Saturday 12 December 2020

One very bright spot in a dark year - Lucinda's Dicksboro Club lost the 2020 County Senior Hurling Final while Kilkenny Senior Hurlers did not make the 2020 All-Ireland Final It's a dream to captain Kilkenny- Lucinda Gahan

It's a dream to captain Kilkenny- Lucinda Gahan: Kilkenny Camogie captain Lucinda Gahan has been away from the intercounty scene for close to a decade, but after returning from a spell abroad she’s all set to lead Kilkenny out in this weekend’s All-Ireland final against Galway. The 31-year-old psychiatric nurse has spent the last few y...

Wednesday 25 November 2020

Friday 16 October 2020

The Irish Ancestry of Joe Biden - Ancestor Network

The Irish Ancestry of Joe Biden - Ancestor Network: The Irish Ancestry of Joe Biden Joe Biden’s ancestry traces back to the famine years in Ireland when hunger, despair and destitution propelled many of the Irish population to cross the Atlantic in search of a better future. Born on 20 November 1942, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was the first born of Joseph Robinette Biden ...

Sunday 11 October 2020

Saturday 10 October 2020

Billy the Kid's Irish mother would welcome his pardon | IrishCentral.com

Billy the Kid's Irish mother would welcome his pardon | IrishCentral.com: The news that the governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson may be about to finally pardon Billy the Kid brings to a close a major chapter in Irish American history as wellWhen Pat Garrett finally tracked down and killed Billy the Kid in 181 a subtext of the killing was the Irish identity of the two famous protagonistsPat Garrett was the grandson of Irish immigrants while Billy the Kid was really William McCarty, both of whose parents came from IrelandAs Wikipedia notes Little is known about McCarty's origins, but many reputable scholars of western history 'contend that he was born on the eve of the Civil War in the bowels of an Irish neighborhood in New York City at 70 Allen Street)'While his biological father remains an obscure figure, some researchers have theorized that his name was Patrick McCarty, Michael McCarty, William McCarty, or Edward McCarty

Monday 5 October 2020

Saturday 3 October 2020

Ireland's History

 Now posted on my Facebook is my mini-essay on Ireland's History -  Class realities and 16 shades of *Irish* - or a *Colony* in the BRITISH [ but never Irish ]    Empire ? 


It dissects common, lazy and data-free assumptions and claims that too often pass for serious historical analysis.

Sunday 27 September 2020

Clearly not the whole truth. Mary McAleese memoir: Fascinating, but not the full story

Mary McAleese memoir: Fascinating, but not the full story: Book review: in Here’s the Story, the former president tells a lot, but not all, about her extraordinary career

Saturday 5 September 2020

Sunday 30 August 2020

Tuesday 25 August 2020

Kilkenny's Big Phil confirms golf trip to Limerick as he publishes details of his movements since returning to Ireland - Kilkenny Now - Your City. Your County. Your News. Now

Kilkenny's Big Phil confirms golf trip to Limerick as he publishes details of his movements since returning to Ireland - Kilkenny Now - Your City. Your County. Your News. Now: The EU Trade Commissioner, Kilkenny’s Phil Hogan, has published a timeline of his movements when he arrived in Ireland from Brussels on July 31. The timeline includes details of a trip to Adare in county Limerick on August 13 to play golf. Mr Hogan released the timeline on social media after he provided around 20 pages …

Saturday 22 August 2020

Kilkenny All Time Greats - Profile: Hubert Butler 1900-1991

 Kilkenny All Time Greats - Profile: Hubert Butler: Born at Maiden Hall outside the village of Bennettsbridge, Butler was a man of many talents. We remember him as a human rights campaigner, activist, writer, fluent Russian-speaker who translated the writings of Chekov and was a co-reviver of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society. Butler travelled thro...

The Minority Voice

Excellent study of Hubert Butler 1900-1991 by Robert Benjamin Tobin - The Minority Voice: 'How do such people, with brilliant members and dull ones, fare when they pass from being a dominant minority to being a powerless one?' So asked the Kilkenny man-of-letters Hubert Butler (1900-1991) when considering the fate of Southern Protestants after Irish Independence. As both a product and critic of this culture, Butler posed the question repeatedly, refusing to accept as inevitable the marginalization of his community within the newly established state.

