Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

 

 

 

this a great mystery with a twist you will not see coming a mile off!

 

When multi-millionaire Simeon Lee unexpectedly invites his family to gather at his home for Christmas, the gesture is met with suspicion by many of the guests. Simeon is not given to family sentiment, and not all of the family are on good terms with one another. To make things worse, he has invited the black sheep of the family, Harry, and Simeon’s granddaughter, Pilar, whom none of them has ever met before. Simeon is intent on playing a sadistic game with his family’s emotions. An unexpected guest – Stephen Farr, son of Simeon Lee’s former partner in the diamond mines – means that the house is full of potential suspects when the game turns deadly.

Galway Alliance Against War statement re Niall Farrell Limerick 1st of Augustr Farrell will surrender himself to the Gardaí today @ 1pm

GALWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST WAR

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

GALWAY PEACE ACTIVIST DEMANDS POLITICAL STATUS

 

 

Niall Farrell of the peace group Galway Alliance Against War has written to the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, demanding that he be treated as a political prisoner when he starts a two week sentence on Friday.

 

Mr Farrell was arrested on two occasions along with Margaretta D’Arcy as they held a peaceful protest on the runway at Shannon airport. They are opposed to the US military’s use of the airport as a forward base in the illegal wars of Washington and its proxies.

 

In his letter to Minister Fitzgerald, Niall Farrell argues that his “actions at Shannon airport were specifically to oppose the continuing criminality taking place there…. Indeed, as I write, cargoes of death that have travelled freely through Shannon airport or Irish airspace are raining down in an act of genocide on the helpless people of Gaza. It is not I who is the criminal, rather those in the Irish state who have willingly been an accessory to these crimes against humanity carried out via Shannon airport and Irish airspace by the US war machine and its proxies.”

 

Mr Farrell concludes the letter to the Minister stating: “By sending me to Limerick Prison to serve this sentence the Irish state is attempting to criminalise my peaceful political actions. I cannot and will not accept this. I demand the right to be treated as a political prisoner and if I am not, I will not conform while in jail.”

 

The Galway Alliance Against War will hold a peace event at 1pm this Friday, August 1st , at the Liam Mellows’ statue on Eyre Square, Galway before Mr Farrell surrenders himself to the Gardaí. 

 

Below a copy of the letter to the Minister for Justice from Niall Farrell

 

30th July 2014

 

Dear Frances Fitzgerald,

 

I am writing in relation to my impending imprisonment in Limerick Gaol for having apparently “interfered with the proper use” of Shannon airport last Sept 1st (2013). On Friday by telephone the Garda Warrants’ Office in Galway informed me that there is a warrant for my arrest to serve two weeks imprisonment as a result of my conviction at Ennis District Court in June 2014. I have arranged to be arrested this coming Friday on my return from having been abroad.

 

I wish to make it clear that my so-called offence was political, not criminal. I am therefore calling on you to have me treated as a political prisoner, while I am very briefly in jail. By sending me to Limerick Prison to serve this sentence I believe the Irish state is not only trying to criminalise me, but also criminalise the Peace Movement in Ireland.

 

My actions at Shannon airport were specifically to oppose the continuing criminality taking place there. On a daily basis for some 13 years the US military has transported millions of troops and unknown quantities of weaponry to warzones – the result has been the deaths of at least one million innocent people and the destruction of once successfully functioning societies. Indeed, as I write cargoes of death that have travelled freely through Shannon airport or Irish airspace are raining down in an act of genocide on the helpless people of Gaza.

 

It is not I who is the criminal, rather those in the Irish state who have willingly been an accessory to these crimes against humanity carried out via Shannon airport and Irish airspace by the US war machine and its proxies.

 

I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: “Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.”

 

Judge Patrick Durcan, who was the trial judge, did not see any relevance in the Nuremberg Principles. But, of course, he wouldn’t , would he? Judge Durcan has good Fine Gael pedigree: a former FG Senator, the election agent of Michael Ring at the last general election, even a former running mate of Enda Kenny, who – lo and behold – elevated him to the bench months after Fine Gael took power.

 

So, not only was the “offence” committed by Margaretta D’Arcy and myself political, but the judge who tried us, Patrick Durcan, stems from the very Fine Gael elite that allows the criminality at Shannon to continue unimpeded.

 

In other words, this case for which I am being imprisoned for two weeks is top to bottom political. By sending me to Limerick Prison to serve this sentence the Irish state is attempting to criminalise my peaceful political actions. I cannot and will not accept this. I demand the right to be treated as a political prisoner and if I am not, I will not conform while in jail.

