More than thirteen thousand people joined a Facebook group urging Slovenia’s ‘perennial foreign minister’ Dimitrij Rupel to retire from political life. The Slovenians are annoyed that Rupel remains a member of the government, despite his party losing a recent election. Rupel, a flexible politician, had been a member of four parties during his career, and …
Monthly Archive: December 2008
Dec 05
See No Evil
While the mainstream concerned itself with the BCI decision to ban a Veritas advertisement, Republican Sinn Féin have identified a new niche in offensiveness. The following is an actual press release, posted without comment. The use of Christmas related advertising by multi-national companies to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of young children over …
Dec 04
Air Control
Ryanair says it will recognise trade unions if it takes over Aer Lingus. Even if they did though, I’m not convinced a Ryanair takeover would be a good idea. It might be good for Aer Lingus, it would certainly be good for Ryanair, but is it good for Ireland? Ryanair carries 43% of all scheduled …
Dec 04
Sneak Preview
Sometimes, I listen to a story on the radio, and find myself shouting at some piece of idiocy. And some days, I just find myself muttering ‘get on with it’. Which brings us to Brian Cowen’s Grand Tour of Europe: Luxembourg, Germany, London and Paris by the end of the week. BBC correspondent Mark Mardell …
Dec 03
Introspection
Self-Googling should come with a government health warning. For various reasons, mainly to do with updating my CV and collecting potential reviews and recommendations (okay, vanity too) I do it now and then, just to see if I missed anything. Mostly, it involves zipping quickly past half a dozen pages of old news reports with …
Dec 01
Help Wanted
Willie O’Dea sought special treatment for twentynine inmates in a one year period. All of the representations were rejected. O’Dea says he was ‘merely passing on representations on behalf of the relatives of inmates.’ The minister said he ‘supports the concept of legislation which would prevent TDs from making representations on inmates who are on …