According to a report in The Irish Times Weekend newspaper four per cent of public transport passengers are currently wearing face masks.
Anyone who has been on a bus or train in recent weeks will surely be surprised to see that figure. It seem far too high.
And Covid is currently making a nasty comeback.
Yeva Skalietska is a 12-year-old girl living in Dublin. She is from Ukraine and left her home on the outbreak of Putin’s war.
She has written a book about her first experience of the war titled You Don't Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl From Ukraine
Author Michael Morpurgo has written the foreword. On BBC Radio 4 yesterday morning he said that he had gone back and read Anne Frank’s diary and explained how he saw the similarities between the two books.
What follows below is a blurb from the Amazon site:
The book is published in association with the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
Everyone knows the word 'war'. But very few understand what it truly means. When you find you have to face it, you feel totally lost, walled in by fright and despair. Until you've been there, you don't know what war is.
'Everyone, absolutely everyone, should read it. You will love Yeva.' Christy Lefteri, No.1 international bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
This is the gripping and moving diary of young Ukrainian refugee Yeva Skalietska. It follows twelve days in Ukraine that changed Yeva's life forever.
She was woken in the early hours to the terrifying sounds of shelling. Russia had invaded Ukraine, and her beloved Kharkiv home was no longer the safe haven it should have been. It was while she was forced to seek shelter in a damp, cramped basement that Yeva decided to write down her story. And it is a story the world needs to hear.
Yeva captured people's heart when she was featured on Channel 4 News with her granny as they fled Ukraine for Dublin.
In You Don't Know What War Is, Yeva records what is happening hour-by-hour as she seeks safety and travels from Kharkiv to Dublin. Each eye-opening diary entry is supplemented by personal photographs, excerpts of messages between Yeva and her friends and daily headlines from around the world, while three beautifully detailed maps (by Kharkiv-native Olga Shtonda) help the reader track Yeva and her granny's journey. You Don't Know What War Is is a powerful insight into what conflict is like through the eyes of a child and an essential read for adults and older children alike.
As BBC Radio 4 closed down for the night before switching over to the World Service on Wednesday the announcer wished his listeners oíche mhaith.
Yes, the staton that is celebrating its first 100 years, said good night to all its listeners in the Irish language.
This article appeared in yesterday's Guardian newspaper.
It is powerful and one of the most interesting and informative pieces I have read on the current situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ireland has many links with Iran. Between 1974 and 1982 Dominican priest William Barden was archbishop in Isfahan, which is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Before being appointed archbishop he was prior and parish priest in the Dominican community and church in Tehran
William grew up on Rathgar Road, went to CBS Synge Street, was ordained a Dominican priest in 1931.
The Irish Dominicans have a priory close to the university in the city centre in Tehran.
The Dominicans went to Iran in 1961. They were involved in Muslim Christian dialogue and also ministered to the Christian community in the country, which included Filipinos, who came to Iran to work in the oil industry.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/27/azar-nafisi-iran-women-protest-veil?CMP=share_btn_link
James O’Brien presents a programme on LBC every weekday between 10am and 1pm.
On his programme on Wednesday he blasts new British prime minister Rishi Sunak for his appalling and breathtakingly bad first PMQs.
Here’s the link:
This from the Guardian.
The man is shameless.
And then there’s the story of Liz Truss. When the Conservative prime minister announced her resignation, no matter what one’s politics are, it would be understandable that people would feel sorry for her. The woman had been politically humiliated.
When she stood at the podium in Downing Street yesterday and spoke about her days in 10 Downing Street she never once apologised, never a hint of remorse, instead she spoke of the great things she did.
At one stage she quoted Seneca, unfortunately she stumbled over the man’s name.
Ms Truss gave the impression she had no shame whatsoever.
To think that ‘these people’ misgoverned and mismanaged Ireland for centuries.
And by the way, I strongly recommend we all try our best to cut back on our energy consumption. Don’t fill the kettle to make one cup of tea, change to LED lighting, watch that immersion heater and less time under the shower.
Is there any conversation in the British media if Brexit is playing a role in what is happening in the Conservative party?
And isn’t it the height of irony that it is the capitalist markets that should see the demise of a Tory prime minister.
The world seems definitely to be in a state of chassis.
RTE Radio I’s Business programme yesterday featured an interview with Stephen Cluskey.
Stephen had a serious accident in his late teens, which has left him paralysed. With great adversity he has done wonderful things with his life.
