An Irish Dominican post on Facebook

The link is from an Irish Dominicans post on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1481852802845984/?

A staggering €66.7 million crushed to smithereens

Do you return your drink cans and plastic bottles? If so you are one of many who are losing out on collecting the money due to you.

So far a staggering €66.7 million worth of empties has not been collected by the Irish public.

One way that might make it easier for people to avail of the Deposit Return Scheme would be to cash in receipts in any outlet and not have it restricted to the shop where one returned the empties.

So, who is getting the €66.7 million?

Something seriously amiss with road policing

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

The media has given much publicity over the last few days to the Crowe report, which is an independent review of the Roads Policing Unit to assess its effectiveness and integrity.

It’s a damning statement on how our roads are policed; some gardaí simply are not interested in their job and had no problem telling those carrying out the review of their feelings. The report includes many examples of unprofessional behaviour at all levels. We didn’t need the Crowe report to tell us that there is something seriously amiss with policing on our roads.

Since June 9 I have been cycling across Dublin city centre five days a week; to be exact from Dublin 14 to Dublin 1. I leave home every morning at approximately 7.30, arrive at work about 8am and leave in the evening close to 6pm. I’m cycling eight kilometres through the city centre and parts of the suburbs at busy commuting times.

What’s going on on our roads, streets and footpaths has to be seen to be believed.

Last Friday, August 15 at 6.30pm I saw a young man on an electric scooter speeding down George’s Street, alongside him a horse on a rein, which he was controlling. It meant he was getting power from both horse and scooter. Not a garda in sight and if there had been, I presume scooter and horse would have continued on their merry way.

I don’t care what any cycling group will say, I have no problem stating that the majority of cyclists are now breaking traffic lights. If they see pedestrian lights are green and it’s red for them, they’ll proceed with speed. Unfortunately, there are many places where the traffic light system does not make sense. 

There is certainly the herd mentality about it all. If one or two cyclists break red, then others in the queue are likely to follow. I have seen cyclists jaycycle at junctions.

Why are the gardaí not stopping cyclists on electric bicycles and scooters, who are travelling at speeds above 25 km/h? It’s an every day occurrence to see scooters and bicycles on footpaths and traversing the wrong direction on one-way streets.

Large numbers of cyclists wear earphones, surely that should be made illegal.

Cycling up O’Connell Street one morning I stopped to ask two gardaí why the current situation was being tolerated. They both clearly explained they can do nothing about it and gave me a number of reasons why they are unable to stop law-breaking cyclists and scooters.

Why has government not put road tax and insurance on some categories of these bicycles that travel at speeds far in excess of 25 km/h?

And to make it all even more confusing; it’s against the law to travel above 25 km/h on an electric bicycle but it is not against the law for a cyclist to travel above 25 km/h on a conventional bicycle powered exclusively by her/his own power/skill/strength.

It’s dangerous on our roads. How long will it be before there is a serious incident for the State to stop this chaos? 

Hopefully new Garda Commissioner, Justin Kelly, who takes up his post on September 1, will place road safety high of his to-do list.

Is this a misleading headline?

 A headline in The Irish Times today. 

 Is the funeral taking place in New York? No, in Carlow, Ireland.

Funeral of Irish woman found dead in New York tomorrow

US President Donald Trump continues to spout nonsense

Listening to US President

Ilyushin II-96-300

Donald Trump speak after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage it would be difficult not to think the US President was saying nothing.

In his joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House yesterday Mr Trump mainly talked about what he was doing for the US. It would be an insult to children to say he was spouting childish nonsense. Every time he referred to President Biden he called him corrupt. 

Observing Trump one is forced to get the impression he has little or no idea about what’s going on.

An unconfirmed report yesterday evening showed a Russian military vehicle flying two flags, one that of the Russian Federation, the other the US flag.

During the Putin Trump meeting in Alaska we in the West were constantly shown images of Air Force 1, we never saw the Ilyushin II-96-300, the aircraft Vladimir Putin travelled on from Moscow to Anchorage. 

What to be a fly on the wall at Putin’s meetings with his advisers in Moscow as they listen to Trump speak nonsense.

Senator Joe Conway’s first few months in Seanad Éireann

An engaging piece of writing in the Sunday Independent

Like any village, Leinster House has its eccentrics: what I've learned after six months in the Seanad

After 44 years in trade unions and local government, Independent Joe Conway was elected to the Seanad in January as part of the cultural and education panel. Here, he looks back on an eye-opening first few months

In the early hours of January 31, I got across the line and was elected to the 27th Seanad. Or so I thought. My joy was disturbingly short-lived when the defeated candidate's team called for a recount, which was allowed and scheduled for the following morning.

It was well after 2am when I left the count and trudged along Merrion Street, on the phone to my wife Sandra, trying as best I could to relate the events of the last few hours.

After about 20 minutes, I realised I was skirting around Trinity College and it dawned on me that I had been walking in the wrong direction, away from my lodgings. I was reasonably sure it would not be the last time I would err on my political peregrinations.

When my election was confirmed, I was summoned to attend and sign in on February 12. That opening day brought back memories of my first day in boarding school: a wealth of fresh faces, accents, shapes and makes of people I did not know, and some I did.

It was not long before veteran independent Victor Boyhan cupped my elbow in his avuncular fashion and suggested that we go meet Mich­ael McDowell.

Michael welcomed me quietly and did about 10pc of the chatting in our hour-long discussion. I probably did a little less, while 80pc-plus was Victor, machine-gunning and cleaving through a wide array of topics, much of it perceptive and informative, and often amusing.

Our inaugural Senate Independent Group (SIG) meeting a couple of days later was a much more robust affair. I will leave it at that.

​

Having grown up in the small yet beautiful village of Ardagh, Co Longford, it was not long at all before I began to detect many of the features and nuances of village life in the Leinster House milieu.

Ardagh punched well above its weight back then with its quantum of eccentrics, and so it is in Leinster House — though one person's eccentric is another's bore, it being rather subjective.

I noticed it very early during the moving-in process when we were all scurrying about looking for offices —of the physical rather than political variety.

I had heard horror stories of gaz­umping and evictions. However, with minimal fuss and in no small part due to the subtle negotiations of Sam­antha, our SIG capa, I moved into a smart first-floor unit just two minutes from the chamber.

The previous incumbent was Noel Grealish. It was not long before he materialised, the embodiment of the village welcome-wagon. Recently appointed a minister, he breezed in, but was soon taken aback with the changes afoot.

Slumping into one of my new good-enough-for-government armchairs, he declared in mock outrage "Jayz, when ye're gone, ye're really gone!”, lolling there awhile and shooting his politician's schtick before gathering up his things.

As in the Randy Edelman song, there wasn't much to pack, including a large mug of loose change from a filing cupboard. I met him again about a month later outside the chamber and he greeted me as warmly as you would an old friend.

Like all villages, Leinster House has its trusted places for eating, drinking and meeting. The most innocuous is the Coffee Dock, a modernistic, airy spot not likely to be found in many villages.

For serious engagement, it's the bars or restaurants. These are jovial and respectful spots (with rare exceptions) with good porridge and boiled eggs for breakfast and better-than- average gossip, where members and staff and ministers rub shoulders and park trays.

The Visitors' Bar is for the craic, while the Members' Bar is more sed­ate, though admittedly I have only visited once in the past six months.

Like the select bars of yesteryear, it had a hushed ambience with seanadóirí and teachtaí in grave discussions over their lattes and sambos. Honest to God, I did not spy a single pint or short anywhere — but it was lunchtime.

​

Most villages have a degree of social stratification, and early on I was alerted to this by some hoary veterans of the Oireachtas. Two parties were mentioned particularly in these dispatches: the first for a sort of snobbish aloofness, the other for the omerta of the arriviste.

Most local politicians counter this nonsense with their studied, sunny dispositions and by firing chirpy greetings indiscriminately at allcomers, sometimes with unexpected results. During the spring hot spell, I hollered at Danny Healy-Rae a favourite phrase of my late father's when the weather was too warm to be stuck inside: "You're on the wrong side of the house today, Danny!”

From his response, Danny clearly construed that I was speaking politically rather than meteorologically.

"What d'ya mean?” be barked back, and I was reduced to explaining myself awkwardly.

I still burn a little at the memory.

He shuffled off unconvinced, and I resolved to work assiduously on him. Now, I am happy to report, we are reasonably good mates.

I think, anyway.

Of course, no village would be complete without some sort of sports club, so we have a modest gym next door, and close by are the gardaí from Pearse Street to keep us safe from any predations.

Unlike at Westminster, we have no chapel such as St Stephen's and no clergy in situ. For those of us who need a little spirituality in the midst of a busy week, there is a quiet holy communion down the street in St Anne's at quarter to one every Tuesday.

