Upcoming Events

Galway | Anti-War / Imperialism

no events match your query!

New Events

Galway

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Supreme Court Bombshell Ruling Declares Individual Judges Cannot Block Trump?s Policies Fri Jun 27, 2025 17:18 | Will Jones
The?US Supreme Court?has delivered a bombshell ruling that individual judges lack the power to issue nationwide injunctions and block the policies of President Trump or any other administration.
The post Supreme Court Bombshell Ruling Declares Individual Judges Cannot Block Trump’s Policies appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Starmer?s Tsar Attacks ?Two-Tier? Plans to Prosecute Northern Ireland Veterans While Ex-IRA Terroris... Fri Jun 27, 2025 15:30 | Will Jones
Keir Starmer?s Northern Ireland veterans' tsar has said plans to axe a law protecting Troubles veterans?from prosecution are "two-tier justice" since former IRA terrorists will keep their own legal protections.
The post Starmer’s Tsar Attacks “Two-Tier” Plans to Prosecute Northern Ireland Veterans While Ex-IRA Terrorists Remain Immune appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link I Deeply Regret ?Island of Strangers? Speech, Says Starmer Fri Jun 27, 2025 13:34 | Will Jones
Keir Starmer has said he "deeply" regrets saying that Britain risked becoming an "island of strangers" because of mass immigration, in the latest U-turn to appease his Left-wing MPs at the expense of the public.
The post I Deeply Regret “Island of Strangers” Speech, Says Starmer appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Right Needs to Answer the English Question Fri Jun 27, 2025 11:22 | David Shipley
Is Englishness a club which people can join if they dress in the right way, or is it something born of ancestry and a sense of belonging to our land? The Right needs to answer the English question, says David Shipley.
The post The Right Needs to Answer the English Question appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link What is the Point of the UK Met Office? Fri Jun 27, 2025 09:00 | Chris Morrison
What is the point of the Met Office, asks Chris Morrison. ?300 million a year to serve up climate scaremongering from corrupted and invented temperature data. DOGE, your services are required!
The post What is the Point of the UK Met Office? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Paddy in The Shed - poem of the Great War

category galway | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis author Thursday April 13, 2023 19:57author by Fred Johnston - Private Report this post to the editors

Poem around my late grand-uncle in Dublin


A poem retrieved from memories of my teenage years listening to tales of The Great War from my grand-uncle, Paddy Caffrey, who remained affected by it decades afterwards.

PADDY IN THE SHED

Paddy’s gone into the shed again
Shivering from his war
Till he fell down the stairs in Gardiner Street
And died behind the door

My grand-uncle was a dapper lad
Even in later years
A handkerchief in the breast pocket
He was fond of his few beers

He’d had a few when he tumbled
Down the tenement stairs
He’d survived his war and made it home
But he fought on for fifty years

I was a raw teenager then
The same age, more or less
He’d scuttled off to Flanders fields
On the Kitchener Express

He had some great yarns of courage
And a few about losing your nerve
And one of a young lad tied to a post
And shot for refusing to serve

He rode on a two-horse and limber
And one day while standing at ease
Came the whack of an Albrecht mortar
And blew one horse into the trees

My Granny would tell him to shut it
His stories were gory and rough
Too nasty and brutal and bloody by far
For young lads to hear, shocking stuff

As if we didn’t see him
Shivering in the back yard shed
When he reckoned that no one would miss him
If he popped out to chat with the dead.

FRED JOHNSTON

© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy