Kneecap – Don’t Look Back in Ongar

Out with the old, in with the new. In the same month that Don’t Look Back in Ongar (2024), the final (27th) instalment of the Ross O’Carroll Kelly fictional autobiography was published, the Irish-language musical comedy Kneecap (2024) quickly became the year’s highest-grossing cinema release. The differences between these two are more than apparent: the … Read more

The Long View on the Irish General Election 2020

Out of Ireland have we come. Great hatred, little room, Maimed us at the start. I carry from my mother’s womb A fanatic heart. W.B. Yeats, ‘Remorse for Intemperate Speech’ (1931) With proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies, Irish elections tend to be colourful affairs. Debate rarely rises above the clamour of claim and counter-claim as … Read more