Latest posts
The self pity of the Irish.
If Breda O’Brien had any more hoary old chestnuts in this piece in today’s Irish Times, she could have held a conkers convention. I don’t often agree with her, as she holds more traditional conservative views than mine, but I also r...
Why the Irish Government really doesn’t want a referendum on the fiscal compact.
It can be a ballot box or a can of petrol. It’s our call. There is a phrase used in Ireland, “codding ourselves”. I’m unsure as to whether it is used elsewhere, but it basically means that someone is knowingly deluding themse...
What that Sunday Business Post poll really tells us.
The Sunday Business Post poll last Sunday has been poked and prodded by the usual suspects. As you are probably aware, it came up with the following figures: Fine Gael 30%, Labour 14%, Fianna Fail 18%, Sinn Fein 17%, Independents and Others (includin...
Why do Irish governments always sabotage themselves?
There are two types of unpopular decision that Irish (and indeed, non-Irish politicians) make. The first are the unavoidable we-have-no-money ones, decisions that are made when infinite demands and finite resources invariably collide. We have to...
A Great Book: Moriarty, The Hound of the D’Urbervilles.
Another one for the Sherlock Holmes fans, and great fun too. Kim Newman has written a series of short stories about the mirror evil twins of Holmes and Watson, Professor Moriarty and his boorish yet amusing sidekick, Colonel Sebastian Moran. The book...
An Occasional Guide to Irish Life: The Affair.
It wasn’t like they had planned it. He was single, out of a messy relationship. She was married with two young kids and a husband who was not by any accounts a bad guy. It just happened. They met at a work related social event, and their eyes,...
Good books you should read: Resurrection Day.
“Resurrection Day” by Brendan Dubois is set in an alternative 1972 where the Cuban Missile Crisis caused a nuclear war which devastated part of the US and all of Russia. JFK is loathed as a war criminal, and a journalist is trying to inve...
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The Wasted Seat.
Might as well have been left empty. He surprised everybody, including himself, by getting elected first time out. His supporters were ecstatic, and his quirky personality and bolshy beliefs convinced them that they had elected someone who could, if n...
DPP issues warrants for arrest of millions of foreigners who wrecked Irish economy.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has issued millions of warrants for as yet unnamed non-Irish nationals in connection with the reckless borrowing of money and purchasing of property in Ireland which created the massive collapse in the Irish econom...
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The Moonie.
Every party has them. If they weren’t members of the party, they’d almost certainly be members of a cult, parroting out phrases about the need “to ascend to the third echelon of the mystical giraffe” as opposed to supporting &...
An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The “Famous” TD.
People he was in school with always answer the same way: “He’s a what? A member of parliament? HIM??” It’s his gorgeous teeth you first notice, gleaming at you from his poster. The mammies love him on the doorsteps, and the da...
10 nice things about Fianna Fail.
I am occasionally accused of being biased towards one party or the other, with Fianna Fail being particularly upset that I am agin’ them. Therefore, here’s a list of things about FF that I either admire or feel they deserve thanks for, s...
A great book for the political anoraks: Then Everything Changed.
Jeff Greenfield is a political reporter for CBS, and his book “Then Everything Changed” paints three What-If scenarios based on real life facts: That JFK was nearly killed in December 1960, before being sworn in as president, that Bobby K...
Eurosceptics will regret replacing Brussels commissioners with Beijing commissars.
One of the things that I have always found interesting about euroscepticism, and not just in Ireland or the UK, is the assumptions it makes. Eurosceptics always seem to assume that the alternative to the EU is some sort of magical reset button, back...
SOPA. Hmmm.
It’s very fashionable to defend internet piracy. Technically, by posting some of the stuff I do, I suppose I’m doing it too. Whereas SOPA (That’s the Stop Online Piracy Act) seems draconian, there is another issue which is dismissed...
A fun movie worth watching: OSS 117
I’m not surprised that Jean Dujardin, the lead in “The Artist”, is getting so many plaudits. I first saw him years ago in ”OSS 117:Cairo, nest of spies”, a French comedy based on the James Bond, Matt Helm, Man from UNC...
Gingrich to seek TransAtlantic Adultery Pact.
Former Speaker and adulterer Newt Gingrich took time off today from lecturing on family values to announce that he would seek to agree an Adultery Exchange Programme with France if he were elected President of the United States. “I’m no...
Great TV: Sherlock Season Two now out!
The BBC have shown great savvy by releasing season two of “Sherlock” on DVD literally one week after the season’s dramatic final episode and its “How did he do it?” ending. This is currently my favourite show on TV, not...
Why I support quotas for Women. And Men.
It may surprise some of you, but I’m not the most politically correct of people. However, there is one issue where I am quite lefty, and that is on the issue of requiring, by law, that 40% of all seats in the Dail be reserved for men, and 40% f...
What we want Vs. what we need.
One of the more curious aspects of our current austerity programme is how slapdash it is. You could easily form the impression that the government is approaching the cutbacks with a hand down the back of the couch approach, looking for money wherever...
