Posts Tagged ‘ireland’
Scumbag Culture – Part 1
"Question my attitude? I'll show you f**kin' attitude!" I was very fortunate to grow up in Ireland's oldest city, Waterford, while even at times of recession and underdeveloped localities, kids had the resource of culture, a sense of pride in what was theirs, and a healthy respect for right and wrong. Now I'm not saying that kids didn't fall off the tracks, of course they did but it was isolated incidents not a daily routine that turned into a reign of terror. Today is a very different story. In ever-increasing numbers, young kids, young adults, and alarmingly their parents, are laying [...]
Thoughts for the day…
Just a few of the things on my mind today: 1) People who walk into warzones with the ambition of refusing to let people fend for themselves and get into trouble, only to arrive home and brag about enjoying "Eggs Benedict" should never be received with open arms nor great applause for their false altruism and complete lack of a grasp on reality. 2) Mary Coughlan threatening the Irish consumers that shopping North of the border will cost jobs in the South. A few weeks back she and her cabinet were begging us to share everything with the EU now we can't even drive a few miles North for [...]
Lisbon: A Final Word
This Friday the people of Ireland will go to the polls and at this moment in time I have no doubt that the Lisbon Treaty will be approved by a majority YES vote. Yes, I advocate the NO vote but so too am I realistic with respect to the current state of play. Without offence to any individual, the YES side is made up of people whose jobs would not exist if they were not needlessly paid by somebody to be there and die hard Euro fanatics who would question their own mother before questioning the European Parliament, e.g. die hard trade unionists, politicians, minority businessmen whose [...]
I predicted it!
A couple of weeks back I was talking to Siân about what I perceived as the shameless pro-YES campaign being run for the Lisbon Treaty. I've been taking notes of the kind of voices that are being given air time from the NO side and the amount of YES side commentary and blatant lies that are being thrown around, coupled with ridiculous amounts of auld buddies from business lobby groups backing up their political friends. Anyhow, I made the remark that it would only be a matter of time before we saw an advert on RTE from Aer Lingus that told people that their deal for a trip Lisbon was just too [...]
“Dire-land” – FT.com
A clever and appropriate nomenclature coined by John Murray Brown of FT.com to summarise Ireland at the moment. Our Emerald Isle is looking more like a junk shop, jade dragon - cheap, useless, outdated, and fragile. On one hand our country is fighting the evil of wreckless developers and their associated debts while on the other the government and courts appear to be doing everything possible to stop these people from going bankrupt and giving them all the chances necessary to welcome them into the ba-nama republic that we have created. It's fair to say that some great strokes were pulled [...]
Lisbon II – What’s Changed?
Last October the Irish people went to the polling booth to have their say on the Lisbon Treaty - the result was a definite NO. The path is now being paved for a second vote on the treaty; So, what's changed? Before the first Lisbon vote, many people had a great number of concerns about the Lisbon Treaty's content. Unusually despite this, every single, major political party supported the YES vote. The public were subjected to the opinions of ministers who openly admitted never reading the treaty document yet were convinced that YES was the only way to vote. After the NO vote won out, the [...]
Green but only with envy
When the Green party in this country were sucked into power last year by the great vacuous siphon of Fianna Fáil, I thouhgt to myself, this is no longer a party of idealists and tree huggers led by the political incarnation of Duncan from About the House; this is a Marxist and Sellout Party. Sadly I have not yet been proven wrong. Despite all their fluttering and spluttering like a diesel engine under water, the party has stood fast in its only stable belief at the moment - it's better to be inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in. I recently read an article in the [...]
Marathon Cancelled
As much as it pains me to say it, my plans to run this year's Dublin Marathon have come to an end because of injury. Despite trying to battle back to fitness, even short distance runs are leaving me crippled and I cannot entertain the idea of a 10 mile or more jog. :( So with deep regret I withdraw my ambition for this year and postpone it until 2010 when I will no doubt be wrapping myself in cotton wool until the big day.
They said it would never…
...well actually I said it would never happen again. About 18 months ago I managed to complete one of my life goals and crossed the finish line in the Dublin City Marathon taking with me a few thousand Euro for a local charity in Waterford City. It was a thrilling experience and one, having felt the toll on my energy resources, thought that I might never do again. It never put me off running though and since then I've run half-marathon runs and several 10 mile races too. However, last December, during an indoor soccer match I badly hurt my foot and damaged some ligaments that stopped me [...]
Irish Sport
Just a quick thought before I watch George Lee disect the doom and gloom of blowing the boom. This weekend has seen a truly wonderful couple of days for Irish sport. The national rugby team completed an historic grand slam victory in the 6 Nations by defeating Wales in what was truly the most tense game of rugby I have ever seen and Bernard Dunne faught through an incredible battle to win the Super-Bantamweight World Champion belt in boxing. In a time of recession and societal depression, again I turn to my TV to watch George, our nation's sports stars have not only achieved personal glory [...]
