Mark Paul

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

It began with a handwritten shop notice. A passerby photographed it in early June in the window of Butler’s newsagents in Archway, north London. Over the decades the area had been a magnet for Irish immigrants, but the community aged. Younger London Irish now favour Hackney or Clapham. Meanwhile, Archway’s green army went grey. The notice announced the death and upcoming funeral of Martin Fallon (73), originally from Sligo. It had a grainy passport-style photo of him.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

Europe should “quit whining” about the threats it faces and “act like the superpower” that it is, according to a former senior US army officer. Ben Hodges, a retired lieutenant general who led US forces in Europe from 2014 to 2017, also said European Nato members including Germany should prepare for future Russian air strikes on their air and sea ports.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

For supporters of Belfast rap trio Kneecap it was, as the handwritten sign slapped on the wall of Westminster Magistrates Court surmised, a “grand day out for the parish”. Hundreds of the band’s fans and a noisy legion of pro-Palestinian activists, many of them Irish, waved Tricolours and thronged the front of the court on Wednesday morning in advance of a hearing in the case of band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh. The regular court reporters said they had never witnessed a scene like it.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

The Conservative Party as the standard bearer of centre-right British politics faces “long term extinction” unless it appeals to younger voters, a study has found. Bright Blue, a London think tank linked to the party’s liberal wing, also warned that “sudden philosophical shifts” under different Tory leaders in recent years had severely damaged its reputation with voters, who now doubted its competence.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Mark Paul

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party is often touted by its critics as a one-man band. Events of recent weeks point to another emerging personality in the party who is viewed by many in British politics as possessing box-office quality. Former Goldman Sachs banker Zia Yusuf (38), the Scotland-born Muslim son of Sri Lankan immigrants, seems an unlikely candidate for prominence in an insurgent English nationalist party.