Journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaidi on trial at the Vatican Freedom of the press is one of the essential attributes of a civilised society, or so we say, yet it is always open season on journalists. Governments distrust…
Continue ReadingFrancis: the loneliest leader in Christendom
Pope Francis: praying for the spirit of change Imagine the problem. You are the recently appointed charismatic executive chairman of a global organisation. It is creaking at the seams, and you have been brought in to sort it out.…
Continue ReadingThe story behind the F-word and its Guardian debut
Alastair Hetherington: decision made against advice of lawyers and his senior team It is still taboo in most newspapers, yet common in a playground. And if you want to say it on the BBC you have to get top…
Continue Reading26 Postcodes: SA33 4SD
26 Postcodes pairs writers with postcodes from across the UK, and asks them to make a response to the place and its significance. SA33 4SD is the postcode for the Boathouse in Laugharne – the last home of the…
Continue ReadingRebels without applause: unionism and 1916
Stonebreakers’ yard in Kilmainham Gaol where the Easter Rising leaders were executed It’s been some time since I read the “Proclamation of the Irish Republic to the People of Ireland”. When I was a boarder at St Colman’s College…
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