Opinion
What Transition Year, if anything, teaches us
THE FACT OF THE MATTER PAUL HOPKINS The American humorist and novelist Mark Twain said: “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” He might well have been addressing the 67,000+ students who this year completed Junior Cert and who, in 90% of cases, have the option of doing Transition Year (TY). The …
Red Star over Comer
BY JOHN FITZGERALD Part 1 High on castlecomer’s roll of honour is Nicholas (Nixie) Boran. Boran caused a social earthquake in North Kilkenny in the early 1930s. He was the “Miner’s Friend”, a tireless champion of human rights who followed in the footsteps of Big Jim Larkin. He spread the gospel of trade unionism throughout …
The short, sad life of a Kilkenny tennis champ
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran Mention champions and Kilkenny in the same breath and one immediately thinks: hurling. And rightly so. After all, regardless of how things pan out on the playing field this year, Kilkenny are still top of the pile with 36 All Ireland Hurling titles, followed by Cork with 30, Tipperary with 28 …
Eclipsed: A tale to be told, and heard
By Tim Slight, KATS Member History, it’s a peculiar dish, isn’t it? Personal history can invoke warm fuzzy feelings of loveliness, those of childhood, your wedding day, or the day a newborn baby enters the world. Political history is more complicated, with state affairs such as the signing of the Good Friday agreement giving hope …
The Good Guide to your place in the sun
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR It seems that, despite inflation, rising mortgage rates, food and energy costs, Irish people are more determined than ever to spend their hard-earned cash or what’s left of it on having fun in the sun with demand for flights and holiday packages back to pre-pandemic levels. Last week we looked …
More than 870 children in care left without a social worker
KATHLEEN FUNCHION Sinn Fein TD for Kilkenny Carlow Sinn Féin spokesperson on Children, Kathleen Funchion TD, has criticised Government following the release of figures which reveal large numbers of children in care are awaiting the allocation of a qualified social worker. Teachta Funchion said: “873 children in the care system are awaiting the allocation of …
Your nails can be an indicator of your overall health
BY CLAIR WHITTY Your nails can be an indicator of your overall health so it is worth looking at them to see what information you’ll find. Healthy nails should be pink with a mild sheen and have a nice round shape. They shouldn’t be brittle or break easily, nor should they have spots or grooves. …
Looking on the bright side for a change
AS I SEE IT MARIANNE HERON Mock exams are a great way of testing pupils’ performance and a reminder to them to pull up their socks before the real thing. Suppose we were to put our politicians through a mock test what would the results be? Judging by the current headlines from the Tubs of …
A matter of life, and death with dignity
THE FACT OF THE MATTER PAUL HOPKINS It’s a matter of life and death – specifically euthanasia, the right to have a say in your time of going. And we really need to talk about it. Thankfully, we finally are. An Oireachtas committee is in session examining both sides of any potential legislation to allow …
Where, when, who… and the Holiday Psalms!
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran Holidays frazzle my brain. And this is before I book a flight or pack a bag. The frazzling starts with three words: Where? When? Who? First off where will we go? Somewhere hot? Yes. But not too hot. And where’s that? Do we go somewhere we’ve been before? Where we can …
