Who was Charles Boycott, the English land agent who inspired the word ‘boycott'?
The word 'boycott' is now an everyday part of the English language, but only goes back as far as the 19th century – and its origins are tied directly to Ireland.
Senior Mayo County Council official Tom Gilligan has called for a boycott of holiday-home owners to bring vacant properties back into full-time use to help tackle the housing crisis.
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Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Irish Examiner
Trump administration open to discussion on key issues, Merz says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said his meeting with President Donald Trump convinced him that the US administration is open to discussion on key issues. Mr Merz described his Oval Office meeting and extended lunch with Mr Trump on Thursday as constructive but also candid, noting the two leaders expressed different views on Ukraine. He said: 'Yesterday, in the meeting at the Oval Office, I expressed a distinctly different position on the topic of Ukraine than the one Trump had taken, and not only was there no objection, but we discussed it in detail again over lunch.' The White House meeting marked the first time the two sat down in person. Let's stop talking about Donald Trump with a raised finger and wrinkled nose. You have to talk with him, not about him Mr Merz, who became chancellor in May, avoided the kind of confrontations in the Oval Office that have tripped up other world leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa. The German chancellor presented Mr Trump with a gold-framed birth certificate of the president's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who emigrated from Kallstadt, Germany. Mr Trump called Mr Merz a 'very good man to deal with'. The American administration, Mr Merz said, is open to discussion, listens and is willing to accept differing opinions. He added: 'Let's stop talking about Donald Trump with a raised finger and wrinkled nose. You have to talk with him, not about him.' Mr Merz said he also met with senators on Capitol Hill, urging them to recognise the scale of Russian rearmament. 'Please take a look at how far Russia's armament is going, what they are currently doing there; you obviously have no idea what's happening,' he said he told them. 'In short, you can talk to them, but you must not let yourself be intimidated. I don't have that inclination anyway.' Donald Trump (left) greets Friedrich Merz upon his arrival at the White House (Alex Brandon/AP/PA) Mr Merz, who speaks English fluently, stressed the need for transatlantic trust and said he reminded Mr Trump that allies matter. 'Whether we like it or not, we will remain dependent on the United States of America for a long time,' he said. 'But you also need partners in the world, and the Europeans, especially the Germans, are the best-suited partners. 'This is the difference between authoritarian systems and democracies: authoritarian systems have subordinates. Democracies have partners — and we want to be those partners in Europe and with America.' He reiterated that the US remains committed to Nato, particularly as Germany and others boost their defence spending. Mr Trump has in the past suggested the US might abandon its commitments to the alliance if member countries do not meet defence spending targets. Mr Merz said: 'I have absolutely no doubt that the American government is committed to Nato, especially now that we've all said we're doing more. 'We're ensuring that we can also defend ourselves in Europe, and I believe this expectation was not unjustified.' 'We've been the free riders of American security guarantees for years and we're changing that now.'
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- RTÉ News
The political sorcery of 'harmless buffoon' Sir John Harington
Analysis: The poet, inventor and wannabe statesman played a secret role in controversial 1599 peace talks between Irish and English forces By Matt Ryan, Newcastle University For the first few weeks of October 1599, Queen Elizabeth I was furious. The target of her rage? Her godson, Sir John Harington. Poet, inventor and wannabe statesman, Harington had accompanied the Earl of Essex earlier that year on an ill-fated Irish campaign to subdue the forces of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Humiliated on the battlefield, Essex and Harington retreated across the Irish Sea without the surrender they were after. But they didn't leave entirely empty-handed, and the document they carried back to England was the source of the queen's fury. On September 7th, Essex met with O'Neill on the banks of the river Glyde, at the border between Monaghan and Louth. It was here, without the permission of his monarch, that Essex signed a controversial peace treaty with the Earl of Tyrone. When word trickled back to Westminster, the queen was not amused, and the fallout would play a crucial part in sending Essex to the executioner's block two years later. Harington fared better and managed to wriggle himself back into his godmother's good graces. Yet, if she'd known about his actions at the meeting with O'Neill, he too might have lost his head. Harington spent much of his career presenting himself as a harmless buffoon, too fond of 'jestes… sportes and frolicks' to be taken seriously. Relegated to the footnotes of literary history, he is chiefly remembered as a minor figure who never made it as either poet or politician. But this is exactly what he wanted. A canny operator, Harington's bluff persona obscured a hidden life: he was connected to several prominent Catholic families, circulated dozens of banned books and wrote reams of politically explosive poems which never saw the light of day. These secret endeavours often led Harington into dangerous territory. On the morning of Essex's meeting with O'Neill, Harington risked his neck with a carefully coded message to an enemy. In a letter to John Carey, justice of the peace for Cambridge, he recounts how Sir William Warren and himself were despatched to begin negotiating the treaty with O'Neill. According to this version of events, Warren and O'Neill set about the discussing the truce, while Harington was assigned babysitting duties. Nudged