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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Tree
This week’s grief was that we had to cut down a spruce tree that was thriving but too close to the house. Its roots threatened all kinds of trouble. We bought this tree to brighten the room where my mother was dying, … Continue reading
Launch of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann
On Sunday, 15th November 2020, the new Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann held an event to mark the Day of the Imprisoned Writer and to launch our new organisation. Strange to say of an online event but: there was a really … Continue reading
Stephen Collins & the Peaceful Transfer of Power (mach ii)
Thanks and apologies to the people who pointed out that Stephen Collins’ article in the Irish Times about the peaceful transfer of power in an Irish context (in my previous blog) is subscriber-only. Here’s the gist of what he said. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Belarus, Ciara Meehan, Civil War, Cumann na nGaedheal, Democracy, Eamonn De Valera, Gill Books, Irish Times, Leinster House, peaceful transfer of power, People's Vote, Saving the State: Fine Gael from Collins to Varadkar, Stephen Collins, USA, WT Cosgrave
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Stephen Collins: Ireland faces its own threats to faith in democratic institutions
Here’s a link to a thought-provoking article by Stephen Collins in the Irish Times about the peaceful transfer of power in an Irish context. Read it and think how different we might have been. How democracy can rest on restraint … Continue reading
Svetlana Alexievich & the World’s Ambassadors
Three days ago, Nobel prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich (who is also President of PEN in Belarus) issued a statement saying that unknown persons were at her door. The last member of the Coordinating Council of Belarusian opposition to be imprisoned … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom of Speech, PEN, Uncategorized
Tagged Alexander Lukashenko, Ann Linde, Belarus, Chernobyl Prayer, Conor O'Cleirigh, Coordinating Council of the Opposition, ILF Dublin, Maksim Znak, Nobel Prize, PEN, Second Hand Time, Simon Coveney, Svetlana Alexievich, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, The Unwomanly Face of War
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Sun Flower with Spider: lessons from a Covid summer
This Covid summer we spent more time at home than usual. The view from our windows deepened; ordinary things around us acquired detail, texture, specific gravity – even emotional meaning, now that we have the time to absorb those meanings. … Continue reading
Wanting all the Words: Elif Shafak in conversation with Emma Graham-Harrison ( A Guardian Live Event)
6th August 2020 UPDATE 11/08/20: Guardian Live have made the interview available here. (This is a long post but I didn’t want to lose any of what Elif Shafak said. Make yourself a cup of tea & settle in.) EGH … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom of Speech, Interview, On Writing, Uncategorized
Tagged 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, Antonio Gramsci, Armenian genocide, Audre Lord, authoritarianism, Black and White for solidarity, Booker prize, Cemetery of the Companionless, dogma, Elif Shafak, Emma Graham-Harrison, Istanbul, language, Mahmoud Darwish, Ottoman dictionaries, populism, Street of the Cauldron Makers, the Istanbul Convention, Turkey, women in Turkey, Yazidis
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Suspension of UK Parliament, August 2019 (1)
Yesterday (28th August) Boris Johnson asked the Queen to suspend Parliament and she agreed. Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) and Jo Swinson (Lib-Dem) sent letters to the Queen asking her to refuse BJ’s request but they were too late; she had already … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Abingdon Green, Arlene Foster, Boris Johnson, Brexit, De Valera, Downing Street, Gina Miller, Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Swinson, Joanna Cherry, John Bercow, Michael Collins, Nicky Morgan, Nicola Sturgeon, Offred, Parliament Square, People's Vote, Philip Hammond, Privy Council, Prorogation of Parliament, Queen's Speech, Scottish Independence, Theresa May
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BREXIT (The night Theresa May’s deal was voted down)
Reuters reports today that there are plans afoot to move the Royal Family out of London if things turn sour I didn’t intend to blog about Brexit, but this jogged my memory. We were in London in the middle of … Continue reading
Posted in Brexit, Uncategorized
Tagged Anna Soubry, Boris Johnson, Brexit, David Davis, Jo Cox, John Bercow, Laura Kuenssberg, Leave, Michael Gove, People's Vote, Remain, Theresa May
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An egg is not a bird. A seed is not a tree.
This blog was originally posted in 2013. As we get closer to the referendum I am increasingly worried about the misinformation and distortion of facts I hear on the radio as reputable programmes try to present both sides of the … Continue reading →