A European army and the silliness of federalist rhetoric
Have you noticed that whenever federalists in Europe are feeling a little down and weary, they reach for the soother and the comfort blanket, snuggle up and drift off in a fantasy dream? Instead of accepting the EU for what it is and instead of taking pride in it for what the EU is, they […]
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The politics of paralysis and where we might go from here
With every change within the margin of error, today’s Red –C poll appears to be “business as usual”. But the problem is that business is not at all usual. Today’s slight flicker in poll ratings has happened in the context of continuing uncertainty about Brexit, and of the Apple €13bn controversy, and of the NAMA […]
It will take a crowbar to get Enda out of office – but his Fine Gael pretenders are only carrying feather dusters
On St Patrick’s Day, 1931, Stanley Baldwin, the British Prime Minister, speaking in the closing days of a vital by-election campaign, rounded on the press barons, Lords Rothermere and Beaverbrook, who were using their power in an attempt to topple him, and coined the memorable phrase to describe their bullying role: “Power without responsibility – […]
No sudden post-Brexit clamour for unification in the North
As someone who is by conviction a republican and aspires to live in a united Ireland, I have to say that I have found the sudden outbreak of “unification” chatter in the aftermath of Brexit a bit far-fetched and, alas, counter-productive. There is absolutely nothing apart from the grossest wishful thinking to suggest that the […]
Islamic extremism is incompatible with our liberal society
The cruel murder by ISIS adherents of a defenceless, elderly Catholic priest celebrating Mass in a small Normandy church is by no means the first of its kind. Jihadists waging “holy war” have been doing similar cowardly acts to Christian clergy and lay-people here and there across the Maghreb, the Middle East and in Saharan […]