A Continental European friend remarked to me that “Ireland is much more European than Britain – I’ve found that the Irish are much more at ease with their Continental neighbours than the British.” If this is true, it is in no small measure due to the deposit of culture built up over the centuries between…
At the suggestion of a doctor, I occasionally have recourse to an over-the-counter medication called ‘Night Nurse’. It is a helpful aid to sleeping when you’re feeling a bit chesty, but it should be used sensibly, even perhaps sparingly, as it contains the opioids of paracetamol, promethazine and dextromethorphan. Thus, whenever I purchase a bottle…
I’m very fond of my own little parable about the Dublin trams. It’s highly symbolic about social change – and social renewal. In 1949, the last of the Dublin trams were abolished, as all progressive-minded folk affirmed that “the future belongs to the motor car”. A few, lonely protesters tried to save the Dublin trams,…
There is an apt Latin phrase in response to the retirement of Vincent Browne from our screens: Sic transit gloria mundi. Thus passes the glory of the world! It would be inflating even the remarkable VB’s reputation to call him a reflection of the world’s glory, but the phrase just underlines the passing of all…
Freud famously said that “anatomy is destiny” – perhaps challenged, now, in our transgender era – but for nations, geography surely can be destiny. Italy currently feels this acutely, as it bears the brunt of the great numbers of migrants brought to its shores. The number crossing the Med, mainly from Libya, is currently at…
I’m a great admirer of temperance movements and the positive message they have to impart: you can have the greatest fun without getting plastered. Not only can you enjoy life to the fullest – you can even remember what you enjoyed! And yet I also learned from a tolerant point made by Alcoholics Anonymous: most…
The choice of language, as I’ve often observed, is a hugely significant element of politics and culture. An example worth noting emerged over last weekend in the wake of the British General Election: the use of the toxic phrase “socially conservative”. As it became clear that the Democratic Unionist Party would be the new kingmakers…
“Tolerance and esteem for other cultures should be automatically part of a decent education”, writes Mary Kenny According to Dr Victoria Showunmi at Maynooth University, the teaching of history and other subjects in Ireland should be adjusted to reflect the cultures and experiences of new immigrants. Schools and colleges should offer a curriculum that doesn’t…
“if an older person feels that their sons and daughters haven’t been particularly caring, I think they should be entitled to distribute their worldly goods as they see fit”, writes Mary Kenny I don’t imagine that most of us older people will be rushing off to our solicitors to alter our wills in the wake…
“With abortion legislation, he did not permit deputies to vote according to their consciences”, writes Mary Kenny Europe is this year marking the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s famous first protest, in 1517, which became in effect, the beginning of what is sometimes called the Protestant Revolution, and sometimes the Reformation. The Catholic Church has,…