Patricia Conlon writes:

These Christmas cards were sent by my uncle, Christopher “Christy” Butler to his mother at Christmas, 1916. He entered the Royal Dublin Fusiliers on 14 May 1915 and was a Private, 2nd battalion, (no. 9385). He died on 21 March, 1918. He is memorialised on panel 79 and 80 of the Pozieres memorial.

 

Christmas Cards From Christopher Butler, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, To His Mother, Dec. 1916 (Europeana.eu)

Thanks Sibling of Daedalus

Christmas is supposed to be a happy time. A time for family, friends and warmth. A time for giving. But this year a dark shadow hangs over all our hearts.

On Sunday Swansea defender Ashley Williams kicked a football at Robin Van Persie’s head in an act of outrageous brutality during a game of soccer.

Millions of sports fans around the world, many of them children, saw the ball collide with Van Persie in what can only be described as an incident most foul.

Here at Broadsheet we are proud of our long standing neutrality on the question of Premier League managers’ post match interviews, but we feel the time has come to stand alongside Sir Alex Ferguson when he says that Van Persie is “lucky to be alive”.

Broadsheet.ie