A few weeks ago, Sudan descended into a bloody conflict, prompting thousands to flee, including a raft of European diplomats. When the diplomats leave a country it’s always a sure sign of the beginning of something serious. Without diplomacy to advocate for peace and talks, well it’s inevitable that violence […]

During Easter, I had the good fortune to spend some time in Sofia, which one can access directly from Dublin. It lays claim to being the site of one of the oldest settlements in Europe, dating back 7000 years, but the city of Sofia claims the more modest date of […]

There is an old Russian communist joke that goes something like this: a local communist meeting is taking place in a village outside Moscow and the party leaders are attending, to indoctrinate the local peasants. The leader asks the assembled crowd, ‘If you had ten cows what would you do?’ […]

A few years ago, an inquisitive student asked me, if I could learn any language what would it be? Having an interest in history, I said Latin, in order to unlock the knowledge of the past. In turn, I asked her the same question and she said she would learn computer […]