‘He may be a son of a bitch but he’s our son of a bitch’ was an oft-used expression by the US military in the 1970s to explain their country’s support for the many brutal US-backed dictators then in power in Latin America.

Once again, social media was awash with images of 12th of July bonfires adorned with the flags of the Republic, Gay Pride, Palestine, together with election banners of non-unionist parties.

It is more than 100 years since Mayo last beat Galway five times in succession in championship football.

Speaking at the History of Hurling one-day seminar held at The Schoolhouse venue at Muckross House in Killarney last Saturday, one of the most stylish forwards of his era reflected on a 19-year senior inter-county career.

The discovery in Munich of artefacts stolen by the Nazis has prompted examination of the origins of exotic items in our museums in Ireland.

Mayo supporters and managers have been down this path before.

The conversation on the neutrality issue within the columns of the Irish Examiner is enlightening and long overdue.

‘What is history but a fable agreed upon’ is a well-known dictum attributed to Napoleon but one which Minister Shatter, Prof Roberts of UCC and others seem determined to uphold, in their critique of Ireland’s failure to join the ‘fight for freedom’ alongside the ‘anti-fascist Allied coalition’ in 1939.

THE dust will shortly settle on this presidential election.

AT the world atheist convention in Dublin last weekend, Labour Party Senator Ivana Bacik warned of “a creeping fundamentalism in Irish life”.

FOR years the Kilkenny-Tipperary rivalry lay idle, softened by the few intermittent meetings that the passing summers deemed fit to bestow, but the Fenians club experienced its resurrection first-hand this time last year.

The state of Israel was identified as the single “greatest threat to world peace” by EU citizens in a European Commission poll in 2003.

They’re tied on 30 All-Ireland titles each, but there’s more at stake at Croke Park tomorrow for Cork and Kilkenny than statistics. Stars of the 70’s, Cork’s Brian Murphy and Kilkenny’s Phil ‘Fan’ Larkin discuss battles past and tomorrow’s semi-final with Diarmuid O’Flynn.

Kilkenny’s great hurling nursery is St Kieran’s College. Michael Moynihan visited a place where they take the game so seriously one of their pitches is lined to exactly the same dimensions as Croke Park.

A GREAT weekend for Irish rugby was tarnished somewhat by the discourtesy last week shown to the visiting team, Perpignan, and supporters by the Munster Council.

KILKENNY’S failure to win the Leinster minor title three years ago had been a powerful motivating force behind their All-Ireland Under-21 success in Thurles on Sunday, believes selector Mick Dempsey.

“DID you know that Christmas is cancelled in Bethlehem this year because the Americans have taken over?,” my eight-year-old asked me the other day.

GARDAÍ in Galway are considering whether to investigate the activities of a specialised Compaq computer engineering group after a formal complaint was lodged by Irish CND and anti-war activists.