Catholic Church in Dublin to get a new cathedral?

Below is a press release from the Archdiocese of Dublin issued on Thursday, June 22.

 The Archdiocese of Dublin is undergoing a process of pastoral renewal, which was commenced by Archbishop Dermot Farrell shortly after his appointment, under the title Building Hope – a new approach to pastoral planning. Based on a synodal process of engagement with parish communities, it is well advanced. New partnerships of parishes have been established, new supports for parish pastoral councils have been developed, and new training and development programmes have been introduced.

In that context, the archbishop has been considering how the presence of the church in the wider community can be strengthened, both for outreach to the many people who have no established links with either the church or an individual parish, and as a point of encounter between the church and the wider culture. In most major cities, the cathedral church and other major churches act as a focal point for that mission and encounter.

Dublin does not have a cathedral: St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral was built nearly 200 years ago to provide a focal point for the archdiocese, but it was always envisaged that at some point a cathedral building would be required that had both the space and the facilities to accommodate the full range of diocesan liturgical and pastoral ministry. For a variety of reasons that never happened, but the limitations of the St Mary’s building and complex remain.

Meanwhile, the city has changed and developed. While St Mary’s is located in an area undergoing renewal and development, on the south side of the Liffey recent and planned commercial and residential development have created a whole new dimension of city life. St Andrew’s Church, Westland Row, which was built shortly after St Mary’s, is well placed to engage with the vibrant residential, commercial and cultural heart of the city.

Having consulted with the council of priests, the archbishop believes that both St Mary’s and St Andrew’s have the capacity to be developed as twin pillars of a renewed pastoral and missionary strategy. It is his desire that Dublin should have a properly designated cathedral and that it should be complemented by a church on the other side of the Liffey whose status and dignity are formally recognised and supported. For logistical reasons, there are strong grounds for considering that St Andrew’s might better serve the cathedral function, with St Mary’s raised to the dignity of a basilica.

In order to advance the analysis of these options and prepare a specific proposal (which will ultimately require approval by the authorities in Rome) the archbishop is establishing a project group which will include representatives of both St Mary’s and St Andrew’s Parishes to develop proposals in the light of a synodal process of engagement and dialogue, supported by expert and technical advice. The project group will examine the physical and structural aspects of this proposal, the pastoral and programme requirements and opportunities on both sites, the community and parish dimension, including social, engagement and community service, and the financial and other resource implications.

The archbishop will be communicating the details of this project process over the coming weeks and he envisages that proposals will be presented by the project group for decision before the end of the current year.

Air fares out of Ireland are sky-high

Over the last few days there has been much talk about price gouging in the hotel industry. No doubt such behaviour happens across all industries from time to time.

Has anyone noticed how expensive air fares are out of Ireland at present?

This week fares to many places within Europe are in the €300/€400 range. At the same time fares between Berlin Brandenburg and Barcelona, and between Alicante and Paris are in the €70s and €20s respectively.

One might argue that we are paying far too little to travel by air if we are genuinely concerned about our carbon footprint.

But besides that, why are fares out of Ireland so expensive? Is there any competition or is it that a cosy cartel is in operation? It would seem so.

Operation Barbarossa launched early on June 22, 1941

On this day, June 22, 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. It was called Operation Barbarossa.

At least 24 million citizens of the Soviet Union lost their lives in World War ll.

The behaviour of the Germans as they destroyed the cities, towns and villages of Ukraine was savage, notorious. And it must never be forgotten the suffering and brutality Germany unleashed on the people of the Soviet Union. It was a flagrant unprovoked attack on Mother Russia.

The Germans were finally stopped in Stalingrad in February 1943 when the Red Army under Marshal General George Zhukov drove Paulus’ sixth army out of the city on the Volga. The battle lasted six months.

It was the first major defeat for Germany and the significant turning point in World War ll.

They can even misspell in Blackrock

Spotted at Dunnes Stores supermarket

on Newtownpark Avenue. Two misspellings in one short notice. And that in one of the most prosperous suburbs in Dublin.

The supermarket carpark is regularly dotted with Teslas, Mercedes, BMWs and the occasional bicycle. The sign does add a sense of fun. And might remind all of us not to take ourselves too seriously, irrespective of where we live or what we drive.

It all comes so natural to spider woman

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

It was approximately 8.35 on Monday morning. I was about to park up my bicycle to attend a meeting at 8.45. And just as I was taking off my bicycle helmet I spotted a woman with a little boy, whom I presumed was her son. He was about 10 years old and on his way to school. 

