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The Word on the Week
July 26, 2014

Commonwealth Games

There is something quaint even old fashioned about the Commonwealth Games which opened in Glasgow this week. The athletes all had their moment of glory as the familiar scene was re-enacted. They followed the established custom of marching behind their flag bearer as they entered the arena to the strains of their own national anthem. […]

July 19, 2014

Malaysian Airlines

The latest tragedy to hit Malaysian Airlines is the shooting down of their flight MH17 as it flew over Ukraine’s war zone on its way from the Netherlands to Malaysia. It was taking the direct route, perhaps to save fuel or simply following the normal flight path feeling safe at a height of 33,000 feet. […]

July 12, 2014

State Control

There was once the notion the governments were to cherish all their citizens equally and respect their rights so long as they did not impinge on another’s liberty. This principle was strained in Belfast recently when Asher’s Bakery, a Christian company, was taken to task by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland for refusing to […]

July 5, 2014

Cradle of Civilisation

Attention has been focussed this week on the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers where Abraham and his family and flocks once travelled and where the Garden of Eden lay, today lies conquered by ISIS. Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has hopped out of the cradle of civilisation, as the region […]

June 28, 2014

Growing Old

This subject is of universal interest. For none of us does time stand still! Of course when we were very young time did appear to stand still. Adult conversations seemed so long and boring. During schooldays time seemed to shorten or lengthen depending on whether we liked or disliked the subject we were supposed to […]

June 14, 2014

The Beautiful Game

The name was first attributed to Pele the Brazilian football star of yesteryear but made popular by Stuart Hall in his commenting on soccer matches. When played by two evenly matched professional teams it can certainly live up to that description. This week marks the commencement of the World Cup a tournament which brings the […]

June 7, 2014

Bodies on the Beach

This week we were treated by the media to bodies on the beach and they weren’t the sunbathing variety either! This was newsreels of men of the Allied Forces landing on the beaches of Normandy under sustained enemy gunfire which left half of the 6,000 soldiers dead on the sand. It was the 60th anniversary […]

May 31, 2014

The Book

The closure of “All Hallows” College in Dublin last week has brought to light the plight of colleges offering courses in theology, ethics and social justice in a society which no longer rates these subjects highly. In conjunction with many other such colleges they lack the money to continue despite the fact that they are […]

May 24, 2014

Kidnapping Kids

There cannot be many softer targets for well armed soldiers to engage than the kidnapping of teenage schoolgirls. These heavily armed men of the Muslin Boko Haram tribe in the name of Allah raided the dormitory of a girl’s school. The raid was carried out in the middle of the night, darkness permitting some to […]

May 17, 2014

Telling the Truth

When we left Ireland at the end of April, Charities were under scrutiny for concealing the truth about their money and when we came back this week we find the Garda have been in the dock over allegations of malpractice and incompetence. The news in America is very staid by comparison! With the history of […]

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