News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: The only deal that interests Boris is a good deal for himself

By Kilkenny Now 16th October 2021 0

The term Perfidious Albion has never been more richly deserved than now, because of the two-faced contortions of Boris Johnson’s government over Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol. Consistency is not a quality associated with politicians in general, but I cannot recall the leader of any other democracy ever threatening to renege on an international […]

News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: How our TDs squander €25,000 a day

By Kilkenny Now 19th May 2021 0

So what Covid restriction will you be most happy to abandon? Masks, many people will say. And I guess that if I had to wear one all day, while working in a surgery or school, I might  agree. But popping on a mask before going into a shop or onto a train is not a […]

News

MICHAEL WOLSEY: 17th Century Man makes a bid for power

By Michael Wolsey 5th May 2021 0

Of the many changes Ireland has seen in recent years, none has  been more dramatic than the collapse of organised religion. It is in decline all over the western world, but the retreat, which has taken the best part of a century in, say, Britain and France, has been condensed into a few decades here. […]

Opinion

PAUL HOPKINS: Life in the time of coronavirus: A diary of self-imposed isolation

By Kilkenny Now 26th March 2020 0

Bright yellow bandana, and a sandwich tern heading for sea Day 11 in self-imposed isolation I am definitely an ‘extra’ in a Sci-Fi B movie where things are beginning to feel somewhat surreal. Getting stir crazy too, so I head off for a spring walk over the mill and down the playing fields. There’s more […]

News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: Standing room only on the Misery Express

By Kilkenny Now 6th November 2019 0

It is 8.14 and I am standing in a corridor on the Misery Express, as regulars call this morning train that runs from Dundalk, in Co Louth, to Bray in Co Wicklow. I got on at the fourth stop, so my chances of being seated were nil. But we are standing comfortably enough with some […]

News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: Here’s a radical cure for obesity – eat less

By Kilkenny Now 16th October 2019 0

IRELAND fared badly in a fat report produced by the OECD to mark World Obesity Day. We have one of the highest rates of obesity in Europe, apparently, with one in four adults now classed as obese and one in four children overweight. The problem is the low-level of treatment, according to the Irish Society […]

News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: How should we honour this extraordinary Joe?

By Kilkenny Now 25th September 2019 0

WHEN Jack Charlton brought the Irish football team back from its first international tournament, the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, made him an honorary Irishman. It was a meaningless gesture, but it captured the mood of the country which wanted to reward this visitor who had brought us a small measure of success and a great deal […]

News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: We could learn a lesson about school dinners

By Kilkenny Now 28th August 2019 0

IF YOU have been making back-to-school preparations in recent weeks, you may have been given a menu along with the book list and uniform requirements. Thirty-six primary schools – at least one in every county – have been chosen to pioneer a scheme which will deliver a hot meal at lunchtime to some 6,600 children. […]

News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: Better to get a real job than a useless degree

By Kilkenny Now 21st August 2019 0

APPRENTICESHIPS are making a comeback, I read. I hope that is true. It would be a victory for common sense and might mark a turning of the tide which has seen degrees and diplomas devised for almost every profession and trade, including my own. It wasn’t always so. My first job was an apprenticeship, although […]

News Opinion Sport

MICHAEL WOLSEY: Come on ye girls in green, show us how it’s done

By Kilkenny Now 10th July 2019 0

IT has been a very good year for women’s sport, culminating in some thrilling contests at Wimbledon. For me, it started last summer with the World Cup exploits of the Irish hockey team. I was in Spain at the time and watched several of their games in a bar where people of all nationalities seemed […]