Schools sexual abuse inquiry: It was open season on children’s bodies. These men did what they liked
We called the predatory paedophile in my school Little Plum. We all learned early the required habits of toxic silence
The cataract bus is, like all great Irish inventions, the fruit of carelessness and clientelism
The bus to Belfast for cataract surgery is a brilliant bit of political entrepreneurship, but it clouds the reality that healthcare is a right and we, the public, pay for all these treatments
Behind Kamala Harris’s megawatt smile at the convention, I saw a ruthless machine at work
The Democrats have generated an equal and opposite reaction to their own culpable inertia, a unity of purpose that makes them much more like the Republicans. It’s not always pretty to watch
How apt that Democratic convention marks the passing of the last old-style Irish Catholic politician
The 1968 convention was the last hurrah for a phenomenon of huge importance in our own history: the Irish-American political machine. How apt that this week’s convention will mark the reluctant end of the career of Joe Biden
One law for megarich provocateur Elon Musk, another for the poor idiots who follow
The eejits who get caught have been hooked by algorithms engineered by social media companies
Ireland has gone from an emigrant society to an immigrant-emigrant society
Ireland has become far better at creating jobs, and like every other place where there are work opportunities, it attracts people who want to make a better life for themselves
With all the confidence of a hostage in a ransom video, Catherine Martin began dismantling RTÉ
No one in Government has put forward any justification for hollowing out RTÉ. But, in an age when trusted information has never been more vital to the defence of democracy, that is what it is doing
Joe Biden has ended the agony. The Democrats now have a fighting chance to save the American republic
To watch a good man, a remarkably effective president and a courageous battler against adversity reduced to such frailty was unbearable
The far right is just a Farage away from breaking through in Irish politics
Protofascist ideas are at least as prevalent in Ireland as in other Western democracies and the reactionary, nativist mindset is well established here. All the movement is lacking is a leader
For his already fanatical devotees Trump’s survival will add to his messianic appeal
That Trump became a victim of the very violence he has done so much to validate will not provoke either him or his fans to think again. It will merely serve to fortify a mindset in which America is already at war with itself
Welcome to adventure holiday politics ... white-water rafting with Brexit, bungee jumping with Trump
To put it crudely, a big part of the appeal of Brexit was scale. It felt like a very big thing to do, just as, later in 2016, electing a celebrity non-politician to the White House felt big
Fintan O’Toole: Democrats and their media allies pretended everything was fine. It’s not fine
Fintan O’Toole: If the Democrats persist with Joe Biden, the United States is in imminent danger of being handed back to a Trump who is vastly more malign than he was in 2016
Cathal Crotty’s suspended sentence another example of how judicial system is failing women
The administration of justice for violent men is out of kilter with our values and we can no longer suspend disbelief
Failure to prevent destruction of records is a further insult to those whose identities were stolen
To treat these records with such contempt is to repeat the contempt shown by Church and State to thousands of women and children
Sinn Féin was the shock absorber of Irish politics. It’s worn out
Local and European elections: Don’t be fooled by the Coalition parties’ electoral success. The right is rising