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The Black Christ?
Arthur John Dooley (17 January 1929 – 7 January 1994) went from being a welder at Cammell Laird shipbuilders on leaving school, to developing as an artist making impassioned religious sculptures in metal, via the Irish Guards, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and a cleaning job at St. Martin’s School of Art, where he finally found… Continue reading
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|St Patrick and the Irish
The saints day has been marked in Ireland since the 10th Century but became a holy day celebrated by both the Catholic and Anglican churches after a campaign by Franciscan friar Luke Waddington and was established in 1631 on the day of the Saint’s death 17th March. The feast day became a rallying and meeting point for the Irish… Continue reading
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Cries of pain
A symphony of pain or a discordant melody I’m not sure which is closer. As the bus bounced and jolted through the Irish countryside pain played its tune. Bass notes were constant and would rumble and vibrate while the higher ones danced and darted here and there, my left arm was immobile. The hand trembled,… Continue reading
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A Chimney Fire and a Moron
A chimney fire sounds like an oxymoron, words that shouldn’t go together, or sound odd, like Everton and winning, or conservative and caring. But go together they did, the chimney and the fire: not Lizz Truss suddenly caring about the tens of thousands she plunged into fear of bankruptcy, or Boris giving a toss about… Continue reading
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Derry and the Nature of Loss
The marching bands formed high up in the Creggan estate and their rhythms filled the streets. Palestinian flags were everywhere on the march in solidarity with those in Gaza suffering the bombardment from Israel, and for a ceasefire. The wind and rain were determined to whip the march and the flags, but the effect was… Continue reading
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Hope is not the answer in 2024
The devastation and death in Ukraine and Gaza are a denial of Hope, rather than Hope we should look to her daughters. “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” ― Augustine of Hippo I… Continue reading
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How do you determine your own identity when you’re born in England, but don’t identify with ‘Englishness’?
The recent death and funeral of Shane MacGowan has sparked an outpouring of grief internationally, for a musician and poet who fused the sensibilities of 70s punk with traditional Irish music. MacGowan was born in the UK of Irish parents, like another leading light of punk – John Lydon, or Johnny Rotten, of Sex Pistols… Continue reading
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The Mighty Shane and Sinéad Part 2
Most readers of this blog will know by now, that one of my my older brothers committed suicide while in the British Army in Ireland. He was nineteen at the time, I was three days short of my fifteenth birthday. At the age of thirteen I read the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, and then followed up… Continue reading
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The Mighty Shane and Sinéad
I was recently reminded of my earliest flirtations with punk, I was never a full on punk and went to Eric’s no more than once or twice. I remember Bernie Connor who lived in the same street, playing The Stranglers’ ‘Peaches’ single to me when it first came out, he went on to become an… Continue reading
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Who tells our story?
‘A love letter to Liverpool with a touch of Peaky Blinders’ Story telling is a tradition in many cultures. It becomes a way of passing on the history and culture of a people through legends and myths, often of heroes and villains, sometimes of ordinary people and their way of life. In and around the… Continue reading
About Me
Thanks for visiting my page. The aim of this page is to let you know what I am working on and allow you to tell me what you think.
I was born and raised in Speke Liverpool, although my parents first lived ‘Under The Bridge’ in Garston, and all my family goes back to Wicklow in Ireland.
The Liverpool Mystery series will be four novels, three books; Under The Bridge, The Morning After, and Fire Next Time are finished. Under The Bridge will be published in Feb 2021 and I hope at least one more will follow later in the year. I am writing The Wicklow Boys now, and I hope to finish it next year.
My writing like my blog is about the lives of working people and how they relate to society as a whole.
My collection of short stories The One Road is available below click to see details.
Jack Byrne 