As the flock of handsomely renumerated jurists take flight from the Four Courts after deliberating the fate of a 17-year-old girl wishing to terminate her pregnancy, I’m sure I’m not the only one left at the end of this week with a feeling of simmering outrage over the sorry episode.Outrage not just over the faintly […]
May 3rd is the day on which Poles celebrate the anniversary of their 1791 constitution, which is considered by some (mostly Poles) the most progressive in Europe of its day. Only the American constitution beats it, the national mythology goes. It did not liberate the peasants but it did take on some of the worst […]
This monkey has already written about the daubing of the slogan ‘Shame on you Bagnasco’ on the doors of Genoa’s cathedral, suggesting that it was wrong to term this a threat, as most of the media immediately did.
Some hotheads somewhere decided to up the ante, though, and daubed walls in Genoa, and elsewhere, with bona fide threats to the head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. Slogans like ‘Death to Bagnasco’ have cropped up on walls.
Then, at the weekend, the Bishop – who, in reference to Italy’s impending legislation on rights for co-habiting couples (including homosexuals), likened homosexuality to incest and paedophilia – received a bullet in an envelope. Something no-one, regardless of how bigoted they maybe, should have to endure.
I don’t really have the time today to do justice to Bertie’s excuses or to savage the Health Service Executive’s Taleban-style priorities, so I merely offer a link to some startling photographs I came across recently*. They reveal that, pace most febrile Western reporting, modern life in China is not all about iPod factories and […]
There’s an interesting blog entry on the Times Literary Supplement site, from regular columnist Mary Beard, on the subject of Hadrian’s Wall. Beard gives a quick history lesson to George W. Bush, and the Knesset, regarding their proposed and actual defensive barriers*. Beard deconstructs the conservative-comforting image of Hadrian’s wall, that of an impressive barrier […]
Like a spy on the wall I take notes in the corner while a tired-looking Futureheads run through their soundcheck. It’s the first night of their short Italian tour, and things are not sonically as they should be. The band haven’t toured much this year, after their acrimonious split with their label, Warners. They’re taking […]
Unusual is one way of putting it or maybe it’s the start of something novel. A band with rock n’roll desires firmly rooted in a rural part of Ireland that appreciates the native stew, early morning starts and practices in a converted turkey shed. The Flaws, like many another Irish band, have crept onto the […]
Finishing M.J. Hyland’s second novel, Carry Me Down, left me in a curious state. On the one hand I had that satisfied feeling one gets reaching a final full stop, like smacking one’s lips together at the finish of a particularly good meal. On the other, though, my eyebrows knitted together with questions regarding this […]
“You have the right to remain silent…” The cop shows have taught us that the accused in the interview room has the option to keep schtum while being grilled by the fuzz. This prerogative is not something we usually associated with a head of state looking to renew his contract. But this is Ireland, and […]