Notes to Self on the Pending Passing of a Loved One
1. Don’t be prepared. 2. Honour both the living and the dead. 3. Be prepared…
Browsing: Society & Culture
Seamus Deane: An Appreciation
John Calder spoke at the Abbey Theatre some years ago. The founder and director of…
A Brief History of My Father
In 1960 when I was seven, before TV, Radio Éireann was our window on the…
Mysticism for the Modern Skeptic
Five takeaways from my experience at Sattva Yoga Academy in india: Have an experience without…
It Is Good We Are Dreaming
‘We dream – it is good we are dreaming – It would hurt us –…
Covid-19 in Ireland: Pandemonium
Robert Fisk wrote: ‘we journalists try – or should try – to be the first…
On (the) Money
If you follow me baby I’ll turn your money green I show you more money…
RTE Kitsch: Room to Improve
Patrick Freyne’s satirical 2020 Irish Times article ‘It is now late-period Dermot Bannon. He is…
Looking for Scraps
Rushing down the lane to the beach, I race in the direction of clarity; the…
Fiction Reader’s Block
We all see things with different eyes and it gets you nowhere hoping that one…
Common Concerns: John Clare & Other Ghosts
There’s a strangeness to singing in a language you don’t understand, akin, perhaps, to the…
Cassandra Voices Podcast: Loafing Hero
In our latest podcast Ben Pantrey interviews former musician of the month Bartholomew Ryan in…
Operation Mass Formation
We need to sing again. We need to be Irish. We need to socialise. We…
The Importance of Public Debate
At a recent debate organised by the English-Speaking Union (ESU) at its HQ, Dartmouth House…
What is Freedom?
Last week, the Russia-Ukraine-NATO tensions reached a crescendo when Russia decided to recognize both Luhansk…
On the Nature of Evil
I met Vladimir Putin once. Or, at least, I was in the same room as…
Vanishing Ireland: Taking the Waters
Today bottled spring water is an everyday drink, and sales run into the billions every…
When Did You Notice That Smoking is Over?
When discussing health these days, if we’re not dissecting the latest updates on the pandemic,…
Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob
In a quiet room, two men smoke hashish and discuss the inevitability of the Apocalypse.…
A Fairy Tale of Dún Laoghaire 2
I knew the game was up when my mother told me that Santy had given…