A return to form here for one of my favourite columnists, Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent, who prods both the English (specifically) and the Irish with similarly pointed sticks as a consequence our what he perceives to be our ahistoric attitudes to our pasts.
Spot on in my view; but what do you think?
Showing posts with label Irish Independent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Irish Independent. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Ian O'Doherty rips into Irish 'junkies'...
Irrespective of the fact that I've helped myself to about a gallon of Mr Fosters finest amber throat charmer, (with more to come) I found myself nodding vigorously in agreement with Ian O'Doherty's observations about 'junkies' in today's Irish Independent.
Shocking? Possibly; but not as shocking as allowing more innocents to be debauched by their parents, surely?
Anyone disagree?
Shocking? Possibly; but not as shocking as allowing more innocents to be debauched by their parents, surely?
Anyone disagree?
Friday, January 28, 2011
Ian O'Doherty and intolerant 'liberals'...
It's been a while since I posted a link to an opinion piece from the Irish Independent, so allow me to rectify that omission forthwith.
But unlike my more regular links to the writings of Kevin Myers, this piece, in which he exposes the illiberal bankruptcy of the self-important pedlars of 'the orthodoxy' - ring any bells - comes from one of his colleagues, the frequently amusing and always readable Ian O'Doherty.
You won't be surprised to read that I think he's got it absolutely spot on; but what do you think?
But unlike my more regular links to the writings of Kevin Myers, this piece, in which he exposes the illiberal bankruptcy of the self-important pedlars of 'the orthodoxy' - ring any bells - comes from one of his colleagues, the frequently amusing and always readable Ian O'Doherty.
You won't be surprised to read that I think he's got it absolutely spot on; but what do you think?
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Ian O'Doherty and the sanctimonious Angelina...
My regular reader will be aware that I frequently link to articles written by the excellent Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent.
On this occasion, however, I am reproducing a section of the column published in today's Indo written by one of his colleagues, Ian O'Doherty, who in a few short paragraphs, gives the increasingly ridiculous and nauseatingly pious Angelina Jolie a richly deserved and wildly overdue fisking.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...
Suffer the little people
With a new movie to promote, the Pakistan disaster couldn't have come at a better time for Angelina Jolie.
Having never met a disaster she didn't like, Jolie was quick to head off to Pakistan -- in full, fetching, repressive head gear, natch -- to show the peasants that they might be starving, dying of cholera and typhus and suffering from chronic dysentery, but at least they can take succour from the fact that Lara Croft has deigned to use them as backdrop in a photo-shoot.
According to her: "I am very moved by them and I hope to be able to do something to help bring attention to the situation for all of the people in need in Pakistan. This is not just a humanitarian disaster; it is an economic and social catastrophe."
And, indeed, she is right.
Although her perch on the moral high ground is rather lowered by the fact that she has just splashed out $40m on a giant pad in Italy ...
How many of her beloved Pakistanis could have benefited from that type of money?
Answer -- probably none, because most of the aid money is being filtered away by corrupt politicians or the Taliban.
But hey, if it makes Angelina feel good about herself, that's all that matters, right?
Hear, hear, Ian.
On this occasion, however, I am reproducing a section of the column published in today's Indo written by one of his colleagues, Ian O'Doherty, who in a few short paragraphs, gives the increasingly ridiculous and nauseatingly pious Angelina Jolie a richly deserved and wildly overdue fisking.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...
Suffer the little people
With a new movie to promote, the Pakistan disaster couldn't have come at a better time for Angelina Jolie.
Having never met a disaster she didn't like, Jolie was quick to head off to Pakistan -- in full, fetching, repressive head gear, natch -- to show the peasants that they might be starving, dying of cholera and typhus and suffering from chronic dysentery, but at least they can take succour from the fact that Lara Croft has deigned to use them as backdrop in a photo-shoot.
According to her: "I am very moved by them and I hope to be able to do something to help bring attention to the situation for all of the people in need in Pakistan. This is not just a humanitarian disaster; it is an economic and social catastrophe."
And, indeed, she is right.
Although her perch on the moral high ground is rather lowered by the fact that she has just splashed out $40m on a giant pad in Italy ...
How many of her beloved Pakistanis could have benefited from that type of money?
Answer -- probably none, because most of the aid money is being filtered away by corrupt politicians or the Taliban.
But hey, if it makes Angelina feel good about herself, that's all that matters, right?
Hear, hear, Ian.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Kevin Myers and a question for the Guardian...
In this article, the ever excellent Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent, asks the publishers of the Guardian why they saw fit to hire a defeated terrorist warlord to act as a moral arbiter over the actions of the British Army in Afghanistan.