They too were on bicycles. They were looking on the ground for something. Whatever they were looking for was very small as they were both giving great detail to something on the ground. Eventually the woman found it. What was it? A spider. She found it, carefully picked it up with her hands and placed it in a nearby flowerpot. They were both delighted with themselves. We exchanged smiles, they cycled off and I went to my meeting.

I was struck with their gentleness and kindness, their concern for nature. And it was funny too. I could never see myself picking up a spider off the ground while out cycling. But I was greatly inspired by what the woman had done. And I could see from her son that he was so relieved that his mother had come to the rescue of the spider. I can only imagine that little boy is in good hands. 

I must have been a small boy when my father said to me that if someone is kind to animals you will find that they are also kind to humans. It has stayed with me all my life and I have seen how right my father was.

Nature is amazing. The older I get, the more in awe I am with the world about us and how it all keeps going. What’s it all about at all?

As I saw that woman find her spider my mind wandered to Columbia, where four children, aged 13, nine, four, and 11 months managed to survive 40 days in the jungle. They survived a plane crash in which their mother and two adults were killed. It is an amazing story. 

Many commentators have said that the fact that the children belong to an indigenous community added to their survival skills. However or whatever kept them alive, little 13-year-old Lesly must have done trojan work in keeping herself and her three siblings alive. 

The power of nature to keep us alive, to keep things going is really a mystery right in front of our eyes. And it keeps control over us all day and all night. Nature never gives up.

And then I think of what’s happening in Ukraine, the bread basket of Europe. Adults are killing one another. Every day and every night women, men  and children are being killed, losing limbs. 

Many will be horribly disfigured for the rest of their lives. Children are being separated from their parents. The suffering being inflicted on people is beyond words. And while all that is happening the share price in the armaments industry is soaring as it churns out more and more killing weapons.

 

I’m scared about the war in Ukraine. How will it end? But when wars happen in far off places I’m not as concerned.

Is everything we do and think controlled by our nerve endings and is it all as complicated and as simple as that?

I’m back thinking of the spider woman and comparing her behaviour to the ongoing brutality in Ukraine.

The mystery of nature is mind-boggling.            

The new TFI Live app is not fit for purpose

Anyone using the relatively new TFI Live app might be able to explain what the word ‘scheduled’ means when it gives the arrival time of a bus at a stop.

The app gives a list of the next buses to arrive and within that time period it also regularly gives the time of a bus arrival with the word ‘scheduled’ under the designated time. Further down all the times are designated scheduled. But the bus time with ‘scheduled' within the nearest times actually never turns up. Just as the  designated time arrives the ‘scheduled’ bus disappears and the bus never arrives at the stop.

TFI/NTA guarantees the reply to correspondence within 15 working days. It seems an inordinate length of time. To add to the misery of the travelling public TFI/NTA does not keep its promise in replying within 15 working days.

It would seem TFI/NTA has an unusual understanding of what the word ‘timetable’ means. Press the button timetable and you are given the time of the next bus or train to depart. That is not a timetable.

Navigation across the app is not easy.

The new TFI Live app is not fit for purpose as it is currently designed.

June 17 recalls a special day in the history of divided Berlin

Yesterday Germany remembered June 17, 1953.

Seventy years ago in East Berlin and across the former German Democratic Republic tens of thousands of people took to the streets protesting against poor wages and calling for free elections and German unity.

At lunch time on that fateful day Russian tanks rolled on to the streets of the capital city of the GDR. In the melee that followed 55 people were killed and ‘order' was restored across the GDR..

At a moving ceremony yesterday in Berlin German president Fran-Walter Steinmeier and chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of the bravery of the people. Scholz referred to the fact that it was the brutality of the Russian tanks that killed the dreams of the East Germans.

Every day with the war in Ukraine both Russian and German tanks recall all that is horrible and worrying about war.

Empathy brings hope to humanity

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today

Michael Commane 

Shortly after beginning my job as a hospital chaplain a friend suggested I read Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh. I couldn’t put the book down. Henry Marsh was born in 1950, spent his life working as a brain surgeon in London but also helped develop modern neurosurgery in Nepal and Ukraine.

The book has won many awards and I can understand why. He describes  his career as a doctor, the good days and the bad days, the mistakes he made and the extraordinary conversations he had with patients, their families and friends. I met a young doctor who worked with him in London. He told me what you see in the book is exactly who the man is. 

