Occasional Scribbles

Justine McCarthy in her column in The Irish Times on Friday wrote about Charles Haughey’s part in Ireland’s literary success. She quotes Geo...

Alexei Navalny was jailed for a further 19 years on Friday. A brave man. The free world salutes him and Vladimir Kura -Murza. https://www.th...

More rain today. One big winner for July’s rain were the cinemas. Cinema spending grew 136 per cent in July, which was the wettest July on r...

Colm Tóibín’s historical novel The Magician is an about the life of German writer Thomas Mann. It is a masterclass in writing and more anon...

 On Monday evening RTÉ One Television screened a programme on Noel Browne and his work as minister for health. His nemeses were the Archbish...

The late Victoria Amelina talking about home and how Russia looks on Ukraine. Not to be missed. https://www.theguardian.com/world/audio/2023...

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane It was Friday morning and I was at the ticket machine at the Luas s...

On this day, August 1, 1980 a major rail accident happened at Buttevant rail station in Co Cork. The Dublin Cork express, travelling at appr...

The All-Island Strategic Rail Review published last week offers great hope to the life of railways in Ireland. The Review, as the name impli...

The far-right AfD party in Germany held a conference in Magdeburg on Friday and Saturday to elect candidates for the European parliamentary ...

French international footballer Kylian Mbappe is said to have been offered €300 million to join Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal.

In tribute to Sinéad O'Connor. https://youtu.be/T6zqb3gf5aA https://youtu.be/FS5JE3OG07A ----------------------------------------- With ...

Sinéad O’Connor dies at 56. A woman ahead of her time, who had been tormented all her life. She was gifted, provocative and outspoken. The D...

BBC journalist and news presenter George Alagiah died yesterday. Many fine words have been spoken and written about George’s life. The link ...

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane On the same day that US climate envoy John Kerry met his Chines...

This piece by are Lara Marlowe in the Weekend edition of The Irish Times is most interesting. This paragraph is eye catching. It appears int...

Derek Scally in the Weekend edition of The Irish Times has an interesting article on the reintroduction of sleeper trains across Europe. And...

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of the death of Flannan Hynes. He died in Montevideo in 2019. Flannan held many positions in the Domini...

Spying is not illegal in Austria, providing those spying are not  causing any disadvantage to Austria. If, for example, Russia were spying o...

German arms group Rheinmetall’s shares have jumped more than 150 per cent since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. The Frankfurte...

German writer Lutz Seiler was awarded the Georg Büchner prize yesterday. It is Germany’s most prestigious literature award. Lutz Seiler is b...

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane RTÉ has been all over the news for a month. I’m beginning to th...

Two important historical events that took place on July 17. On this date in 1918 the Bolsheviks executed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his ...

This from the NCR and well worth a read. By Daryl Grigsby July 7, 2023 Some Catholics speak derisively of other Catholics as "cafeteria...

The Thinking Anew  in The Irish Times today. Michael Commane The moment I got off the train in Tralee on the first Sunday of July it began t...