 

Yours,

 

Niall Farrell

 

 

 

Auntie War Galway co-founder Niall Farrell on a documentary about his sister Mairead

 

 This statement was originally put on Auntie War’s Facebook Profile in early July 2014 at a few minues to 1pm on the 8th of July 

 This statement was obviously intendended for Irish news outlets (Papers,radio RTE,TV, blogs like mine and websites

STATEMENT FOR  PRESS BY NIALL FARRELL: ON ANOTHER WOMAN’S WOUND – THE BACKGROUND TO THE MAKING OF A DOCUMENTARY ON THE LIFE & DEATH OF MAIREAD FARRELL

 This statement was obviously intendended for Irish news outlets (Papers,radio RTE,TV, blogs like mine and websites

No member of the extended Farrell family participated in the making of the documentary, “An Unfinished Conversation…”, on the life and death of my only sister Mairead

 

This is a brief explanation as to why we felt compelled not to participate.

 

The unjust killing by the British state of Mairead on March 6th 1988 was the most harrowing experience to befall our family and it was one that in my own case has left deep scars. The dramatic nature of Mairead’s short life and brutal death attracted many seeking to document it in print and film. With the wise advice of our lawyer Paddy McGrory we learnt from earlier mistakes and became much more cautious when dealing with the miscellaneous branches of the media.

 

The author of “An Unfinished Conversation…”, Briona Nic Dhiarmada, had been working with Mairead on a book about her life at the time of the murder. In 1989 Briona produced a manuscript, which I was given the task by my parents of reading. In the family’s view this ‘biography’ was deeply flawed. The main thesis was that Mairead’s political activism from her joining the Republican Movement till her death in Gibraltar stemmed from her need to “fit in” amongst her peers in the Republican Movement. This was not the confident, extrovert, intelligent and determined Mairead we knew and we believed said more about Nic Dhiarmada’s inadequacies rather than those of my sister. For that reason we decided to give Nic Dhiarmada a wide berth.

 

The above thesis contrasts markedly with Professor (sic) Nic Dhiarmada’s new-found assessment of my sister’s life as reproduced on the website of the US Notre Dame University: “I strongly believe that Mairéad Farrell was a product of her environment and a product of Irish history.”

 

Where and when she had her Pauline conversion I do not know, nor do I care.

 

Enter The Republican Movement

 

In the Summer of 2012 while I was on holiday abroad I received a call from what I will loosely call a leading figure in the Republican Movement. He informed me that Nic Dhiarmada had teamed up with Dublin-based filmmakers with the goal of making a documentary of Mairead’s life. I expressed my serious reservations about Nic Dhiarmada, but agreed to discuss it further on my return to Ireland. However, it soon transpired that filming of the documentary was well underway. The “big shots” within the Republican Movement had already done a deal with Nic Dhiarmada et al without having the common decency to inform us straight away of the proposal. Faced with such a fait accompli I decided to have nothing to do with the documentary and asked family members to do the same.

 

During the 1990s the leadership of the Republican Movement created what they call the “Republican Family”. Being the brother of an IRA martyr I have found myself forcibly adopted into this “family”. It has meant receiving calls to establish my views on such absurd things as Martin McGuinness shaking hands with Frau Battenberg aka Elizabeth Windsor. But when it came to something close to my heart, my sister, I receive no call. Of course, such underhand, deceitful actions are par for the course with these “big shot republicans”. One thing is clear: the Republican Movement would not allow its members to participate in a documentary about the families of the “republican royalty” without first getting the assent of these “royals”.

 

The Documentary

 

The title of  Briona Nic Dhiarmada’s documentary “An Unfinished Conversation..” puts, as I expected, the filmmaker centre stage. It will no doubt improve her career and help fill the coffers of the Dublin company involved. That is why I believe “On Another Woman’s Wound” would be a more appropriate title for the documentary.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In the greater scheme of things the making of this documentary is of little importance. There are more critical issues to be focused on from Ireland’s participation in mass murder via Shannon airport to mass unemployment, mass poverty, mass emigration etc etc that exists in Ireland. My daughter, newly-elected Sinn Fein councilor Mairead Farrell, and I agree that it is more important that she concentrates on the concerns of her constituents than become involved in this saga.

