The Irish health system and our attitude to the disabled desperately needs a rethink
We’ve had a lot of heat expended over the Irish health...
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In recent times, Ireland has become a much more open society when it comes to mental health - but it wasn’t always thus, to put it mildly…
Read MoreThe Armagaddeon-obsessed fundamentalist Christians among Trump’s supporters fear the end is nigh – and they’re not the only ones…
Read MoreOur mention of urban myths in the last issue triggered another recollection. A study, the details of which are forgotten but it may have been for a Masters or PhD, focused on Irish urban myths, and found that a significant source of those myths was none other than the broadcaster Gay Byrne.
Read MoreThe Hillsborough disaster is once again in the news. It’s an episode that has uncomfortable parallels with the Grenfell Towers tragedy.
Read MoreThe daily papers carried news of Enda Kenny’s retirement as leader of Fine Gael on May 18, which just happened to be the birthday of Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet, philosopher and polymath. Coincidence? Yes. That said, it was Khayyam who wrote, “The moving finger writes: and, having written moves on: nor all thy piety nor with shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it”.
Read MorePlanning in Ireland has always been inadequate – with the result that our cities and towns have a Gerry-built quality. But with iconic buildings and better civic spaces on the way, that may be about to change…
Read MoreRailing against “elites” has become a big trend amongst extremists on both the right and left. However, we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Read MoreThe planet was already heading towards a crisis. But political forces have recently been unleashed which will surely accelerate that process – and fast! So what will the world be like in 2040? It is a deeply troubling question…
Read MoreAhead of Trump's Inauguration tomorrow, Hot Press reflects on global politics and what the next four years could hold.
Read MoreThe memory of those momentous events has inspired us to think again about the idea of the Republic, and what it means. But it is the future that really counts – not the past.
Read MoreSadly, it is just one among many forces that are driving the world towards a scary place. No wonder optimism is currently in short supply…
Read MoreLeaked details of American government surveillance suggest we are not as far removed from the era of the KGB and Stasi as we’d like to think...
Read MoreAs revelations about the US National Security Agency’s covert surveillance confirm, the digital world is one in which everything you do can be traced – by the State and corporations alike…
Read MoreThe bombing of the Boston Marathon was a senseless act of violence. But what was the rationale behind it?
Read MoreThat is the conclusion offered by Ben Goldacre in Bad Pharma. It is just one more reason to re-examine the illogic of the War On Drugs...
Read MoreFundamentalist religious intolerance is on the rise in Nigeria, the USA, Pakistan and points beyond...
Read MoreGood old Keef’s autobiography is every bit as entertaining and enlightening as you might expect. Even more entertaining, though, is the turmoil which has engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in recent weeks...
Read MoreThe latest round of mobile phone scare stories shows what happens when bad science conspires with lazy journalism.
Read MoreThere has been a rush to eulogise the late Brian Lenihan – and rightly so. The truth is that he was a decent politician handed the most poisoned chalice in the history of the State
Read MorePolitical upheaval inevitably creates a wave of refugees and the Arab uprisings have proved no different. The real is question is, how should Europe respond to the human rights tragedy on its doorstep?
Read MoreA general election looms – but what shape will the new Government take? And will real reforms to our political life follow?
Read MoreIreland has been plunged into unprecedented financial turmoil. Well, with Christmas on the way, it's time for the bond holders to take their share of the pain...
Read MoreThe fightback against Ireland's financial mismanagement may have started
Read MoreHallowe’en is a time of monsters, ghosts and ghouls. Except that this year, we didn’t have to make ‘em up...
Read MoreThe leadership and comradeship demonstrated by the Chilean miners are sorely lacking in Ireland at the moment.
Read MoreOur worst fears have come true – the bankers have bankrupted Ireland for a generation. What to do now? Well for one thing, let’s stop despairing. And when the next election comes around, be prepared to make your vote count...
Read MoreOur columnist reflects on the little-reported matter of the Taoiseach’s appearance on Morning Ireland...
Read MoreWhy the Icelandic Volcano is the Perfect Metaphor for our Age
Read MoreWhy the arts sector may well provide the key to Ireland’s economic renewal.
Read MoreThe latest revelations about the failure of the State to protect vulnerable children underlines the fact that we need to start finding solutions.
Read MoreWhat the continued presence of the Angelus on our airwaves says about secularism in modern Ireland...
Read MoreAs well as forcing Ireland to reassess its attitude towards Europe, the second Lisbon referendum was a reminder of just how nasty British euroskeptics such as UKIP really are
Read MoreThe economy may be swirling down the plughole, but Ireland has a rich history of entrepreneurship. We need to build on this.
