Occasional Scribbles

Life-long journalist Paul Murphy has published his story as a journalist. Get There First: A Reporter's Life is about his 57 years work...

This is an interesting and informative article on mobile phones providers. We, the customers, take far too much nonsense from service provid...

A lovely thought from Karl Rahner We do not move away from childhood in any real sense.  We move towards the eternity of this childhood, to ...

The German Government decided yesterday to give every homosexual soldier, who was  discriminated against because of his/her sexual orientati...

If we want to go far we have to go together.  Anthony Gardner, former US ambassador to the European Union. Joe Biden has named Anthony Blink...

This week’s Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column Michael Commane At the beginning of the month three foreign w...

Last Friday on RTE Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne Fr PJ Hughes, a Cavan priest spoke about his objection to State regulations on clo...

  The stretch of the River Dodder along Fitzwilliam Quay just before it flows into the Liffey at Britain Quay as the sun set over Dublin yes...

On this day, November 22, 1942, the man in charge of the German Army on the Volga, Friedrich Paulus sent a telegram to Hitler in Berlin tell...

Seapoint, Friday, 15.25. Seapoint, Friday, November 2020, in  the year of  Covid-19 A large number of people swimming on the tide.  The wate...

 A note from Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to the priests of the diocese on the current Covid-19 situation    On Tuesday evening I took part in...

Americans spooked by black man in White House led to Trump presidency. - Barack Obama

BBC Two screened a wonderful documentary on Monday night on the 1966 World Cup. Sir David Jason presented the programme, World Cup 1966: Alf...

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column Michael Commane Bank of Ireland hit the headlines back in...

This article on the late Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks is worth a read. https://cruxnow.com/church-in-uk-and-ireland/2020/11/warmest-human-spir...

Irish Times journalist Fintan O'Toole wrote a piece on president-elect Joe Biden in yesterday's paper, titled American's mourner...

Today is the feast of Saint Laurence O’Toole, principal patron of the Archdiocese of Dublin. Below is Archbishop Diarmuid Martin's sermo...

On this day, November 14, 1922   The   B BC  began radio service in the United Kingdom. The BBC had plans to close down BBC Four, the specia...

 A short extract from an article  by Diarmuid Pepper  in the current issue of The Tablet  . Biden may not be a perfect Catholic, but who amo...

The piece below is from a reader and indeed it's a point worth making.   Thank you. First of all, as a faithful reader of 'Occasiona...

The link below is from Tuesday's Guardian .  A question, what has really changed in the churches. There is something fundamentally wrong...

Today is the anniversary of the death of Dominican priest Conleth Cronin, who died in 1973. Con, as he was known, was driving his Honda 50 f...

World renowned journalist Robert Fisk, who died on Friday October 30, was married to Lara Marlow for 13 years. Marlow is currently The Irish...

Across the four years of Donald Trump's presidency this blog has on many occasions been critical of the man and also made comparisons be...

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column. Michael Commane The struggle of getting out of bed early...

Donald Trump behaves and looks like a pathetic person. It would be a terrible insult to children to compare him to a spoilt child. And then ...

He's gone.  Donald Trump will be replaced by Joe Biden, whose mother was a Finnegan. And Joe’s father’s people way back come from Ballin...

The 'Thinking Anew' column in The IrishTimes today. Michael Commane Sibylle Berg was born in Weimar in 1962. She is one of Germany’...