ARCHIVE OF FEATURES AND PUBLISHED ARTICLES
Sex and the older woman...
Charlotte Rampling's movie "Heading South" and 67-year-old American academic
Jane Juska's search for senior sex strike most sixty-something women as
not so much liberated as pitiful...
The Irish Independent Magazine: 19 August 2006
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John Updike - political psychologist par excellence...
John Updike is America's greatest living writer. A committed Christian, he writes incisively about sexual relations - and brilliantly about the psychology of terrorism...
The Catholic Herald/The Irish Catholic: 12 August 2006
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Michael Collins and a passionate romance...
Lady Lavery, the beautiful American who for so many decades adorned the
Irish pound note as the perfect "colleen", was passionately in love with
Michael Collins. Did they have an affair? No, but a romance all the same...
Irish Independent Magazine: 29 July 2006
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Is cohabitation the new courtship?
A recent report has shown that cohabitation, now as common as marriage,
has a much greater chance of breaking down. So, is it a useful preparation
for marriage, or an alternative to it?
Daily Telegraph: 12 July 2006
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more...
Why I became a young feminist...
It was general rebellion against all the "thou shalt nots" of my elders
which drove me towards feminism. But have we replaced old orthodoxies
with new ones?...
The Irish Times: 20 May 2006
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more...
Remembering John McGahern...
John McGahern, perhaps the finest Irish writer of the late twentieth century
died in March 2006. He was a gentle, modest, wry and witty man whose life
was part of his country's times...
Irish Independent: 3 April 2006
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more...
Bad times in Vichy France...
A remarkable new book about wartime France is driven not by hatred of
the Nazis, but by hatred of the Catholic Church, which the author seems
to consider worse...
The Tablet: 15 April 2006
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more...
Meeting Cherie…
Mrs Blair, the Prime Minister's wife, is often portrayed in the tabloids
as someone keen on 'freebies' and a lavish lifestyle. Actually, she turns
out to be sincere and spiritual...
Irish Independent Magazine: 22 October 2005
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more...
Confession of a desperate housewife...
When broadcaster Michael Buerk claimed that women were now running the
world, I was too busy at the kitchen sink to pay much heed...
Irish Independent Magazine: 3 September 2005
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more...
Witness at Nuremberg...
A veteran translator in Brussels recalls her working life, which began
at the celebrated Nuremberg Trial in 1946…
The Oldie: February 2005.
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more...
Marriage counselling? Try throwing the china...
Marriage and relationship counselling is a booming industry. But is it
as useful as throwing the crockery at your spouse?...
Irish Independent Magazine: 4 March 2006
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more...
My most romantic movies...
We've had lists of the sexiest movies, as a hommage to Sharon Stone: but
how about a list of the most romantic movies, (as a hommage to spring?
) These are my nominations...
Irish Independent Magazine: 15 April 2006
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more...
Simone de Beauvoir is regarded as the mother of
modern feminism:
A new biography revisits her remarkable intellectual life – but is she
in some respects outdated?
The Tablet magazine: August 2005
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more...
Immigrants? Yes please!
The Conservatives are wrong to flag up immigration as a touchstone issue.
Most Conservative voters are very grateful indeed for the services of
migrants, and would be concerned if this supply of motivated and hard-working
young people were to dry up...
The Times 2nd May 2005
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more...
Taking It Like A Man...
Most women actually like men and sympathise with them. The notion that
all men are rapists and oppressors of women is neither true nor widely
held by women - and Norah Vincent has proved it...
Irish Independent Magazine: 4 February 2006
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more...
Dawkins The Influential Fanatic...
Professor Richard Dawkins calls himself a rational scientist. But his
attacks on faith are carried out with a distinct lack of rationality,
displaying an unkind fanaticism which he ascribes to believers...
The Catholic Herald: 20 January 2006
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Why Ireland Has Changed Utterly...
A new study of Northern Ireland dwells upon the old historic divisions
there. But the truth is that the whole Irish story has been historically
based on poverty, deprivation, dispossession. Whereas now, Irish conditions
are about wealth, acquisition, maximising market opportunities. This has
changed everything...
Literary Review: February 2006
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more...
The Joy Of Fur...
No garment is quite as beautiful as fur. We should not kill endangered
species, and we should ensure that fur is farmed humanely: but women should
not be intimidated about wearing mink, fox, or sable...
The Guardian: 18 January 2006
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more...
An Asylum story...
In times gone by, people were sometimes committed to mental asylums for
unjust reasons. But sometimes it seemed a compassionate option...
Irish Independent Magazine: 1 October 2005
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FCUK no more: Thank heavens for that!
On the imminent disappearance of a well-branded logo...
The Times: 3 October 2005
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The Power of the Papal Brand
Many young Irish people now are agnostic and have little interest in religion.
But they are highly brand-conscious and media-savvy, and in that context,
they recognise that the Holy See puts on a very effective gig...
Irish Independent magazine: 30 April 2005
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