I’ve just finished his latest book And Finally, written in the spring of 2022, in the months immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It’s more of the same brilliance, describing his encounters and experiences seen through the eyes of a neurosurgeon but there’s a twist in this book. 

This time he tells the story from the other side. He has been diagnosed with serious prostate cancer. He has that wonderful ability of writing down in such clear words what’s going through his head when he receives his diagnoses.

Henry Marsh comes across as a complete human being. He has no problems acknowledging his failures and shortcomings. He now looks back on his life, knowing how privileged he has been but also realises the silly things he did, including the occasions he should have given more time to his family.

 

But there is an overarching theme right across the two books I have read and that is his humanity, his honesty too. I don’t think he ever once mentioned the word but it’s evidently clear that he is a man of great empathy. He made  time for his patients. All during his 40-year career as a doctor he made it his business to listen to his patients. And then when he in turn developed cancer, he is so impressed with the medical personnel who show him kindness and empathy. 

He stresses the importance of hospitals being built in places which can accommodate gardens and pleasant surroundings for patients. I have seen this in my own work as a hospital chaplain. He wants the very best for his patients, the best technology but always dressed in kindness and empathy.

Reading through tomorrow’s liturgy I was frequently  reminded of Henry Marsh. In the entrance antiphon we ask the Lord to hear our voice and not to abandon or forsake us (Psalm 27). And then in the Gospel (Matthew 9: 36 - 10:8) “When Jesus sees the crowds, he feels sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected…” In the second reading (Romans 5: 6 - 11) St Paul talks about the helplessness of people. As I read those words, I could see Henry Marsh engaging with extremely sick people and speaking to them in such a manner giving  them solace, comforting them.

 

In a  postscript to And Finally, Marsh writes about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a country he considers his second home. 

He phones his friends in Lviv and Kyiv every day. Of course he is worried about them and what the future holds for them. But he knows: “they will fight to the death. I always knew they would. They see no alternative.” Let us hope that it does not come to that. 

He insists that we have to be optimistic because if we are not, “then evil will certainly triumph.” The last line of the book is: “I will return.” Marsh does not believe in an afterlife but certainly believes in living this life to the full and helping make it a better place for all of us.

Tomorrow’s Gospel is one of hope, couched in empathy, especially for those who are harassed and dejected. The day we give up on the marginalised, the day we turn our backs on the poor and sick is the day we lose  our humanity. And the story of the life of Jesus is all about offering hope, a hope, that we as Christians believe, reaches fulfilment, in some extraordinary way, with God.

Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower, dies at 92

Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower has died. 

His bravery, decency and goodness should be an inspiration to all those who speak truth to power, to those who report wrongdoing. Ellsberg refused to bow down to the mighty and powerful. His determination to keep going, never to lose focus is a fabulous lesson, a wonderful example to all whistleblowers who seek the truth, no matter what the cost.

 Alan Rusbridger, the former editor-in-chief of the Guardian said, Ellsberg “was widely, and rightly, acclaimed as a great and significant figure. But not by Richard Nixon, who wanted him locked up. He’s why the national interest should never be confused with the interest of whoever’s in power.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/16/daniel-ellsberg-pentagon-papers-whistleblower-dies?CMP=share_btn_link

Two well known British Catholics and Glenda Jackson

The Catholic Church must be a broad church.

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson and MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg are both Catholics.

But both conservative right -wing English politicians.

Does that tell us something about the Catholic Church and its membership?

And then the death of Glenda Jackson, who died yesterday. The actor was 20 years a Labour MP, who spent her life searching for the truth.

Talking about her on Channel 4 News last evening Jeremy Corbyn referred to how Jackson criticised the policy of Margaret Thatcher when the rest of parliament was paying respects to her on the occasion of her death.

Corbyn went on to say that all political parties today are convulsed in ‘insipid respectability'.

The wonder and mystery of our lives

Henry Marsh quotes Immanuel Kant and William Shakespeare on the inside cover of his latest book And Finally.

'We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little lives are rounded with a sleep.’

                              William Shakespeare, The Tempest

Taking truth as our guide

He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright.

- Blaise Pascal

What do we know about our Christian faith?

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

On the June Bank Holiday Monday there was an item on the Marty Morrissey Show on RTÉ Radio 1 about the latest census figures on the fall off of religious practice. It set me thinking.

Is there ever a serious debate about the core issues of Christianity?

Over the last few weeks Christians have celebrated some of the most important aspects of their faith. Nine weeks ago we celebrated Easter, the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which paves the way for personal resurrection.

