“Antigone”, an ancient Greek drama, tells the story of a dictatorial ruler, Creon, and a woman, Antigone, who challenges his injunction that her deceased brother, Polyneices, cannot be buried.   Sean Sheehan   Antigone and Polyneices are the children of Oedipus and, because she tries to bury her brother, her […]

When Rosa Luxemburg dismissed the idea of Polish independence and laughed at the idea of an independent Ireland, Lenin replied in “The rights of nations to self-determination” (1914) and referenced Marx’s support for Irish republicanism.   Sean Sheehan   Lenin’s championing of anti-imperialism grew stronger and “Imperialism and the national […]

The painting by Fabritius that features in the opening pages of Laura Cumming’s “Thunderclap” – it could be said to be the inspiration for the book – is to be found in Room 16 at London’s National Gallery.   Sean Sheehan   It shows a man sitting at a street […]

The General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) shot to fame in 2022 when his union members took industrial action and went on strike.   Sean Sheehan   His television interviews with trashmongers like Piers Morgan and Richard Madeley are the stuff of legend […]