Sandra Harris Writes

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW, IS LOVE, SWEET LOVE... BY SANDRA HARRIS. © Well, another Valentine’s Day is here and yet another postman is laid up in bed, possibly for days if not weeks, after humping all my cards, flowers, boxes of chocolates and other tokens and tributes of love and esteem to my front door from the postal van. The poor fella. I must remember to write him a card and drop it round to his house later. If it’s anything like last year, however, I expect his distraught wife will come to the front door and cry buckets about how Harry- that’s his name, Harry- won’t be able to work for weeks with his ruined back thanks to my post-load and what are they supposed to live on and how do I live with myself knowing that my beauty, charm, intelligence and sex appeal has broken yet another poor postman who, after all, was only doing his job…? It can get very trying, being so charismatic and sexually irresistible all the time. It’s not like how you guys think it is. It’s really not...

  This is the transcript of a letter I sent to the Irish Times newspaper on 21/06/2024. A LETTER TO THE EDITOR: SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR SOLDIER WHO VICIOUSLY ASSAULTED YOUNG LIMERICK WOMAN. Dear Editor, I am disgusted and appalled at the ridiculously lenient ‘sentence’ handed down to soldier Cathal Crotty this week by Judge Tom O’Donnell. In May 2022, Crotty severely battered Natasha O’Brien on a Limerick street because she attempted to stop him shouting homophobic slurs at fellow passers-by. ‘Two to put her down, two more to put her out,’ Crotty boasted  on social media  after the attack. This is not a man, this is a despicable coward and bully. What happened to Zero Tolerance of violence against women? What is the point of Gardai and government ministers urging women to ‘come forward’ and report their rapes and incidents of domestic violence or street violence at the hands of men if the men then get off scot-free? What kind of deterrent is that? What message does i...

  VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN IRELAND… WHEN WILL IT END? BY SANDRA HARRIS. © About three weeks ago, a beautiful young school teacher called Aisling Murphy was brutally murdered in Tullamore, while going for a run in the afternoon. It was broad daylight. A man came out of nowhere and strangled her. She was in her early twenties, loved her job as a primary school teacher (and the kids loved her) and was well liked in her community, not to mention loved by her family and boyfriend. She loved playing her traditional music at festivals with her fellow musicians. She seemed like a good, decent person who would have gone on to achieve worthwhile things and contribute something to the world. Last weekend in Cork, a woman was hit in the face and head and left with a broken jaw while walking home alone late at night. A boy of thirteen has been identified as a person of interest in the case. I don’t even know where to begin talking about what’s wrong with this sentence, except to ask th...

                      NEVER MIND VIOLENCE IN FOOTBALL, WHAT ABOUT VIOLENT FOOTBALLERS? BY SANDRA HARRIS. © ‘My teenage son, who's also autistic, adores Premier League football and the Champions League as well. Understandably for someone as young and impressionable, these men are his heroes, his idols. But more and more of them are getting in trouble for the rape and battery of women. Just today, one of his favourite Manchester United players is on the front pages of the newspapers for rape and assault. I'll tell you something for nothing, it's getting very hard to teach a boy of today to respect women and never be violent to them when the men who should be his examples and role models behave the way they do.’ Above is a post I put up on Facebook yesterday morning after it was made known that Man. Utd forward Mason Greenwood had been arrested by the English police for the alleged rape and assault of a woman. A lot of the comments...