Tag: politics
Elections, Europe, and Irish Freedom: A Talk With Hermann Kelly
The European Union is not the immutable behemoth it once was. The political bloc, although once appearing to be seemingly invincible, is starting to show its cracks. Largely as a result of the 2015 migrant crisis, as well as the...
Introducing the Irish NGO Complex
The following is a multipart series examining the role of Ireland’s NGO (non-governmental organisation) sector in influencing journalism and policy formation, as well means to combat it. So far in the eyes of this author, criticism of the NGO lobby...
Ireland’s Emerging Rightist Media Nexus
This is intended to be a resource on Irish-oriented right-wing media platforms, most typically YouTube channels, but also encompassing other formats. There is an undeniable thirst for information sources outside of the narrow sliver of ideological choices available from the...
The Peculiar Politics of the Eurovision
The Eurovision is a strange affair. While many turn their nose up at the competition for being rather low brow, it can be entertaining to watch if you go in with an open mind. In what other competitions do you...
A Look at the 2020 Democratic Primaries
Biden vs. Bernie: All of the major 2020 Democratic candidates for president of the United States have formally launched their campaigns. It is an extremely diverse field. We have an octogenarian socialist who owns three houses, terrorist sympathizers, and a...
Edmund Burke and the Irish Canon
“Berkeley proved that the world was a vision, and Burke that the State was a tree, no mechanism to be pulled in pieces and put up again, but an oak tree that had grown through centuries” -W.B. Yeats Burke and the 20th Century: The Irish 20th century left many casualties in its wake. As the century drew to...
A Year in Review: 2018
It’s been an interesting year - but before we take a look at the developments here in Ireland, let’s review what happened on the world stage. In the United States passed another year of highly entertaining political drama. Tension seemed...
Does Peadar Tóibín’s New Movement Stand a Chance?
New parties have not fared well in Ireland historically. All of the leading parties were established by 1933, and the impact of newcomers has tended to be slight and short-lasting. Contrast this with France, where the En Marche movement captured...
Can Irish Journalism Save Itself?
With its pre-budget calls for VAT reductions on newspapers and taxpayer funded schemes, the recent NewsBrands Ireland #JournalismMatters campaign sounds more like a plaintive SOS than a viable plan for the future of the Irish newspaper industry. The scale of...
Raging at Bono
I am not a fan of U2. I first encountered the band in 2003 at the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics, at a time I was vaguely aware of a song called Beautiful Day and didn’t even recognise Pride...