The United States of America celebrates its 250th anniversary of its foundation this coming July, but I wonder how many people in Ireland – or Europe generally – will join in the celebrations?
For much of its history, America was seen as a beacon of light, freedom and goodwill, as well as prosperity and opportunity. The words engraved on the Statue of Liberty were taken as a symbol of essential American decency: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Champion
For generations of Irish emigrants, America was our friend, our champion and our protector.
Had Eamon de Valera – who forged the Irish State in the 20th century – not been born in America, and supported by the Americans financially, he would have been executed by the British. For many a nationalist household, that said it all.
In the matinée film shows of my childhood, the Dublin urchins would always raise a rousing cheer when the Americans came to the rescue in any combat scene. Their heroes were John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Jack Palance.
And it was true that the US had come to Europe’s rescue in two world wars. Ireland may have been neutral in WW2, but once America entered the fray, Ireland became noticeably more pro-Allied.
The pinnacle of America’s prestige was JFK’s visit to Ireland in 1963.
But today? Donald Trump’s United States is now viewed with suspicion, concern, even, sometimes, horror, as it appears to abandon the rule of international law for “might is right”. A new Imperial dominance emerges over America’s claimed “sphere of influence”, from the Caribbean and Canada to Greenland.
In truth, America was always more flawed than the imagined Utopian vision of the “home of the brave and the land of the free”. There has always been an element of American imperialism in its politics – from Cuba to Guyana, from Panama to Grenada, Washington has always meddled in pursuit of America’s interest. Forays further afield, from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq have often been based on a Yankee reflex to affirm US supremacy, even if sometimes clothed in aspirations to democracy.
Angels
Yet we believed America was on the side of the angels. We looked to its constitution extolling just governance, freedom of speech and religion. We benefitted, personally and collectively, from American generosity. St Patrick’s Day at the White House emblemised so much about the Irish-American connection, as did the warmth of the street parades celebrating Irish traditions.
But who will raise the flag for America on July 4 this year? I wonder.
***
When Dublin played
A January de-cluttering has turned up a newspaper clipping from fifty years ago, for December 1966. And what a rich cultural fare was offered to Dubliners in the entertainment page of the ‘Evening Press’. There were plays on at the Gaiety (“All the King’s Men”, devised by Alan Simpson), the Olympia (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, with T.P. McKenna) the Abbey (“Tarry Flynn” by Patrick Kavanagh), the Gate (“The Tiger Lover” directed by Jim Fitzgerald), the Eblana (Harold Pinter’s “The Caretaker”) and the Gas Company Theatre in Dun Laoghaire.
The O’Connell Street cinemas – the Metropole, Carlton, Capital, Corinthian, Savoy, Ambassador, Adelphi, Academy, Cinerama in Talbot St, the Astor on the Quays, showed top movies of the day, from James Bond and The Sound of Music and Dr Zhivago, while the International Film Theatre had Continental movies like Antonioni’s Eclipse, as did an art cinema at O’Connell Bridge. At least 30 suburban cinemas listed an amazingly varied programmes of films.
There were dances advertised, ballad concerts (with Johnny McEvoy, The Wolfe Tones, Joe Dolan), variety shows – and sales of work run by the Vincent de Paul.
At the Gate Theatre there was also a discussion event for Sunday, December 3, in which Edna O’Brien, Hugh Leonard and Bruce Arnold were to debate: “Censorship? A positive move.”
We can anticipate films, drama, and concerts listed for 2026, but there’s nothing like the entertainment buzz in central Dublin today, like there was fifty years ago.
***
Concerns have been raised in England and Wales about the practice of ‘sex-selection’ abortions: there’s evidence that terminations of pregnancy are being carried out where the unborn infant is female. Among the Indian community in Britain, there’s a statistical imbalance between boys and girls, which indicates such measures – boys still being preferred.
Feminists have denounced this as discrimination, and claimed that mothers are coerced into these terminations. But the BPAS, Britain’s largest abortion provider, has defended the operations, which it carries out, saying the situation is “complex” and “nuanced”.
Perhaps it’s significant that the British Pregnancy Advisory Service received £64 million (nearly €74 million) in revenue from the British taxpayer in the year 2024-25.
The abortion industry is a massive earner; the pro-life movement is a tiny David in opposition to this huge financial Goliath.