Written with his usual searing disregard for reputations - in this case, those of a dissembling murderer and his naive self-hating paymasters - I think he's got it spot on; but what do you think?
Written with his usual searing disregard for reputations - in this case, those of a dissembling murderer and his naive self-hating paymasters - I think he's got it spot on; but what do you think?
Monday, June 14, 2010
Like the man said: It would appear they haven't gone away after all...
The potential implications for the 'Peace Process' in the north of ireland if the subject matter discussed in this story from Sunday's Irish Independent are massive; because, as I'm sure you will recall, Sinn Fein with their former IRA commanders to the fore, were only admitted to the 'government' of Northern Ireland on the basis that the IRA had permanently given up both its weapons and its wholsale criminal activities.
Well, if this story bears any resemblance to the truth, they have failed to live up to that requirement and by doing so would disqualify themselves from office.
That said, I'll repeat the Throne's stance as regards the position of the six-counties for the benefit of those unfamiliar with it. In my view, the time has come for the English - and I do mean the English, albeit in the form of the British government - to completely withdraw from the north of Ireland at our earliest convenience, allowing the people of the Province (or former Province) to choose for themselves whether to join the other twenty-six counties in an all-Ireland state, or attempt to go it alone as a small, semi-detatched statelet.
Quite what they would choose to do, I don't know and would not presume to advise them about, because I don't consider it any of my business, which is precisely the position I adopt as regards these allegations.
What I do find interesting, though, is that, as far as I can tell, none of the major newspapers or other broadcast media in this country has picked up on the story itself , even to the extent of plagiarising (or is that 'quoting') the Indo.
I wonder why?
Is it because the story is inconvenient in terms of their editorial stance (i.e. that nice, jovial Mr McGuinness can do no wrong), or because Kevin Myers was right all along in asserting that the vast majority of English people couldn't give two hoots about what happens in Ireland?
I can't answer that, but I would be very surprised if the DUP don't raise the matter with David Cameron this Wednesday lunchtime
Well, if this story bears any resemblance to the truth, they have failed to live up to that requirement and by doing so would disqualify themselves from office.
That said, I'll repeat the Throne's stance as regards the position of the six-counties for the benefit of those unfamiliar with it. In my view, the time has come for the English - and I do mean the English, albeit in the form of the British government - to completely withdraw from the north of Ireland at our earliest convenience, allowing the people of the Province (or former Province) to choose for themselves whether to join the other twenty-six counties in an all-Ireland state, or attempt to go it alone as a small, semi-detatched statelet.
Quite what they would choose to do, I don't know and would not presume to advise them about, because I don't consider it any of my business, which is precisely the position I adopt as regards these allegations.
What I do find interesting, though, is that, as far as I can tell, none of the major newspapers or other broadcast media in this country has picked up on the story itself , even to the extent of plagiarising (or is that 'quoting') the Indo.
I wonder why?
Is it because the story is inconvenient in terms of their editorial stance (i.e. that nice, jovial Mr McGuinness can do no wrong), or because Kevin Myers was right all along in asserting that the vast majority of English people couldn't give two hoots about what happens in Ireland?
I can't answer that, but I would be very surprised if the DUP don't raise the matter with David Cameron this Wednesday lunchtime
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Kevin Myers asks why the English are universally disliked...
Regular, or even semi-regular visitors will have gathered that I haven't posted for well over a week. Once again, I'm afraid the twin conspirators of work, both formal and domestic have combined to deprive me of the necessary time to compose even my rambling and structureless.
However, not for the first time, my favourite columnist, Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent, has ridden to the rescue with another one of his neatly observed articles, in which he discusses the antipathy towards England and the English not just by his fellow Irishmen, but by virtually every other nation on earth, even our so called 'special' friends.
Hits the nail squarely on the head, in my view; but what do you think?
However, not for the first time, my favourite columnist, Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent, has ridden to the rescue with another one of his neatly observed articles, in which he discusses the antipathy towards England and the English not just by his fellow Irishmen, but by virtually every other nation on earth, even our so called 'special' friends.
Hits the nail squarely on the head, in my view; but what do you think?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Kevin Myers and 'the English out of Ireland'...
Another post, another link to an article by Kevin Myers in the Irish Independent.
For once, I would take issue with some of his assertions - primarily written for an Irish audience as they may be. For instance, my regular reader cannot be unaware that this Englishman most definitely does take more than a passing interest in Irish history and Irish politics; I would, however, have to concede that I may be in something of a minority amongst my countrymen in that particular regard.