Read MoreCentres Of Excellence may seem like a good idea – but access is a fundamental consideration in cancer care and other health issues...
Read MoreThere is a lot wrong with the report from An Bord Snip Nua. In particular, it reflects a complete ignorance of the importance of art.
Read MoreThere's been no lack of scandals rocking this country in recent years – but does that justify the huge outpourings of hysteria in the media recently? And just what is the difference between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael?
Read MoreIt is right that the religious should have to pay for the appalling actions of their members, and the cover-ups for which the religious bosses were responsible. But we should not forget the part that the State played.
Read MoreAs fiscal Armageddon looms, the Irish Government is faced with tough choices. In considering its options, it would do well to remember the lessons to be learned from past experience – in particular the fact that the Poll Tax marked the beginning of the end for Margaret Thatcher
Read MoreThe issue of how best to raise money for the country’s depleted coffers is a vexing one.
Read MoreThe world economy is crumbling, but while other countries are overturning inept governments, we’re doing what we’re best at: moaning to anyone who will listen.
Read MoreWill the election of Barack Obama to the White House usher in a new era of peace and global harmony? Or is there a danger we are pinning too much hope on the shoulders of one man?
Read More...Or at least it does where Halloween is concerned, as the old pagan feast is transformed into an orgy of amateur pyrotechnics, civil disobedience and open-air boozing.
Read MoreOur economy is caught in the eye of the storm and the global financial system teeters on the brink. How long will the recession last and how will Ireland fare?
Read MoreThe global economic meltdown of the past fortnight is a ruinous consequence of Ronald Reagan's '80s crusade against regulation. The question now is: where will it end?
Read MoreHaving spent decades trying to cast off the legacy of colonialism are we now in danger of being sucked into the anglosphere at the cost of our European identity?
Read MoreThe most yawnful month of the year is upon us, but thankfully politics and sport are keeping the flame alight: the games have already begun.
Read MoreThe twin spectres of recession and emigration may loom large, but that's no reason for the media to make things worse by indulging in gross exaggeration
Read MoreThe Lisbon Treaty makes unlikely bedfellows of left and right. So what are we to read into this?
Read MoreIt's been good to know ya. He had his faults, but there was a lot to like about the Taoiseach. And the fact that he was central to achieving peace in the North will be a lasting legacy.
Read MoreThere'll be plenty of time to grow old and boring later. If you're not engaged in honest, direct, idealistic political activity while you're young, there's something badly wrong....
Read MoreWith Archbishop Diarmuid Martin seeking to undo much of the harm and distrust caused by his predecessor, Cardinal Desmond Connell, could we at last be seeing a change in the Church's attitude to victims of sexual abuse?
Read MoreWhile An Taoiseach insists that being presented with thousands of pounds in a suitcase by shady businessmen is completely ‘normal’, the rest of us have our doubts.
Read MoreContrary to anti-immigrant mythology, England’s Browns, Smiths and Taylors still outnumber the Singhs, Hussains and Ali’s.
Read MoreWould illegal Roma immigrants be treated differently if they were Nigerian or Somali? Are economic refugees suffering from a rose-tinted view of life in Ireland?
Read MoreThere are few, if any, people who remain unconvinced that Joe O’Reilly was responsible for the brutal murder of his wife Rachel.
Read MoreLast year’s bumper harvest of Afghan opium is about to hit our shores. Meanwhile, cocaine’s popularity in Ireland rises to unprecedented levels.
Read MoreIt’s a different world than it used to be! In this special extended birthday column, The Hog takes a necessarily selective – and typically colourful – look at the 30 most important influences on the process of change that has brought this country all the way from there to… well, where else but here?
Read MoreNow the votes have been counted and the losers have dried their tears, The Hog wonders what the whole thing means.
Read MoreWith elections this year on both sides of the border, maybe the only antidote is, literally, a breath of fresh air.
Read MoreEurope shivers and draws its blankets tight around itself. Is global warming becoming too obvious to ignore?
Read MoreBird ‘flu, bogmen and Armageddon. Business as usual on Planet Earth AD '06. Only more so.
Read MoreThe fall of the Republican party in the US has been hailed as good news, but perhaps we should not be too optimistic about what the future holds as the Democrats prepare to take over Capitol Hill.
Read MoreThe Israeli army has deliberately targeted civilians in Lebanon and behaved like a terrorist gang. Their excuses will only convince the terminally gullible.
