In an undisclosed year, Decency took something marvelous away from me, and by extension away from you. Away from… I want to say, everybody. Decency took it, and left me…decency. Decency now obliges me to make fiction of this, and set it far away and long ago, but how I want to blast that for … Read more
The resorts of Magaluf, Palmanova and Santa Ponça on the southwest coast of Mallorca are among the island’s most popular destinations. By May, they are usually heaving with a mix of young families, pensioners and stag and hen parties – all availing of cheaper low season prices and temperatures in the high 20s and even … Read more
Cassandra Voices · Nicola Bigatti presents: The Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza. Without music, life would be a mistake. Friedrich Nietzsche ‘Library Music’ is a vast catalogue of Italian records made mainly in the 1960s and 1970s by some of the finest musicians in the country, with Rome and Milan the centres of this … Read more
The shop sign was in a Youghal side street, and it said Afro Crafts and Groceries. The right half of the window displayed cooking oil, tinned spices, bottled sauces and small bags of beans and lentils. On the left, a selection of small paintings of village and river fishing scenes, were cramped by colourful patchwork, … Read more
“I couldn’t care less!” announced Roger, sucking down the last drops of champagne from the flute, fashioned of Baccarat crystal, he held fast before refilling it. “But what did you do to be banned from the restaurant? ” asked Tanya. “I simply said the music was too loud, and the paintings were not up to … Read more
Fifty years ago a politician published a manifesto which, if implemented, would have changed the nature of Irish society, would have defied the ethos of contemporary political culture and would have spared us so much of the misery caused by the recent crisis. (Vincent Browne ‘Remembering when Fine Gael flirted with a left-wing agenda’, Irish … Read more
AREOPAGITE The cloud moves, low, across the landscape, leaving a slick of rainwater on the backs of cows. It passes through the mind of a priest and into the eyes of a fourteen year old girl. It is a pestilence. A curse upon the territory. In the villages they are rasping for bread. No chickens … Read more
“It was like somebody realized you could take the surface of a song, paint a door on it, open it and walk through.” Mary Gaitskill, Veronica I’m going to start with a secret: I haven’t written a single good song since last August. It was the night after the sudden death of one of … Read more
Natural History Museum, Dublin Necrophorus investigator bears The dead and follows in their footsteps. Moths, Beetles – anaspis maculata: stained, Unshielded – big names, small lives; thoughts Made real, embodied in machines. The spare Crater of earth, when all earth’s blood has drained, Will hold its arc and torque, all else being lost. The hinges … Read more
The Centre for Ethics in Public Life at University College Dublin is inviting questions and reflections on all philosophical aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic. What are your thoughts about the crisis? Is our freedom threatened? Should we rethink the welfare system? If different countries are dealing with it better, how do we know which experts … Read more