Sir,—William Kingston’s opening paragraph (HI 23.6, Nov./Dec. 2015, pp 48–9) needs revisiting. There are several current theories about why the Lusitania sank, but most of the mainstream ones agree that she was carrying munitions; that she was hit by one torpedo somewhere forward on the starboard side; and that there was a second explosion after … Read more
Sir,—Interesting to learn (HI 23.6, Nov./Dec. 2015, Seen on TV, pp 50–1) that the current president of University College Cork had never heard of George Boole when he was a student there in the 1970s. Neither had I when I arrived at UCC twenty years later, nor of Boolean logic, and, being English-born, ‘logically’ assumed … Read more
Sir,—D.R. O’Connor Lysaght (HI 23.6, Nov./Dec. 2015, letters) somewhat misses the point of my Platform piece (HI 23.5, Sept./Oct. 2105). It was not ‘a critique of the Easter Rising’ but rather, as requested by the editor, a comment on the ‘Decade of Centenaries’ from a Belfast viewpoint. It was about how the events of 1912–22 … Read more
Sir,—Dennis Kennedy, in casting a cold eye (HI 23.5, Sept./Oct. 2015, Platform, pp 10–11) on celebrating the centennial of 1916, asks: ‘But how does a country, or a government, celebrate 1916 without glorifying bloodshed?’ There is always a fear that, in the very act of honouring the courage and self-sacrificing determination of a people who … Read more
MINISTER HUMPHREYS ANNOUNCES A REFURBISHMENT PROGRAMME, BUT FUNDING FOR STAFFING AND DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS IS STILL INADEQUATE By Felix M. Larkin As a long-time critic of the neglect of the National Library by governments of all hues, it would be churlish of me not to welcome the recent allocation by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and … Read more