No Eire Conditioning 🔥☘️

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back this Friday. What’s the Craic? We are. The weekly newsletter from Shift, with the mission to bring you a bit of Irish news and views into your inbox every week. If you haven’t got Shift, our snazzy app to connect the Irish globally, get it here. And if you want anyone else to have The Craic every week, send ‘em this way here.

News from Home

Oven-baked. We’ve officially hit heatwave status over here, and while we aren’t suffering quite as much as the rest of Europe, the crazy weather is wreaking havoc, with sort-of-tropical-by-our-standards thunderstorms knocking out power in many homes. Still, the craic’s been ninety, and all the wee towns and villages with even a wee tiny bit of beach and seaside-ness are buzzing. It’s summertime (for now) in Ireland.

Pico Top. Yes, yes we aren’t in the World Cup, but we are trying to live vicariously through Irish-born Pico Lopes and his Cape Verde team. Here’s the skinny: Things have been going great for the Blue Sharks, and Pico himself has been winning admirers as part of the staunch defense. But this is it, lads, a win tonight over Saudi Arabia (plausible) will be enough to send Cape Verde through to the knockout rounds. We also got the abacus out, and we think a draw will likely be enough, but let’s not tempt fate. We’re with you, Pico! Go n-éirí leat! 🇨🇻

Sell-Out. Anyone still saying that women’s sports can’t draw big crowds would do well to read how quickly tickets sold out for Katie Taylor’s Croke Park boxing match. 80,000 tickets gone in a matter of minutes. A reminder that the big farewell fight is on September 5th.

A Wee Aside. Not really big news this, but we thought it was super cool and lovely. Metallica was in town (and by town, we mean the big smoke of Dublin) for a couple of shows this week, and the band took time out to pay respects to the late, great Phil Lynott, visiting his grave and posing for some pics at his statue on Harry Street. Lovely stuff from James Hetfield and the lads.

The Craic Recommends…Gulliver’s Travels. If you are searching for a beach book this summer, why not pick Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece of satire, which is celebrating its 300th anniversary? One of the tragedies of Swift’s most famous work is that there have been so many movies and loose adaptations that it almost gets perceived as a children’s book. It certainly isn’t, but it’s also a page-turner, much more accessible than other Enlightenment-era literature. At around 300 pages, you could probably finish it in a day, and that means you’ll never, ever have to sit through the Jack Black movie. Fairs?

The Irish Influence

This week’s Irish Influence is the mighty Irish wolfhound. Nah, it has been a bit of a slow news week because the 7 million people on this island have been getting slowly barbecued and remarking upon that fact, but one of the interesting stories that we did come across is the redesign of the Irish Passport – one of the most powerful in the world, you’ll recall 🛂💪. Now, there has been a lot of debate on which emblems to use, and they seem to have settled on the Irish wolfhound. Amazing pick in our view. It’s such a big, beautiful bastard of a dog; gorgeous, but we think a bit underrated as a symbol of Ireland?. Around 15,000 people were consulted on the new passport design, but don’t worry, the iconic harp will still take center stage on the front.

Cúpla Focal

Tá beiriú sa lá inniu {Taw-ber-oo Suh law in-yoo) – It’s a sweltering hot day. It’s all we’ve been talking about. Nobody can sleep. The children are all sticky. Nobody’s drinking Guinness. Send us some air-conditioning units post-haste. 

Blast from the Past

It’s 30 years to the day that Veronica Guerin was murdered in broad daylight while stopped at traffic lights in south-west Dublin. Guerin was a fierce journalist who had made her name by writing hard-hitting stories aimed at exposing Ireland’s criminal underworld. Those criminals decided to silence her with six bullets, killing her instantly. Guerin’s story is now fairly famous globally, mostly due to the Cate Blanchett movie, but it’s difficult to convey the outpouring of anger that swept the country on that fateful afternoon in 1996. From it came a lot of good, not least 150 criminal convictions and a massive overhaul of the state’s powers to seize criminal assets. RTÉ has a brilliant breakdown of how her legacy still matters in Ireland 30 years on here.

And One Last Thing….

It’s the mission of all charities to do a little good in their own way, so it doesn’t really seem fair to talk about a ‘best’ one. However, we cannot think of a charity with a more emotional connection to the Irish way of life than the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. The charity was set up by Colin and Eithne Bell after their son, Kevin, died in New York City in 2013. The Bell Family, despite dealing with their own grief, recognized the difficulties that so many Irish families face in bringing the remains of their loved ones home, setting up a fund so other bereaved families don’t get into financial distress while dealing with the ultimate tragedy. Colin has recently been awarded an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University for his tireless work (so, so deserved). To date, the Trust has helped bring home around 2,500 bodies back to their loved ones on Irish soil. If you are interested in finding out more about the incredible work of the KBRT or if you’re in a position to donate a few punts, you can do so here.