I have always had a fond affinity with village life and I feel very privileged indeed to have been given the chance to discover this one.

Groucho Marx’s clever words might well come in handy

An adaptation of this makes for a good reply for many occasions, that is of course,  you never intend applying for the post or membership again.

"Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member."

                                                             - Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)

Roads filled with law breaking cyclists and the odd horse

The reality that some gardaí are avoiding work has made the headlines across all media platforms in recent days.

The Crowe report has painted a worrying picture of the behaviour of many of the gardaí assigned to the Road Policing Unit.

But road users did not need a Crowe report to bring to the public’s attention what is actually happening on our roads.

Anyone who dares to drive or cycle in any of our towns or cities will notice the extraordinarily bad behaviour of most cyclists; it is now the exception to see a cyclist obeying traffic lights. It’s now custom and practice to pass in the inside, other fast moving cyclists give a hair’s breath when passing another cyclist.

The Deliveroo, Uber, Eats and their rivals/colleagues/companion cyclists are driving high speed bicycles far in excess of the 25 km/h to which they are meant to be restricted. These bicycles should be taxed, licensed and insured. The current law is absurd and not a garda about to say boo.

Yesterday at 6.45 pm a young man was seen on George’s Street on an electric scooter, travelling in excess of 25 km/h guiding on a rein beside him a horse. Obviously both the horse and the electric motor were supplying the power.

It was beyond absurd but clearly complements the absurd road laws pertaining to electric scooters and bicycles, and how the Garda are not policing such behaviour.

Ok to say this is not me but not ok to say I done it

An open top tour bus on Dublin’s O’Connell Street yesterday evening.

A line in the ad reads: "This is not us'

The driver was doubling up as a tour guide. A passing cyclist got chatting to him as he stopped and explained to him the grammar error on the ad. He appreciated the comment and promised he would add it to his running commentary in the future.

It’s striking how some grammar changes through use are accepted, others not; it’s still a howler to say 'I done it' or I' have went’. But in this example no problem confusing nominative with accusative case.

A BBC reporter last week said; ‘From Adam and I’. And that too is now acceptable. Or is it? Who decides?

Who cares?

Michael O’Leary replies to Justine McCarthy on MetroLink

Michael O’Leary’s letter in The Irish Times yesterday. Will Justine McCarthy reply and what will she say? We’ll see tomorrow.

---

Sir, – Unbelievable. Only an Irish Times columnist (with no known experience in transport) could waste her half-page column slagging off Dermot Desmond and myself for criticising the Dublin MetroLink, without once mentioning the projected cost of approximately €20 billion.

Being criticised by Irish Times columnists is always a great compliment. In what crazy country could we seriously consider wasting approximately €20billion of taxpayer money on a railway line, serving a narrow strip of the north Dublin population from Swords to St Stephen’s Green, all of whom are well served currently by bus connections? The cost/benefit of this insanity has never been published, because it cannot be justified.

Dermot Desmond’s transport view should carry significant weight, given his very successful rescue, redevelopment and sale of London City Airport for approximately $1 billion in 2006.

My own, (less?) humble view is based on almost 40 years’ experience of growing what is now the world’s largest passenger airline.

But sadly we are both guilty of “being rich”, so therefore dismissed by The Irish Times “experts”, who know so much more about transport.

I wouldn’t quibble with a MetroLink from Swords to St Stephen’s Green if it was free, but there are far better uses of taxpayer funds than this white elephant.

Muddled thinking, free of any cost/benefit analysis, such as that displayed by Justine McCarthy, is how you deliver a children’s hospital (which should have cost €200 million) at a final cost of €2.5 billion and rising.

My criticism of the MetroLink is based on the fact that very few passengers at Dublin Airport will ever use it. It takes passengers into St Stephen’s Green, so some small minority of inbound visitors might use it, but the vast majority of Irish-originating passengers, who need to get to Dublin Airport early in the morning, or are travelling to/from outside the D2/D4 area, won’t use it.

Dublin Airport is just 9km from the centre of the city, and is well served by competitively priced bus connections, which takes passengers to the city centre, and to points all over Ireland at low fares. These passengers won’t switch to a €20 billion metro.

Your columnist claims that I “opposed the second terminal at Dublin Airport in 2010”. I didn’t. Dublin needed a second terminal and I offered to build it on the north apron for just €200 million, as Ryanair had proposed. I simply pointed out that the Dublin Airport Authority(DAA) wasted €2 billion building Terminal 2 in the wrong place (a cul-de-sac) and with no ability to future expand.

