This will be the last article for a while, as I head for foreign parts and a week’s holidays, so consider this a virtual time capsule. As I write, the US Congress is still arguing over how large a blank …
Monthly Archive: September 2008
Sep
29
Opinion Piece
Can a politician — particularly a member of a governing party — truly have a personal opinion? Earlier this summer, Dick Roche announced that Ireland should hold a second referendum on the Lisbon treaty — in his personal opinion. There’s …
Sep
26
Lend Me Your Ears
Ever feel like there’s too much news? Not too much bad news, just too much news. Then maybe 4fm is for you. The new station advertised for applicants today, and their website also includes details of their planned schedule. Radio …
Sep
25
Greenhorn
Trevor Sargent was in Kilkenny yesterday. The junior minister for food and horticulture spent his day handing out postcards at the Ploughing Championship, in response to complaints from farmers about food labelling regulations. The postcards, addressed to the EU consumer …
Sep
24
By Their Acts
Is Google evil? Google remembers everything about you. What you looked for, which of the sites it suggested you settled for. All to improve its search algorithms in future of course. When the Chinese government had a quiet word, Google …
Sep
23
Heads Up
The hijab non-controversy continues, this time given oxygen by the announcement that the minister for education does not intend to regulate the non-issue. Beverly McKenzie, head of the Irish Hijab Campaign, formed to combat the well reported but rarely seen …
Sep
22
Who Are You?
Sarah Palin’s email account was hacked last week. More fool her for using a Yahoo account. The hack didn’t involve any complex attacks, or even a small but elegant program designed to exploit software flaws. Instead, its an example of …
Sep
20
Blueblood
Fresh from his latest encounter with the barristers from the Mahon tribunal, Bertie Ahern headed to Kerry to enjoy the horses at the Listowel Races. (As far as I know, no one asked him if he had any good tips, …
Sep
19
Boo!
Sometimes, I think that psychological researchers just do it to get a laugh. Take the finding, which will be published in this month’s issue of Science, to the effect that – as Fox News put it – easily startled people …
Sep
17
Change of Heart
Where have all the free market enthusiasts gone? Time was, you couldn’t watch an American business satellite TV channel without some advocate of the invisible hand celebrating the free market that regulated much more efficiently that any government-appointed overseer. The …