Advertise
-
Books
-
Spare us a phoney row about racism, we’ve got enough on
A silly media row about racism just had to figure in the riots’ post mortem. Was the Tudor history expert David Starkey racist on Newsnight when he said: The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion. And black and white, boy and girl, operate in [...] read our review »
-
John Laird for Christmas?
John Laird (Lord Laird of Artigarvan) is unionism’s jester. His memoir A Struggle To Be Heard ” by a True Ulster Liberal” (from Slugger’s shop on Amazon here) might serve more as a heavy stocking filler than anybody’s idea of a main present. In it he wears the masks of comedy and tragedy to turn the [...] read our review »
-
What Ireland did right (and what it needs to do)…
It is difficult to believe now that one country recently sent 19 delegations to Ireland to study how well our economy was managed. The revelation that our model of economic management featured positively in political and economic discussion in countries including Estonia, Greece and Scotland may also come as a surprise. As we survey the [...] read our review »
-
Comment on #EUREF: Heart saying ‘no’; but will the head say otherwise?
on 12 May 2012 at 4:46 pm
poll result according to poster on p.ie
Yes 53, +6
No 31, -4
Don’t Know 16, -2
Excl don’t knows
Yes 63
No 37
Game over.
Go to comment
Comment on #EUREF: Heart saying ‘no’; but will the head say otherwise?
on 12 May 2012 at 4:22 pm
I think Dr. Marlowe’s instinct is right. My feeling is that the fear tactics have worked and middle Ireland will vote for the treaty. They will keep their protest votes for the Local and European elections.
I hope I’m wrong.
Go to comment
Comment on Cardinal Brady should go – in charity
on 4 May 2012 at 1:49 pm
Could Martin McGuinness remind us what his policy was in 1975 about reporting anything to the RUC?
Was it that you could be shot for it? So should the Cardinal now resign at the behest of McGuinness because the policy has changed?
It was long after 1975 that Eamonn Gilmore remained a member of a political party that gave unconditional support to the Soviet Union. It took the collapse of the Soviet Union itself to make him see the light. Some moral leader there!
None of this of course is to excuse the Cardinal who should consider his position in spite of inappropriate political interference. But not because of it. In fact I think the political interference will make it impossible for his resignation to proceed and that is a pity.
Go to comment
Comment on Premiership: Not all teams are actually ‘participating’ in the same competition
on 4 May 2012 at 1:35 pm
United’s dominant position was based on money generated by United fans. That is at least a business model while what Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour are doing is not. Alex Ferguson has spent big but he never had an unlimited budget. In the long run teams that are divorced from economic reality are hollow and all their trophies are hollow too. It reminds one of the last chapter of A History of the World in 10½ Chapters where the protagonist experiences victory for his club (Leicester City) and even plays for them in a version of heaven which soon pales.
What happens when the sugar daddy dies? back to mediocrity like Jack Walkers Blackburn.
If United really wanted to blow City, Chelsea and even Real Madrid and Barcelona out of the water they would simply have to sell their own TV rights. They have always resisted that temptation for the sake of the game. I wonder how long would it be before Man City’s hollow dominance would make such a step become better than the alternative.
Go to comment
Comment on Sinn Fein move up 6 points in latest Irish Times poll…
on 21 April 2012 at 5:35 pm
Mick,
He would hate it of course. But the formation of governments is a numbers game and unless FF get off the floor then he might have no choice. How FF get off the floor is a question it would take a political genius to work out. They need something spectacular. Clause 4 squared.
I notice Mary McAleese is very quiet these days.
Go to comment
Comment on Sinn Fein move up 6 points in latest Irish Times poll…
on 21 April 2012 at 6:32 am
I’d say the ideal result for Sinn Fein in the next election would be enough growth in their vote, the left vote and the Independent vote to force FF, FG and Labour into coalition together.
Go to comment
Comment on To Benedict, we Irish liberals are not going away you know…
on 11 April 2012 at 7:03 pm
To paraphrase Gerry Adams in a different context, we are not going away.
But in that case they did eventually go away.
Go to comment
Comment on “But throughout, his government and party turned a blind eye…”
on 23 March 2012 at 9:54 pm
Miriam Lord’s article is outstanding.
Sherdy
“Saw Pat Rabbitte being interviewed on the subject last night – his regret seemed to be that the politicians sold themselves so cheaply. He made the same point three times!”
That struck me too and I wonder have we missed the big payments. I think the Revenue Commissioners need to pay particular attention to the people featured in the report.
Go to comment
Comment on Republicans thinking about being courageous in reconciliation (unionists say tell us when you’ve made your mind up)…
on 4 March 2012 at 8:14 am
Republicans shouldn’t say anything about the past in order to reach out to unionists. They should only say what they believe to be true. Because if you say something along the lines that the war strategy was a huge historical mistake then you can’t attach demands or expectations to it about how unionists should respond. They must be free to be as negative as they like and nobody has a right to be disappointed if they are.
The basis of unionist politics is playing on the fears of their voters. Some of the fears may have had a basis in fact but it was still about playing on them. So political unionism will be negative about whatever republicans do and that’s just the way of the world.
Nationalists need to look at the past for our own sakes. Where did armed struggle become an end in itself? How did ideology get in the way of objective thinking and what opportunities were missed
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the belief in a military solution was more than matched by the British side. Nor should those who died in the conflict on the republican side ever be relegated or side-lined even if the objective facts show that it was a war with no political point from a very early stage. That was certainly not the fault of the volunteers. It was a leadership failure. No pressure should be put on any member of the IRA to tell his or her story. But no barrier should be put in their way either and those who can should lead by example.
Go to comment
Comment on Printergate: “How many printers has he gone through to print 3 million pages?”
on 28 February 2012 at 4:58 pm
Mass leafleting of the constituency at the taxpayers expense is outrageously undemocratic. How can other candidates not yet member of the Dail compete with that?
Sinn Fein should go well beyond the amount outstanding under the rules to put this right. Many of us are looking to them to provide an alternative not to be just like the others.
Go to comment