FG Justice Spokesperson Charlie Flanagan criticised the decision by Gardaí to demand emails relating to the artist who painted nude portraits of Brian Cowen hung in two Dublin galleries. ‘At a time when the majority of gangland murders remain unsolved, to have Gardaí spending their time investigating what amounted to a practical joke that offended… Continue reading The Emperor’s New Clothes
Tag: censorship
The Naked Taoiseach
Yesterday, I wrote about RTÉ removing a film report on caricatures of Brian Cowen smuggled into two Dublin galleries. [Kudos at this point to Maman Poulet, who’s blog tipped me off to the story.] Since them, things have grown more serious. The images on the RTÉ website were removed, copy has been edited, and the… Continue reading The Naked Taoiseach
Bare Arse Biffo
You can tell a lot about the powerful by how they react to satire. In Ireland, the powerful tend to react badly. Older politicians still smart at the memory of Hall’s Pictorial Weekly, and can barely bring themselves to smile through gritted teeth when Scrap Saturday is mentioned. The result is a pale imitation of… Continue reading Bare Arse Biffo
Any Questions?
Questions and Answers is no more, though truth be told, it’s been limping for a long time. In it’s heydey, it could point to the confrontation between the elder Brian Lenihan and Garret Fitzgerald that changed a presidential election. But that was then. When was the last time people talked about QandA on Tuesday morning?… Continue reading Any Questions?
Striking An Odd Note
Meteor, the third place mobile telephone company in the Irish marketplace behind Vodafone and O2, has a new advertisement. The new commercial, which I caught on one of the radio stations as I drove home this evening, promotes the company’s mobile broadband offering. The service can be used for “those embarrassing music downloads, you know… Continue reading Striking An Odd Note
Pay The Piper
Last month, Eircom reached an agreement with the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) to disconnect internet customers who continued to download copyrighted music after three warnings. In a joint statement, both sides said they agreed on the three strikes approach to end ‘the abuse of the internet by P2P (peer to peer) copyright infringers.’ This… Continue reading Pay The Piper