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: Don’t get your liquors in a twist, Mr Harris

By Kilkenny Now 18th September 2019 0

IN February 2015, the Government announced its intention to curb the sale of cheap booze by introducing minimum pricing. It also said it would bring in a law forcing shops to partition off the areas in which they sold alcohol. Some people saw these measures as an assault on their civil liberties while others just […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Say cheese and keep on smiling

By Kilkenny Now 13th September 2019 0

DO people still do wine and cheese parties? They used to be very trendy but, then, so did spats, cravats and deerstalker hats. All the same, cheese and wine do go very well together and there are so many lovely Irish cheeses on the market nowadays that there’s always a good excuse to try out […]

News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: Farming is a mystery in the land of urban myths

By Kilkenny Now 11th September 2019 0

WHERE does milk come from? Straight from the fridge, said 18 per cent of British schoolchildren interviewed for a recent study. And they weren’t trying to be funny. Well, I suspect some of them were. But 40% of the children interviewed genuinely did not know that milk comes from cows. It was clear from other […]

News Opinion

WINE O’CLOCK: Raise a patriotic glass to Paschal Donohoe

By Kilkenny Now 6th September 2019 0

IN France, Spain or Portugal it is easy to buy a perfectly decent bottle of wine for a fiver or less. In Ireland you can only do this if a supermarket has a struck a deal with the supplier or decided, for some reason of its own, to subsidise the cost. That’s because Irish excise […]

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

WINE O’CLOCK: African wines with a Waterford accent

By Kilkenny Now 23rd August 2019 0

SOME beautiful wine is made in Waterford but it’s not called Déise Delight or Vin de Dungarvan. The Waterford in question is in South Africa – the Waterford Estate in Stellenbosch, 70kms east of Cape Town. That’s where Jeremy Ord and Kevin Arnold have established a remarkable vineyard. European vineyards mostly grow a single variety […]

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

WINE O’CLOCK: The last of the summer rosé

By Kilkenny Now 16th August 2019 0

AUTUMN is on the horizon, but for the last of the summer wine let me return to rosé, the great staple of barbecues, picnics and garden parties. It used to be looked down on as a sweet summer drink for people who could not decide between white and red. But I read that it has […]

News Opinion

MICHAEL WOLSEY: ‘In garden warfare, it’s who you know that counts’

By Kilkenny Now 14th August 2019 0

I KNOW little to nothing about gardening, which is a pity for I have quite a substantial garden front and back. I keep it under control by a form of trench warfare. I go over the top twice a year, in spring and autumn, emerging from my house with all the weapons I can muster; […]