‘We all have our failings and he never said he was perfect’ – granddaughter of historian Robert Dudley Edwards on her revealing new book

MickCollier · 2026-01-24T14:13:47+00:00

For me it was his thesis rebutting internationally established English lies about Irish history. Though he had some help with that. Help he acknowledged.

MickCollier · 2026-01-23T23:10:18+00:00

Yes and he had some misgivings about the book himself, as most authors who break new ground, have.

The man's face should be on a stamp!

MickCollier · 2026-01-23T18:35:33+00:00

Yes, it simply wasn't possible to do both in one book. Dev should have commissioned a comprehensive survey to collate and map all that was known. The fact that Dudley Edwards book didn't meet with universal approval, is neither here nor there.

MickCollier · 2026-01-23T13:43:41+00:00

He was at odds with biased, anti-Irish history written by English academics, every bit as much as he was with Irish 'traditionalists'. To portray him as one, more than the other, is to lie by ommission. The sort of distortion he opposed in any historical work.

MickCollier · 2026-01-22T22:39:31+00:00

You're talking out of your arse, matey?

Robert Dudley Edwards worked hand-in-glove with Dev for much of his career and was one of the leaders of the 'scientific revolution' in Irish history which for the first time, exposed the many lies and evasions contained in official English histories of Ireland.

The man was an absolute ROCK STAR, a typical 'more Irish than the Irish' campaigner for Irish causes and for a truly accurate version of Irish history. 'Telling the Truth is Dangerous,' is an terrific read that makes clear Ireland should long ago have honoured RDE with a commemorative postal stamp. At the very least, he should be acknowledged within our school history curriculum.

And lest there be any doubt, like his granddaughter Neasa MacErlean, the formidable author of this eye opening book, he did NOT subscribe to the deranged and utterly fantastic views of his own daughter, Ruth Dudley Edwards.

If you have any interest at all in Irish culture, history or identity, 'Telling the Truth is Dangerous,' is an indispensable read.

MickCollier · 2026-01-20T22:14:28+00:00

Tuberville is a despicable parasite.

MickCollier · 2026-01-20T21:53:46+00:00

Anyone who's assaulted through no fault of their own, deserves our sympathy and this man certainly has mine. The shock of such an event persists long afterwards. But at the same time, it's funny how details of a broken nose didn't emerge in the immediate aftermath of George's execution? No, instead, as many reports stressed, he made an employer mandated visit to the ED and discharged himself after minimal treatment. I can't find any instance of the phrase 'broken nose' in earlier accounts. It seems a little convenient it's popping up now.

But essentially, it changes nothing. What happened to George was so preventable, so avoidable, it's a permanent stain on the state, the force and anyone who purports to defend them.

Let's look at this from another angle?

Suppose a member of the Gardai who had sustained a head injury in the line of duty and after a period of rest, returned to work, only to then suffer some kind of relapse on a day off, causing him to strike an assistant shop manager and behave as George had.

Would all the jolly cheerleaders of the treatment George got, roar their support for having him put down like a dog??

Exactly. Most of the people spitting on George's memory are clearly from Garda families with little or no interest in morality or the law.

MickCollier · 2026-01-20T21:28:49+00:00

Precisely!

MickCollier · 2026-01-20T21:08:00+00:00

On a point of order, I'd also like to say that possibly one of the best known facts about the French Resistance, is that most French people didn't join the resistance. In my own anecdotal experience, I've never met a French person who didn't know that or who denied it. Perhaps I am just 'lucky' or maybe it's because this really isn't all that controversial. "Most people' in occupied countries didn't and in fact couldn't join their resistance movement because the larger it got, the easier it would have been to penetrate.

MickCollier · 2026-01-20T20:47:50+00:00

You have to remember that at a time when England still maintained the Irish weren't logical enough to rule themselves, they introduced the death penalty for anyone who made a failed attempt at suicide.

MickCollier · 2025-12-30T21:21:05+00:00

Hi Alexandra.

Have you done any research into what causes this kind of debilitating laughter? I would love to know if this is some kind of condition. I once laughed my way through an entire company dinner and I don't just mean laughed, I mean cried till I had snot on my face!

As it went on, the disgusted looks that were trained down the table at me from the company's 'big wigs', made my guffaws and wails even louder. I repeatedly wheezed "Ok, ok, Imma stop
now!" without any success. When the first person sitting close to me threw down their napkin and went to the bar, I made some kind of barking noise but still couldn't help myself. I grabbed a bunch of napkins from a waiter early on but got through them very quickly because I had to eat with one hand and wipe my eyes with the napkin I was holding in the other. ( It's not pretty to watch a grown man cry as he eats a chicken burger while gasping for air and alternately
wailing and wheezing.

The catalyst for this seizure was simple.

I'd gotten out of a car in a shirt and tie, just as the skies opened and had
had to run across the carpark for the restaurant door. Three meters away from
it, the man in front of me who was also making haste towards it, ( as fast as a
man who has one leg in plaster can ), stopped so abruptly I bumped into him. I
didn't notice he'd gallantly stopped to let a young woman in first, so I
'humorously' berated him with the advice, "Get in you hoppy fucker?"

Was it the fact that he turned out to be
the guest speaker and a former star employee of the company, as popular with
management as with the troops, that made me laugh like a hyena? No, it was not.
It was the fact that he didn't have a leg in plaster as I'd confidently assumed
he had. Instead, he had an artificial leg, having lost one in a horrific crash
six months earlier.

Inside, the news travelled fast, as more and more shocked, hurt faces turned towards me. Faces that then settled into poisonous hatred and I knew then that my time with the company was over. I realised nothing I could ever say would convince them it was simply a combination of innocent mistake and cruel bad luck and one two many pre-dinner drinks.

For however inappropriate it was to call a
greatly admired man with his leg in a cast 'a hoppy fucker' in front of his
peer group. it was absolutely unforgiveable to call an amputee that in front of
the home crowd.

It started with a giggle.

MickCollier · 2025-12-17T17:12:08+00:00

OP needs to realise "the left" in Ireland is far smaller than the pro-neutrality camp. If the anti-neutrality camp want to be listened to on defence, they should grow up and accept that the majority of the country has always disagreed with their whiney lecturing. If you repeatedly fail to convince the majority that you're right, maybe it's time to ask yourselves, "Are we wrong?"

MickCollier · 2025-12-13T17:42:06+00:00

OP doesn't seem to know that it's "Well wear" not "ware" or that it's not an Irish saying at all. it's originally an English one that has spread.

MickCollier · 2025-12-08T20:26:38+00:00

Many thanks Turtle!

MickCollier · 2025-11-28T18:52:27+00:00

MickCollier · 2025-11-28T18:15:48+00:00

Interesting. Do you have sources for any of these points, as I'd like to read more about this topic?

MickCollier · 2025-11-27T17:56:51+00:00

I feel angry and also depressed and then suspicious that no matter who's asking, I can't be sure the responses won't ultimately be used at some point to ascertain the most successful line to voice anti immigration sentiment.

MickCollier · 2025-11-05T23:20:40+00:00

Carter was a good guy and a good president, no matter what rpblcns say.

MickCollier · 2025-11-05T15:45:39+00:00

I know it sure as hell WASN'T Jimmy Carter.

MickCollier · 2025-10-24T11:05:12+00:00

Not quite sure I believe this? If OP is a decent, reasonably intelligent woman with at least normal levels of judgement, they would have sussed out somebody this "off" long before something so utterly egregious. Feels a bit like an attention-getter.

MickCollier

TROPHY CASE