Politico

The European Union is 50 years old on 1 January 2008. It has been en enormous economic and institutional success, but a democratic failure.
By John Duggan

Jacob Zuma is disliked by many South Africans because of his controversial past, but to others he represents change. By Aoife Kavanagh 

At political rallies the length and breadth of South Africa supporters of presidential frontrunner Jacob Zuma can be heard chanting the theme song for his campaign.  It's a favourite of Zuma's entitled ‘Umshini Wami' or ‘Bring me my Machine Gun; Don't make me wait.'. 

On 9 May 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman (pictured) proposed a community to integrate the coal and steel industries of Europe - the declaration is regarded as the instigator of the European Union. This is an edited version.

"World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it. The contribution which an organized and living Europe can bring to civilization is indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful rel

The frenzy of reaction to the tragic death of Katy French brought radio listeners many entertaining faux pas.

I  must admit it. Although I didn't know her from Eve, Katy French's death really made me sad, deep down sad. I was sad especially for her loved-ones, who had to watch her tiny corpse carrying so much symbolic weight.

I must also admit: some of the coverage that closely followed her sad passing made me laugh in spite of it all.

The labelling of cocaine use in Ireland as an epidemic is an exaggeration
By Emma Browne

Blanket media coverage in recent weeks has suggested that Ireland is in the grip of a cocaine epidemic. A Prime Time Investigates programme found residue of cocaine in 92 per cent of toilets they tested. There are reports of widespread use of the drug among young people and regular reports of record drug seizures of cocaine by the Gardaí. However amongst all this coverage there has been little ref

This image is the first close-up look at a strange and beautiful phenomenon that has never been seen on Earth.  The winter wonderland near the South Pole of Mars is more than a pretty picture,  because the use of colour imaging in this high-resolution view has provided scientists with concrete evidence to support a theory which we first reported in Village in 2006.

Far from the glittering lights south of the river, The Welcome Inn is located on Parnell Street North in what is now known as Dublin's ‘China Town'. This street boasts some of the best Asian cuisine in the city. Unlike the Shakespeare Bar across the road, which has been transformed into a bizarre amalgam of a Korean / Japanese sushi restaurant with an old Irish pub attached, the Welcome Inn has not engaged in any keeping-up-with-the-Jones behaviour in response to its new neighbours. &

The Chili Club's reputation as purveyors of exquisite Thai cuisine remains intact. On Village's most recent visit, the main courses scored top marks and fingers were nearly lost in the attack on appetizers – although the uncouth behaviour might just as well be explained by near starvation on the evening in question!

A quarter of a century's neglect, underlined by the government's failure to act on the RAPID reports of 2001, has devastated Moyross and Southill in Limerick.

By Malachy Browne

 A quarter of a century ago, in 1982, the then leading current affairs television programme, ‘Today Tonight' undertook a report from Limerick highlighting problems of social exclusion in the Southill estate of O'Malley Park. Mary McAleese was a panelist on the programme. During the programme she said: “The

In his 2007 report on social exclusion in Southill and Moyross in Limerick, John Fitzgerald is unequivocal in his recommendations on policing. He says that dealing with criminality as a matter of urgency is “fundamental to creating the conditions for other interventions (infrastructural, economic, educational and social) to be successful, and for restoring the confidence of local communities”. The pattern of murders in Limerick in 2007 indicates the seriousness of violent crime in th

The dereliction of estates in Moyross is shocking. The segregation of the community from adjoining estates and the Limerick Institute of Technology by high, razor tipped walls is striking. But there is a buzz to the place, an active community and people are optimistic about regeneration.

Maurice Quinlivan, a local Sinn Fein representative, said that the Fitzgerald report brought a massive change in residents' attitudes to Moyross. A Sinn Fein poll conducted in February 2007 showed that nearly a

A story on the regeneration of Limerick in the January 2008 issue of Village (printed edition) incorrectly states that Mary McAleese was a reporter with Today Tonight when it recorded a programme on social exclusion in Southill in 1982. Mary McAleese was a lecturer in the Law Department at Trinity College Dublin at the time and appeared on Today Tonight as a panelist, not a reporter. Mary McAleese had previously been an reporter with RTE but Hilary Orpen undertook this particular report fro

Fifty years ago depression, schizophrenia and many other psychiatric disorders were often attributed solely to one's present or past environment: one's upbringing, one's parents, early childhood experiences, alcohol, drugs etc. And while such factors continue to play a critical role, it is now accepted that many of these conditions also have an underlying genetic component. Furthermore, recent advances in genetics suggest that many human genes are replications of those found in fruit flies, worm
...
Read More >>

In early January, robust hikers trek for over 50 km through the Wicklow mountains. The long walk starts at midnight on a weekend around 6 January from Dublin Castle to recall the escape from there of Red Hugh O'Donnell and Art O'Neill in the severe winter of 1592.

Ireland has few land mammals, and it was believed that no voles existed here until their discovery in Kerry in 1964. The discovery was a mysterious one because bank voles like dense cover and are an unlikely candidate to steal away a ship bound for Ireland's west coast. Their arrival is most likely explained by the Shannon Scheme of the 1920s which involved mass transport of machinery, including whole railways, from Germany by sea.

Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) is one of Ireland's native trees. It adds colour to woodlands, streetscapes and gardens throughout the year. The creamy white flowers, in late spring, ripen into scarlet berries which colour early in the season and provide food for birds, especially blackbirds and thrushes, throughout the winter. Birds help to disperse the seeds of rowan and it is  often seen growing on the crooks of other trees. In order to get rowan to germinate,  the  berries should be