Category: Culture & Arts
The Underhanded Neo-Gombeens
I had a chat once with my old landlady about the meaning of that word 'gombeen' prompted by Varadkar appearing on the telly one evening. She said “I don't think there's any gombeens left anymore.” She spoke as if it...
Lessons from Fiction: Sauron and the State
The Lord of the Rings ranks as one of the greatest works of fiction of all time. Few great stories would be complete without a great villain – and J.R.R Tolkien’s masterpiece is no exception. In Sauron, the eponymous Lord...
Enviroment, Ignorance, and Gender Imbalances
This article concerns a lecture given in Trinity by former President Mary Robinson on the topic of climate change, and the political observations from analysing it and its attendees. I wasn’t exactly planning on going to any talks this week....
Why I Left the Left
Even as I start to write this article, I feel that the title of it is slightly misleading. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, who when asked why he left the Democratic Party to become a Republican, replied “I didn’t leave the...
The Genius of Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill
Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill was born some time in the 1580s. He left for Spain in his youth, and took up service in the Spanish military. The Ulster that Ó Néill grew up in was a destitute place in the...
Irish Conservatives and Nationalists Need a Mythos
There is much that can be said about Peter Hitchen's 2010 book, The Rage Against God, that is relevant to modern Ireland. Though the author delivers a critique of secularism from the platform of his Anglican faith, the trends that...
The Sex Industry Debate: Individual Rights vs Society
‘My body, my choice’ and ‘my life, my decision.’ These are slogans that we have heard or even uttered ourselves for decades. But when it comes to matters such as prostitution, pornography, and other roles in the adult entertainment industry,...
Graham Linehan and the End of Irish Public Life
The New Anti-Culture Wars: For the past 50 years liberal Ireland has styled itself as a counter-cultural force fighting against the tide of a conservative establishment in the form of Church and State. While questionable, this at least provided a...
A Place Where Multiculturalism Works
Very little in this world is black and white, and yet these days when asked how cultures should be managed within a society, it is often answered on a binary scale. Society should either be cosmopolitan and globalist, or it...
RTÉ and the Case for Reforming Public Service Broadcasting
No sooner had the toys from this year’s Late Late Toy Show been tidied away than the RTÉ suits were turning their attention to the real business of the night – the audience rating figures. It may term itself as...