Churchill & Ireland by Paul Bew (Oxford: Oxford University Press) £9.99pb Ian d’Alton One of the problems that an historian faces is the asymmetric. In the case of Britain and Ireland, that is particularly acute. The Irish see Britain through the telescope the right way round. It looms large in our consciousness. Most Britons, though, look…
The World of Books by the books editor A bout in bed with one of those picked-up bugs that linger on, has allowed me to read some books that I ought to have read, or reread, ages ago. I can leave the rereads for now, for one the reads was extraordinarily interesting and revealing. This…
Pat O’Kelly Hopefully Friday, April 13, 2018 will prove an auspicious date for Irish National Opera when the curtain rises on its inaugural production – Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The première’s venue is fittingly Wexford’s National Opera House after which the company moves to Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre where the enchanting piece has performances…
Religious programmes are pretty scarce on Channel 4, so when one pops up on a prime time slot you tend to take notice. Jesus’ Female Disciples: The New Evidence last Sunday night, was rather full of its own importance with claims of rewriting early Christian history, of “explosive” new evidence, “overturning centuries of Christian thought”,…
Vincent de Paul: The Lazarist Mission and French Catholic Reform by Alison Forrestal (Oxford University Press, £70) Clear Vision: the life and legacy of Noel Clear, Social Justice Champion, 1937-2003 by Gerry Jeffers (Veritas, €16.99) Daire Keogh Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) is synonymous with charity and virtue, but, in Ireland his popular acclaim rests largely on the…
The GAA Immortals: 100 Gaelic Games Legends by John Scally (Black & White Publishing, €21.00) This is a compilation of biographical sketches of footballers, hurlers and team-managers who were household names in the GAA world during the last 100 years. The list of 55 footballers begins with Dick Fitzgerald. He won five All-Ireland championships for Kerry…
The Holy Week and Easter season usually sees a considerable increase in religious programming and this year was particularly good. There were the old reliables like The Robe (BBC2) and Jesus of Nazareth (Sky Arts, and still impressive), but I like to look out for something different. One of the most high profile and innovative…
Michael Inside (15A) Prisons are places where small criminals become big ones. Such a transmogrification is demonstrated in graphic fashion in this tale of a meek 18-year-old from a North Dublin housing estate who’s given a two month sentence after being found with a stash of cocaine worth €2,000. Michael McCrea (Dafhyd Flynn) is a carrier…
God is Stranger: What Happens When God Turns Up? by Krish Kandiah (Hodder & Stoughton, £9.99) Emily Keyes When people suffer tragedies, they often do one of two things with their faith: they either turn to it for comfort, meaning and healing, or they abandon it, saying they can no longer believe in or have a…
In some ways, the Vatican’s speedy disavowal of reports ahead of Easter that Pope Francis had told the elderly Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari Hell does not exist could not have been clearer. “The Holy Father Francis recently received the founder of the newspaper La Repubblica in a private meeting on the occasion of Easter, without…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone
Greg Daly