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 […]
History & Politics
We all know Abraham Lincoln’s famous phrase, ‘You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time’. I think this article is going to test this […]
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 […]
The Republic of Ireland, unlike so much of the globe, tends not to fancifully display our nation’s army. We don’t indulge in demonstrations of military strength or use the army to bulwark government achievements or occasions. They are often seen in ceremonial roles, small numbers, in remembrance of an anniversary […]
This is not simply an article about sport. It is about how sport is used to legitimise evil regimes. It is also about asking ourselves: What am I going to do about it? By the time you read these words, the 2022 World Cup will be in full swing in […]
