An Epitaph Robert Stewart (“Castlereagh”), 1769-1822 A vulgar tool, an empty mask, a poison-blooded viper underfoot: the court and horde alike denied my lustre, drubbed my name. Though I cast the present century in vermillion, no record that I ever lived exists. Sedition wins by merely festering, a hidden epidemic no history can cure! Repressed … Read more
What’s my favourite Woody Allen movie? He has directed fifty, churning out one a year since 1982, maintaining a consistently high standard leavened by only occasional dross, so it can be difficult to choose. Another common phenomenon to be taken into consideration in this discussion is how fans of any artist who becomes ‘problematic’ are … Read more
In recent years, ‘video games as an art form’ has become somewhat of a hotly debated topic. While some argue that video games don’t have the potential to be meaningful art, others argue the opposite and favour video games being considered art because of their expressive elements, such as music, design, visuals, acting, and interaction. … Read more
Born in 1959, George Azar was the descendant of Lebanese olive farmers who had set sail from Beirut a century earlier. They settled in South Philadelphia, a working-class enclave—later immortalized in the ‘Rocky’ films. It contained a mix of Italians, Irish, Polish, Jewish, and Lebanese families, a tough, mafia-controlled neighborhood where people staked their claims … Read more
Jim Sheridan is a significant figure in the international film industry because of his creativity and talent. He has made an influential documentary, ‘Murder at the Cottage’, about the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case. In the recent Cassandra Voices Podcast, he explained why he believed Ian Bailey is innocent and much maligned. In a recent … Read more
There is a poem by Mary Ruefle called „Provenance“. It ends with with the following words: „So I have gone up to the little room in my face, I am making something out of a jar of freckles and a jar of glue I hated childhood I hate adulthood And I love being alive. This … Read more
David Langwallner is a barrister working in the U.K.. He has written numerous articles for Cassandra Voices, and was a natural choice to speak to about the Julian Assange case, which shows every sign of drawing towards a dénouement in a London courtroom. Between Tuesday, February 20 and Wednesday, February 21, a strange scene played … Read more
Listen to the second half of this podcast on Patreon. Jim Sheridan condemns the Irish government for handing over the file on the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case to the French authorities, wondering whether we are ‘still an independent country.’ He argues that this should never have been done ‘over the head of the Director … Read more
In entertainment news, reports have surfaced that Jim Sheridan – who directed and co-wrote In the Name of the Father (1993) among other award-winning films – along with his daughter Kirsten Sheridan, have written the screenplay for a new five-part series based on the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Filming is due to begin in Glasgow later … Read more
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In the final part of his essay on the joys and woes of being an Irish Manchester City fan, Desmond Traynor delves into psychological and emotional reasons for sustaining sporting allegiances, through thick and thin. Even if nothing in the foregoing fact-based rant convinces City-sceptics, it is not the main plank of my justification for … Read more
Desmond Traynor continues his analysis of the financial and political morality of top flight English soccer, and attempts several rebuttals of the frequently voiced criticisms of Manchester City’s current success. That was the attack. Here is the defence – bearing in mind that attack is often the best means of defence. (The middle ground will … Read more
In Dublin last week, riots and looting that broke out in the wake of a horrifying and inexplicable attack on three small children, and their carer, has been widely attributed to nascent fascism. We regard this as an inappropriate and, potentially, insidious suggestion; which is not to say that inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric did not fan … Read more
Commuting with Baudelaire We are living in a time when there are no gentlemen. So, women stand for hours without being offered any seats. It’ s a privilege which they have laboured for and for centuries, It appears! Madness, I know, but you must respect them. As you watch their small fists tightening on the … Read more
Last Breath of Leaves Cup a pear, hear it abscise, number the days until ripe; the river chuckles with swollen pride – back to a ditch by six, drained away to the scaly, selfish sea. At dawn there’s steam across the water, a cloud of egrets scuds over; old and waiting, mud for water, leaves … Read more
If you follow me baby I’ll turn your money green I show you more money Rockerfeller ever seen Furry Lewis, ‘I Will Turn Your Money Green’ (1928) First of all, it is good to have some of it. Second of all, it is good to have enough of it – which means not too much. … Read more
Introducing a New Offer on the Cassandra Voices Patreon Site Cassandra Voices is an independent Irish media outlet, specialising in long reads on politics, art and contemporary culture. It was founded in 2017 by Frank Armstrong, an established Irish journalist and law graduate, and Daniele Idini, an Italian photographer and trade unionist. Produced in Dublin, … Read more
The Sacred Mundane 1 We might say with confidence that the world is a lovely catastrophe—paradise buried in a rubbish heap; devilish, angelic, perishing, precious, priestly, proud; one home to the light that is oil and the water that is darkness, this poor dazzling Earth a jar cracking with the strain of their dueling dual … Read more
Dublin Bay South by-election candidate Peter Dooley has an impressive track record of fighting for a just society, especially through the Dublin Renters’ Union, and unlike many on the left in Ireland, has drawn attention to the devastation to ordinary people’s lives caused by the longest lockdown in Europe. This by-election in Dublin Bay South … Read more