John Banville on Hubert Butler's The Eggman and the Fairies

[Wikipedia] Hubert Butler

Monday 3 August 2020

Which UK Prime Minister are you? Quiz

Which Prime Minister are you? Quiz: There have been 55 Prime Ministers since the office was first created under Walpole almost 300 years ago. Some have been well regarded and well remembered by history. Some of them have a place in infamy. Others are almost forgotten today. We have scientifically* created this quiz to determine which Prime Minister best fits your views, background, and tastes. Some former Prime Ministers, like Churchill or Attlee, will always be remembered for their vital work during and in the aftermath of the Second Wo...

Thursday 23 July 2020

Syria and Facebook

Do not miss on  Facebook both  -

[a] *Raqqa Pictures*  and

[b]  *Abood Without Barriers*.

From Raqqa-born Syrian photographer ABOOD HAMAM, now 45, who has survived the terror of both the vicious and Kremlin-armed Assad Regime and  the cruel terror of  ISIL Jihadist gangs.

He very  movingly and memorably captures both  the haunting beauty and the unimaginable horror of  his native land.

He was also featured from 11 AM to 11.30 AM today on   BBC Radio 4  in their *Crossing Continents* series with Tim Whewell .

Feel [ rightly ] very disturbed by the CVD-19 nightmare which now faces us  -   across the Globe  -  as I certainly do ? 

Just look at Raqqa for a  while and see how much worse we could be.  Humans  have faced  - and also survived   - a  lot worse, and we will  also survive this time as well

And just as  both Sarajevo and in 1945 Berlin rose from the ruis,   so will Raqqa  - eventually

And rebuild not only stones but a decent society and culture.

But they will be able to do so in part thanks  to the inspiring  witness of people like Abood Hamam.   




Friday 10 July 2020

Bette Midler - From A Distance (Official Music Video)

Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings (Official Music Video)

STARSHIP----NOTHING'S GONNA STOP US NOW (Subtítulos En Español) 1986 Ro...

Cher - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Do You Believe? Tour)

Cher - Believe [Official Music Video]

Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive [Official Video] 1978 [Audio iTunes Plus ...

Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time (Official Video)

Tina Turner - Simply The Best 1989

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (Live Aid 1985)

Queen - We Are The Champions (Official Video)

Queen - We Are The Champions (Official Video)

Queen - We Will Rock You (Official Video)

Queen - I Want To Break Free (Official Video)

Queen - Don't Stop Me Now (Official Video)

Eric Carmen - Hungry Eyes

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (Official Music Video)

Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days (Official Video)

Vera Lynn - We'll Meet Again (1943)

Vera Lynn The White cliffs of Dover

'We'll meet again': Vera Lynn's anthem of hope through the ages

Dame Vera Lynn - We'll Meet Again (White Cliffs of Dover Projection)

Castle Oliver Restoration.

Co Limerick Cromwellian Planter ancestors of Elizabeth Oliver aka Mrs Gibert aka dancer *Lola Montez*, 1847-48 Mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Castle Oliver - The Big House

Tuesday 7 July 2020

Torpedo attack rocked Ireland and the world

Torpedo attack rocked Ireland and the world: When the Lusitania first went into service in September 1907 it was the biggest ocean liner ever built.

U-boat captain's role in the 1916 rising

U-boat captain's role in the 1916 rising: The commander of the German U-20 submarine who ordered the devastatingtorpedo to be fired at the Lusitania and the officer who launched the strike have sidebar links to another dramatic event in Irish history — the 1916 Rising.

CIN009 Metropole

CIN009 Metropole

Saturday 27 June 2020

China's Undeclared War on India

China's Undeclared War on India: China's artificial islands in the South China Sea -- equipped with military bases, naval ports and airfields -- pose a strategic threat to neighboring countries. In 2018, China landed nuclear strike-capable bombers on these artificial islands, sending an

Monday 22 June 2020

We'll meet again - the Dublin connections of Dame Vera Lynn

We'll meet again - the Dublin connections of Dame Vera Lynn: The 'unforgettable British icon' and poster girl for soldiers during World War Two had Irish roots, reinforced by a childhood visit, writes Con McGrath

VE Day 75 years later: the Irish part in Second World War victory is largely unwritten

VE Day 75 years later: the Irish part in Second World War victory is largely unwritten: Thousands of Irish men and women fought for victory over Nazi Germany, writes Dan Harvey.

