Three
Monkeys
Online is a free current
affairs and arts magazine, produced by writers in Ireland, Italy, Spain and
the UK. The Magazine was founded in 2004 by a small group of writers with
a clear idea that internet publishing could be about more than simply gossip,
conspiracy theories, and dodgy you tube videos. It doesn't have to focus on
Paris Hilton. It can be about in-depth interviews, debates, intelligent opinion
pieces, and reviews. We hope you enjoy our take on what an online magazine
can and should be.
The Irish are the only nation that will get a chance to vote directly to ratify or reject the Lisbon Treaty. In 2005, in the aftermath of its rejection, Robert Looby wrote an article for Three Monkeys on the European Constitution. He revists the fine print, albeit under the different title of a treaty, and finds the substance remains the same.
By Robert Looby
Three years ago I wrote an article on the European Constitution, or to be more precise, the treaty to establish a Constitution for Europe. When the editor asked me to revisit the subject on the occasion of the
Lisbon referendum in Ireland I was immediately encouraged by the words of former Taoiseach or Ireland,
Bertie Ahern: "Thankfully, they have not changed the substance … 90 per cent is still there...
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Death as a fictionalised experience allies itself harmoniously with literary fiction. Both are spaces of invention and both seek to fill what is essentially an ever-present void of abstraction. A perfect example of the marriage between death and literary fiction is the Gormenghast Trilogy by writer and illustrator Mervyn Peake.
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Pedro Almodóvar’s name is mentioned in intelectual circles among those who love Spanish cinematographic history beside the names of great directors such as Saura or Buñuel. In his last film, the internationally acclaimed Volver, the ilustrous man from La Mancha guides us on a fascinating walk along legend-filled streets of his childhood. He takes us through the austere La Mancha courtyards and he sorrounds us in the scent of fighting mothers, in the land that the great Cervantes already described in his Quixote. Like Cervante’s mad knight, the characters in Volver seem to have lost their marbles. “It is because of the wind Solano ” as the main character mentions, a dry wind that feeds everyday the everlasting mills and that, in one of the last scenes, drives the rubbish containers dancing through the desert streets.
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Dublin band the Delorentos are riding high in the limelight, with a nomination for both best Irish band of 2008, and best Irish album of 2008 for in love with detail. Brendan Coffey met up with guitarist Ronan Yourell, to talk abou the band's past,present, and future
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Dr. Catherine Lawless explores the position of a particular category of women who did not fit at all easily into either religious or social stereotypes, women who were the objects of amorous devotion on the part of prominent and influential citizens and on a more earthy level women who were mistresses, concubines and mothers of illegitimate children in Renaissance Florence.
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A campaign by Ireland's leading sports personalities, Show Racism the Red Card, highlights the role sport can have in integrating immigrant communities in the social fabric of a country. But to what extent does Ireland's sporting infrastructure welcome immigrant talent? Brendan Coffey looks at the 'immigration debate' through the prism of sport.
One of the most mysterious murders of Italy's murky Cold War history was that of Roberto Calvi, the head of the Banco Ambrosiano, and the man dubbed 'God's Banker' because of his business
relationship with the Vatican. A Rome jury has recently acquitted five men charged with his murder. Journalist Philip Willan discusses the Calvi case with Three Monkeys.
The very essence of the cold war was dividing the world into blocs, of 'us' and 'them'. Strung between Stalin and Gorbachev, things should have been different at the start of the 21st century, but new conflicts and new enemies have appeared in a sadly familiar pattern. Alastair McIntosh, in a paper delivered at a conference on Soctland's experience through the Cold War argues that we need to examine 'psychohistory' to shake off our cold wars.
The year was 1986, the subject Pakistan and its military coup of 1977, and the outcome a thoroughly British case of cold war sponsored censorship by the BBC. Tariq Ali discusses with Three Monkeys Online the circumstances behind the censoring of his drama The Leopard and the Fox, the dramatic rules for 'faction', and the current state of the BBC.
The route of a bypass in an underdeveloped corner of one of Europe's lesser 'developed' countries, Poland, has caused an argument with much wider ramifications. Horatio Morpurgo delves into the wider issues involved in the controversial Augustow by-pass.
Mary Midgley is one of Britain's leading philosophers. Highly critical both of religious fundamentalism, and at the same time blin...
In November 2004 Horatio Morpurgo flew into Kiev, on his way to report on a Nature reserve for an ecological magazine. By chance h...
With the release of his latest album, Victory for the Comic Muse Neil Hannon, better known as the man behind The Divine Com...
Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt became a household name when David Irving sued her for libel. The trial, Irving vs Lipstadt, in a se...
According to Ariel Dorfman, the central dilemma of our times is "how to make sure that, when grievous harm has been done to us, we...
Aziz Chouaki was forced by threats to leave his native Algeria. His novel, The Star of Algiers, portrays a society collapsi...
There’s a recurrent phrase in Cristi Puiu’s most recent film, the significance of which will not immediately be obvious to vie...
A chance encounter on the banks of the Danube reminds Horatio Morpurgo that, while the EU prepares to accept Romania and Bulgaria ...
In another 'snapshots from history' interview, broadcaster Richard Gilbert shares with Three Monkeys Online readers an interview w...
Would we accept the foundation, with tax-payers money, of political schools? For example, a neo-conservative school here, or a com...
What has the Czech Republic to gain, or, equally importantly, to lose from the installation of the US anti-missile shield system o...
Behind the polemics and eye-catching headlines carelessly trotted out by the media on immigration, real people's lives are affecte...
The proposed US anti-missile shield to be deployed in Poland, is called in Polish tarcza antyrakietowa, ironically, as ...
James Joyce was, and remains a domineering presence on the Irish literary landscape. Less acknowledged, though, is the influence o...
On May 5th Oscar De La Hoya faces Floyd Mayweather jnr in the ring at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, to decide the W...
Football, it seems, continues to flirt with its dark and dangerous past. At the recent Manchester United vs Lille match on pitch a...
Employing diverse structures, including the seven deadly sins, dante, and the American coast-to-coast road-trip, John Haskell's de...
Fifteenth Century Florence was the centre of the artistic explosion we now term the renaissance. It was also home to the relativel...
Alcohol as a literary theme is an enduring one, despite the frowns of the politically correct. Irish journalist/novelist Declan Ly...
Dacia Maraini is one of Italy's most succesful writers - translated into dozens of languages, she has written novels, essays, play...
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Bologna, home to the world's oldest University (founded in 1088), has a rich and varied history - founded by the Etruscans, developed by the Celtic tribe the Boii (from whom it gets its name), and conquered by both the Romans and later the Vatican
