Category: Articles
The Shape of Water’s Vulgar Relationship
The 2018 Academy Award for Best Picture was given to The Shape of Water. This film did not only skilfully prove our elders right by denominating what is vulgar as being related to the vulgus (the throng), it also contributed...
Towards an Irish Aliyah? Irish Diaspora Policy for the 21st Century
“The Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage”- Bunreacht na hÉireann It is a common cliché that Ireland if it is to be anything must be more...
What is BDS really about?
With international reports linking SJP chapters in the USA with terrorism, and BDS in the UK with violence and antisemitism, what are we really being asked to vote on? Trinity College students want to be on the right side of...
Art Review: Seasons End: More Than Suitcases
What is art? Some art is used to evoke a sense of aesthetic pleasure in the viewer, whilst other pieces are created to do almost the exact opposite, perhaps to show them another side of the world. The exhibition Seasons...
A Proposal for a Course on National Studies
What with the “Beast from the East”, the upcoming abortion referendum and the ongoing crises in health and housing, you’ve most likely missed a double celebration of the Irish language that’s languishing at the bottom of the media’s priority list....
Reviving the Irish Revival
Many years ago, I tried to read Clive Barker’s gargantuan fantasy novel Weaveworld, which centres around a magical world hidden in a carpet. I didn't make it even half-way through its six hundred pages, and I only have a very...
Ireland and the Coming Post-Liberal Order
Cemented by solid gains made by Eurosceptic and ultranationalists parties this March, Italy now joins a list of nations breaking ranks from the American led liberal order pervasive across the continent since the fall of the Berlin Wall. With an...
The Perilous White Male Rhetoric
The students’ union in Trinity has a new president, one Shane De Rís. He apparently doesn’t like me (or indeed himself) very much. “I want this to be the last time four white male candidates stand upon this stage. I...
The Socialist Case For Being Pro-Life
If nothing else, conservatives and libertarians can admire the sincere socialist belief in improving the material conditions of the working class. Whilst we may show a preference towards private ownership as well as a justified apprehension towards state control over...
Book Review: Borstal Boy
Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan is a book that I’ve meant to read for a long time, and I finally got around to it last year. My main interest in Brendan Behan is as an icon of Irishness, and as...