The stars and stripes no longer forever…
The United States of America celebrates its 250th anniversary of its foundation this coming July, but I wonder how many people in Ireland – or Europe generally – will join in the celebrations?
For much of its history, America was seen as a beacon of light, freedom and goodwill, as well as prosperity and opportunity. The words engraved on the Statue of Liberty were taken as a symbol of essential American decency: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Champion
For generations of Irish emigrants, America was our friend, our champion and our protector.
Had Eamon de Valera – who forged the Irish State in the 20th century – not been born in America, and supported by the Americans financially, he would have been executed by the British. For many a nationalist household, that said it all.
In the matinée film shows of my childhood, the Dublin urchins would always raise a rousing cheer when the Americans came to the rescue in any combat scene. Their heroes were John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Jack Palance.
And it was true that the US had come to Europe’s rescue in two world wars. Ireland may have been neutral in WW2, but once America entered the fray, Ireland became noticeably more pro-Allied.
The pinnacle of America’s prestige was JFK’s visit to Ireland in 1963.
But today? Donald Trump’s United States is now viewed with suspicion, concern, even, sometimes, horror, as it appears to abandon the rule of international law for “might is right”. A new Imperial dominance emerges over America’s claimed “sphere of influence”, from the Caribbean and Canada to Greenland.
In truth, America was always more flawed than the imagined Utopian vision of the “home of the brave and the land of the free”. There has always been an element of American imperialism in its politics – from Cuba to Guyana, from Panama to Grenada, Washington has always meddled in pursuit of America’s interest. Forays further afield, from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq have often been based on a Yankee reflex to affirm US supremacy, even if sometimes clothed in aspirations to democracy.
Angels
Yet we believed America was on the side of the angels. We looked to its constitution extolling just governance, freedom of speech and religion. We benefitted, personally and collectively, from American generosity. St Patrick’s Day at the White House emblemised so much about the Irish-American connection, as did the warmth of the street parades celebrating Irish traditions.
But who will raise the flag for America on July 4 this year? I wonder.
***
When Dublin played
A January de-cluttering has turned up a newspaper clipping from fifty years ago, for December 1966. And what a rich cultural fare was offered to Dubliners in the entertainment page of the ‘Evening Press’. There were plays on at the Gaiety (“All the King’s Men”, devised by Alan Simpson), the Olympia (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, with T.P. McKenna) the Abbey (“Tarry Flynn” by Patrick Kavanagh), the Gate (“The Tiger Lover” directed by Jim Fitzgerald), the Eblana (Harold Pinter’s “The Caretaker”) and the Gas Company Theatre in Dun Laoghaire.
The O’Connell Street cinemas – the Metropole, Carlton, Capital, Corinthian, Savoy, Ambassador, Adelphi, Academy, Cinerama in Talbot St, the Astor on the Quays, showed top movies of the day, from James Bond and The Sound of Music and Dr Zhivago, while the International Film Theatre had Continental movies like Antonioni’s Eclipse, as did an art cinema at O’Connell Bridge. At least 30 suburban cinemas listed an amazingly varied programmes of films.
There were dances advertised, ballad concerts (with Johnny McEvoy, The Wolfe Tones, Joe Dolan), variety shows – and sales of work run by the Vincent de Paul.
At the Gate Theatre there was also a discussion event for Sunday, December 3, in which Edna O’Brien, Hugh Leonard and Bruce Arnold were to debate: “Censorship? A positive move.”
We can anticipate films, drama, and concerts listed for 2026, but there’s nothing like the entertainment buzz in central Dublin today, like there was fifty years ago.
***
Concerns have been raised in England and Wales about the practice of ‘sex-selection’ abortions: there’s evidence that terminations of pregnancy are being carried out where the unborn infant is female. Among the Indian community in Britain, there’s a statistical imbalance between boys and girls, which indicates such measures – boys still being preferred.
Feminists have denounced this as discrimination, and claimed that mothers are coerced into these terminations. But the BPAS, Britain’s largest abortion provider, has defended the operations, which it carries out, saying the situation is “complex” and “nuanced”.
Perhaps it’s significant that the British Pregnancy Advisory Service received £64 million (nearly €74 million) in revenue from the British taxpayer in the year 2024-25.
The abortion industry is a massive earner; the pro-life movement is a tiny David in opposition to this huge financial Goliath.
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