Category Archives: Views from abroad

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

Two reflections on the Corona virus crisis: one Irish, one international

Posted on Friday, 27 March, 2020 by andypollak

What more can one ignorant retired journalist add to the trillions of words written about the Corona virus? Not much, except perhaps two points that readers will have seen before from me ad nauseam on a range of topics: 1) … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, The island environment, Views from abroad | 2 Comments

Letter from Virginia: a time is coming when Ulster Protestants will have to be brave and smart

Posted on Friday, 12 April, 2019 by andypollak

I have just returned from a stay in the US state of Virginia, mostly in the town of Lexington in the county of Rockbridge. Rockbridge is one of the two American counties which claim the highest proportion of inhabitants descended … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism, Views from abroad | 1 Comment

Do we need a bit of Chinese ingenuity to solve our Irish puzzle (or could Chris Patten be the man to unite Ireland)?

Posted on Tuesday, 25 December, 2018 by andypollak

Christmas 2018 sees an anxious Ireland starting seriously to prepare for Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal. It finds the United Kingdom in a state of constitutional agitation and division not seen since the Suez crisis in … Continue reading →

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

Are parts of Europe coming to resemble Northern Ireland?

Posted on Sunday, 16 September, 2018 by andypollak

I imagine that few people outside Northern Ireland would disagree with the statement that the North is one of the most politically backward regions in Western Europe. The reasons are numerous and well-known: 30 years of destabilising and for a … Continue reading →

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

In Prague: Memories of my Czech father and my Irish mother

Posted on Monday, 14 May, 2018 by andypollak

My wife Doireann and I spent a long weekend in Prague earlier this month. For me, it was a sentimental journey into my family’s past. 71 years ago this month my Czech father Stephen and my Irish mother Eileen were … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Views from abroad | 4 Comments

Home thoughts on a journey through India

Posted on Friday, 24 November, 2017 by andypollak

India has been a place I have wanted to visit ever since as a teenager I read my father’s account of being interned by the British (for being a communist) in the Himalayan foothills in the 1940s.¹ My wish was … Continue reading →

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

The inspirational volunteers of the Calais refugee camp

Posted on Monday, 2 May, 2016 by andypollak

It was a surreal scene: a soccer tournament on a sand-covered space which looked more like a rubbish dump than a football pitch; the players (all wearing tops reading ‘We are Human’) drawn from half-a-dozen countries ranging from Sudan to … Continue reading →

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

Why we need to be on the same team as the Germans

Posted on Wednesday, 29 July, 2015 by andypollak

Germany is now the undisputed boss of the European Union. Any lingering doubts about this were ruthlessly dispelled during the recent Greek bail-out crisis. Angela Merkel and her finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, forced through a package of reforms even more … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Views from abroad | 3 Comments

Writers, ranchers and revolutionaries: tales of the Irish in Argentina

Posted on Sunday, 22 February, 2015 by andypollak

How many people know that the man who raised the Irish flag over the GPO at Easter 1916 was from Argentina?  I didn’t know this until I was told it earlier this month in Buenos Aires by Guillermo MacLoughlin, one … Continue reading →

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