Occasional Scribbles

The current conservative liberal divide concerning the death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman is another metaphor for what is happening...

Surely one of the 'big sins' is power and everything to do with power. And strangely enough it is a very real issue in priesthood - ...

The Government has not helped the cause in introducing the Household Charge. And the Minister for the Environment has been particularly lack...

The piece below appears in today's Irish Times. It seems an accurate and incisive account of where we are. It all might even be worse th...

A programme on German television this evening on the SS was a brutal reminder of what people do and what happens people. A man who was an of...

Yesterday March and temperatures in Ireland in the 20s. Significant numbers at Seapoint and many in swimming in the not-at-all-too cold wate...

The theme for discussion on the Günther Jauch Show this evening was how people live with stress. The panel included Ursula von der Leyen, Mi...

The big winners in today's elections in the State of Saarland in Federal Germany is the Pirate Party, which won more than five per cent ...

The final report from the Mahon Tribunal has been published. Why should anyone be surprised with the findings? It's part of the human co...

Vincent Browne's piece in today's Irish Times is an important moment in Irish journalism. His topic is Marie Keenan's book, Chil...

Anyone who observed the clip from the press conference at Maynooth yesterday is surely going to ask what at all is going to happen in the Ir...

The controversy/debate over the church funeral of songwriter Lucio Dalla, who was gay, is interesting. Today's Irish Times carries a rep...

The final paragraph is a quote from the Roman document released today. In all the analysis and discussion that has followed the disclosure o...

The quote below from today's Rome report seems quite significant, especially in a church where there seems to be so little meaningful co...

The newly elected German Federal President Joachim Gauck gave a moving speech on his election this afternoon. He began by talking about what...

Today the German Federal Assembly elects a new Federal Assembly. There are two candidates, Joachim Gauck and Beate Klarsfeld. The CDU. CSU, ...

Martyn Turner write a piece on the mission of cartoonists in yesterday's Irish Times. A great read. And he uses the word 'milquetoas...

11890 Directory Enquiries is currently running an advertisement. A line in the ad runs that because you can now call 11890 for free that it ...

Most of the prayers so far for Lent in the new missal are simply terrible. But the cheek of these people to spell words, using 'z' w...

This column appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers. By Michael Commane Over the years I have heard and read about the evil...

The Irish Catholic tells another tell-tale story. On page 9 of the current issue there is a picture of six people. All three adults, two pr...

On a day in which in the liturgical calendar we read how Jesus throws the merchants and money changers out of the temple it comes to the att...

A reader wrote a comment for 'Occasional Scribbles'. It has not appeared because it has not arrived in the comment box. There may be...

An informative piece in today's Irish Times of the restoration of a Bauhaus home reopening in the Czech Republic. Yet again, another re...

The column below appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers. By Michael Commane When you have to live on borrowed money, as we...

It's highly likely that Vladimir Putin will receive over 50 per cent of tomorrow's vote and therefore be elected outright new Presid...

The people of Iran go to the polls today. Approximately 48 million people have a right to vote. It might be worth noting that this blog is b...

Dublin's All Hallows College, which is affiliated to DCU has announced the appointment of Dermot McCarthy as the new chairman of the boa...

Derek's Scally's piece in today's 'Irish Times' on what former German federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl has to say on the E...

This blog is read in 136 cities around the world, including Algiers, East Sparta, Berlin, Rome, London, Dublin, Erfurt, Chemnitz, Sydney, Br...

The piece below appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers. By Michael Commane I was back in West Kerry for the weekend and on...