John Hume consistently articulated the view that the differences of race, religion or nationality which led to hatred and conflict are accidents of birth which should be respected and celebrated as the essence of humanity. Continue reading
Tagged with Northern Ireland …
Brexit – A European Punch and Judy show.
As a border child from the counties of Tyrone and Derry, I have seen the hard border, that no one wants again. I remember the salmon smuggling, the customs officers on both sides Continue reading
Prisoners of Memory
Beside such extreme acts of violence, ordinary life was of course lived ordinarily, decently, by scores of citizens. The vast majority of people wanted no truck with the killing. Continue reading
Particularies of Time and Space
It is not just landscape and history and personal objects and events that shape us, but also the more casual and systematic reading we do …. Continue reading
A treat for Brian Friel Fans at Eltham Little Theatre
An engrossing play about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Continue reading
The Border and Brexit
For many in NI, the ‘open border’ is a tangible sign of the end of ‘The Troubles’. Continue reading
BREXIT – Northern Ireland reacts.
Derry-born, London-living poet novelist, Michael Foley, writing in the Irish Times, felt Brexit was an appeal to Nationalism, with its double-speak of sovereignty and taking-back control. Given the economic and societal insecurity, Europe was the perfect scapegoat. Continue reading
The Significance Of 1916 by Garret Fitzgerald
the final end of the Irish nation was at hand, unless they acted dramatically to call back the nation’s soul from the very shadow of death. Continue reading
Dissonant Voices: Faith and the Irish Diaspora
‘I now believe that the spiritual life is deeply political’ p.175.
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WINDHARP. Poems of Ireland since 1916
if this was all we had a thousand years from now, it would be the basis for a sound reconstruction of the political, social and economic life in Ireland in the century since 1916. Continue reading