Friday 19 June 2020

Eamon De Valera's moving tribute to Franklin Roosevelt that surprised critics

Eamon De Valera's moving tribute to Franklin Roosevelt that surprised critics: On the 70th anniversary of US president Franklin D Roosevelt?s death, Ryle Dwyer examines how ?amon de Valera?s fulsome condolence gesture stunned critics

Wednesday 17 June 2020

Civil War - Roya Navy rescued Prot orphan boys whose orphanage was burnt down by Anti-Treaty IRA at Ballyconree near Clifden on June 30, 1922 Clifden

Civil War - British gunboat sent to Clifden: June 22 1922 Galwegians looked on with alarm as anti-Treaty forces, who had taken up positions in a number of buildings in the city, including the former RIC station at Eglinton Street, were preparing for a fight. That morning Michael Brennan, IRA commander of the only major pro-Treaty unit in the west, under orders from Richard Mulcahy Free State Army commander, entered the city with a large well armed force. They immediately secured the county-jail, the courthouse, and the railway hotel. Having seen the end of the War of Independence, and having voted by a substantial majority just weeks before for parties supporting the Treaty with Britain, this was a tragic state of affairs. Galwegians feared an all out pitched battle, followed by the horrors of the previous years of struggle. This time, however, the enemy was not Britain, but former friends and comrades.

20 Indian soldiers killed in border clashes with Chinese forces | DW News

IRA bands play sectarian songs outside protestant church - August 2012

IRA force catholic politician Gerry Fitt out of his home

The Altnaveigh Massacre - BEFORE Civil War. IRA SECTARIAN Slaughter of 1 woman and 5 men from Protestant Families

Wednesday 10 June 2020

Monday 8 June 2020

Sybille Bedford in Feldkirch

Sybille Bedford in Feldkirch: I do like a spot of literary sleuthing, and at the moment I’m reading Sybille Bedford’s Jigsaw, in which she describes her upbringing in Feldkirch in the “Grand-Duchy of Baden” during the second and third decades of the last century. Jigsaw reprises in a more memoir-like way the same territory as her first novel, A …

Without rancor: Sybille Bedford’s achievement 1911 - 2006

Without rancor: Sybille Bedford’s achievement: Le passé est une partie de nous-même, la plus essentielle peut-être. —Victor Hugo Beware of being sheep. —Sybille Bedford For more than four decades, the German-born English writer Sybille Bedford has been somethi...

Thursday 4 June 2020

Due to 1 or more *Super-spreaders* suddenly infecting many other people ? WATCH: Lockdown looms as Israel sees largest 24-hour corona spike in a month

WATCH: Lockdown looms as Israel sees largest 24-hour corona spike in a month: Israel reported 116 coronavirus diagnoses in one day, leading to the closure of five more schools in central Israel whose students tested positive for the virus.

Sunday 31 May 2020

Julia Neuberger, "Antisemitism: What It Is, What It Isn’t, Why It Matters" (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2019)

Julia Neuberger, "Antisemitism: What It Is, What It Isn’t, Why It Matters" (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2019): Anti-Semitic incidents, ranging from vandalism through murder, are on the rise in Great Britain, and across Europe and North America.
Julia Neuberger - Senior Rabbi at West London Synagogue, a member of the House of Lords, chair of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, and trustee of Full Fact, an organization dedicated to getting proper information and fair evidence before the public – writes for the contemporary reader who wants clarification of the way this insidious prejudice has reappeared in many parts of today’s society. She explains that anti-Semitism is not only a threat to Jews, but also to other minorities and to the society as whole, as it promotes paranoid conspiracy theories and irrationality.
Beginning with a history of anti-Semitism, from ancient times, through early Christianity, through the Middle Ages and on to Nazi ideology, Antisemitism: What It Is, What It Isn’t, Why It Matters (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2019) also explores the boundary between legitimate criticism of Israeli policies and anti-Semitic Israel -bashing.
Neuberger describes in detail the many manifestations of anti-Semitism in Britain, particularly, but by no means exclusively, as it has developed in the British Labor Party under Jeremy Corbin.
Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. is a psychologist, writer, and Middle East commentator for the nationally syndicated TV program, The Armstrong Williams Show. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com or tweet @embracingwisdom.
Learn more about yo...