Two Sundays ago Christians celebrated the feast of the Trinity, the idea that there are three persons in one God. It is a sublime idea, in so many ways beyond our understanding.

 

The Christian churches are not the best communicators. I’m shocked with the cliches and pious platitudes I read in parish newsletters.

The Trinity is such a dynamic reality. Three persons are so perfect in every way, their love for one another is so great that they are one. God the Father, the transcendent God ‘away beyond us’, the historical figure Jesus, God, who lived in time, and the Hoy Spirit, the God who is in the world today.

The Trinity is all about relationship. We are social animals. Every single one of us is in some way or other in a number of relationships with other people. Relationships can be good and healthy but they can also be crippling. Good and wholesome relationships are a tiny but significant pointer to us of what the Trinity is about. When we are in life-giving relationships we are, in our way, mirroring the presence of God in the world.

Last Sunday’s feast was that Catholic feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. The Eucharist has so many aspects to it but central to it is the idea of communion. We are a people in communion with each other, with God at the centre.

The world is in great need for understanding and solidarity among peoples. And that’s exactly what the Eucharist is about, people living in harmony and respect with each other. That’s what the word Communion means. Christians believe Communion is fellowship, with God at the centre.

I believe we have over used far too many non-understandable words and rituals when it comes to trying to give flesh to our Christian  faith?

How come we never seem to have any real debate or indeed dispute about the central issues of faith; Incarnation, Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, the Trinity, the Eucharist?  Somewhere at the back of my head I keep thinking we have cliched our faith out of existence. 

People have walked away because they are bored out of their minds by the use of words, a language that has no meaning whatsoever. I’m forever wondering what actually do we know about the Christian faith.

Have we walked away from the Christian faith without ever really getting a proper handle on it?

I heard someone say that we went to Mass, not knowing why and stopped going, not knowing why.

The unity and resilience of the children of the jungle

The story of the Colombian children who survived 40 days in the jungle. How did the four children survive? It tells us something about the power of the indigenous people.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/11/colombian-plane-crash-mother-told-children-to-leave-her-so-they-could-survive?CMP=share_btn_link

Henry Marsh talks about his extraordinary life and work

Henry Marsh, born 1950, is a retired neurosurgeon. Among his books are Do no Harm and And Finally, which are page turners.

The link is an interview Marsh gave to Martin Latham.

https://www.youtube.com/live/6yqJrvLvNXA?feature=share

Donald Trump and Boris Johnson chased by ‘witch-hunters'

All in one day.

Former US president Donald Trump indicted by a federal court for keeping boxes with nuclear programme documents and foreign weapons details. .Trump proclaims there is a witch hunt against him

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson resigns his parliamentary seat and accuses his party of a witch hunt.

What must Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin be thinking of western democracy?

The savagery and brutality of the war in Ukraine

Early morning radio news gives us the latest updates on the war in Ukraine.

The bursting of the dam on the river Dnipro is a catastrophic disaster for thousands of people.

Much of the territory of the flooded areas are now occupied by Russia and indeed, Russia considers the territory part of Russia.

History tells us that Russia will not stop, the Russian Army will continue to bombard Ukraine. Look what they did in Chechnya.

On a recent BBC interview the Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin clearly stated that Russian resources are vast and that the country is 16 times bigger than Ukraine.

Where is this war heading?

How can Russia ever subjugate the people of Ukraine, indeed, how can they ever win over the minds and hearts of the people they claimed was the reason for the ‘Special Military Operation’?

How can this war be stopped?

Have we become complacent to the brutality and savagery that is taking place every day and every night in Ukraine?

And all the time the arms industry on both sides is at full production, turning in large dividends for its investors. 

John Hume and the principle of change by consent

Deaglán de Bréadún writes a weekly column in The Irish News. This is his column this week, which makes for an interesting read.

ALTHOUGH both of us wrote in the same newspaper for many years, I don't recall actually meeting Michael Viney who passed away last week.

He lived off the west coast in County Mayo, from where he contributed a highly-regarded column titled Another Life, whereas, apart from several years in Belfast and six months reporting from Moscow in the Boris Yeltsin era, I was mainly based in Dublin.

His column started publication when he moved from Dublin to his new abode, which was around the same time that I began working casual shifts at The Irish Times, leading eventually to a staff position.

Michael's column continued appearing until February of this year, but it was only when researching his obituary for the Sunday Independent that I became aware of other very significant work he did as a news reporter in the sixties and early seventies.