Now that the second runway has opened on the north apron, the chronic congestion in the T2 cul-de-sac bedevils the T2 airlines on a daily basis.

I note Ms McCarthy failed to offer her opinion on the Dublin Airport second runway, a project which I also supported, yet which the airlines and our passengers are prevented from using by a 2007 (Road Traffic) Planning restriction.

We elected a new government last November which promised to remove this cap “as soon as possible”, which would enable the airlines at Dublin to grow traffic, new routes, tourism and jobs.

Sadly, eight months later, the Government has failed to take any action to scrap this cap. More inexcusable delay and inaction from our political class.

To summarise, both myself and Dermot Desmond believe wasting €20 billion on a Dublin Airport metro is an unjustifiable waste of scarce taxpayer funds. I object because the majority of Dublin Airport passengers won’t ever use this vastly overpriced service. Dermot correctly suggests that AI and electric road transport will solve the problem at a fraction of this €20billion over the next decade.

The fact that an unqualified Irish Times columnist considers that “two rich men” are wrong only renews my faith that this MetroLink is a mad, bad project.

Add some more buses to service the citizens of Swords, Ballymun, Collins Avenue, and Glasnevin, and The Irish Times could save Irish taxpayers (me included!) about €19.9 billion rather than squandering these funds, as we have on the world’s most expensive – and least efficient– Children’s Hospital.

If the next time Ms McCarthy wants to offer an opinion on government transport projects, perhaps she could address the cost benefit of the project, rather than slagging off two successful – albeit opinionated – business people.

We won’t always be right, but we will be right far more often than the misguided, anti-business Irish Times “chatterati”. – Yours, etc,

MICHAEL O’LEARY.

Chief Executive,

Ryanair,

Dublin.

The horrors of a ‘Them versus Us’ environment

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

MichaelCommane

Anyone who has been in Dublin’s Mater Hospital will have some idea how huge it is. In recent years there have been large extensions built on to the hospital. 

And it is still a building site. It is such a large campus it has entrances on Eccles Street and North Circular Road.

I’m often in the hospital these days. Walking along a corridor last week I commented to a man about the ingenuity involved in such a building project. He was sitting on a chair watching a crane transporting material on to a roof. He agreed, adding: ‘It’s great to see it’s all being done by Irish people’. I was puzzled by what he said. 

Did he mean, that we, the people are fortunate as a State to have control over our own destiny or was he saying that indigenous Irish workers were doing the job? Then again he may have seen an Irish name on the crane and was referring to the company that was doing the construction work. I don’t know the answer. 

I did not engage with the man and kept walking.  I can only imagine many of the workers on the site were born outside Ireland. 

And maybe many of the contract companies involved are non-Irish with subsidiaries here.

We keep saying Ireland is changing by the day. When I was child one seldom if ever saw a non-native. But that does not mean there was not a ‘Them and Us’ mentality. Back then people living in leafy Ballsbridge or Sandymount seldom if ever knew anything about those living in the slums of the city or the new sprawling suburbs that were being built. 

And in the country too there has always been divisions among people, maybe not as explicit. It has often struck me that post primary education is far more egalitarian outside the cities. 

It has also crossed my mind how the churches run schools, which are only available to the wealthy. Then again the same churches have played a huge role in offering education to everyone irrespective of their parents pay packets.

Snobbery in Ireland? Of course, there is. Is it part of the human condition?

One day walking through another hospital I saw a large noticeboard with the names of staff members. 

Every doctor had the initials Dr before her or his name; all other staff were identified simply by their forename and surname. Why is that?

Retired journalist Vincent Browne is a wise man. I’ll never forget the day he said that once we give titles to people we give them power over us. That makes great sense to me.

Have I a chip on my shoulder? Maybe I have, but that’s one of those clichés that is a clever way in putting people down.

Think of the damage, violence and hatred that has been caused by a ‘Them versus Us mentality’. Just look at the evils of war;  it’s the ultimate madness/badness of the ‘Them versus Us’ syndrome.

Far too often we make judgements about people for the most bizarre reasons. If only we could have the sense and grace to sit down and listen and learn from the other. And guess what, that’s central to the Gospel message.

A reminder of Hitler’s Napola elite schools?

This appears on Facebook.

Why is it a picture of all the men with their backs to the camera?

Looks like something out of the 1930s.