out of the important business of the day, the queen's gregarious godson decided to take matters into his own hands and began to read from his translation of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1591) to the Earl's sons. An epic poem full of sorcerers, fantastical voyages and a loveable flying horse, Harington's reading material must have seemed harmless enough. But his performance clearly caught the ear. In his letter to Carey, he reveals how O'Neill's attention was drawn toward the contents of his elaborately printed book. Before long, the Earl 'call'd to see it openly.' Here was Harington's chance: granted an audience with the most notorious man in Ireland, the opportunity had arrived for one of his trademark sleights of hand. The letter to Warren explains how Harington 'turn'd (as it had been by chance) to the beginning of the 45th canto' and launched into his oration. Canto 45 refers to Elizabeth's time as her sister Mary I's prisoner. Here, to supplement the action in the poem, he retells the story of how the young princess 'wrote in the window… with a diamond: much suspected by me, nothing proved can be.' Harington's choice of verse was dangerously double-edged. On the surface, it demonstrates his commitment to his godmother: she was wrongly imprisoned and overcame adversity. Delivered to a political radical on the banks of the Glyde, however, it carries with it a more explosive message: shifts of fortune can impact anyone, but things will turn eventually. Placed in context, this passage serves not only as a demonstration of public loyalty to the queen, but also as a dangerous message of hope to an exiled enemy. To his fellow Elizabethans, the 'hidden drift' of Harington's words seems to have gone unnoticed. O'Neill, however, got the hint, and 'solemnly swore his boys should read all the book over to him.' Harington was always aware of his audience and his cautious handling of words in person and on the page kept his secrets hidden The brilliance of this moment lies in Harington's carefully managed bait-and-switch. Apparently happy to sit on the sidelines with the kids, he must first have appeared a harmless fop to O'Neill. Feigning nonchalance, this seemingly idle-minded courtier is called to read, thumbs through Orlando and falls as if 'by chance' on what appeared to be a random verse. Then, as if from nowhere, he casually tosses into the Earl's lap a political hand grenade wrapped inside what is revealed to be a judiciously chosen, and carefully coded passage. A masterclass in conjuring, this moment sees Harrington suddenly transformed from children's entertainer into the political sorcerer he was. Even the letter to Carey is a savvy bit of gamesmanship. While he served in the Elizabethan court, Carey appears to have held Catholic sympathies and was tied up with a network of anti-Elizabethan courtiers. Harington wrote a relentless stream of letters home from Ireland, but never mentioned this episode to any of his other courtly contacts. Harington was always aware of his audience, and his cautious handling of words in person and on the page kept his secrets hidden. On that September morning in 1599, this verbal dexterity likely saved him from his godmother's axeman.
The Journal
2 days ago
- The Journal
Israeli forces recover bodies of two hostages taken on 7 October
ISRAELI FORCES HAVE recovered the bodies of two people who were captured during the Hamas-led attack of October 2023. Gad Haggai and Judy Weinstein Haggai were residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities hit the hardest by the Hamas-led attack, with nearly a quarter of its residents killed or taken hostage. In an operation conducted by Israeli intelligence services and the military, 'the bodies of two of our hostages, held by the murderous terrorist organisation Hamas, were returned to Israel,' the country's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on X. He said the two dead hostages were 'murdered on 7 October and abducted to the Gaza Strip'. ' The heart aches for this most terrible loss,' he said. 'We will not rest nor be silent until we bring all our hostages home—both the living and the fallen.' The Families of the Hostages Embrace the Weinstein-Haggai Family in This Solemn Time. The return of Judi and Gadi for proper burial in their beloved homeland represents the closing of a circle and the fulfillment of the state's fundamental obligation to them. The hostage… — Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) June 5, 2025 An Israeli military official said the couple were killed on the morning of October 7 by fighters of the Mujahideen Brigades, an armed group close to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad. According to the kibbutz, 117 residents were killed and more than 60 percent of its houses were destroyed during the attack. Advertisement A joint statement from the army and the Shin Bet security agency said that the bodies were recovered from the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip in an overnight operation. 'The rescue operation was conducted by… troops in coordination with the intelligence directorate and special forces,' it added. The spokesperson for the kibbutz in southern Israel where the elderly couple lived said in a statement that 'after more than 600 days of pain and waiting, the bodies of Gad Haggai and Judy Weinstein Haggai were brought back home to the State of Israel and to Nir Oz last night in a military operation'. The kibbutz said Gad Haggai was 72 at the time of the October 2023 attack and Judy Weinstein Haggai was 70. Gad, a music lover and talented cook, and Judy, a former English teacher, have four children and seven grandchildren, according to the kibbutz. 'We welcome the closure of the circle and their return for a proper burial at home, in Israel,' the family was quoted as saying in the statement from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The Hamas-led attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Another 251 people were also taken hostage, most of whom have been released in captive exchanges during ceasefires. Need more information on what is happening in Israel and Palestine? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to navigating the news online. Visit Knowledge Bank
