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Books
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A poem for the day – Launching the Whaler Juan Peron
A Belfast epic, and one of my oldest poems, the opener of my first collection, Grub. The gist of the story was found in Moss & Hume’s Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, 1861-1986, which tells how Eva Peron was due to launch a huge whaling vessel in Belfast, built [...] read our review » -
Do Words Matter?: Book Review of Political Discourse and Conflict Resolution – Debating Peace in Northern Ireland
I share many of the concerns of Andy Pollak, whose recent post ‘My Response to the Slugger Begrudgers’ zeroed in on the ‘relentless flow of negativity’ of some Slugger commentators. Pollak’s post was largely concerned with the medium of the blog. Indeed, I think the anonymity of the online world encourages extreme discourse and allows [...] read our review »
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“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”
To add to the open access treasure trove at the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library is putting online some of its collection of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. We have called the first phase of our work on the Cambridge Digital Library the Foundations Project, which runs from mid-2010 to mid-2013 and has been made possible [...] read our review »
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Comment on A scare at lunch-time
on 24 December 2009 at 3:28 am
Im no economist, but it seems plausible. I heard a couple of big “if”s in there, though.
Principally I’m trying to square the circle on the tidal wave of mortgage defaults. According to the Amarach research that Mick posted, only a relatively small percentage of the country is actually affected, since more than half the population already own their house outright and most of the rest have reasonable mortage levels (ie taken out before the madness of the mid noughties).
So, while there will be defaults and sure it may break the major Irish banks, you know what? Screw them. I don’t have much time for McWilliams usually but I’m with him that the banks should be let fail and should have been let fail from the start. In an open market, there are plenty of foreign banks with better risk management willing to take up the slack.
And save the country €20bn in the process.
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Comment on The year the shinners died
on 23 December 2009 at 3:59 am
Guest, please don’t (maliciously or otherwise) misrepresent what I wrote.
In case you really don’t get it, let me be clear: there is no fight for Irish independence, since Ireland is already as contentedly independent as can reasonably be expected in a small open economy in an open trade world.
Flag-waving, ballad-singing nationalism is no longer relevant outside of Sky Sports and the eurovision. The only “fight” is a woolly romantic one in the heads of those that lost the booby trap and sniper campaign.
Which is hardly the previous experience and expertise to recommend one for the job of leading a community into a future of peace, integration and prosperity, now is it? And what do you get when you appoint people to positions of responsibility who are wholly unsuited to the job?
That’s right. Mistrust, segregation, regression. No meaningful economic activity. Stalled living standards. Limited opportunity for advancement. All that bad stuff.
When it comes down to it, that is decidely not what “the people” want.
So my issue is with the commentators who don’t seem too bothered that while this nonsense is going on, another generation of academic, professional and entrepreneurial potential is stifled or shipped abroad for the betterment of others. *shrug* Maybe they like it that way.
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Comment on The year the shinners died
on 21 December 2009 at 1:22 am
Seems a bit pointless to be commenter no 77, but what the hey. At the risk of repeating what’s already been said in the previous 76 posts and referring to Mark’s opening contribution, I would like to note the following…
The dissidents were contravening the IRA Army Council diktat not to pursue military operations at the present time. And since in Sinn Fein philosophy the IRA Army Council is the de jure government of the island of Ireland, McGuiness’ statement was absolutely logical, consistent and not at all remarkable. I would have hoped the navel gazers expounding at length here would have grasped that simple fact, but it seems we’re still in love with constructive ambiguity around these parts.
As others have pointed out, resistance to British rule can take many forms, not just booby trapping and sniping. Currently, IRA “influenced” areas particularly in Norn-Iron but also to an extent in the costa provo in Donegal and Ferris controlled North Kerry are engaging in passive aggressive non-compliance, non-engagement and non-cooperation with authority to undermine the ruling state. Preferring to submit instead to republican established “community” bodies and justice. This parallel, de facto ruling system is the festering sore which will continue to exacerbate mistrust, segregation and sectarianism in particular in Northern Ireland.
So while the commentariat continue to write books, articles and generally congratulate themselves that the IRA has decided it was no longer convenient to booby trap and snipe, the real world moves on and the crucial battle for the hearts and minds, not necessarily of the unionist, but of the catholic, man united following, xfactor watching working joe is being lost. To those with influence who care about that I say: get up off yer arses and started countering the romanticists or condemn another generation to insular, regressive stasis.
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