Ireland as the Last Anglo-Saxon Globalist in the EU . . .

I raved about Ferriters book on Dev but I think David Mc Cullaghs two volume work also complements and probably surpasses it. Ferriter is not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination but has written interesting works on areas rarely looked at by other historians . He has written on the Pioneers, sexual history of modern Ireland and the Irish Islands alongside more traditional themes . Mc Cullagh is one of the presenters of RTEs prime time. Both writers are focusing away from an extreme view of Dev as a scapegoat for all that went wrong in Irish history. Whether their opinions influence popular views remains to be seen.

Menzes book on Salazar was dreadfully boring I recall. I am not sure if that was the subject matter or the authors fault. The Maynooth history department is as diverse as any other nowadays.

I too found that Salazar book boring when I dipped into it, but in all honesty I suspect it was more due to the nature of the material. Salazar was a bureaucrat with no personal life whose aim was peace and stability. Admirable statecraft, but probably not the most gripping for a page-turning biography.

Here's a sub-titled Portugese documentary from a few years back on Salazar. It was part of a "Greatest Portugese of all time" series. I've been told by an online acquaintance that while he still has admirers in Portugal, most now disapprove of him.

Salazar - Greatest Portugese

Incidentally, as this article shows, Irish opinion on Salazar was divided at the time, lest anyone think by definition he must have been an unqualified object of admiration as a devout Catholic leader. It further re-enforces the point made by Roger and Cato that Irish media in the past was more curious and open to diverse opinion, as well as. being far more tuned into European affairs than our monotone two broadsheets are now.

Irish newspapers and Salazar

Seems timely: the Guardian's current view of Ireland:

An enviable beauty


" Ireland is prospering by doing things more rationally"

- Always the little patronising tone from this paper whenever it discusses Ireland. Conveniently declines to discuss the Ulster issue, nor the fact that an enormous amount of people struggle to pay rent, or get anywhere near the fabled "property ladder."

Unlike Brexit-deluded Britain, 21st-century Ireland is a firm believer in multilateral institutions and cooperation.

Referring to the EU, but also convenient for the Guardian's globalist agenda.

Some of the comments are more nuanced:

Sure, it's better than British politics - but must we set the bar so low? I know a few trade unionists in Ireland who will have a good chuckle at this. Wonderful country, terrible government.

The two parties ruling Ireland have committed to making it a tax haven - so much so that they've spent tax payers' money on legal fees to prevent the Irish state from receiving billions of euros in tax. Paschal Donohue's appointment is viewed with horror in southern Europe, where tax avoidance hurts.

Do we need to remind the Guardian how much harm tax havens inflict globally? Or how much austerity has been inflicted on the Irish population, while Apple et al are raking it in? I know this paper isn't that left-wing, but I thought it didn't like austerity or international tax avoidance. You may as well write an ode to George Osborne.


But then this kind of thing, which I suspect Roger and I would both cringe at:

Modern Ireland strikes me as a young, confident outgoing nation, which has certainly done a wonderful job of selling itself to the rest of the world.....

I read that review earlier. It's more English Remainer self loathing than anything positive about Ireland. The remark about Ireland's 2 year stint on the UN security council was silly. The UK is a permanent member with veto powers.

I hope to revive this thread I started and abandoned.

Part of the reason for that lies in something I just said on another thread. To quote myself:



Here I find myself with a quandary.

I think all along, Mal, that you have hoped for a broad range of conservatives here with different perspectives.

And in this thread, kj and I were voicing things that were probably rather different from what other key folk here think.

Personally, I found this slightly difficult. I _hate_ arguing with good people I truly deeply respect!

At the same time, abandoning threads like this, which reveal our differences, to one extent or another, leads to less variety, less BREADTH on the forum.

So I like the fact that this forum is unusually civil (and intelligent!) sans flames.

But there are things at least alluded to in this thread that seem increasingly important to me the older I get - eg. Desmond Fennell's life changing experience in Seattle with liberal, politically correct American culture in the 1990s.

Which is not to say that I support or agree with everything DF says!

But I'm tempted to start a DF thread and say other things that might inevitably seem argumentative.

And yet, again, I hate arguing with GOOD people.

A quandary as I say ... but I _only_ think about it because of the thoughts I have as to how important this forum could be for Ireland and thoughts of its need in that case for variety and breadth.

There's little point in a forum if we never disagree! 😊