Occasional Scribbles

SPD leaders get green light for the new ‘traffic light’ coalition.  At a special conference yesterday at Willy Brandt House in Berlin SPD de...

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today Michael Commane Tomorrow is the Second Sunday of Advent. Soon we’ll be halfway through th...

Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen in an interview with  Sarah McInerney on RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime programme yesterday said that the ‘h...

Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel received farewell military honours at 'Grand Tattoo ’ on Thursday evening in Berlin’s Bendler B...

The first item on German news last evening was the escalation of Russian troops on the Ukraine Russian border. The public service broadcaste...

We are living in worrying and dangerous times. There seems to be far too many hotspots right now; Ukraine, North Korea, China, United States...

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column Michael Commane We have been bombarded with Covid-19 information for 20 months. We h...

Micheál was in a pub in West Kerry one cold December night. It was cold and draughty in the licensed premises. He asked the pub owner if wou...

The sum of €13 million was paid at an auction in Paris for Albert Einstein’s hand-written notes on his theory of relativity.

On the plinth of the Jim Larkin statue in Dublin’s O’Connell Street.  'The great appear great because  we are on our knees.' - Camil...

This is an interesting and thought-provoking article. It appeared in 'The Irish Times' yesterday. Below is a link to a book publishe...

Social Democrat Olaf Scholz is to be the new German Chancellor. The government will be made up of three parties, the SPD, The Greens and the...

Anne Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon, who died on November 15, was descended from the Churchill dynasty and wife of British prime minister, ...

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane In recent days on two occasions I have heard people tell stories ab...

An interesting quote from Bus Éireann chief executive officer Stephen Kent: I think if we only have a commercial perspective, you end up in ...

Approximately six per cent of the Irish population have not been vaccinated against Covid-19. Approximately fifty per cent of Covid patients...

A person who has a passionate devotion to the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament distributed just two weeks ago a meme which strongly criti...

Today is a special date in Russian history also a day to remember in the history of World War II. On November 19, 1942 the Soviet Union put ...

Eighty-one per cent of Irish people admit that they cannot imagine life without the internet. 16 per cent say they can. And 89 per cent of p...

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, told the bishops gathered in Baltimore that the church needs "atte...

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane While in West Kerry for a break in early November I met Billy, who ...

“I admit that Petersburg, I don’t know why, always seemed like a kind of mystery to me. “Right from childhood, when almost lost and abandone...

So far over €240 million has been spent on the Dublin Metro project. Not a sleeper, not a fishplate, not a metre of track has been laid. The...

On this day, November 13, 1947 the Soviet Union launched the AK-47 assault rifle. Mikhail Kalashnikov, who gave his name to the rifle and it...

From The Irish Times of Thursday. Greta Thunberg delivers her ‘blah, blah, blah’ speech at the Youth4 Climate pre-COP26 event in Milan in Se...

Below is an interview in Listowel with  Máire Mhac an tSaoi, who died last month. The young Máire Mhac an tSaoi was an Irish diplomat in  Sp...

Lines from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock          I grow old ... I grow old ... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Shall ...

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column Michael Commane October was a mild month, indeed there were days when I was out and ...

Pamela Rose, who died on October  17 at the noble age of 104, was an actor and linguist, who worked at the famous Bletchley Park during Worl...

On this day, November 7, 1990 Mary Robinson was elected the first woman President of Ireland.

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today. Michael Commane  Anyone with a heart or soul must be enthused by tomorrow’s Gospel readin...