Posts Tagged ‘irish’
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 [...]
“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 Our Emerald Isle is looking more like a junk shop, jade dragon - cheap, useless, outdated, and fragile.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 [...]
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 [...]
Been a while…
...since I had a good rant about insurance companies. Well, it's a new year and there are two advertisements that are really getting on my nerves at the moment. The first is a radio advert by AXA who claim to be your "local" insurance company. Drop in and get your amazingly cheap policy with no fuss. Well AXA are far from your "local" insurance company so don't let that fool you into supporting your own. In fact unless you live in Dublin or Derry you won't be talking to somebody in the same county as you when you call them. On top of that, the great savings on offer, well I still haven't [...]
Scrap the Dublin Metro Project!
Join the Facebook group. Despite Ireland being in recession and despite an emergency, early budget to try to deal with the crisis, and despite a projected shortfall in taxes of €7.5 billion the government of Ireland still sees fit to proceed with a €4 billion plan to develop a small metro system in Dublin. This proposed budget, which will no doubt be inflated as time goes on given government failures with previous capital projects, is equal to over half of the tax shortfall and would put the country in a far better position financially if it was not spent developing a metro line only [...]
I’m Dreaming of a Tight Christmas…
I'm dreaming of a tight Christmas, Just like the one in '84. When the minister's gone fishin' and people start wishin' To the sound of an economy gone below. I'm dreaming of a tight Christmas, With every pathetic government slight. You may take a ferry, or flight, And leave Ireland long out of sight. I'm dreaming of a tight Christmas, A Christmas when the future's shyte. They get a raise and you get plight, And may all your votes next year be spite. Merry Recession everybody!
Balance. What Balance?
Those who know me will know that I've always been a passionate campaigner for the equal rights of the young, both in my youth and even now that I slip beyond technically being "young". No more so has my anger against age discrimination been shown than against the ridiculous car insurance market in Ireland. I have shouted at the locked doors of the oppressive forces that uphold this unfair market; I have taken a case before the equality tribunal against a major insurer in Ireland only to find that they were retrospectively protected by a clause in the Equal Status Act despite their unfair [...]
