Dublin’s quiet march toward Judenfrei
Dublin’s councillors have seen sense – for now. They were due to vote today on a proposal to rename the…
Rachel Reeves may have just killed the Great British pub
It is just after tea-time on Budget day, and my pub is already half-empty. A few hours ago, Rachel Reeves…
Britain has imported Ireland’s sectarian strife
At times, I still hear my late father, Sean O’Callaghan’s, voice echoing in my mind. Sean died in 2017 but…
Why Jeremy Clarkson’s pub, The Farmer’s Dog, is thriving
The tale of the death of the British pub has been well told. Around eight boozers a week are serving…
Charlie Kirk could have been president
As with so many political assassinations across the Atlantic – the Kennedys, Martin Luther King –Charlie Kirk’s killer is likely…
Let’s raise a pint to BrewDog – and hope it bounces back
BrewDog is in trouble. Its beers have been axed by nearly 2,000 pubs. Punk IPA – once a craft beer…
The great British pub is not dead yet
My Oxfordshire taproom used to sing on Fridays: carpenters, teachers and office clerks, knackered from the week’s graft, would elbow…
Norman Tebbit, forgiveness and my father, the IRA bomber
Norman Tebbit, who died this week at the age of 94, embodied a sterner Britain. His political career was remarkable…
Red tape is ruining Britain’s pubs
Takings were falling. Regulars were drifting away. Our pub was in a bad way. It was clear that things needed…
The sad death of the English pub
It was a drizzly Tuesday evening in the 17th-century Oxford village pub I manage, the kind of night when regulars…
Why do some Irish people hate Israel so much?
It was a quiet lunch shift at the pub in Oxford where I work, the kind of day when the…
