On the letters page of Saturday’s Irish Times the names of over 60 Irish and Ireland-based academics were listed under a petition calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The rubric under which the letter appeared, “Academics call for a ban on Israel,” might have exaggerated their case, but the petitioners are nevertheless quite […]

In my previous post, I suggested that the late Oriana Fallaci succeeded in making smoking a fag seem quite glam. Susan Sontag, some of whose journals were published last Sunday, could also strike a fine pose with a ciggie.* (Caption: Sontag at a symposium on sex in 1962 at the Mills Hotel, now defunct, on […]

Oriana Fallaci, the Italian journalist noted for her vitriolic attacks on Islam, has died , aged 76, in a hospital in Florence. A proper journalist, she was almost killed in Mexico, made Kissinger tug at his collar, and was willing to go to jail for her views (although some of them were a bit barmy).Also, […]

The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize 2006 was announced Thursday afternoon (pasted from the site ): Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss (Hamish Hamilton)Grenville, Kate The Secret River (Canongate)Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down (Canongate)Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men (Viking)St Aubyn, Edward Mother�s Milk (Picador)Waters, Sarah The Night Watch (Virago) When the longlist […]

Or “please make sure we have remembered to close the doors”. The Economist on the truth behind airlines’ safety announcements.

The site Limerick Blogger (http://thelimerick.blogspot.com) has being doing a sterling job of collating information about the violence that has been unfolding in that city’s Moyross suburb. The apparently humdrum routine of petrol bombing your neighbour’s gaff segued into something far darker with the horrific arson attack on a car with two children inside. The children, […]

Mary’s gone, Tony’s leaving (eventually), and now G�ran might have to sling his hook. G�ran Persson, prime minister of Sweden for the past decade, is facing the possibility of being forced out of office if he loses next Sunday’s closely contested election. Persson is also leader of the Social Democratic party, which has, the Economist […]

In yesterday’s Sunday Business Post, Vincent Browne claimed that a sense of “menace” was a necessary quality for the leader of which Irish political party? A) Sinn F�in B) The Progressive Democrats Given that it’s the death-bed amanuensis of Charles J. Haughey writing, you won’t be surprised to learn that the correct answer is option […]

Almost five years on, and we still cannot not turn away. Trawling across the wasteland of digital TV, we still have to pause and allow that second plane–filmed from so many angles because its predecessor had done its job of alerting the world–make its inconceivable rendezvous with the South Tower. It doesn’t matter that the […]

This blog didn’t make me laugh, but it did make me smile once or twice. Wryly.