Mainly encouraged by legendary editor Douglas Gageby, he wrote series after series of articles on such issues as the decline in numbers of the Protestant community in the south, the state of the Irish language, the level of alcoholism in Ireland and the way in which young offenders were treated in industrial schools and reformatories.

In the spring of 1964 he spent two weeks on the other side of the border and met a range of people from both sides of the religious divide. The result was a six-part series entitled Journey North, published in May of that year and described as the personal view of  "an Englishman domiciled in Dublin, reared in a mildly Anglican environment, but now a Christian of no denomination".

Having stayed for a good many days in Belfast, where his wide range of experiences included a sermon by Reverend Ian Paisley at the Ravenhill Free Presbyterian Church, he made his way by train to Derry. Striking a lighter note on arrival, he asked if the two denominations had different appearances and was told that Protestants had "tight, closed faces" whereas Catholics had "big eyes".

Visiting a bar in Creggan, he met two Catholics who had joined the British Army, one of them wearing a blazer with the badge of the Royal Army Medical Corps – something that you wouldn't have seen in a social setting in that district in later times.

Describing a private viewing of a documentary called A City Solitary, which had been shown shortly beforehand on the BBC, he wrote that "watching with me is John Hume, the Catholic teacher who wrote the script". The publicity Viney gave the film led to its being shown also by RTÉ television in the south.

Looking back on his trip at the end of the series, Michael wrote: "This tour of the north was one of the most depressing experiences I have known."

He said the common people were "oppressed and exploited... on the one hand by a Unionist Party whose public attachment to power and privilege is often medieval in its cynicism; on the other by a corps of nationalists who, with a few exceptions, encourage slogans as a substitute for thought".

He said the real divisions were "economic and social, not religious" and rather naively predicted that both sides of the divide would combine to advance the interests of the working class.

Viney's coverage resulted in the 27-year-old Hume receiving a commission from The Irish Timesto write about the position of Catholics in the north and how it might be improved: his first high-profile appearance in southern media.

Hume wrote that the younger generation of Catholics were "principally geared towards the solution of social and economic problems" and he added: "This has led to a deep questioning of traditional nationalist attitudes."

Sharply critical of the Nationalist Party, he said: "In 40 years of opposition they have not produced one constructive contribution on either the social or economic plane to the development of Northern Ireland, which is, after all, a substantial part of the united Ireland for which they strive."

Hume continued that the "dangerous equation of nationalism and Catholicism has simply contributed to the postponement of the emergence of normal politics in the area and has made the task of the unionist ascendancy simpler".

He urged the Nationalist Party to take a flexible approach to the unity question: "If one wishes to create a united Ireland by constitutional means, then one must accept the constitutional position."

In his 1997 biography of the Derry politician, Paul Routledge writes: "Here, in the starkest possible way, Hume set out the principle of change by consent and evolution that was to become both his guiding philosophy and his political trademark for the next 30 years."

Interestingly, the Nationalist Party agreed to become the official opposition at Stormont in February 1965, less than a year after those articles appeared in print. Its leader, Eddie McAteeer, lost his seat to Hume in the Northern Ireland general election of February 1969.

Consent and evolution are of course hallmarks of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement under which a united Ireland can only be achieved by majority approval granted separately on both sides of the border.

Incidentally, I note from Barry White's 1984 biography that, in 1967, John Hume was offered a job in schools broadcasting in Belfast with the BBC but turned it down. The twists and turns of fate can indeed be very significant.

Mixed messages from TFI and NTA

It is difficult to distinguish the difference between Transport for Ireland and the National Transport Authority. What is the remit of each of the State agencies?

If one phones TFI it seems NTA answers the call.

Yesterday at midday a caller phoned the TFI. A prerecorded message told the caller that office hours were between 9am and 5pm. It was immediately followed with a message saying that the office 'was now closed’.

The two agencies are clouded in confusion.

People who use public transport deserve to be treated better

This week’s Mediahuis?INM Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

Our public transport is a mosaic of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Rural Ireland is not well served. But there have been seismic improvements in bus and rail infrastructure.

When I went working in The Kerryman in 1998 I think there were four trains a day between Tralee and Dublin, today there are seven. There are eight trains a day between Sligo and Dublin. Wexford still has a patchy service with just five trains a day to the capital. Journey times on all services need to be shortened. There are only two mainline routes that have double tracks, Dublin Cork and Dublin Belfast. 

