Bishop George Bell was a notable Church of England bishop who might well have become Archbishop of Canterbury, but Winston Churchill disliked Bishop’s Bell’s opposition to aerial area bombing during World War II and probably blocked his candidature. Dr Bell described the bombing of unarmed women and children as “barbaric” in 1941. He was a…
I tend to send Christmas cards in fits and starts (and I still adhere to the old French custom that Christmas greetings can be sent well into January – certainly until Epiphany on January 6). But a melancholy aspect of leaving through my address book in December is to note the little cross I put against…
The Fianna Fáil senator Ned O’Sullivan told The Times newspaper recently – the Irish edition of the London paper – that he had changed his mind about abortion after “having had the honour” of serving on the Oireachtas committing considering the Eighth Amendment. Previously, he said, he had been pro-life. Now he wanted a new…
It is utterly shocking that an 11 year-old-child, Milly Tuomey, should have taken her own life by suicide. And utterly sorrowful and distressing for the child’s’s family. Following Milly’s tragic death, parents are being encouraged to talk to their children about suicide. Professor Brendan Kelly of TCD says that “There is no evidence that asking…
Many people were irritated by Bob Geldof’s decision to return his Freedom of the City of Dublin as a protest against the current regime in Myanmar (still sometimes called Burma) and the treatment of the Rohingya people there. The Lord Mayor of Dublin felt, especially, that it was a graceless move, since this honour is…
It is said, amongst teachers, that by teaching, you learn. Similarly, by writing for readers, a journalist learns much from those readers. And over the past week, I received a reader’s letter which gave me much pause for thought. It was from “Anne” in the “West of Ireland”. “I am writing to you re the…
If I were interviewing a candidate for private secretary, I would certainly ask her – or him – whether they were married, and if they had a family. It is a perfectly sensible question, and – in the public realm – it is a matter for the record. All census forms, and all books of…
I was chatting with a group of friends, and the conversation turned to the mood of the times – with particular application to the new sensitivities around sexual harassment and those who prey on young girls. “Remember that song that Maurice Chevalier used to sing, Thank Heavens for Little Girls? It would be banned if it…
There was great news for Ireland last week: the population of this country is due to increase by more than a million people in the next decade or so. The prediction from the ESRI is that by 2030, the population will have grown by 1.1 million. Population increase – particularly for countries which are under-populated,…
The grandchildren are getting all ready for Hallowe’en with their witches and warlocks and wizards’ costumes. Let’s not rain on their parade, I ponder. The turning of the seasons has to be marked by some ritual and if it’s a pagan one – which has endured and even been re-invigorated – then that’s the way…