Romancing at Lughnasa ❤️

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic returns on this harvest-gathering first day of Lúnasa, bringing you all the little nuggets and titbits of news we could find concerning the Irish at home and abroad. Find this newsletter mildy amusing? Yeah? Ask friends and family to sign up here.

News from Home

Naked Attraction. We wouldn’t usually be bothered about celebrity hookups, but we’ve made an exception for the (reported) romance between Pamela Anderson and the Big Lad from Ballymena, Liam Neeson. The pair seems to have continued their on-screen romance from the Naked Gun reboot, charming the internet as they flirt with each other like a couple of teenagers. They look insanely happy together, and some of the clips of Big Liam and Pammy were even enough to melt The Craic’s cold heart. But we sincerely hope it’s not all a ruse to drum up attention for their movie. We want to believe there’s a happy ever after in this one.

Kerry Made. If you didn’t catch it, we should bring you up to speed on the All-Ireland Football Final. Kerry were too good for Donegal on the day, winning their 39th (a record) national title by 10 points. It wasn’t a vintage Final by any means, as it was a bit lopsided in Kerry’s favor, but we did note that it took a 76% audience share across Irish television, showing Gaelic Games are still the cultural heartbeat of the island.

Touring Again. The Pogues are back on the road again, with tour dates added across North America this September. The shows are set to mark the 40th anniversary of the Celtic-punk masterpiece, Rum Sodomy & The Lash, and they’ll be well worth seeing. Yet, there will certainly be something lacking without legendary frontman, Shane McGowan.

Stamp of Disapproval. An Post – Ireland’s national mail service – is under suspicion for one of its newly commissioned stamps, which depicts nationalist leader Daniel O’Connell carousing through the streets of mid-19th-century Dublin on a golden chariot. Eagle-eyed philatelists, however, have noticed that there’s a bloody television aerial on one of the background buildings, causing some to suspect that the artwork is AI-generated. An Post and the commissioned artist deny the charge, mumbling something about representing Ireland’s leap into modernity, but many aren’t buying it (the story, not the stamp).

The Irish Influence

Eamon Dunphy will celebrate his 80th birthday on Monday, and it’s fair to say that they don’t make sports journalists like him anymore. In fact, they didn’t make them like Dunphy before, either. Most noted for his time as an abrasive TV soccer pundit, Dunphy had a tumultuous couple of decades on RTE before the national broadcaster decided it had had enough. Known to swear on telly, turn up drunk from time to time, and start the odd brawl, he’s also credited with some absolutely-fecking-shite analysis. One of his most famously-bad insights was dismissing a young Portuguese player as a “charlatan” and a “cod” – he was talking about Cristiano Ronaldo. Anyway, buried among the brusqueness and insensitivity is a talented journalist and half-decent writer, and while he divides opinion and is a man out of his time, there’s something unmistakably Irish about Dunphy, like the grumpy old uncle we all have in the family. Happy 80th, Eamo.

Cúpla Focal

Lughnasa {Loon-a-sa} – Harvest Day. Lughnasa, sometimes called Lúnasa (the Irish word for August) or Lughnasadh, marks the start of the Celtic harvest season on August 1st. There’s a ton of festivals and events happening around the weekend in honor of the Pagan lads and their aul rituals.

Blast from the Past

The Miami Showband was one of the most popular acts across Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, gaining a string of No.1 hits and even earning the tag of the “Irish Beatles.” Unfortunately, the band’s music will forever be in the shadow of the events of July 31st, 1975. The band was stopped at a bogus army checkpoint outside the town of Newry, and then brutally attacked by paramilitaries dressed in British Army uniforms. Three members of the band were killed. It remains one of the sorest points of Northern Ireland’s tortured history, with inquiries as to how such a horror was allowed to happen, including the possibility of collusion with British intelligence services, 50 years later.

And One Last Thing….

We’d like to finish this week’s newsletter with a little shoutout to our friends at GOAL US. Founded in Ireland by John O’Shea in 1977, GOAL has become a leading global charity, working across the world to deliver humanitarian aid and help the most vulnerable communities. If you’re up for the challenge, GOAL US has opened registrations for the Great Ethiopian Run 2025, allowing you (yes, you) to take on the challenge of Africa’s longest road race this November. To join the run or get in on the fun, click here. And if you can’t get involved on the running side, then dig out a few dollaroonies and spondoolies for a great cause by clicking here.

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