Occasional Scribbles

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column. Michael Commane When I was a young boy it would ...

Mick and Robo work for Dublin City Council. Over the last 10 years or so I have got to know both gentlemen from bringing my recyclables to a...

It is uplifting to see peoples of all nationalities, beliefs, colour, generations coming together in this time of crisis. And then the Pre...

Some interesting events on March 15. Signs of despair but hope too. 1939 German troops occupied Czechoslovakia. 1945 Soviet Forces begin...

This is a lovely read from Pope Francis. Tonight before falling asleep think about when we will return to the street. When we hug again,...

This is a letter sent from the Archbishop of Dublin to priests in the diocese. English is intriguing. Isn't it the rule that all prope...

Rathgar Road between 07.00 and 08.20 today was almost like a Christmas morning. No one at bus stops, two, three cars, empty buses passing bu...

This is a statement from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar issued in Washington yesterday morning. There is a lovely tone to it and the Taoiseach has...

The opinions of some well-known English people  on Boris Johnson. “He’s lied his way through life, he’s lied his way through politics, he’...

Harold Wilson was born on this day in 1916. He was a British Labour politician, who was UK prime minister from 1964 to 1970 and again from...

How come Russia is reporting so few Corvid -19 incidences? And what's happening in Africa?

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column. Michael Commane During the last week or so there ...

Ernesto Cardenal, priest, poet and politician has died in Managua. He was 95. Pope John Paul II suspended him from priesthood.  The pope...

The story of the late Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche, as it comes to light, is sad. There is much to learn from it. Jean Vanier was...

Today is International Women's Day. On this day I honour and remember my late mother. At her funeral Mass in 1988 I said that she bu...

Two top US infectious disease experts with ties to the federal government have advised people over 60 and those with underlying health prob...

A well-known Irish public figure commented a number of years ago that PowerPoint is the creation of the devil. Like all modern technologic...

Today is the anniversary of the death of Dominican priest Michael Heuston. He died in Rome in 1984. An eccentric genius, a kind and good m...

Eugen Ruge's 'In Times of the Fading Light' is well worth a read. The book was written after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It t...

The clerical sexual abuse scandal threatens the existence of the Catholic Church as an institution, the president of the Centre for Child Pr...

A Guardian journalist going through security at Dublin Airport was asked to remove his belt, which he duly did. He then asked the security...

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column. Michael Commane There is no algorithm or paradig...

This story from the Guardian gives some idea of the brutality and cruelty of the new UK government. If they do this to their own people, i...

On this day in 1939  Cardinal  Eugenio Pacelli was  elected  pope and  Pius XII  begins his pontificate that lasts until 1958. Is it a coi...

Luxembourg introduces free travel today. From today all public transport in Luxembourg will be free on all national buses, trains and tra...