There’s a story in today’s Dublin Inquirer about delays in citizenship applications leading to legal action from applicants. Here’s a quote: “A spokesperson for the Department of Justice didn’t say whether it considers policy reform based on the issues highlighted in cases it settles out of court. But they said it considers court judgments when… Continue reading This is how we have always done things
Category: 200 Words
Notes on the state of the world, written 200 words at a time.
Nano Nano – Day One
Canon From the introduction by A O’Kelleher to the 1918 translation of the Betha Colaim Chille, Manus O’Donnell’s Life of Columcille: Like many other mediaeval writers, O’Donnell thinks of the traditions which he has collected as a fragment of a once complete and perfect whole. “Be it known,” he says, “that this Life was lost… Continue reading Nano Nano – Day One
Writing Prompt
In 1953, Raymond Chandler parodied science-fiction, namedropping Google. Did you ever read what they call Science Fiction. It’s a scream. It is written like this: “I checked out with K19 on Adabaran III, and stepped out through the crummaliote hatch on my 22 Model Sirus Hardtop. I cocked the timejector in secondary and waded through… Continue reading Writing Prompt
Revue: Drapier Online
Social media is a strange creature. In some ways, we are back in the 17th century, trying to figure out which pamphleteers are worthwhile. Blogs, in essence, are pamphlets. And bloggers are pamphleteers. AngryDude1966 is the new Drapier, or Thomas Paine. Which is fine. Trouble is, as the web grows more similar thanks to Google… Continue reading Revue: Drapier Online
Revue: Soundings
Just under one year ago, on 4 May, I posted the first tracks of the Freelance Forum 2020 podcast series to Soundcloud. Over the past ten years, I’d made recordings of different sessions at Freelance Forum events, and later uploaded them, but it was a hapazard exercise. Some sessions were never recorded, some recordings failed… Continue reading Revue: Soundings
Revue: Below The Fold
Two decades ago, a Downing Street spin doctor got into trouble for sending out a memo on September 11 for suggesting it might be “a good day to bury bad news”. Since then, the media lens has become even more myopic, regularly monstering a single story for ratings, and ignoring everything else. As the news… Continue reading Revue: Below The Fold
Revue: Memento Mori
Not many people remember it, but there was a time when the only hipsters in Ireland were Pat Kenny and Larry Gogan Back in the days before 2FM, even before there were pirate radio stations, Pat and Larry were the long haired hippie weirdos of national broadcasting. So one day, Eamon de Valera died. President… Continue reading Revue: Memento Mori
Revue: Apocalypse Now
The Four Horsemen, Revised Edition. Death Pestilence Famine War
Revue: On Punditry
Revue is a newsletter app, and they recently hooked up with Twitter. I sent out this article on Friday 26 March. Punditry: How I got it wrong About five years ago, I found myself on a radio roundtable panel giving my opinion on the week’s events. And I got it wrong. Spectacularly, undeniably wrong. Donald… Continue reading Revue: On Punditry
Revue: Hello World
Revue is a newsletter app, and they recently hooked up with Twitter. I sent out this article on Friday 19 March. The EU needs an EU wide shared news outlet. Something set up to overcome the language barriers between us, so that, for example, Irish people aren’t at the mercy of politicians defining how well… Continue reading Revue: Hello World