As with any look back over a year one’s view is always an entanglement of the global the national and the personal.
From my vantage point here on Ireland’s western seaboard much is changed and much remains the same.
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Salsa at the crossroads.
In the law of unintended consequences one of the more beguiling effects of Tiger full employment was to bring people into Ireland who have unwittingly re-introduced something that we, as a people, probably lost a long time ago.
Respect for the fallen.
Respect for the dead is a basic concept among humans.
It was once thought to be unique to humans-something that sets us apart from animals. Recent discoveries by scientists have found that, for example, African elephants memorialise their dead. They all pass by in line the dead member of the herd and they touch the body of their relative with their trunks.
In this part of the world a minute’s silence is the culturally accepted standard by which someone shows their respect for the dead.
An act of remembrance?
This weekend across the island of Ireland there will be commemorations of those Irishmen who died in the service of the British Crown in many conflicts.
Most of those remembered died in the “Great war”, but Irishmen continue to serve in the British armed forces and they continue to die for Britain.
In the Republic people have developed a sophisticated analysis and are able to differentiate between the individual heroism of our own and the cause for which they were led to their death.
Celtic – The Supersonic 70s! (Book Review)
This book does exactly what it says on its brightly designed cover.
The 1970s was the decade wherein I was a teenage Celtic supporter in Glasgow.
The book brought back memories of the great Celtic players I watched and the terrible clothes that I was proud to wear!
Peter Lawwell unhappy about lack of action on Famine song
EXCLUSIVE.
By Phil Mac Giolla Bhain.
Members of Show Racism the Red Card were taken to task by a tetchy Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell at New Douglas Park after the match between Hamilton Accies and Celtic on Sunday 25th October.
Maurice Edu
The tricky thing about racism is that when you allow and approve one type of racist thought you tend to get more than you originally authorised.
The alleged racist abuse suffered by Rangers player Maurice Edu should not come as a surprise to anyone with any knowledge of the Ibrox sub-culture.
Preventable Death
This timely book explores the appalling death toll of young Irishmen over a twenty-year period.
Campaigning journalist Phil Mac Giolla Bhain travelled the length and breadth of the island of Ireland hearing the stories of heart broken families who have been devastated by suicide.
Phil also spoke to experts in the field who, despite years of research, cannot answer why the suicide rate among our young men is so high.
Finally, Phil develops an analysis why this is a killer of men and not women in modern Ireland and what can be done to neutralise this “tolerated serial killer”.
A country called Europe.
All of my adult life I have taken decisions that I affirmed my Irish nationality. I’ve only ever held an Irish passport, I’m and Irish speaker and I live in Ireland.
My three children go to an Irish speaking school-they are being raised gaeilgoiri.
You get the idea.
Recently I re-affirmed my wish to live in a country called “Ireland”. Unfortunately many of fellow Irish citizens decided that they wanted to live in a country called “Europe.”
The Dangers of Anti-Depressants (The Right Hook – Audio)
Interview on “The Right Hook” with hosted by Kevin Meyers with Phil Mac Giolla Bhain and Professor Patricia Casey on 1st September 2009. *LINK NO LONGER AVAILIBLE.
