Notebook When I was about seven years old, my county, and indeed the whole country, was shocked by the murder of Bernadette Connolly, a young girl from Collooney. It was as if the world had stopped spinning and her name was on everyone’s lips. Later, I came to know her father and some of her…

The View Here is a peculiar thing that is becoming more and more apparent in what passes for public discourse these days – Irish feminists don’t seem to like strong, opinionated women. That might seem counter-intuitive: after all, the whole point of feminism, one imagines, is to encourage women to be whatever they want to be. We certainly hear lots…

I can understand Leo Varadkar being pleased and relieved that Marine Le Pen was defeated as French presidential candidate. There is a track record of racist ideas with her party – and besides, the Euro would have plunged in value if she had succeeded. So, even on practical grounds, we are spared yet another financial…

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán came calling on Pope Francis April 21, and, according to the official chronology, the encounter lasted a robust 40 minutes. From one point of view, the headline could well be that the two leaders could spend that much time together without coming to blows. They disagree on almost everything, from…

The term ‘far-right’ obscures more than it reveals writes David Quinn Politics has probably become confusing for a lot of people. I follow politics obsessively, and I find it hard to keep track of the rise of new parties across Europe. The breakdown of the traditional left/right divide has made it more difficult to work…

David Agren Local crime bosses were the first to greet Bishop Salvador Rangel Mendoza when he arrived in the oft-violent Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa for his 2015 installation. They insisted on immediately breaking bread with the bishop. “It was an accidental thing,” Bishop Rangel said of the inauspicious arrival. “They told me ‘not to worry about…

Easter 2022 has come and gone, trailing both satisfaction and disappointment in its wake. Some were convinced the crowds would return this Easter, given that this year provided the first set of Holy Week ceremonies permitted in Irish parishes since Easter 2019. Some reported more people than expected, many more parishes reported fewer. I was…