Five men; are they chatting? All dressed in similar attire. One is reminded how the Legionnaires of Christ students and priests all dress in clerical attire, almost army-like in style.

Has anyone, who walks the hills, valleys and boreens of Ireland, ever seen serious hikers sporting a haversack and a sports jacket? It’s always advisable to wear headgear when out in the open. Only in recent days the Irish Cancer Society has been advising people to cover their heads when walking.

What at all is going on in the world of social media? 

To some readers this might sound harsh; that is not the intention. There seems to be a strong push to bring us back to another era, in some ways it’s a phenomenon that Donald Trump has used to his advantage. But where at all is it leading us? 

Are there not enough divisions in the world, among us human beings without  dividing spirituality into one for women and one for men.

A spirituality or ideology that concentrates on men can easily lead to disaster.

Yes, we are living in a world where many men feel alienated and disenfranchised, feel angry. But the problem can't be and won't be solved by harping back on times past. If anything this is a time to bring women and men together to discuss,= and pray together.

It may sound unfair and hyperbolic but this Facebook  picture might to some be reminiscent of the Napola schools the Nazis introduced for their so-called elite young men. 

Is there ever a word on this social media platform about social justice, how the migrant population is treated in Ireland,  the growing divide between rich and poor, the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine?

What exactly is spirituality? How can the Gospel of Jesus Christ be told, explained, talked about differently to women and men?

Has the Catholic Church not learned the disasters it has helped cause in how it treats and has treated women?

Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell has to be commended for his Facebook comment yesterday, criticising the recent attacks on the Indian community in Dublin.

Below is the archbishop's Facebook statement:

"Recent attacks on members of the Indian community in Dublin have been truly shocking. These unprovoked attacks on people, including a child, who were apparently targeted solely because of their ethnic identity have generated understandable fear and alarm among the Indian community.

The truth is that the Indian community in Dublin comprises many people who have come to Dublin to make an important and valued contribution to our society. We are all familiar with the vital presence of Indian professionals in our healthcare system, without whom many healthcare needs simply could not be met. Others apply their skills in other important sectors of the economy and also contribute to funding public services through their taxes.

It is not only through their work lives that our Indian neighbours and fellow citizens are enriching our society. The diversity of Indian culture and traditions add to the vitality of life in Dublin. In particular, many Indian families are playing an increasingly prominent role in the parishes and school communities of the Archdiocese of Dublin. Indian priests, religious and lay volunteers are an increasingly important presence in the pastoral life of the Church in Dublin. That gives the lie to the vile and blasphemous claims of some who spread the poison of racial hatred on social media and otherwise that their views are somehow protecting Christianity.

It is time to call out those who peddle racial hatred. It is time to stand up to those who seek to divide our community through rumour and malice. Our parishes and school communities have already given a warm welcome to Indian families who have made their homes here. I urge them to strengthen that spirit of solidarity, not only with Indian members of parish communities, but with all our Indian neighbours. I call on everyone to support the Gardaí in every way to confront and defeat those whose actions have contributed to the fear now being experienced in the Indian community in Dublin.

Dermot Farrell
Archbishop of Dublin"

Five hours 30 minutes by rail from Heuston to Tralee

 Passengers who travelled on the 13.00 Heuston Cork service with a connection in Mallow for Tralee arrived at their destination at approximately 18.40.

The Dublin Cork train arrived in Mallow on time at 15.01. The scheduled departure for the Mallow  Tralee train was 15.30. Why are passengers asked to wait 29 minutes for a connecting train; sounds bizarre.

The train left approximately 15 minutes late. It travelled a few metres before stopping, proceeded again but at a very slow speed. It moved at slow speed before stopping two/three kilometres from Banteer. eventually it made it to the platform in Banteer, where the train now was significantly late.

The train failed at Banteer and passengers were ferried by bus  to all stations between Banteer and Tralee.

Toilets at Banteer station were closed.

There was no drinking water available on the train.

There is no trolley service on trains between Mallow and Tralee, one of the most scenic rail journeys on the network; sounds and is bizarre.

The train in question was old rolling stock and not suitable for a journey of one hour 32 minutes. The train was originally use on the Dublin commuter belt. 

It was reported that before departing Mallow the loco driver noted there was overheating on a power unit but he was told to proceed.

A tale of poor management policy at Lidl

A customer at a Lidl store was

having difficulty at the self service checkout. He called an assistant. The problem was to do with the weight of rolls and the machine was unable to reconcile the number with the weight; it was clearly a problem with the particular self-service machine. The customer suggested that the assistant mention the problem to Lidl management.

