Will the visit of Pope Francis actually change anything?
When Francis returns to the Vatican, will he leave behind a different Ireland? Will he be returning to a changing institutional church? Does his visit amount to some form of watershed in the relationship between the Irish people and their state and and the Roman Catholic church? Or will his short visit amount to a […]
Time to stop the Metrolink madness – Autumn 2018 newsletter
Conservative and reactionary forces in the Roman Catholic church wonder whether the Pope is a Catholic
Pope Francis, despite his unflappable, affable demeanour, is locked in a bitter struggle with conservative and reactionary forces in the Roman Catholic church who have since conducted a sometimes-mutinous campaign to curb him. While hundreds of thousands of Irish Catholics are eagerly and enthusiastically awaiting his visit, a vociferous minority of Irish church traditionalists, egged […]
Time to stop and reconsider the Metrolink madness
Tempted as I am to devote this column to the monstrous dishonesty of Donald Trump’s claim to have mis-spoken at Helsinki or to the Tory attempt to wriggle out of their Irish border backstop commitment, I prefer to let some dust settle on both of those matters and to deal with the Dublin Metrolink project […]
Trump considers bullying and thuggery as forceful and full blooded political behaviour
Donald Trump’s rampage across Europe reminds us that he is a buffoon with a bouffant. His brittle personality is aptly symbolised by his insubstantial, highly lacquered, yellow-dyed comb-over fascinator hair-do that “milliner to the stars” Philip Treacy would envy for its ambition. Trump’s grotesque pre-summit interview with The Sun in which he deliberately sought to […]
What are the chances of an early general election?
Here are three uncomfortable truths. First, despite furious public protestations to the contrary, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael strategists are privately reconciled to the fact that neither of them is likely to have any chance of forming a government after any early election unless one of them does a coalition deal with Sinn Féin. […]