Last week I ended my column on the Trump-Biden Presidential debate. I wasn’t happy. I expected more from the Vice Presidential Debate, (RTÉ News Now, Sky News, CNN) on Wednesday night of last week and it was certainly an improvement, more civilised. The candidates, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris were more courteous, even gracious at…
The Culture of God: The Syrian Jesus, Reading the Divine Mind, Sailing into the Divine Heart by Nadim Nassar (Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99) Anthony Redmond Nadim Nassar is the first Syrian Christian to become a priest in the Church of England. This is his first book and it’s well worth reading. He says of his life…
The Old Gunner and his Medals by Brendan Lynch (Mountjoy Publishing, €12.00; ISBN 978-0-9513668-3-7) Brendan Lynch’s novel, published at the age of 80, is (all going well) an Irish classic in the making. The novel never misses a step. From beginning to end it reads flawlessly as an account of a darker side of Irish history…
Celtic Studies in Europe and other Essays by Seán Ó Lúing (Geography Publications, €38.00/£29.99) This collection of interesting essays by the late Seán Ó Lúing, the noted scholar, can be categorised under three headings: autobiography, the Irish language and Higher Studies. Those on staff of the Institute of Advanced Studies are particularly valuable. They provide biographies…
There have been quite a few changes on radio for the autumn season, with presenters moving around in a kind of media musical chairs, but some things stay the same. And so I was glad to see the recent return of The Leap of Faith (RTÉ Radio One) to its Friday night slot, with Michael…
While the new NPHET restrictions are of course necessary to get to the bottom of this whodunit we call Covid-19, they do raise the old questions of why the familiar fall guys (churches, cinemas, etc.) have again been targeted. Is the elephant in the room not the secondary schools? They opened in late August and…
The Identitarians: The Movement against Globalism and Islam in Europe by José Pedro Zúquete (University of Notre Dame Press, £32.00/$39.00) Frank Litton We live in an age of adjectives. While going back over past controversies, it is hard not to note how often adjectives are deployed to deflect, or halt argument. The commentariat are less concerned…
The Bible. A Story that makes sense of Life by Andrew Ollerton (Hodder & Stoughton, £14. 99; available in bookshops this month) The Bible, from Genesis to the Epistles, provides the common ground for belief for Christians of all tradition, East and West. And yet again, from East to West, they have drawn such varied notions…
Mainly About Books by the Books Editor While the country continues to struggle with the effects of the pandemic, the outcome of which is still unclear in its development, some are turning their thoughts to thinking about what needs to be done, especially in the Dublin region where the disease has been most dangerous. Planning…
Gerard Byrne is a Dublin-based artist with a studio in Ranelagh. A leading figure in the Irish art world, for some time he has been painting streetscapes in the Rathmines and Pembroke areas, which have already attracted a lot of attention. I met him at work recently, painting the oldest house in Wellington Place in…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone