I watched "The Bloody Irish: Songs of the 1916 Rising" on PBS Channel 21 last night.

The music -- great! The singers -- fabulous! The "history," especially the scenes in the GPO -- the less said the better. But it's the politics that really matter.

This show was made in Ireland for broadcast on PBS.…

Éamon de Valera: A Will to Power

By Ronan Fanning

Faber…

Suppose you could go to the movie theater and see a film about working people, struggling against great odds to enrich the quality of their lives. And suppose that instead of relying on a great individual leader, they made their own decisions and fought their own battles.

Paisley Went Into Government With Sinn Féin Because the Unionist Side Won

John McDonagh (JM) and Sandy…

Unionists Increasing Calculated Pressure on the Agreement

John McDonagh (JM) and Sandy Boyer (SB) interview via telephone journalist Ed Moloney, (EM) who authored the book "A Secret History of the IRA" and directed the Belfast Project, about the Twelfth of July in Ireland. Thanks…

I am proud that Gerry Conlon was a friend of mine. Not surprisingly, what brought us together was that the British government kept framing people the same way they framed him.

I first heard from Gerry a few weeks after he got out of prison in October 1989. The phone rang and…

Book Review

"In the Footsteps of Anne, Stories of Republican Women Ex-Prisoners"

Compiled by Evelyn Brady, Eva Patterson, Kate Mc Kinney, Rosie Hamill and Pauline Jackson

Shanway Press

$35 from…

By Sandy Boyer

Fifteen years ago, the Good Friday Agreement promised a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. Today there is still no Bill of Rights, and human rights are under a severe and sustained attack.  

Internment without charge or trial is back; “special” political offenses are being used to muzzle political activists; and the police have…

STAND UP AGAINST THE IRISH NEWS CENSORSHIP OF THE PENSIVE QUILL

NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE IT: RFE INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD O'RAWE

John McDonagh (JM) and Sandy Boyer (SB) interviews author and journalist Ed Moloney (EM) who provides updates on the Boston College case and comments on the possible presidential candidacy of Peter King. (Eliza Butler (EB) also comments.) The Transcript…

Martin Corey has spent more than three years in Northern Ireland’s Maghaberry Prison. Although he hasn’t been charged with any crime, there is little prospect that he will be released any time in the foreseeable future. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, a British Cabinet Minister, has revoked his license – parole in…

Book Review

"That’s That" By Colin Broderick

Broadway Paperbacks $15

No memoir you have read about growing up in Ireland, not even Angela’s…