Opinion

Tuesday 17 July 2018

A bit nicer to the Brits but a bit nastier to Israel

Last week, we got some clarity on Brexit and the Presidency and saw the Seanad at work.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex meet the crowds (Brian Lawless/PA)

Ruth Dudley Edwards

A successful pilot run for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

'The fawning over #HarryandMeghan has been pretty nauseating," tweeted The Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland last Wednesday. "For clarity, Meghan is no feminist if we care about all women's rights. They're a vestige of feudalism and not the company progressive people should keep. A lot of people should have known better."

Dan O'Brien

May offers new clarity on UK's Brexit trade-offs

Many areas of public and private life involve trade-offs. How cross-border commerce happens is a topical example.

Last week Boris Johnson quit as UK foreign secretary, his attempts to secure a hard Brexit frustrated. Photo: Bloomberg

Comment

Europeans fear death of a dream as UK shuffles aside

Brexit is a vital question in Poland, it is not just an academic consideration. "We have 700,000 Poles stuck in the UK and, when Britain leaves, what is going to happen to them?"

‘Thatcher objected to the importation into the nest of parliamentary sovereignty of the referendum cuckoo in a country lacking a codified constitution’

Colm McCarthy

UK dilemma over Brexit is beginning to morph into a constitutional crisis

Following the Chequers meeting of the cabinet-before-last (two senior ministers quit in the aftermath), the UK government's latest plan for Brexit was released as a White Paper.

The Russian president has armies of internet trolls

Comment

Putin can get away with murder, so nothing much will happen

Tomorrow, after he has enjoyed a break for golf in Scotland, the President of the United States will meet in Helsinki with a man he hopes will become his friend. At the moment Vladimir Putin is a 'competitor', although in quite what manner Donald Trump has declined to spell out.

'Instead of giving kids a summer break, working parents are forced to farm them out for the holidays'. Photo: Getty

Comment

We're exhausting all our options to cope with kids on holiday

Two weeks into the primary school holidays and the kids are exhausted. Weary and wiped, not a bit restored by their time off school.

Comment

Heretic who just wants to speak the truth

Noel Gallagher once said of his brother, Oasis frontman Liam: "He's like a man with a fork in a world of soup."

The England manager did all he could, and a fourth place finish was more than was expected a month ago. Photo: PA

Declan Lynch

Farewell to a feast of football that's been off the chart in ways we couldn't imagine

The wallchart is nearly full now, there is just one space to be filled with the name of either France or Croatia.

SYMBOLIC ROLE: President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina. Photo: Tony Gavin

Brendan O’Connor

Isn't it time for us to have a president with a disability?

Finian McGrath floated a brilliant idea last week. He was out talking about the presidency on a few occasions. Obviously he said the usual guff that everyone has to say about how amazing Michael D is and what a fantastic job he has done. You are contractually obliged to say that if you are going to go on to suggest that Michael D shouldn't...

Comment

Leo has the position but not the power as parties prepare for election battle

'In office, but not in power'' was Norman Lamont's assessment of John Major's government when he was sacked as Chancellor in 1993. Privately, the Irish Government might have the same assessment of its position.