I can see the headline now – ‘Shock! – Catholic Teaching Found in Catholic School’. This fanciful notion struck me listening to Liveline (RTÉ Radio One) last Thursday when the controversy of the day was Flourish, the Catholic bishops’ programme for relationships and sexuality education (RSE) in Catholic primary schools. There was a lot of…
Arrah shure isn’t it a grand thing entirely that Lionsgate is after puttin’ Wild Mountain Thyme up for rental? And shouldn’t we all be dancin’ jigs of delight as we root out our shillelaghs and cloth caps for the occasion. It was originally slated for the cinemas. They’re citing Covid as the reason for the…
How the Irish Saved Civilisation and The Gifts of the Jews (The Hinges of History Series) by Thomas Cahill (Sceptre, £9.99 paperback each) Thomas Cahill’s strength is not his historical accuracy, nor the depth and perceptiveness of his theories. Perhaps this is curious, given he is an American scholar of history and philosophy. Born in New…
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David Attenborough (Witness Books/Ebury Press, £20.00) When this latest title from Sir David Attenborough arrived, quite by chance, I had been reading in my relaxation time some of his very first books. They recount his adventures in making the Zoo Quest…
The Mountbattens by Andrew Lownie (Blink Publishing, £20.00; 490 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates) Lord Louis Mountbatten was assassinated by members of the Provisional IRA at Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, on August 27, 1979. This is recorded in considerable detail in one of the 29 chapters of this comprehensive biography. Dickie, as he was known from…
Last time round we left the late Veronica Dunne about to audition at Covent Garden. She was accepted at once. Interestingly around the same time, Australian soprano Joan Sutherland (1926-2010), who would have a brilliant international career, had four auditions before being accepted as a ‘utility soprano’. She and Ronnie became lifelong friends. Ronnie made…
You would think that during times of national crisis we’d be concentrating on the basics, the crucially important stuff of life. And yet quite a lot of media time was taken up last week with the issue of gender-neutral bathrooms – a reflection perhaps of ‘woke’ obsessions and so many hours of broadcasting to fill.…
Dignity: Seeking respect in back row America by Chris Arnade (Sentinel/Penguin Random House, £20.00) Frank Litton For years, I taught a course introducing Irish politics to US students who came to work as interns in the Dáil and Seanad. Many were surprised to discover how much the people they met knew about US politics. Some told…
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis (First published in 1946 by Geoffrey Bless; available in many editions new and second-hand) C.S. Lewis (1898–1963) was described as one of the intellectual giants of the 20th Century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his time. This slim volume – a literary outcome of the…
Death Comes for the Archbishop a novel by Willa Cather (Virago Press, £8.99/€11.40) Willa Cather’s Catholic classic Death Comes for the Archbishop was recognised from the time of its publication for its excellence. But Ms Cather is an unusual figure in American literature – a prolific author, poet, journalist and schoolteacher –and the romantic flavour of…
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone
Ruadhán Jones