The piece is great radio and Stephen comes across as a lovely guy.
He would lift one’s spirits.
Here’s the link to the interview.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22162408/
It is being reported by reputable news agencies that Russian authorities are moving thousands of people from the annexed areas of Ukraine to Russia including to remote parts of the country, east of the Urals.
Stalin did likewise in moving millions of citizens of Ukraine and the Baltic States to Siberia.
On this day, October 22, 1946 over 2,200 engineers and technicians from the German Democratic Republic were forced to relocate in Russia. Their families accompanied them in the forced move.
Russia has a long history in moving people east.
Dostoevsky served time in a penal colony in Siberia.
Three prime ministers, four chancellors, its easy to lose track how many governments the UK has had in recent months. Today there is talk of Boris Johnson in the running to become the next British pm.
Trump may well be the next US president, Georgia Meloni is set to be the next Italian prime minister.
Orban in Hungary has stood in solidarity with Trump.
How many prime ministers has Australia had in recent years? Sweden has voted in a right wing government.
Is democracy as we know it collapsing?
Decent people are saying that the world of politics is becoming close to unbearable and ask the question how could any young person be attracted to the art.
Is social media to blame? Are we all beginning to express in the open out hatred for each other? What’s going on?
And all the time the propaganda machines in Iran, Russia and China attempt to tell the world that the West has become decadent and they are on a crusade to protect the planet.
Catherine Belton in her book ‘Putin’s People’ claims that Putin’s Russia has spent billions supporting far right and far left parties in democratic countries around the world. She might well be right.
This war in Ukraine is a monster that must be stopped. The lives that are being lost, the homes that are being destroyed, there are no words to describe it.
People with no heat, no food, nothing. Imagine waking up to find the walls of your home have been blown to pieces.
Yesterday Putin declared martial law in the territories that he has ‘made Russian’.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are being deported to Russia. This is exactly what Marshal Stalin did.
Just as the river Volga became hallowed waters for Russia in stopping the German invader, hopefully the river Dnieper will become for Ukraine what the Volga was for the Russians.
According to reliable sources the Russians have lost 65,000 troops, Ukraine 10,000. And no one knows how many thousands of civilians.
This is badness. How can any of us rest easily as this war wages. To think that Putin still calls it a Special Military Operation. The badness of it all. And bad it is.
Putin is doing to Ukraine what Hitler did.
The West are no saints, Nato are no angels, the US is no goody-two-shoes but what Russia is doing is evil and Putin is sullying the name of the great Russian people.
This might well give us a hint of what is happening behind the scenes in the Conservative Party in England.
https://twitter.com/bydonkeys/status/1582303415576715265?s=48&t=uuDA7dBfvLrctJdLEoZm4g
When it comes to the war in Ukraine it is clear that Russia is the invader, Russia is the oppressor and has simply broken all the rules and regulations about accepting the inalienable rights of independent states.
I well know the US is not squeaky clean but I have no hesitation in saying that if push came to shove I would much prefer to live in Biden’s US than Putin’s Russia. Any organisation or state that jails its opponents and refuses to allow a free press has no credibility whatsoever.
It’s easy to criticise and complain about this and that and how those in government manage the affairs of State.
We have seen in the last days how Iranian women with great bravery have protested on the streets across the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Over the weekend there were riots in the notorious Evin Prison in the suburbs of Tehran, which holds many political prisoners in appalling sub human conditions.
Anyone who has ever visited or spent any time in Dóchas, which is the women’s prison in Mountjoy, will be quickly made aware of the kindness and friendliness of the prison staff. And the women prisoners too will quickly point out the humanity and simple decency of the staff caring for them.
The Irish Dominicans have a priory and church in Tehran but there is no one at present living in the priory. The campus is in the city centre.
The Irish Dominicans first went to Iran in 1962 and had a thriving community in the capital for many years.
Dublin man William Barden was archbishop of Isfahan from 1974 until 1982.
This from yesterday’s Guardian.
It looks as the world is in a state of chassis.
The words of British prime minister Liz Truss one day are turned upside down the next day. The certainty of Thursday is the complete uncertainty of Friday.
On Friday at a press conference in Downing Street Liz Truss said: “I want to tell the truth’. It sounded as if she is simply unable to tell the truth but is actually trying to but simply can’t manage it.
Then again, this is the woman who was one day strongly in favour of the UK staying in the EU, the next day strongly in favour of the UK leaving the EU, the young girl who was virulently opposed to the monarchy and then a powerful supporter of it. And then as a young woman was a member of the Lib Democrats before joining the Conservative Party.
