I spent most of the week in London. From what I saw in newspapers and on television while there, Gordon Brown seemed preoccupied by the ongoing row over MPs expenses. He lost another minister on Wednesday, though Kitty Ussher was keen to say in her resignation letter that she had done nothing wrong, and was …
Monthly Archive: June 2009
Jun 16
Where Next for Fine Gael?
Enda Kenny did quite well last weekend. George Lee romped home to take a Dáil bye election seat, the European elections saw four MEPs returned, and Fine Gael won 340 local council seats. Then Fine Gael blew it, wasting two days on a ‘no confidence’ non-debate taking up time which should have been devoted to …
Jun 15
In Tehran, The Revolution Is Being Tweeted
For the record, some of the messages from one twitterer in Tehran, identified as persiankiwi. we do not know if foreign press are covering this. we cannot access satellites tehran is at standstill. all major routes jammed with people. unconfirmed as yet – mousavi newspaper offices raided. unconfirmed – Mashad is violent. have spoken with …
Jun 12
Unbundling Internet Explorer: Living In a World Of Choices?
A decade after it insisted that it couldn’t be done in front of a US federal judge, Microsoft has decided to unbundle Internet Explorer from its operating system. From October, when Windows 7 hits the shelves, customers in Europe can install the browser of their choice. At least, that’s the hype. The EU commissioners are …
Jun 10
How To Fix Breaking News
There’s a scene in Back to the Future III where our hero picks up a newspaper, and as he does so, the front page changes to display a breaking news story, the scene he is witnessing. Most science fiction get the future horribly wrong, but in this case there might be a germ of truth …
Jun 09
Learning How The System Works
I had an interesting conversation with some (mostly Fianna Fáil, some Labour) local activists at the Kildare County Council election count yesterday. We started with the BNP results in the UK, and I mentioned that it seemed to be due to Labour voters staying at home. Apparently the BNP vote is actually down, but Labour …
Jun 08
Two Hundred Words to John Gormley
Dear John, Right now, you’re probably wondering where to begin. Half your membership wants you to pull out of coalition on Tuesday, the rest want you to stick the course. The wiser course is probably to knuckle down and get on with it. But to make that work, you need to change some things. First. …
Jun 08
Summary: Newly elected Kildare Co Councillors #le09
Fine Gael B Weld M Nolan T O’Donnell A Lawlor D Scully S Griffin R Daly M Heydon S Langan Fianna Fáil S Doyle F O’Loughlin w Callaghan P Kelly M Miley L Doyle Labour F Browne P MacNamara K Byrne J McGinley C Purcell M Wall Independents P Kennedy S Moore C Murphy P …
Jun 08
McEvoy (Ind) & Langan (FG) elected at Kildare (Clane) 9th Count #le09
Kildare (Clane) 9th Count 4 Seats Quota 2119 Distribution of Doyle surplus Padraig McEvoy (Ind) + 109 = 2180 Seamus Langan (FG) + 64 = 1681 Chris Rowland (Lab) + 42 = 1602 McEvoy elected. Since McEvoy’s surplus was too small to lose the gap. Langan elected.
Jun 08
Doyle (FF) elected in Kildare (Clane) 8th Count #le09
Kildare (Clane) 8th Count 4 Seats Quota 2119 Distribution of Sherridan Liam Doyle (FF) + 563 = 2388 Padraig McEvoy (Ind) + 281 = 2071 Chris Rowland (Lab) + 90 = 1560 Seamus Langan (FG) + 87 = 1617 Doyle (FF) elected. His surplus will be distributed.