – the famous anti-capitalist slogan coined…
A friend and colleague suggested to me a short time ago that I should consider writing a book about nuns – since the majority of nuns are now ageing, and in the fullness of time will depart this world. Had I but world enough and time, I would indeed embark on this endeavour. But because of…
A retired nurse died last month in a small hospital in Deal, Kent and many local people paid tribute to her. She was Mrs Maureen Bane, aged 76, and she had been the team leader coping with the victims of the IRA attack on the Deal bandsman in September 1989. On the morning of September 22,…
When Vincent Browne appeared last Sunday at the end of the Listowel Writers’ Week festival he was greeted like a rock star. The very spacious ballroom of the Listowel Arms Hotel was crammed to bursting point with his fans, and cheers greeted almost his every pronunciamento. Vincent was chairing a meeting called ‘The Absurdity of…
There were many who found the street celebrations after the abortion referendum somewhat distasteful, and this extended to the British media, even among those who endorsed Repeal. In the Daily Mail, Richard Littlejohn wrote that “while the Irish referendum result is welcome, I found the near hysterical reaction to it pretty nauseating”. A correspondent to…