The friendly assistant replied: ‘please, you mention it to the manager, management doesn’t listen to us’.

An appalling statement about Lidl management.

 "All it takes is one good person to restore hope!” 

            - Pope Francis

Oliver Callan’s page-long rant on the Re-turn scheme

In yesterday’s edition of The Irish Independent Oliver Callan writes a page-long comment piece on the Re-turn scheme.

The comedian and radio presenter is extremely critical of everything to do with the Re-turn scheme. And what a rant it is.

It’s difficult to understand how the newspaper gave the comedian a full page to write what he writes.

What does this sentence mean: "Why can’t we actually recycle the bottles collected here”

What about this paragraph: "We had been making major strides with the green bin, with an increase of 12pc between 2012 and 2021 to reach 41pc household recycling. The direction was good. Sadly, the Green Party was in power, at least while Eamon Ryan wasn't napping, and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael spotted a scapegoat to sneak in an ugly EU demand and blame it on the vegans.”

What added value does foul language add to an opinion piece? In this case none, indeed, it tells its own tale about the quality of the piece and the mindset of the author.

There is neither a beginning nor an end to the article.

What about this: “Who feels good or that this is easy? This is a hated scheme."

Elsewhere he writes: “Its 12 directors got a 50pc pay rise last year. Why? We’ll never find out.”

Did Mr Callan think of asking them?

This full-page comment piece must be well up there for winning an award for a piece of nonsensical writing.

Oliver talks about the scheme raising his blood pressure; did he give any thought what his writing might have on the blood pressure level of his readers.

And then there is the poor syntax and grammar.

The darkest of days over Japan 80 years ago

The people of Japan remember the moments 80 years ago when US B-29s dropped  atomic bombs in the skies over  Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Below is a link to  the views expressed by Charles Oppenheimer, the grandson of Robert Oppenheimer. Like his grandfather, he calls for the banishment of nuclear warheads from our planet.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4 yesterday morning he was critical of the nuclear policies of the three superpowers, China, US and Russia. He also expressed strong disapproval of Israel on  its ‘hidden’ nuclear arsenal and its current war in Gaza.

Below the link is yesterday’s editorial in The Irish Times ‘When the world changed forever'

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/3376/

At 8.15am local time on the morning of August 6th, 1945, a US B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped the world’s first atomic bomb used in warfare over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The weapon, nicknamed “Little Boy”, exploded roughly 600 metres above the city centre. What followed was an act of man-made devastation without precedent in human history.

A blinding flash, an immense shockwave and a blast of intense heat levelled much of the city within seconds. It is estimated that between 70,000 and 80,000 people died instantly. Tens of thousands more were burned, crushed, or irradiated. Buildings within a two-kilometre radius were either incinerated or flattened. In the days, weeks and months that followed, the death toll continued to climb as radiation sickness set in. By the end of 1945, more than 140,000 were dead.

Hiroshima was a moment that changed the trajectory of the modern world. It revealed, in the most brutal way possible, the terrifying power of nuclear weapons. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Less than a week after that, Japan surrendered, bringing the second World War to an end.

The shadow cast by those bombings has never lifted. In the eight decades since, the spectre of nuclear annihilation has remained with us, sometimes pushed to the background, other times terrifyingly near. The Cold War saw the United States and the Soviet Union build vast nuclear arsenals, capable of destroying the planet many times over. The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 brought the world to the brink.

The end of the Cold War offered some hope. Tensions eased and warheads were gradually dismantled. But the danger never truly receded. Nine nations now possess nuclear weapons, and others appear determined to join them. Iran’s ambitions have drawn global attention and military strikes by Israel and the US. North Korea continues to test its capabilities. And in the early stages of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin made direct threats of nuclear escalation.

Flashpoints persist, from the Persian Gulf to the India-Pakistan border. Recent suggestions by Polish politicians that their country should seek its own nuclear arsenal are just one more reminder that the old consensus on deterrence is fraying, with American security guarantees now in serious doubt.

Eighty years on from Hiroshima, the world finds itself on the threshold of a new nuclear era: multi-polar, less predictable and almost certainly more dangerous. The lessons of 1945 may not have been forgotten, but they have certainly not been fully heeded. What happened to Hiroshima must remain more than a historical event. It is a warning, one that still demands urgent attention and constant vigilance.