Opinion
Shedding light on friendship of Edison and Ford
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran This week a wonderful story from Gerry Cody’s Facebook page: Sunday’s Anecdote from History. In 1896, Thomas Edison, the great inventor of the electric bulb, was working on a car design when he learned that a young man in his company had created an experimental car. Edison met this young man, …
The next US President will it be Madam or Mr
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON You might as well play the daisy petal game as a way of predicting a certain outcome of the November US presidential election. Instead of plucking off flower petals in the girlhood game counting “he loves me he loves me not” down to the last petal, you could …
When Hollywood came to town…
BY JOHN FITZGERALD (PART THREE) Continuing the story of the “Breakfast on Pluto” movie days in Callan…twenty years ago this month… The five or six men who pushed an old Morris Minor up and down the street looked a bit browned off, but they persevered and after many takes, they took a well-earned rest. Nobody said …
Making Kilkenny safer, one heartbeat at a time
THE LAST WORD By Pat Coughlan Last week I happened to notice an unusual box on the wall outside Eurospar in Newpark Shopping Centre. They’re not fancy post boxes or secret leprechaun hideouts. They’re defibrillators, and they’re here to save lives. When someone’s heart decides to take an unscheduled break, these devices can give it …
The impact of living longer on our pensions
BY JOHN ELLIS, FINANCIAL ADVISOR According to recent statistics and surveys we are, as a nation living longer. While Ireland is often spoken about as a country of young people, the over-65 population has grown by 35% in the last decade, more than three time the rate of growth in the overall population and faster …
Tips for a healthy sleep routine for kids
BY CLAIR WHITTY The summer holidays are coming to an end and for some of you this means getting the bedtime routine back on track for the school term. If you are dreading tricky nights of trying to get your toddlers and young children to sleep, here are some tips that may help. A regular …
There’s no need for us to be so rude
THE FACT OF THE MATTER BY PAUL HOPKINS Most of us can pay witness to increasing bad behaviour on our roads, with drivers rearguarding you, suddenly over-taking you, beeping loudly because you’re in the slow lane and revving loudly and erratically for just no reason other than they feel they can. Just downright rudeness. Sound …
A very special guest at Cleere’s Monday night session
FURTHERMORE By Gerry Moran In the 30 years or more that I have been reciting humorous verse in Cleere’s Bar of a Monday night (the longest running session in Kilkenny). I have come across musicians [pictured]: famous, infamous and not so famous. I’ve come upon actors on the way up, actors on the way down …
Tourism: time for the road less travelled
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON You can have too much of a good thing. I’ll never forget my dismay on returning to Florence decades after my first visit, to find the streets congealed with crowds and queues for entrance to everything from galleries to churches. It’s the kind of experience which made me …
Inclusivity rules: are they fair to women boxers?
AS I SEE IT BY MARIANNE HERON There have been more than a few heated arguments over the women’s boxing controversy that erupted at the Olympics. How would you feel if a woman boxer was seriously injured in a contest with someone who has unfair competitive masculine attributes? – I was asked by someone looking …




