3 days Ago
On December 31, 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on St James’s Gate for £45 a year – securing the home of Ireland’s iconic stout. One can’t help but admire Arthur’s optimism. Few leases, like few drinks, stand the test of time so well.
As we toast the New Year, let’s raise a glass to the Irish gift for long-term thinking. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Co Armagh Now, more than ever, the world could do with a man of Jimmy Carter’s integrity We could all aspire to be more like Jimmy Carter in 2025. He was a man of towering decency and moral courage who lived a relatively simple life in the small town of Plains, Georgia.
Carter captured the world’s attention for his dedication to human rights and philanthropy, winning a Nobel Prize in 2002. May he and his late wife Rosalynn rest for ever with the angels in heaven. Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry The USA I dreamed about shone in films and real life too, but those days are over Through his words and his deeds, Jimmy Carter proved himself to be a wise and good man.
Here are a couple of his musings: “We have not assumed that super strength guarantees super wisdom...
global challenges must be met with an emphasis on peace, in harmony with others, with strong alliances and international consensus.” “I decided that the most serious and universal problem is the growing chasm between the richest and poorest people on Earth.” “In the industrialised world, there is a terrible absence of understanding or concern about those who are enduring lives of despair and hopelessness.
We have not yet made the commitment to share with others an appreciable part of our excessive wealth.” When you read those quotes from Carter, you realise how far the US, and neoliberal power the world over, has drifted from even pretending to believe in such values. That fig leaf has long since blown away and we are now in the winter of democracy.
Politics of today is in direct conflict with the sentiments expressed by Carter, not only in its greed and cruelty, but also in its adulation of those who appear crudely inarticulate. Reading those words of the late former US president made me think of him fondly. He was the last American president who had an air of Jimmy Stewart decency about him.
Carter was born in 1924, the year before Oscar Peterson, BB King and Sammy Davis Jr. He was a bridge to other eras of America. Roosevelt’s New Deal, Duke Ellington, bebop, classic Hollywood, Red Scare, Vietnam, jazz, civil rights.
It goes on: Angela Davis, 1970s New York, funk, Robert De Niro, The Ramones, Isaac Hayes, Martin Scorsese. Americans whose films I watched, whose albums I listened to and whose books I read. It was an America that I dreamed about but only visited once – a parallel world that flickered on cinema screens and swung in the worn grooves of my records.
That America is in the rubble now, choking on its decaying pride. Billy Ó Hanluain, Kimmage, Dublin 12 They are fewer in number, but the brilliance of rural pubs is clearer than ever While visiting my native Co Mayo, I wandered into a small, remote pub on Saturday night at 9pm. The life-long owner behind the bar greeted me with “welcome, young man”.
I appreciatively replied with the words “a great welcome”. It was a good two-and-a-half years since I graced the public house, but I still received a welcome from Peter behind the bar, who was wearing a pair of jeans and a cosy jumper. The only pumps on the bar counter were Guinness and Smithwick’s and a limited section of drinks were available on the shelves behind Peter.
The old stools at the bar – nine in total – each had a male customer firmly in place along the counter, all facing inward. I shuffled in between the bar stools and ordered drinks for myself and my guests. While my two guests sat down near the turf fire, they looked around in amazement at the simplicity of the old pub.
Peter presented my drinks and said “that will be a tenner”. I passed over my €10 note, which he placed in a box. I delivered the drinks to the table near the turf fire and briefly sat down with my two guests.
I was intrigued by the old photographs on the wall and got up to examine them further. One of the nine men on the bar stools recognised me and asked how London was treating me. Within a few minutes, it was like a press conference after a football match with all the questions being sent my way.
While answering the questions, it sunk in that the pub had no background music, which meant the art of conversation flowed easily. A small television in the corner was turned off and there wasn’t a mobile phone in sight. Finally, I returned to my guests, who were admiring the simplicity of this rural pub that only opened from 7pm.
As we sat and talked, I noticed a Covid poster still on the toilet door advising customers of social distancing. It was never removed and is maybe a reminder of sad times gone by. Peter attempted to join us for a chat, but he was interrupted by new customers arriving.
The conversations continued to flow among the high-stool brigade and the few sitting at tables. We got up to leave 45 minutes later and Peter acknowledged our visit. “We will meet again soon for a chat,” he said, standing proudly behind his Guinness pump.
I was glad I made the visit. It reminded me that rural pubs make a difference to both locals and visitors. Seamus Joyce, Richmond, London Photographers’ vital work lays bare the cruelties and ills of our troubled world The publication of photos of the year from across all media outlets tell, without a single word, the most powerful stories of the outgoing year.
To the great credit of those behind the lens – of which Ireland boasts a very talented crew – the photos of 2024 arouse all the emotions, from sheer joy to revulsion. Eyad Baba’s photographs of life in Gaza cloud our generation in great shame. His photograph of the Palestinian child Hanan is disturbing but the world needs to see it.
Hanan’s burns, along with the hopeless expression on her face, is challenging to look at. Her legs, now just stumps, are heavily bandaged, the consequence of a bombing that also killed her parents. It is unlikely that Hanan will ever see justice.
Utterly shameful. Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city.