That said, I agree wholeheartedly that it is high time that we (in this instance the government of Britain, not England, as he deliberately misprepresents the case, presumably for effect) withdrew from any future role in the governance of the northern part of the island of Ireland.
I have been of that opinion for some time now, and I am in the process of formulating a post - probably quite a lengthy one, I suspect - to outline my position.
For once, I would take issue with some of his assertions - primarily written for an Irish audience as they may be. For instance, my regular reader cannot be unaware that this Englishman most definitely does take more than a passing interest in Irish history and Irish politics; I would, however, have to concede that I may be in something of a minority amongst my countrymen in that particular regard.
That said, I agree wholeheartedly that it is high time that we (in this instance the government of Britain, not England, as he deliberately misprepresents the case, presumably for effect) withdrew from any future role in the governance of the northern part of the island of Ireland.
I have been of that opinion for some time now, and I am in the process of formulating a post - probably quite a lengthy one, I suspect - to outline my position.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Has Ireland been enslaved again?
Regular Thronistas and let's face it, with the numbers of links I provide to it, even casual visitors will know that I am a regular reader of the on-line version of the Irish Independent newspaper, and in particular their (in my view) star columnist, Kevin Myers.
One of the reasons I read it so often - every day, really - other than to get my regular fix of Myers' often trenchant views is that as an historian, I have a significant interest in modern (i.e. 20th Century) Irish history and as such, it intrigues me to read about current Irish politics, which are, of course the stuff of tomorrow's history lessons.
I have to confess, however, that one thing I have never been able to understand about the history of Ireland is that having struggled for eight hundred years to establish herself as an independent, sovereign country, she chose to subsume herself in a much larger European empire, in which her voice, or rather that of her population, (barely 1% of the total population of the 'EU'), is but an easily ignored whisper, easily and airily dismissed along with those of Lithuania and the like, by their new masters.
That is why the content of this unattributed editorial from today's paper, which is so good it could well have come from the keyboard of Myers himself, struck such a chord with me, because it would appear that there are well educated Irishmen whose views square entirely with my own.
And whilst I consider that a welcome validation of my outsider's view of Irish history, I wonder how it squares with the Indo's pro-Lisbon stance during the recent referendum campaign?
Is this the first expression of regret at having conceded their hard-won independence, or is it a case of the paper wanting to have both the cake and the ha'penny?
Any views, particularly from my Irish readers?
One of the reasons I read it so often - every day, really - other than to get my regular fix of Myers' often trenchant views is that as an historian, I have a significant interest in modern (i.e. 20th Century) Irish history and as such, it intrigues me to read about current Irish politics, which are, of course the stuff of tomorrow's history lessons.
I have to confess, however, that one thing I have never been able to understand about the history of Ireland is that having struggled for eight hundred years to establish herself as an independent, sovereign country, she chose to subsume herself in a much larger European empire, in which her voice, or rather that of her population, (barely 1% of the total population of the 'EU'), is but an easily ignored whisper, easily and airily dismissed along with those of Lithuania and the like, by their new masters.
That is why the content of this unattributed editorial from today's paper, which is so good it could well have come from the keyboard of Myers himself, struck such a chord with me, because it would appear that there are well educated Irishmen whose views square entirely with my own.
And whilst I consider that a welcome validation of my outsider's view of Irish history, I wonder how it squares with the Indo's pro-Lisbon stance during the recent referendum campaign?
Is this the first expression of regret at having conceded their hard-won independence, or is it a case of the paper wanting to have both the cake and the ha'penny?
Any views, particularly from my Irish readers?
Friday, October 02, 2009
The 'new' Kevin Myers?
Regular visitors to the Throne - how many posts have I begun with those words of late - will know that I have the highest regard for the writing of Kevin Myers of the Irish Independent and that I regularly link to articles he has written.
It was as a consequence of my regular visits to the Irish Independent's website, in search of more nuggets from Myers' keyboard, that I discovered the work of another one of their regular columinsts, Ian O'Doherty.
In this piece, entitled 'Men are portrayed as complete spanners', he argues that only straight, white men - his words - can be now be insulted with impunity.
I tend to agree with him; but what do you think?
It was as a consequence of my regular visits to the Irish Independent's website, in search of more nuggets from Myers' keyboard, that I discovered the work of another one of their regular columinsts, Ian O'Doherty.
In this piece, entitled 'Men are portrayed as complete spanners', he argues that only straight, white men - his words - can be now be insulted with impunity.
I tend to agree with him; but what do you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