Read MoreSurveillance technology can apprehend but not comprehend. Who’s watching the watchers?
Read MoreThe chattering classes express revulsion at Young Ireland's spitting, shouting and shagging, but their piety masks a disgust at anything youthful and working class.
Read MoreFor the most part, St. Patrick's Day festivities in Ireland went off without undue hassle. But Official Ireland still got itself into a lather.
Read MoreThe continuing influx of immigrants into Ireland means that our old ideas of national identity are becoming increasingly redundant.
Read MoreThe continuing influx of immigrants into Ireland means that our old ideas of national identity are becoming increasingly redundant.
Read MoreThe recent arrest of eight republican activists marks a hugely significant watershed in recent Irish history.
Read MorePeace in the North will remain impossible until Gerry Adams and co. cease their continual distortion of the facts.
Read MoreAfter the Northern Bank Heist, the climate has changed and other parties are now putting it up to the Shinners.
Read MoreFormer ministers under pressure; decentralisation a non-starter; the guards in the dock – no wonder Charlie McCreevey has fled to Europe.
Read Morethe crackdown on fibber magee’s once again proves that the goverenment has got its priorities completely wrong.
Read MoreDespite how the result of the citizenship referendum has been interpreted by some, ireland is not a racist society. but we do need some calm and honest discussion about immigration.
Read MoreMichael McDowell and co’s recent referendum prompted our columnist to analyse what exactly we mean when we talk about citizenship.
Read MoreBack in the days of the Wild West, Judge Roy Bean presided over his court as ‘the law west of the Pecos’. Rough and ready, and largely self-taught, his constituency included chancers, fleeing miscreants, vagabonds, thieves, murderers as well as homesteaders and frontier entrepreneurs.
Read MoreOne of the few people who might be happier at the end of the year than the beginning is Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf who was the Iraqi regime’s spin-doctor and publicist during the war.
Read MoreThis was the year that a lot of frustration boiled over, steaming and fuming and effing to high heaven. A major target was the LUAS, Dublin’s answer to a question that’s out of date and wasn’t being asked anyway, a white elephant generated by people who were besotted with the idea that trams are, to quote Frank McDonald of the Irish Times, ‘civilising’.
Read MoreThe Great Chat-Show War didn’t quite turn out to be the promised Mother of All Battles. Although in some ways it did: like Saddam’s first war, it was all over in less than a 100 days.
Read MoreFor once, and don’t hold your breath for the future, we had a really brilliant summer. Couldn’t have been better. What would ya be going to Spain for, sure isn’t this even better? It was just mighty.
Read MoreThere are those who argue that the best that Northern Ireland can hope for is dreariness. They’ll have been disappointed this year, so. It’s been grim instead, and right from the off.
Read MoreThe Coalition blitzkrieg on Iraq is part of a wider “war on terror.” says George Bush. To justify this claim, he and Tony Blair made one feeble attempt at being as hard on the causes of terror as on terror itself, when they collaborated with the UN, the EU and Russia to publish what they called the Middle East ‘road map’.
Read MoreHow intolerant can we become? It’s a challenging question. We have already become one of the least tolerant and aggressive societies on earth. Few can compete. But 2003 witnessed an upsurge in control culture. This is especially the case in ‘official’ circles. There are six causes.
Read MoreHaving been returned triumphantly to office in 2002, Bertie Ahern might have expected things to rock gently along this year. But instead, he’s been through a mincer and it’s not over yet.
Read MorePortents of war came thick and fast. The US ordered 11,000 desert-trained troops to the Gulf region in January. Let the spin commence.
Read MoreThe Whole Hog and other regular Hot Press columnists, look back on a year in which, with some notable exceptions, the message seemed to be – up yours.
Read MoreThe survival of the Good Friday Agreement hangs by a thread following last week’s assembly elections.
Read MoreNever one to shirk a challenge. The Whole Hog attempts to tackle the question which has perplexed many a theologian over the millenia. Does
Read MoreWith the Celtic Tiger years an increasingly distant memory, dissatisfaction at how Bertie Ahern’s administration has has handled the economic downturn is growing by the day.
Read MoreThat’s Northern European Protestant by the way. And it’s what we newly godless people are turning into as we increasingly take our moral cues from the nanny state
Read MoreThe great and the good have imagined a new Ireland. Now it’s our turn
Read MoreHow the war on Iraq just might signify the sun setting on the west
Read MoreThe Iraq war boils down to two undemocratically elected leaders going toe to toe
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