In the wake of this tsunami of #Me Too harassment claims, I’m starting to feel like my conscience is pulled in two directions. Women have at last been freed up to say it like it is… and it is absolutely is as they say. I do want women to be able to speak up but, […]
Acceptable Racist Abuse in Ireland
Acceptable racist abuse in Ireland – is there such a thing? Well yes… One day last year I went into a hardware shop in my local town of Kinvara to buy some sandpaper. Nothing extraordinary about that. Except that when I began speaking at the counter a man, a complete stranger to me, having heard me […]
Liverpool Nostalgia – Rose Tinted and Proud
I have always had an interest in Liverpool nostalgia. I am very drawn towards old photographs of Liverpool, especially pictures with ordinary working people in them – the people I grew up with. We do tend to look back with rose-tinted glasses. Whether that’s good or bad I don’t know. I tend to be a […]
The Waverton Good Book Award Nomination
The Waverton Good Book Award was started by Wendy Smedley and Gwen Goodhew in Waverton, a small village outside Chester in England. Their aim was to find fifty or so debut novels, written by British citizens. They wanted to encourage reading in their village as well as encourage new writers. REAL READERS They recruited people […]
I dream of walking
When I originally wrote this piece I was too down to press publish. At the time I was wearing the dreaded ‘Beckham’ boot. This not for the fashion conscious. It is a hideous surgical boot made famous by David Beckham, the footballer. I don’t play football but in 2007, I fell while out walking and […]
The Tuam Babies Scandal
Everything about the Tuam babies scandal is deeply disturbing. In 1975 two boys playing in a field found a hole ‘full of skeletons of children.’ A local priest said a mass and the area was covered up again. No investigation took place – why not? If somebody found one skeleton in my garden I am […]
Wild Animal Rescue
Wild animal rescue supporters are increasingly being encouraged to comment on photographs of abused animals. Often these photographs are of a wild animal, killed and brutally mutilated by some wealthy adventure-hunter on a ‘safari’ holiday. Often the poor animal is being held up by the grinning killer – like a trophy. Like it was funny. […]
Generation Snowflake
Generation Snowflake is a phrase used to describe those who get prickly when confronted by ideas which contradict their own. It has also been used to describe over protected young people who expect to be told they are special at every turn. Students who agree with the NUS no platform policy have also been targeted […]
AA Gill – the underdog
AA Gill has died and today I realized that I will genuinely miss him. Of course, I only knew him through his writing. I don’t usually feel anything when a famous person dies – nothing at all. I tend towards pragmatism in that regard. If I didn’t know the person that died – why would […]
How to reconnect your children with nature
We are having a beautiful blue skied winter here in Galway. This is the first time since I moved here that there hasn’t been relentless rain, storms and winds that would literally knock you off your feet. I am loving every second of this winter. Even more so since I am back on my feet […]