WE’RE STILL HERE… – MY SON’S NOT RAINMAN

http://www.mysonsnotrainman.com/blog/were-still-here

New Editing and Media Updates Are Here

Gary Sinise, Steppenwolf Theatre Company co-founder

 

Gary Sinise is a co-founder of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He is a three-time Tony-nominee, twice for acting in Steppenwolf’s productions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Grapes of Wrath and once for Best Director of Buried Child. Gary has also directed some of Steppenwolf’s most notable productions, including Orphans, the Viet Nam veteran drama Tracers and Sam Shepard’s True West, which he later performed with John Malkovich in Steppenwolf’s New York debut and received an Obie award for directing. He’s appeared in many films including Apollo 13, Ransom, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting actor for Forrest Gump. On the small screen he’s won the Emmy for Best Actor in George Wallace and a Golden Globe for Truman, and appeared in CSI: New York. He plays electric bass in his band, The Lt. Dan Band, and is committed to Operation International Children, a grassroots program he co-created with author Laura Hillenbrand that sends school supplies to our troops which are then distributed to children in the conflict areas where they are deployed. In 2008 he was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal for his humanitarian work, the second highest honor an American can receive.

Some of his credits and awards 

Film

Actor The Big Bounce; The Human Stain; A Gentleman’s Game; Imposter; Mission to Mars; Reindeer Games; The Green Mile; It’s the Rage; Bruno; Snake Eyes; Ransom; Albino Alligator; Apollo 13; The Quick and the Dead; Forrest Gump; Jack the Bear; Of Mice and Men; A Midnight Clear. Director Of Mice and Men; Miles From Home.

Television

Fallen Angel (Hallmark); That Championship Season (Showtime); George Wallace (TNT); Truman(HBO); The Stand (ABC).

Awards

Golden Globe (Truman); Obie Award (True West); Tony Award nomination (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Grapes of Wrath; Buried Child); Screen Actors Guild Award, Emmy Award and Cable ACE Award (George Wallace and Truman); National Board of Review Award (Forrest Gump); Academy Award nomination (Forrest Gump). Presidential Citizen Medal (2008)

Alan Ayckbourn’s A Small Family Busines kids week august

Kids Week is all about introducing children to the magic of London theatre during the month of august 

Alan Ayckbourn’s A Small Family Business, a riotous exposure of entrepreneurial greed, returns to the National where it premiered in 1987.

What if all your in-laws are outlaws?

Jack McCracken: a man of principle in a corrupt world. But not for long. Moments after taking over his father-in-law’s business he’s approached by a private detective armed with some compromising information. Jack’s integrity fades away as he discovers his extended family to be thieves and adulterers, looting the business from their suburban homes. Rampant self-interest takes over and comic hysteria builds to a macabre climax.

Well, that’s one down, isn’t it. Nine to go. Next! Thou shalt not kill. What about that then? Let’s have a crack at that one next, shall we?

 

A child aged 16 or under can go free to these performances when accompanied by an adult paying full price

This offer is subject to availability, cannot be used in conjunction with any other discounts and does not apply to tickets previously purchased.

 

 

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, Situations Vacant, Jobs in Galway – Irish Jobs | Galway Advertiser

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, Situations Vacant, Jobs in Galway – Irish Jobs | Galway Advertiser.

Positive Trans Visibility Matters at GAZE Film Festival

EILE Magazine

Phillipa from ‘I Am‘. [Image: TENI] Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) are hosting a special free event that is taking place as part of this year’s GAZE film festival.

The screening of My Transgender Journey will take place on Friday, August 1 at 2.45pm in the Red Room, at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield.

This will be followed by a panel discussion, and we are delighted to announce that panelists include the documentary’s producer Cat Steel; Sam and Louise who were featured in the film; and Broden Giambrone, Chief Executive of TENI, who will discuss the importance of trans visibility. TENI’s Aoife O’Driscoll will Chair proceedings. 

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The Man Booker Prize Longlist 2014: Where Are the Women?

The Writes of Womxn

In 1996, Kate Mosse established what is now the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction in response to the 1991 Booker Prize all-male shortlist (this was prior to the release of longlisted titles) in a year when 60% of novels published were written by females. Since then, the prize has been subjected to criticism over the decision to make it a women only award, criticism that has only increased in recent years as Hilary Mantel and Eleanor Catton have gone on to win the Booker from shortlists which had gender parity. Unfortunately today’s longlist has demonstrated exactly why the Women’s Fiction Prize is so important.

Let’s start with a positive and offer huge congratulations to Karen Joy Fowler for the wonderful We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (a novel overlooked – in my opinion – by the Bailey’s Prize earlier this year); Siri Hustvedt (one of the first Americans to be…

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