In other news… of what hasn’t happened yet, but made the news anyway
Donald Clarke explains that Liam Neeson hasn’t converted to Islam, yet…
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Books
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The peace process not such a good model after all
Which reminds me…. Platform for Change’s driving force Robin Wilson has produced a corrective to the notion that the lessons of the NI conflict are easily exportable. Like myself, Robin is associated with the Constitution Unit. He introduced his new book in a CU blog which I here reproduce. The water crisis in Northern Ireland [...] read our review »
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Ian O’Riordan’s Miles to Run: An invitation to madness?
Ireland is in the middle of a boom – a running boom. Chances are, even if you have never run a step yourself (apart from some painful P.E. classes many moons ago), someone you know has taken up running over the last little while. Road races in Northern Ireland and in the Republic have seen [...] read our review »
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The Irish political journalist’s problem with partial disclosure…
The nod and wink politics of Ireland’s last two or three decades as practised par excellence by Bertie, Albert and Charlie is ultimately what has the Republic in the stew it’s in. Don’t get me wrong, the effective monitoring of those exercising of power does not demand full disclosure of everything all the time. But [...] read our review »
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Muslims in America are the new Blacks.
“The Call to Prayer happens five times a day and for the first week it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit and it’s the most beautiful, beautiful thing.”
Liam’s right, one of the most calming sounds you can hear, provided A) the local imam hasn’t decided to jack up the amplifiers in a pissing contest with the mosque down the street and B) it isn’t followed up by forty-five minutes of ranting sermons into the mike at full volume.
Quite right, Harry. When I first visited Singapore my hotel was in a Muslim district directly opposite a mosque. We arrived late in the evening and the next morning at dawn I awoke to the most beautiful melodic Call to Prayer. I had never heard anything like it. He was the best Muezzin I have heard then or since.
One of my pleasures is the 4.30am call, thankfully our local imam is a considerate bloke and intones it very gently (there are assholes who feel the need to blast it out at top volume) at that point everyone else, maids, workers, drivers etc are getting up and getting ready for a day’s work, for me it’s notice that I can roll over for another couple of hours’ kip.
The evening call is my favourite, just as the sun is setting and the heat of the day subsides and across the city quietly at first and then a cacophony of calls to prayers for the faithful or in my case time to pour the first large G&T of the evening, allahu akhbar.