History & Politics - West Cork People

Persia to Iran: The shaping of modern Iran (Part II)

Kieran Doyle August, 2025

In 1935, Reza Shah, the self-imposed leader of Persia, renamed his country Iran. It had endured in some shape or form as Persia for over two and a half millennia. To understand modern Iran, it has to be framed by the influence of Reza Pahlavi and his son Mohammad who […]

Persia to Iran: Mystique turned menace? (Part I)

Kieran Doyle July, 2025

Iran is headline news right now. By the time this article goes to print, the incessant bombing of Tehran and its ten million occupants, by Israel, could be over, or have boiled into a war of greater dimensions. Both the USA and Israel see Iran as an evil country that […]

Walking the West Cork railway

WCP Staff June, 2025

I was hesitant to write about the West Cork railway. There are many local experts and train enthusiasts who know so much more than me about this topic and it has appeared in journals, books and newspapers, so I don’t feel I can add anything radically new to what has been […]

The day the world changed – Hiroshima

Kieran Doyle May, 2025

Standing at the epicentre of where the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated by the USA on August 6, 1945, is a surreal experience. Hiroshima, a modern and somewhat serene city, is less hectic and less claustrophobic than other Japanese cities, but that is to be expected given that the […]

The 1932 Eucharist Congress– a time when Ireland was holy

Kieran Doyle April, 2025

Myself and my friends have this phrase we use on the occasions we meet up and start reminiscing on our youth. We tend to say, we grew up in an era with one foot in ‘old’ Ireland and another in the ‘new’. We were from a generation where childhood was more […]

Trying to navigate our way through a technological and more polarised world

Kieran Doyle March, 2025

After Trump won the USA presidential election, I promised myself that I wasn’t going to allow my 2025 articles become dominated by his political journey. However, he unleashes so much global negativity on a daily basis, that’s its difficult to navigate from the political chaos he is causing internally and […]

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