The Dublin Cork train boasts the fastest maximum speed of 160 km/h or 100 mph.

Technology means that we can check departure, arrival times and timetables on our phones, tablets and computers. 

Irish Rail’s online booking system is excellent. Real time information on the Dart and Luas is a great help, as it is at Bus stops in our cities.

Some years ago Dublin Bus introduced a real time app. It meant passengers could check on their phone the time the bus would arrive at their stop. It also contained timetables. It was simple to use and most reliable. 

On Tuesday May 23 the Dublin Bus app was replaced by the new TFI Live app. The new app covers all public transport in the State, bus and rail. 

It is proving in its first early days a shambles. It is difficult to navigate and it’s not doing all it is advertised to do. There has been zilch explanation about the new app in the media.

I was unable to obtain timetable information from it so I phoned TFI. The person I spoke to stumbled and stuttered and on many occasions used the expression ‘sort of’. It was clear the person with whom I spoke simply knew little or nothing about the new app. 

I subsequently emailed the NTA. They promptly replied with a generic email apologising for the ‘intermittent teething issues’. They are not intermittent, they are constant. I received an email in response to my phone call, guaranteeing they will reply to my email within 15 working days.

You might be confused with TFI and NTA. TFI is Transport for Ireland and NTA is National Transport Authority. I have spent months trying to discover the difference between the two agencies. The app is called TFI Live but when you call them you get through to the NTA. This sentence appears on he TFI website: ‘If your comment relates to Transport for Ireland please email info@nationaltransport.ie'.

Has there been a publicity campaign to explain what the different agencies do? It’s one big mystery. The TFI Live app adds to the confusion. The new app is a metaphor for the mystery that surrounds the worlds of the TFI and the NTA. There is far too much confusion concerning these two public bodies.

People who use public transport, those who pay for it, that includes all tax payers, deserve to be treated better than this.

No water, no cash but more bicycles on our trains

Irish Rail is in the process of resuming the trolley service on its InterCity trains.

But the new service is cashless. What happens if a passenger orders a coffee and sandwich and then explains they have no cards, only cash?

Yesterday, a warm day across Ireland, the trolley service on the 16.25 Cork Dublin train had no water for passengers. The trolley attendant explained to passengers he had run out of bottled water.

For the moment Irish Rail has no plans to reopen its dining cars. 

The company is currently  testing refigured coaches, which can carry extra bicycles on its InterCity railcars.

Antony Blinken sets out why Putin must not win in Ukraine

United States secretary of state, Antony Blinken gave a talk in Helsinki. It sets out why the US is supporting Ukraine in the current war.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with US foreign policy, Blinken’s words in the Finish capital are well worth a hearing.

The talk could easily be missed and does not seem to have received the publicity it deserves.

https://youtu.be/JRCBNc8UBcA

Martin Scorsese speaking his mind

This makes for an interesting hour’s viewing.

Film director, producer, screenwriter and actor, Martin Scorsese in conversation with Antonio Spadano.

https://youtu.be/uLU59scjiq0

The day West Berlin students said down with the Shah

On this day, June 2, 1967 there were protests in West Berlin against the visit of the Shah of Iran. One of the demonstrators, Benno Ohnesorg was killed by the police.

Twelve years later the Shah was deposed by a revolution and the Ayatollah Khomeini became the new leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

During the Shah's time in power the British and US organised an army coup, which deposed the democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had nationalised the British-owned oil industry. Mohammad Mosaddegh was a modern democrat, a good man. 

As a result of Benno Ohnesorg being killed in Berlin, Movement 2 was formed in West Berlin and from that a number of terrorist groups sprang up in West Berlin and West Germany.

Walking into a state of well-being and away from illness

An apt thought for a sunny June 1.

"Above all, do not lose desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. 

"I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. 

"But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right."

Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish theologian/philosopher, 1813 - 1855.

Census of Population 2022 - some preliminary results

Some figures from preliminary results of the census carried out in 2022.

Some interesting facts and figures. But it’s worth noting on the same day that these figures were released some of the wisest minds in the world in an open letter said that Artificial Intelligence could spell the world’s extinction.

First time the population exceeds five million in a census since 1851.

4,761,865 Population 2016
2,003,645 Housing 2016

5,123,536 Population 2022
2,124,590 Housing 2022

Natural increase  171,338
Net migration 190,333
Largest inward migration occurred in Dublin (+46,559)

Occupied homes 1,858,526
Vacancy rate 8%
Vacant homes 166,752