Ciaran Carson: The Dichotomy of Being
Belfast writer, and poet, Ciaran Carson carried a black flute with silver keys on its…
Browsing: Society & Culture
Ten Faery Tales for Our Time
This article is dedicated to Patrick Healy. The Irish people have a long-standing relationship with…
Liking Lockdown
The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone.…
Gay?
In the insular, it felt like it at times, enforced statelet of Northern Ireland, sexual…
Julian Lloyd: Pure Luck and Happenstance
Julian Lloyd’s iconic portrait of Nick Drake now forms part of the U.K.’s National Portrait…
John Betjeman’s Love Affair with Ireland
The colourful humourist and English poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984) is the subject of…
Covid-19: A Flawed Consensus
Covid is a nightmare from which we are still trying to awake. But whether the…
The Myth of the Spiritual Contract
According to Western medical science I suffer from a condition called depression. And from my…
Michel Houllebecq and the End of History
Inspired by Michel Houllebecq’s novel Atomised (1998), Ben Pantrey considers the endurance of the Christian…
Pietas in Richard Kearney’s Novel Salvage
When, after a long siege, the Greeks breach the defences of Troy, Aeneas must flee.…
SUVs: A Symbol of Our Demise
This article has been gestating for some time. I must admit to a long-standing loathing…
In Memoriam: Moira Woods
Such sad news. Another member of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement is gone. Not just…
Tunnel Vision in Chișinău, Moldova
Gary Farrelly is an Irish visual and performance artist based in Brussels. Together with his…
COVID-19: Shame on You
A new book COVID-19 and Shame: Political Emotions and Public Health in the UK (Bloomsbury,…
Leitrim’s Glass Half-Full
In a recent article Frank Armstrong traces the historic decline in the population of Leitrim,…
A Golden Shower
I would imagine I am no different to many people in that I suffer from…
Finding Your Voice After Trauma
Have you ever experienced that emptiness, that deep silence, that infinite ignorance following trauma? Well,…
Kevin Higgins: 1967-2023
According to the recently deceased Kevin Higgins: ‘Poets may be divided into three types: those…
Welcome to the Jungle
Not since Byron awoke one morning to find himself famous has there been such an…
Open Mics or Open Micks?
I immediately twitch with an almost intolerable discomfort when I hear the words freedom and…