The movie might be a metaphor for Ireland’s history of pointless violence from the Civil War era to the recent shooting of journalist, Lyra McKee.
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Helen Forrest – a bedrock of the Clackmannanshire Community A former nurse from Ayrshire, Helen Forrest throughout her time in Clackmannanshire , showed the same selfless commitment to the community that she had to patients in her former profession. The rights of tenants and their welfare drove
Read more →Stirling Photography Festival’s 2025 Book reveals a diverse and captivating collection of images from around the world. The album features works from emerging and established photographers, highlighting the beauty, complexity, and resilience of our global community. It has a serious, environmenral impact, revealing images of climate change
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KILLED BY A SILENT KILLER (Part Two) KEVIN MITCHELL I first met Kevin Mitchell in Craobh Sheáin Uí Dhubhláin in Bishop Street; I was there to meet with other Gaelic speakers and extend my knowledge of the language. Kevin was there to learn Irish as he had
Read more →Asbestos was widely used as a building material, particularly in the roof and ceiling areas of buildings in the latter part of the last century. In the 80s , medical science established a conclusive link between its dust and an incurable, chronic lung disease , now known
Read more →In his last book, ‘Miles Away’, Nick Edmunds , narrated a plot set firmly in the 1970s and happening in his native Scotland. With his second, recently published novel, ‘Ragged Island’, the scene shifts to the broader landscape of the Americas and jumps forward in time to
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Sir William Burrell , a wealthy ship owner and shrewd investor was one of the World’s greatest art collectors. A Glaswegian, he donated his collection to the City in the mid-forties. Today , it is housed in a custom built gallery at Pollok Park on the South
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The Sunday Times carried an alarming story this week by journalist, Marc Horne, alleging that there is ‘a deeply ingrained culture of snobbery at Edinburgh University ‘, where working-class students with regional accents, particularly from Scotland, are targeted and demeaned. A clue to this behaviour is in
Read more →Back online today after a very lengthy absence. Why? Some years ago I ran into a technical problem backstage on the dashboard ; I was unable to resolve it and my web builder had moved on to other things. A long story short- at my daughter’s recent
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I took this portrait of Brian Friel in the study of his Moville home in July 2010, shortly before he would be honoured with a season of his plays at that year’s prestigiously World Famous, Edinburgh Festival. It was a singular honour, traditionally afforded to writers such
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Age gradually corrupts our sense of time and environment. Asked to recall my memories of Craobh Sheáin Uí Dhubhlain, I have struggled to re-assemble the people and the place, some sixty years or so later. In mentioning names here, I risk omitting some and unintentionally causing offence
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As a trade unionist , I attended several meetings with representatives of the Inspectorate and the Government Department, including Ministers. Assurances were always given that inspections were conducted in a positive , supportive ethos. Frequently, this did not match the experience of schools.
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