Splitting the G 🍺🎅

So, What’s the Craic?

The Craic is back on this chilly December Friday evening, warming your cockles up with news and views from the Irish at home and abroad. If you’ve been enjoying this wee newsletter, pass it on to friends and family by asking them to sign up here.

News from Home

Kneecap’s Big Court Win. Rap group Kneecap defeated the British Government in a long-running court battle. The case dates back to 2019 when the then-up-and-coming rap trio sought and was ultimately refused an Arts Council grant. The High Court found in favor of the Belfast collective, believing the decision not to award the grant was discriminatory based on the group’s pro-Irish songs and symbolism. Kneecap donated the money awarded (about $20K) to local charitable causes, including a youth club based on the predominantly Loyalist (pro-British) Shankhill Road.

Have Ya Seen Ma Sheep? You’ve probably seen dry stone walls on quaint little postcards of rural Ireland. Well, the lads at UNESCO reckon the rocky structures are serious business. They’ve added it to their list of globally protected cultural heritages. It’s the fifth Irish traditional practice on UNESCO’s list, joining hurling, harping (playing the harp, not yapping at someone), uilleann piping, and falconry.

The Most Irish Thing Ever. A nice heart-warming tale out of County Carlow this week. Mary Reagan passed away at 89, leaving no next of kin or contactable relatives. A notice went up on Facebook asking for Mary not to be sent off alone, so 100s came out for the funeral to pay their respects to a woman they never knew. ❤️🇮🇪

Oh Yeah, the Election. We almost forgot: Fianna Fáil won the most seats, yet not enough to form a governing majority. They will likely strike a deal with Fine Gael (the current Taoiseach’s party) and one other party to form a government. There’s still a bit of wrangling to sort everything out, but it seems Micheál Martin will get the big job when all is said and done.

The Irish Influence

Given the social pressures facing teenagers these days, it’s hard to imagine anything more devastating for a 17-year-old girl than seeing their hair fall out. That’s what happened to Tyrone woman Olivia McVeigh almost a decade ago, yet she chose to turn the setback into a superpower. Choosing to vlog and educate on alopecia, McVeigh has raised awareness of sudden hair loss to a global audience on TikTok and Instagram, running workshops on everything from creating stylish wigs to simply embracing a hairless look. She’s been named in the BBC 100 Women 2024, an annual list of women who make a difference globally. Fully deserved.

Cúpla Focal

Nollaig {null-ig}. T’is the season. Nollaig is the Irish word for both the month of December and Christmas. Basically meaning birth (of Christ), it is linguistically related to the French word Noël and the Latin Natalis. Obviously, it might get a little confusing when referring to December or Christmas, so you can say mí na Nollag, literally the month of Christmas, to clarify that you’re talking about December as a whole and not the big day🎄 itself.

Blast from the Past

Tonight, families all around the island of Ireland – and quite a few abroad, it seems – will gather around to watch what’s become one of the key television events of the year – The Late, Late Toy Show. The show features 100s of different toys, expert testers, unique gifts, and celebrity guests, all wrapped up in a carnival atmosphere. It’s become so popular that there is now a campaign to make “Toy Show Day” a national holiday. First presented by the legendary Gay Byrne in 1975, the event had relatively humble beginnings before blossoming into a national institution. Check out the video below to see the smooth-as-butter Gay Byrne (he was basically our Johnny Carson) wrap his head around the impending computer age in the 1983 edition. Viewers abroad can catch this year’s show on the RTE Player later tonight.

And One Last Thing….

Guinness is undoubtedly Ireland’s most iconic export, but what if there isn’t enough to go around? The BBC reported this week that parent company, Diageo, was putting a limit on how much of the Black Stuff could be ordered by British pubs over the busy festive period. Diageo says demand is unprecedented and that the iconic St James Gate brewery is at 100% capacity. Guinness imports to Britain have risen as other beers have declined. It’s not just Britain, either, as sales in the US have risen 10%. In fact, it’s the fastest-growing imported beer in America. What’s behind the unprecedented demand? Women and young people say the stats. Guinness has become a cool drink, bolstered by TikTok-friendly crazes like “Splitting the G.” Anyway, we’d be surprised if there are any true shortages – even if the British press is getting its knickers in a twist over it – as there’s probably a bit of marketing chicanery going on here on Diageo’s part.

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