Occasional Scribbles

Dominican priest Anthony Morris died today in Summerville Nursing Home, Strandhill, Co. Sligo. May he rest in peace. Obituary to follow. 

From the Guardian newspaper last week. A story that tells the story of what happens people in China who oppose the government. If this story...

Because of Adidas’s break with disgraced rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, the company has €1.2bn worth of unsold and unsaleable Yeez...

  Today is International Nurses Day. Well done and thank you to all our dedicated nurses who bring such kindness, help and professionalism t...

The Polish government has decided to rename the Russian exclave Kaliningrad.  On Wednesday, Poland’s development minister, Waldemar Buda, sa...

Yesterday across Germany May 10, 1933 was remembered. It was on May 10, 1933 that the German Student Union ceremoniously burned books that w...

From yesterday’s Guardian. The piece paints a profoundly sad picture of what is happening in the wonderful land of Russia. What one man can ...

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’column. Michael Commane Over the years I’ve travelled here and there. I lived in Italy a...

"The less substance there is to any political institution, the more it must play up its own mystique. “British greatness has become a m...

Why have we moved away from calling young people children and are now calling them kids? Is a kid not a young goat? Have children had any in...

If close to 400,000 people flew in or out of Dublin Airport over the May Bank Holiday Weekend, the majority of them under 50, how concerned ...

From the Guardian. The war in Ukraine must surely sully the memory of what Russia did in World War II to defeat Nazi Germany. https://www.th...

Approximately one kilometre of Orwell Road, the section nearest Zion Road and Marianella in Dublin 6, is being resurfaced.  A spokesman for ...

On this day, May 3, 1921 Ireland was partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating Northern Ireland and Sout...

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane Earlier this month I wrote a column about how difficult it can ...

This is a May Day message from Dmitry Medvedev, an  ally of Vladimir Putin, and currently deputy chair of the Security Council  " Serio...

An interesting story about the diplomacy of Pope Francis. Pope departs Hungary pleading for peace in Ukraine, warning against isolationism  

DB, Deutsche Bahn, German Railway in conjunction with the German state is about to introduce a monthly nationwide cheap ticket on all state-...

 From yesterday’s Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/28/why-tucker-carlson-fired-fox?CMP=share_btn_link

On the Markus Lanz programme on German ZDF public broadcaster television on Wednesday it was stated that  Olaf Scholz on being elected Germa...

An interesting article in yesterday’s Guardian on the hour-long talk between China and Ukraine. China is to send a peace talks delegation to...

Every week I deliver my recyclable rubbish to a Dublin City Council bring bank. Some members of the staff are extremely funny. On occasion a...

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane Often when I visit a hospital I come away saying to myself that...

On this day, April 22, 1877 the Russian Empire declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The Russians were victorious, but in a fashion as the gai...

The Dominion Voting  Systems has settled  a defamation legal case with Fox News. Fox News claimed the US presidential election was rigged ag...

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today. Michael Commane  On Easter Wednesday I had a medical appointment in a large Dublin teachi...

This makes for a lovely read about the trials, tribulations and relief experienced by the people of Ukraine as they travelled and travel acr...

Students in the German state of North Rhine Westfalia were due to sit their final school examination (Abitur) in biology yesterday. The exam...

On this day, April 19, 1943 the brave people in the Warsaw Ghetto rose up against the German troops who entered the Ghetto to round up the r...

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane Is democracy reaching its sell by date? I can imagine that intr...

Writing about what school was like for his contemporaries in the early 20th century George Orwell writes in his novel ‘Coming Up for Air...