April moods
”April showers bring forth May flowers,” was one of those pieces of folk wisdom cited to encourage children gloomy at the fact that it was pouring with rain outside and it was the school holiday. Flowers were a matter of complete indifference to primary school boys. Flower beds were things to be avoided whilst playing football or riding a bicycle, … [continue reading …]
No longer Pope, but still refusing to face the truth
Perhaps it is a case of dementia, perhaps it is a case of a man who devoted his life to an institution being unable to cope with it crumbling away, perhaps it is just a matter of a bloody-minded old man who cannot accept he was wrong – but former-Pope Benedict is still telling lies. The BBC report on Benedict’s … [continue reading …]
Fifty years after Concorde
There was an optimism in being British in the late 1960s. The Empire might have gone; the pound might have dropped to an all time low; but there were still good things happening. In popular culture: The Beatles ruled the world; Carnaby Street shaped fashion; and the football World Cup was still in English hands. Union flags would be seen … [continue reading …]
TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER NOTICE ,
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Vote Gerald Tucker – Independent
“All politics is local,” Tip O’Neill asserted. The former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives appreciated the power of local issues in determining voters’ decisions even in a country as vast as the United States. Perhaps it is possible to go a step further and to assert that all politics is personal. Our voting decisions are shaped by … [continue reading …]
Christian deceit
Christians seem an increasingly lazy lot. Teaching a lesson on the contemporary church in the world before the Easter holidays, brought an encounter with one mission group who claimed that their rallies in parts of Africa attracted crowds of up to a million people. Anyone familiar with the reality of infrastructure and transport in the sub-Saharan countries where Christianity is … [continue reading …]
ANZAC Day
There is a moment at the end of Oh! What a Lovely War where a group of British officers from the general staff arrive outside a building in limousines. A parade has been formed and as the officers begin the inspection, a group of Anzacs, tired and dirty and battle hardened, survey the scene. One begins to sing and the … [continue reading …]
Learning the trade
Talking about the rise of the East Street Band to worldwide success, Bruce Springsteen tells of the years of hard work and anonymity the band went through. He talks about the concerts played in halls to audiences of fifty people or less and how such experiences shape a band, about failure being part of the path to the status the … [continue reading …]
Settling the account
This story was expanded from a piece of flash fiction. It was entered for this year’s RTÉ Francis McManus Short Story Competition. The evening classes at the college gave her the opportunity. It was a computing class that had taught her to use the Internet, something of which she had been frightened. It had been the stories in the papers … [continue reading …]