Latest posts
Did Glenn Beck strangle a male prostitute to death? No he didn’t. But let’s talk about it anyway.
One of the more disturbing things I’ve come across recently is this poll figure from the US saying that 18% of people polled believe that President Obama is a Muslim. What’s particularly worrying, indeed surreal, is that the number of p...
News from Ireland 2020: Surprise Yes vote on Nuclear Plant.
Wexford 2020: Despite a series of opinion polls predicting defeat by a 10 point margin, Wexford County today voted by 57.1% in favour of the ESB proposal to build a nuclear power plant at Carnsore Point. Leaders of the NO campaign were quick to conde...
Osama Bin Laden endorses Gingrich/Palin ticket in 2012
Evil bigoted terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden has endorsed former house speaker Newt Gingrich and former Gov. Sarah Palin for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Speaking from secret cave lair no. 345, Bin Laden is quoted as saying: &...
The Four Irish Economic Classes: A Primer.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. Most political disputes, indeed most social disputes, come down to money. Yes, we can have issues over gay rights and what flag who flies where and who apologises to whom, but when it comes down to it, it’s cash th...
A pension for the Mayor?
John Gormley has an interesting opportunity with the Dublin Mayor legislation to deal with an anomaly that has crept into the public service, that is, the huge public sector pensions. The deal was always that although public service workers tradition...
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: “Fairness”
“Fairness” is the Scaletrix of Irish politics, in that the debate goes round in circles and circles and is incapable of a new direction. It starts from a simple proposition. We all believe in fairness, don’t we? You’d want to...
Short Story: State’s Rights
As requested, have added the short story “States’s Rights” to the A Little Bit of Fiction section.
Anti-AV Tories have little faith in democracy (or themselves)
Listening to some of the arguments made against the Alternative Vote in the UK is just plain baffling to Irish (and I suspect, Australian) voters. The key argument being used by the Tories is that it will result in a permanent Labour-Liberal Democrat...
Guest Blog: Why should European democracy matter?
Activists of the Party of European Socialists (PES) are campaigning for the PES to hold pan-European primary elections to choose the party’s candidate for the Presidency of the European Commsison in 2014. Declining turnout in European elections, de...
A Good Book worth reading: The Italian Secretary
If you’re a fellow Sherlock Holmes fan, then Caleb Carr’s “The Italian Secretary” will entertain. The central mystery itself, about murders in Queen Victoria’s residence in Holyroodhouse, is only so-so, but where the boo...
The reasons Irish politics are so boring.
1. Our electorate are policy averse, leading to politicians who also avoid stating positions that involve taking a side in a political argument. I have canvassed thousands (I’m not exaggerating) of houses over my political life. The vast, vast
Serial killers thank Irish media for distracting Gardai.
The Centre for Homicidally Obsessed Persons (CHOP) would like to thank the Irish media for focussing so much attention on the release of Larry Murphy. By demanding the deployment of substantial Garda resources to track and follow Mr. Murphy, they hav...
A Good DVD worth seeing: Spinning Boris
“Spinning Boris” is a (highly) fictionalised account of the adventures of three US political consultants who helped Boris Yeltsin win the impossible election of 1996. Starring Jeff Goldblum, Anthony la Paglia and Liev Schreiber, it’...
Whisper it: Our health service is actually quite good.
Noel Whelan makes a very good point about cancer services in this piece, and also a general observation about media attitudes towards health-care in this country. It’s almost impossible to read a positive story in the Irish media about healt...
Working Class Revolutionaries? What Working Class Revolutionaries?
“The vast majiority (sic) of MIDDLE CLASS southerners dont want to end partition….But as James Connolly said it is the Irish working class that is the incorruptible heirs of Irish Freedom. The southern middle class and indeed if we are tr...
Irish politics needs to go negative.
There is a discussion held every now and then between Irish political hacks that goes like this: “We should do an attack ad. A youtube piece, or a leaflet pointing out what so-and-so did on the council!” “No. Irish voters wouldnR...
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The Political Biological Clock.
It’s normally a single event which causes the realisation: The moment you realise that the guy two years behind you in college is now a junior minister, or that plump girl you used to pity is now the political editor of a major national newspap...
The Politics of Disappointment.
Is it reasonable to assume that there has been no major effort within Fine Gael or Labour to actually plan how they are going to run the country if they win the next general election? I don’t mean policies, I accept that they have a heap of pol...
Joe Duffy Show reinforces smug Irish sense of deliberate helplessness.
Because of my job, I don’t get to listen to Joe Duffy often, although I got an opportunity yesterday. It confirmed pretty much every prejudice I have about it. First up was a guy who made a legitimate complaint about the banks not lending. Fair...
Great TV worth watching: Sons of Anarchy
With many of the same traits as his previous hit series, The Shield, Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy starts slow but coaxes you in. Set in the small California town of Charmin, the series tells the story of the Sons of Anarchy, a gun running moto...
