One of the reasons I’d rage against war is that it is entirely man made. Natural disasters produce a different response, but human inadequacy or irresponsibility can make the outcome worse. The media coverage of the Turkey/Syria earthquake included suggestions that after the 1999 earthquake in the area, buildings were not subsequently erected to be…
This month celebrates the 75th anniversary of the establishment in 1948 of the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra (RÉSO), renamed the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) from January 1, 1990. 1948 also brought the foundation of the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra (RÉLO) – a body of 22 musicians with its own agenda but would supplement the larger…
The new national holiday on the first day of February has been judged a great success on its first celebration. Doubtless in the decades to come ways of celebration will become fixed and standardised, and we will all know what we can expect in the way of local events to celebrate the role of women…
Crazy about Dymphna: The Story of a Girl who Drove a Medieval City Mad, by Sven Van Dorst and others (Antwerp: Hannibal Publishing / Phoebus Foundation, €63.25/£55.00) Exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland, runs until May 28 Davnet and Dympna: a single cult, by Seosamh Ó Dufaigh (Clogher Historical Society, €30.00) In 2016,…
When I Was Your Age: Ireland’s Grandparents Share Memories and Wisdom, by Valerie Cox (Hachette Books, Ireland, €21.00/£18.50) This is a compelling collection of interviews with grandparents, some well-known, some not so well-known. The collection will be immensely interesting to those of a certain vintage, both those who are and who do not happen…
It’s hard to believe Audrey Hepburn is dead 30 years this year. I loved her as an actress since I was a child, having been enthralled by her beauty and grace. She’d lost neither of these qualities when I interviewed her in 1988 at the Burlington Hotel, as it was then called. But at this…
I was triggered too much last week so I’m edgy. I get triggered when I hear stories about trigger warnings being added to innocuous or even worthy material. Last year it was the (trenchantly anti-racist) novel To Kill a Mockingbird, last week it was Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen! Lunchtime Live (Newstalk, Tuesday) took a…
I Judge No One: A Political Life of Jesus by David Lloyd Dusenbury (Hurst Publishers, £25.00/€30.50) Frank Litton The horrible costs of the Ukrainian war in human lives and material destruction are agreed. One expert analysis reports that an estimated 180,000 Russian soldiers, 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers, plus 30,000 civilians have been killed, putting it in…
Joyce, Aristotle and Aquinas, by Fran O’Rourke (A volume in the Florida James Joyce Series, edited by Sebastian DG. Knowles; University of Florida Press, US$90hb/US$35pb/£38.95pb /€44.50pb) Today marks the anniversary of James Joyce’s birth in 1882, the first indeed in what can be seen as the second century of Ulysses. That book is now so…
The Irish Department of Finance 1959-99, by Ciarán Casey (Institute of Public Administration, €35.00/£30.99). The Irish Department of Finance traces its beginning to the establishment of the Irish Free State in December 1922. It retained the work-practices and most of the personnel of its previous existence as an ancillary branch of the British Treasury. In…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone