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 […]
History & Politics
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 […]
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 […]