One fine day all this will burn Strange but true The blue woods of Oregon Silver snakes of her rivers Her dark lakes gone like steam Something will come A hammer at high noon To stove in this huge porcelain egg of a world Our hopes were only ever The white wisps of clouds Full … Read more
Under normal circumstances, developing a bus network should confer great benefits on a city: it is cheap, quick to implement, and causes little disruption. Yet, remarkably, the BusConnects plan manages to achieve precisely the opposite effects. Furthermore, ever since BusConnects has been on the agenda, it has diverted public attention away from other improvements that … Read more
In the mid-1990s Seosamh O Cuaig and I were filming a programme for TG4 in the State of Minnesota. It concerned an 1880 shipload of emigrants from Conamara. In the city of St. Paul we were told that the term ‘Connemara’ was a century-old Minnesota synonym for lazy. This was curious, because nobody in the … Read more
Alternative Realities… Among the least discussed, but perhaps most important influence of the Digital Age is our tendency to live in bubbles. We no longer have to be rich to live in the equivalent of gated communities. TV, radio, and the internet provide echo chambers for our beliefs. Sophisticated algorithms deployed by Facebook and Google … Read more
In the ferry terminal of Algeciras, on Spain’s southern coast, two middle-aged gangsters from Cork sit and wait. Maurice and Charlie have been tipped off that at some stage in the next twenty-four-hours Maurice’s estranged daughter Dilly will show up. They can’t be sure whether she will, or what she’ll do if and when she … Read more
No soy yo quien atraviesa estos valles prendidos de ocres, ni este el tren que me lleva de un lugar a otro lugar. La tierra se retuerce mostrando sus costuras y de las balsas de agua emana un vapor sin voz. Los túneles construyen el paisaje con su lenguaje de fronteras. En el vidrio reflejado, … Read more
In 2016 the Department of Education and Skill’s outlined its latest scheme for Gaeltacht (designated Irish-language) districts: ‘Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017 – 2022’. It aims to reverse the adoption of English as the primary language of these areas, a process which is pretty well complete. Irish speakers are now in a minority in twenty … Read more
It is the job of the market to turn the base material of our emotions into gold. Andre Codrescu In Ireland, if you hear ‘Section 8’, you might think THEFT, as here we have a statute for that, oh and FRAUD. No need to applaud. Meanwhile in America, they might mean housing the homeless or … Read more
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Following a global trend since the arrival of the Internet, mainstream Irish media, including the so-called ‘paper of record’ the Irish Times, is increasingly required to sell itself. The days of someone reading a daily newspapers cover-to-cover are fading into nostalgic memories. Now editors feel obliged to dangle click-bait, and even fake news, often through … Read more