@radiobrendan In conflict resolution, common practice in both academia and ‘real-life’ politics is to compare different regions that have experienced or are experiencing violent problems. While no two conflicts are exactly the same, broadly speaking there is a common...
@radiobrendan We are, as it’s said, shaped by our history; and certain past experiences define us more than others. This year, Ireland is gearing up to commemorate the centenaries of a couple of such ‘game-changing’ events. In general, they are viewed as...
@radiobrendan The on-line edition of the Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘sport’ as ‘an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment’. The amount of ‘physical...
@radiobrendan So another Rugby World Cup is put to bed and with it the team that has always been described as the globe’s greatest has officially cemented its number one status — for now at least. The New Zealand All Blacks’ triumph takes their World Cup winners...
@radiobrendan The bars/tiendas are stocking up. Replica jerseys of the competing nations are being sold on the street. There’s giddy excitement in the air. Yep, Rugby World Cup 2015 is almost upon us and Colombia is gearing up for it with gusto. OK, I might be in dreamland...
@radiobrendan It’s generally not seen as a good thing to be a ‘holic’ of anything. Everything in moderation and all that. Yet in today’s world, it seems that being a workaholic is almost universally accepted and even expected in some quarters. And of...
@radiobrendan It took a while, but William Butler Yeats you’re going to have to eat your penned words now (or whatever you’ll do with them from beyond your grave). Romantic Ireland isn’t dead, as you infamously wrote in your poem September 1913. It has just been in a some way self-induced, other ways imposed, coma. […]
@radiobrendan This blog tends not to do blatant advertising, but there are exceptions to that from time to time. And when it’s for a fun and, um, worthy cause, you could say that it’s almost obligatory to do so. You see, a few months back I had to make a ‘dash’ home to...
@radiobrendan It’s fairly well known that the Irish are migrants. Coming from a small island, yet at the same time close to a host of the world’s old superpowers, it was pretty much inevitable that we’d wander outside our shores to see ‘what’s out there’. Indeed in...
@radiobrendan Oh no! Here it comes again. Yes, it’s that semi-awkward time of year for all Irish-born people; St Patrick’s Day (March 17), our national holiday. You see most Irish, from my experiences anyway, tend not to get too excited about things; we prefer to leave...