The British prime minister looks a pathetic figure.
And then there’s Trump, Putin and the brave women of Iran.
O’Casey seems to have been spot on when he said: "Th' whole worl's in a terrible state o' chassis"
“I’m exhausted, I’ve had it, my next thought is: the people in Ukraine cannot say, I’m exhausted, I’ve had it.
I’m here to manage this crisis. Then we’ll see,”
- President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen
And it’s a little similar to what her fellow country man, Martin Luther said many years ago: “Here I stand and can’t do differently, God help me Amen.
A different time, a different cause.
A customer in Tesco in Rathmines compliments the young women at the check out. The two of them get chatting. He comments on her politeness and then asks her where she is from. With a gentle smile she tells him she is from Ukraine and in response to his next question tells him she is in Ireland six months.
Her English is perfect, complementing her smile and kindness.
She came here at the outbreak of the Russian invasion of her country.
Watching the scenes of terror and violence in Ukraine every evening on her televisions and then observing the exchange between the young Ukrainian woman and a customer in Tesco Rathmines would gladden the heart of the greatest of cynics and naysayers.
Full marks to Tesco and indeed full marks to the Irish State for all that is being done for the people of Ukraine.
This week’s INM/Mediahuis Irish regionals newspapers’ column.
The film Downfall is well worth watching. It chronicles the story of Boeing and how and why the two Boeing 737 Max aircraft crashed. The Lion Air Flight 610 crashed on October 29, 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 301 crashed on March 10, 2019. They were both new aircraft.
The planes crashed because of the MCAS (Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System). Pilots didn’t know there was an MCAS on the plane.
The aircraft company was slow to engage in any discussion with the public, US authorities, pilots.
Whistleblowers explain in the film how anytime they reported a problem or a fault at the Boeing South Carolina plant they were either fired, let go or moved on.
One employee said his pay was docked for putting quality concerns in writing. Another employee said the company did not want anything documented.
Boeing essentially ignored the families of the victims of the two crashes.
They also kept the FAA out of the loop when it came to information how how the MCAS operated on the Boeing 737 Max.
Boeing employed top PR companies to discredit pilots and airline companies to hide the mistakes they had made because of years of poor management.
Within days of the first 737nMax crash Boeing knew what was the reason for the crash.
People who rang alarm bells at Boeing were ignored.
Greed and profits were more important to Boeing than human life.
The story is not unique to Boeing.
The film is available on Netflix.
Former archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin was interviewed last Saturday week on the Brendan O’Connor Show on RTÉ Radio 1.
It was good read. Close to the end he talks about the search for God, maybe the most interesting section.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22152044/
As I went to get off the bus we connected again, and it was as clear as day we both thanked each other for how we responded to the situation. I’m certain he appreciated our exchange, and I was glad that I had said to him what I did. We both gained from the moment. My last words to him were thank you. In a very small way we, the boys and I, were putting into practice what Jesus taught us when he cured the lepers.
British prime minister Liz Truss in her address at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham yesterday made some extraordinary comments.
She accused think tanks, protestors, trade unions, the Labour Party, the Lib Dems, the SNP, Brexiter denyers and people who take taxis to the BBC are all opposed to growth.
And for those words she received a standing ovation.
Astonishing.
This is a good read from the Financial Times
https://on.ft.com/3V19PhJ
This week’s INM/Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.
If Putin is to stay true to his word, now with the defeat of Russian troops in Lyman, has Ukraine not invaded the territory of the Russian Federation? Is Putin now not forced to launch an all out attack on Ukraine and those who are supplying them with weapons.
"Russian troops have pulled out of the town of the strategic city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine “due to the risk to be encircled” and moved to “more advantageous frontiers”, Russia’s ministry of defence said via Telegram on Saturday.
Ukraine forces encircled Russian forces in the eastern town earlier today where Russia’s forces at Lyman totalled about 5,000 to 5,500 soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers were later seen raising the nation’s flag before the entrance sign to the city.
The retreat comes a day after Vladimir Putin signed “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war.
Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces, previously said:Lyman is important because it is the next step towards the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas. It is an opportunity to go further to Kreminna and Sievierodonetsk, and it is psychologically very important."
"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing”.
- Theodore Roosevelt
This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane December 8 was the traditional start to the Christmas season. It wa...
