Category Archives: Ireland, Europe and the world

A half-Jewish Irishman’s view of the war in the Middle East

Posted on Monday, 16 October, 2023 by andypollak

I am an Irishman from a half-Jewish background – the other half is Presbyterian, so I am utterly untypical of people in this republic. However as a person with such unusual antecedents, I feel reluctantly impelled to add my two … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world | 2 Comments

Refugee crisis reveals the racism in our smug republic

Posted on Monday, 19 June, 2023 by andypollak

I don’t usually write about contentious issues in the Republic of Ireland, because – although I have lived here for many years – I feel I have little to add to the hundreds of thousands of words on television, radio … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Republic of Ireland | 4 Comments

Now for something completely different: an optimistic story about climate change

Posted on Tuesday, 3 January, 2023 by andypollak

In the first week of January 2023 it is not easy to be optimistic. There is no obvious end to the cruel, grinding Russian war against Ukraine. Economic recession looms for the West. Climate change targets are being missed all … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, The island environment, Views from abroad | Leave a comment

The results of the census and the revolt of the masses

Posted on Saturday, 1 October, 2022 by andypollak

Firstly, and briefly, the 2021 Northern Ireland census results. We know the headline figures well by now, that the number of those who are Catholics or from a Catholic background (at 45.7%) now outnumber the number of people who are … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 1 Comment

The NI Protocol is a mess but Boris’s bill to scrap it is a divisive disaster

Posted on Wednesday, 15 June, 2022 by andypollak

The Northern Ireland protocol is a problem and it is back with a vengeance. As Taoiseach Micheál Martin, a man who is extremely careful with his words, put it, the British government’s new bill to unilaterally scrap large parts of … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland | 1 Comment

Is Ireland neutral in this battle between good and evil?

Posted on Monday, 14 March, 2022 by andypollak

Sometimes (rarely) wars are seen as battles between the forces of good and evil. The war of the Allies against Nazism is the classic example in modern times. Except the Irish state chose to sit that one out, unwilling to … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Republic of Ireland | 1 Comment

Whatever the Unionists wish for, the Protocol looks like it’s here to stay – and it can be good for all of us

Posted on Tuesday, 11 January, 2022 by andypollak

One year on, the Northern Ireland Protocol looks like it’s here to stay. Its fiercest opponent (and chief negotiator) in the British government, Lord David Frost, has gone. Before that the British had dropped their demand that the European Court … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland | 3 Comments

Could North-South agri-food cooperation help cross the rural-urban climate change divide?

Posted on Wednesday, 17 November, 2021 by andypollak

So in the end the political will did not exist among world leaders at COP26 in Glasgow to radically tackle global warming. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned at the end of the conference: “We are still knocking on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, The island environment | Leave a comment

Listen to the wisdom of the man who was rejected by the voters of South Belfast

Posted on Tuesday, 9 February, 2021 by andypollak

In democratic societies it is not always the best and wisest people who end up as politicians and political leaders. We have seen that in the USA, the UK and, not surprisingly, little Northern Ireland in recent years. Sometimes the … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland | 1 Comment

Is the UK exit from the EU an opportunity to turn Northern Unionists towards Europe (and Ireland)?

Posted on Friday, 1 January, 2021 by andypollak

So, four and a half years after the fateful Brexit vote the United Kingdom finally left the European Union on New Year’s Eve with a trade deal in place. The sometimes unfathomable Northern Ireland protocol (which is separate from this … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism, Sinn Fein | 2 Comments