Monday 25 May 2020

The History Girls: The Panthéon welcomes a woman, Simone Weil, by Car...

The History Girls: The Panthéon welcomes a woman, Simone Weil, by Car...: Every now and again I feel fortunate to stand face to face with a remarkable piece of history. Last week, while I was in Paris, ...

Sunday 24 May 2020

How “Catholic” Was the Early Nazi Movement? Religion, Race, and Culture in Munich, 1919–1924

How “Catholic” Was the Early Nazi Movement? Religion, Race, and Culture in Munich, 1919–1924: How “Catholic” Was the Early Nazi Movement? Religion, Race, and Culture in Munich, 1919–1924 - Volume 36 Issue 3 - Derek Hastings

An Agreement with the Catholic Church

An Agreement with the Catholic Church: Learn about the concordat that Hitler and the Catholic Church signed in 1933, and the compromises and gains involved for both parties.

Monday 18 May 2020

MOST [ = 69 % = 570,000 ] not to any foreign land but elsewhere WITHIN their own homeland of Palestine. Where Did the 826,000 Palestinian Arab Refugees Go?

Where Did the Palestinian Refugees Go?: Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

Saturday 16 May 2020

1916: Looters turned anything they could into weapons on O'Connell Street

1916: Looters turned anything they could into weapons on O'Connell Street: A cast iron toffee axe — normally used to break up large slabs of toffee in confectioner shops — became a weapon in the hands of a looter in O’Connell St.

Thursday 30 April 2020

Kate McCarthy 1895-1971. Nurse in WW 1 & WW 2. In French Resistance in WW 2. . Held by Gestapo. A Cork nun's extraordinary life at war

A Cork nun's extraordinary life at war: LAST month, during a walking tour of Béthune in northern France, our guide recalled the work of a Cork woman, Kate McCarthy, who nursed wounded soldiers during both world wars. Her niece, Sr Breda McCarthy of the Loreto Convent in Bray, told me this extraordinary woman’s story.

Tuesday 28 April 2020

Saturday 25 April 2020

NUI-Galway Graduate Dr Gordon Joyce 42 from Moycullen leads search for Covid-19 vaccine & predicts it will take 'a year or more'

Galway man involved in search for Covid-19 vaccine predicts it will take 'a year or more': Galway man Gordon Joyce, Chief of Structural Biology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington DC, is at the forefront of the work being done across the world to find a vaccine for coronavirus.

The Rolling Stones - Living In A Ghost Town (Official Video)

Friday 24 April 2020

The CORONAVIRUS Lament - A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Weekend Update: President Trump Gives Coronavirus Update - SNL

Quaranqueen (Dancing Queen Parody)

Coronavirus Rhapsody (based on Bohemian Rhapsody) - Covid19

"Stayin' Inside" - Coronavirus Bee Gees Parody

The Beatles - Yesterday (Lockdown Acapella Version)

The Sound of Sirens (Sound of Silence Lockdown Parody)

Monty Python Communist Quiz sketch

Dublin city empty streets in lock down

Unorthodox: Deborah Feldman's escape from Brooklyn to Berlin | DW Interview

Coronavirus: drone footage shows empty streets of Dublin in lockdown

My courtroom battle with a Holocaust denier | Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt | ...

History on Trial - Deborah E Lipstadt and the fight for historical truth

From 9.45 PM to 11.45 PM tonight on RTE 2 TV [ on Sky Sat Ch 102 ]. Denial Movie CLIP - Take Him On (2016) - Rachel Weisz Movie

The Free State’s forgotten soldiers: The National Army monument at Glasnevin. – The Irish Story

The Free State’s forgotten soldiers: The National Army monument at Glasnevin. – The Irish Story

James Holland on Normandy ‘44: D-Day & the Battle for France