Pat Carty

3 days ago | loudersound.com | Pat Carty

To paraphrase the wise and powerful Elton John, a fella who’d sell his big toe to put on a great show, I remember when rock was fun, so I don’t have to think too long and hard about driving the 200km from Dublin to Limerick to see The Darkness, a band dear to the hearts of anyone who likes their music to sport a permanent grin/leer.

3 days ago | inkl.com | Pat Carty

Justin Hawkins onstage. To paraphrase the wise and powerful Elton John, a fella who’d sell his big toe to put on a great show, I remember when rock was fun, so I don’t have to think too long and hard about driving the 200km from Dublin to Limerick to see The Darkness, a band dear to the hearts of anyone who likes their music to sport a permanent grin/leer.

1 week ago | sof.news | Pat Carty

By Pat Carty. The UK Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 2025 – a very wordy but comprehensive assessment of the United Kingdom’s defence policy, was published on June 2, 2025, by the Labour government, and just weeks ahead of a crucial NATO Summit in the Hague. It was the first SDR since 2003 under Labour leadership and commissioned by Prime Minister the Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP. It proclaimed “that the UK will move to war-fighting readiness, by adopting a “NATO-first” posture”.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Pat Carty

In dire straits, as he often was, James Joyce latched on to a casual remark from his sister Eva, who was visiting her brother in Trieste, about the lack of a cinema in Dublin. Securing Italian syndicate backing, Joyce returned to Ireland and the Cinematograph Volta opened on Mary Street in December 1909. Once it was up and running Joyce retreated to Italy but the nascent business ran aground soon after and the struggling author remained, for the time being at least, potless.

2 weeks ago | independent.ie | Pat Carty

Stuart Maconie’s tribute to the band who were a ‘hand-grenade of rainbows’ deserves its place on the increasingly crowded bookshelves dedicated to the Fab FourAre the Beatles possibly more popular now than ever? Consider The Beatles In Mono vinyl boxset. Originally issued in 2014, it quickly sold out because hopeless cases like me couldn’t get their hands into their pockets quickly enough.