Occasional Scribbles

Dr Johnson had some insight when he said: A scoundrel will beat you all in piety.

But the notion that we ( and he gestures around his elegant townhouse kitchen) should want more [for our chidren] is shocking and appalling....

On November 26, 1998 Tony Blair addresed the Oireachtas. He was the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to do so.

Pope Francis has set up a new department to oversee the work of the Vatican diplomatic service. It will include a new HR role, including...

What's going to happen in Germany? SPD leader Martin Schulz went yesterday to Schloss Bellevue where he met German President Frank ...

Ireland is Europe's worst performing country in combating climate change. The country is in 49th place according to the 2018 Climate...

The Guardian's Kate Connolly talks to people in Berlin on the current political crisis. An interesting and informative piece. https://ww...

The paragraph below is taken from the 'Rite and Reason' column in The Irish Times of  yesterday. The Catholic priesthood relies ...

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column. Michael Commane There was a breeze coming from so...

In May 2016 a 1.5kg bag of oranges purchased in Lidl cost €1.49. Today the same quantity of oranges in the same Lidl shop cost €1.79. Indeed...

Eidtor-in-chief of the Guardian,  Katharine Viner writes about her paper and journalism. 'A mission for journalism in a time of crisis...

On ths date in 1945 the Nuremberg trials began. Twenty-four senior Nazis were before the International Military Tribunal charged with war c...

The USB port on Dublin Bus vehicles certainly can prove the old adage - 'a stitch in time saves nine'. A fine addition to the D...

Chris Fitzpatrick, a former Master at the Coombe writes in 'The Irish Times'. The page-article is a forthright account of why the...

I don't think people are scandalised by the Pope. I think they're being told to be scandalised. Cardinal Blase Cupich speaking i...

Stopping the advance of the far right. A brilliant piece by Timothy Garton Ash. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/17/intern...

Francis Hunt commented on the Legionaries of Christ post, which appeared on this blog on Sunday November  12. His comment is attached to...

On this day, November 17, 1953, the last people living on the Blasket Islands in Co Kerry left for the mainland.

The 'Long Read' in yesterday's  Guardian  is simply sensational. If this be true then the President of the United States of Am...

Really, can Eamon Dunphy lose? Had Ireland won last evening Eamon would be talking this morning about the resilience, hard work, determinati...

The HSE in conjunction with the National Cancer Control Programme is currently rolling out an education module for staff on 'Enhancing C...

This week's Independent News & Media Irish Regionals newspapers' column. Michael Commane It's a relief that the rail...

Interesting article in The New Yorker  about the work of journalists at Süddeutsche Zeitung  in obtaining the 'Paradise Papers' http...

Approximately 33,000 people were killed in the US last year as a result of gun violence, with more than half of them resulting from people t...

An informative piece in The Irish Times  yesterday about the Legionaries of Christ and their stacked away cash in 'Paradise'. Wh...

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The Irish Times today. Michael Commane Anyone who saw the RTE Investigates exposé on overcrowd...

The Irish State owns and runs 6,474 vehicles. Of these five are electric.

The piece below appears in today's Guardian. It is the first three paragraphs in an article by Suzanne Moore. Fabulous writing a...

On this day, November 9, 1989 shortly before 19.00 the secretary of the Central Committee of the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) Gun...

This is a piece about the Paradise Papers in yesterday's  Guardian by Philip Goff, who is associate professor in philosophy at the Centr...

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column. Michael Commane Tuesday, October 31 was the 500th...