‘Politics’ Archive

2009: A good year for cycling in Ireland?

Cycling is in fashion, even in Ireland. There has been a number of  signs of continued growth in cycling here this year. The phrase “On your bike!” started to be sicking. Sub editors showed they never read newspapers, with ‘on your bike’ appearing in headlines again and again on some of the many cycling [...]

Recent updates

As I seem to be using Twitter for many links I would usually put on this blog, here’s some of the recent Twitter updates from @cianginty:

‘Taoiseach in High Court challenge to release Cabinet CO2 document’ http://www.irishtimes.com/n… …Getting a look at the minutes of Cabinet discussions on Ireland’s emissions would be interisting to say the least

‘Two [...]

Any chances of open, honest debate on the EU?

John Bruton wrote in The Irish Times on Monday on how Irish sovereignty would be maximised under the Lisbon treaty. Bruton, a former Taoiseach and current EU ambassador to the US, referred to Department of Foreign Affairs’ white paper on the treaty (PDF).
On the white paper, Bruton states:
“It also said that Ireland’s full participation in [...]

Conflict of interest?

What does Brian Cowen, Brian Lenihan, Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, the National Treasury Management Agency, and the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) have in common? Law firm Arthur Cox. Interisting comment articles in The Irish Times yesterday, ‘Power of one’ and ‘Choice of Nama’s legal advisers poses difficult questions.’
From the latter, these are [...]

Famine & Byrne, and Bertie Bills

The blog of the guy who did that Famine & Byrne / Hardtimes stuff, ‘Will Saint Leger’, is here. The design of his “Bertie Bills” is great, on that he says:
The day before Bertie Ahern resigned from office, I loaded Molly Malone’s statue with £50,000 worth of ‘Bertie Bills’ for anyone to take away. People [...]

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely”

As Patsy McGarry of the Times wrote the other day:
But there was also the parallel, deeply dark underbelly of the church at that time, as disclosed yesterday. The commission report records such levels of depravity and barbarity in the treatment of thousands of children by Brothers, priests and nuns that one can only conclude that [...]

Want to promote cycling in Ireland? Marketing it, and stop the scaremongering

Mikael Colville-Andersen, who runs Copenhagenize.com and Copenhagen Cycle Chic. In his own words: “The main point with my blogs is that if cycling is to be an everyday activity then it can easily be done in everyday clothes, like millions of Europeans do every day”.
In a post about the Velo-City conference, he points to a [...]

“Ladies and gentleman of the press” leave now of face arrest

Just looking at the G20 coverage on Guardian.co.uk: Maybe more sinister than police attacking peaceful protesters — because it may show intent — is a video where an office addresses the “ladies and gentleman of the press” and asks them to leave the area or they will be arrested.
The officer from the City of London [...]

“Uncommissioned” nude portrait of Brian Cowen hung in galleries

Don’t worry, we have no images of the art in question. From the Sunday Tribune:
an anonymous prankster who hung a nude portrait of Taoiseach Brian Cowen in the hallowed halls of the National Gallery.
The still unidentified renegade artist had painted Cowen as he was sitting on the loo with a roll of toilet paper in [...]

With or without tax

Bono (Paul David Hewson) defends the U2’s tax avoidance in the Irish Times‘ weekly entertainment supplement, the Ticket. While fellow U2 band member the Edge (ie David Howell Evans) says its “it’s our own private thing.”