December 2011 – For the fainthearted . . .

In 2012, Gertrude is still not welcome

Gertrude Stein appeared in a music track playing as I drove along.

Gertrude Stein, that fan of Pablo Picasso, her purchases of his work establishing her name as an art collector just as her collecting helped establish his name. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art held an exhibition over the summer, ‘The Steins Collect‘. It cost $25 to see it, (making us appreciate how much it meant to have free galleries in Ireland), but the exhibition of the works of Picasso and Matisse made it money well …

The way things were

The release of 1981 state papers brings a flood of recollections; personal moments in an Ireland of harsh political realities.

On August 26th 1981, I first set foot on Irish soil. It was 7.30 in the morning and we had travelled all night.

I bought a Daily Telegraph from a paper seller standing at the entrance to the Carlisle Pier and we walked the three hundred yards to Dun Laoghaire station. In retrospect, going to the station was a daft thing to do, we could have walked the distance to …

Pain filled tunes

The post-Christmas fare on the radio is less than inspiring: regular presenters and regular features are missing and the air is filled with dross. The usual ploy of flicking from one station to another at particular times in order to avoid boorish, sexist rappers and inane hip-hop failed this afternoon. Rather than the golden oldies I had expected on a station, there was rap. (Why stations where market research show it worthwhile to broadcast the local death notices four times a day, stations which by broadcasting the notices implicitly acknowledge …

If the Americans have gone

28th December, the commemoration of the Holy Innocents, the infants slaughtered by King Herod. Collateral damage would be the description of the killings now; innocent lives lost for reasons completely unconnected with them.

Collateral damage in the 21st Century tends to be associated with actions by United States’ forces, possibly because they admit to causing such losses, while sub-Saharan dictators, and others of their ilk, embarking upon incursions into neighbouring states deny even the presence of their forces on foreign soil.

American responsibility for collateral damage is likely to decline …

Tax and sewerage

A comical story did the rounds in London in the late 1970s. The Royal Shakespeare Company, based then at the Aldwych Theatre, had a very successful run with Wild Oats by John O’Keeffe. The play attracted excellent reviews from the press, but caught attention in other quarters. The Inland Revenue could find no record of Mr O’Keefe having paid any income tax and began to make inquiries about his whereabouts and tax status. O’Keeffe, known for his comedies, would have been delighted at such a comic development; he died in …

Sermon for New Year Covenant Service, Sunday, 1st January 2012

‘But when the fullness of time had come’ Galatians 4:4

What does a promise mean?

Not very much in our own times. Look at politicians who promise us great things in their election manifestos and once elected renege on everything they have said. Look at the advertisements that promise us that if we buy particular products, we will look young or stylish, or attractive, or whatever it is that we are seeking. Look at our whole consumer culture that promises us that if we accumulate lots of possessions, then we …