I blame the baby boomers. The most spoilt generation in history, the boomers were born at the end of World War II. In the sixties, as they hit puberty, they acted as if they were the first generation ever to discover sex. In the seventies, they were responsible for the decade that taste forgot as …
Tag Archive: recession
Mar 03
Brace Yourselves
Less than a month ago, I described the new tax on public sector pensions and cuts in departmental spending as a minibudget. This month’s minibudget has just been announced, though the full details will not be available for a few weeks. Early predictions include increased excises on the ‘Old Reliables’ – tobacco, alcohol and fuel …
Feb 10
Equity
Junior labour minister Billy Kelleher thinks the minimum wage needs a review. Apparently, €8.65 an hour could be a ‘barrier to employment’. Billy’s boss, enterprise and employment minister Mary Coughlan, sets the minimum wage in orders and regulations laid before the Oireachtas. Maybe the government hopes the latest kite will distract from the fact that …
Feb 07
Lend Me Your Ears
I suppose I should say something about that speech. Brian Cowen’s address to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, fortuitously recorded after most journalists had left, got quite a bit of play today, and no doubt cheered many Fianna Fáil supporters around the country. Extracts were played on several radio stations, commentators were asked for their …
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Feb 03
FUD
Brian Cowen can’t even rely on the weather these days. Since the talks with unions and employers broke down this morning, it was clear he would have to go it alone, announcing cutbacks without the protective cover of the social partners. At 4pm, he stood to address the Dáil, announcing two billion in cutbacks, including …
Jan 20
Words In Pictures
I’ve been away from things for the last few days, so no updates recently. Then, scanning random blogs to catch up this morning, I came across the web app at Wordle, which creates a word cloud. A word cloud (or tag cloud) is a visual depiction of user-generated tags, or simply the word content of …
Jan 13
The Unelected Government
Yesterday two hundred economists met in Dublin to discuss the future of the nation. I happened to find myself in Buswell’s Hotel, opposite Leinster House, when the economists retired for refreshments after their meeting. The meeting was addressed by Colm McCarthy, the UCD economist heading An Bord Snip Nua. It says something about our government’s …
Jan 09
Gone East
The impotence of government ministers was laid bare today, as pc maker Dell Inc went ahead with it’s plans to slash most of the jobs in it’s Limerick screwdriver assembly plant. Tánaiste Mary Coughlan and defence minister Willie O’Dea – who hails from the constituency of Limerick East – travelled to Dell headquarters in Texas …
Dec 15
Septic Tiger
‘The Government has decided either through the National Pensions Reserve Fund or otherwise and subject to terms and conditions, to support, alongside existing [bank] shareholders and private investors, a recapitalisation programme for credit institutions in Ireland of up to €10 billion.’ ‘The State’s investment may take the form of preference shares and/or ordinary shares and …
Nov 20
Don’t Panic
Brian Cowen says he has a plan. It says a lot about perceptions of the current leadership that my first reaction to that headline, in today’s Irish Independent, was a shrug. It wasn’t even that enthusiastic a shrug. More of a half completed slouch, really. My second reaction was to ponder headline puns. Brian Cylon, …