Monday, May 21st 2012
The TONY LEDDIN | ECB, banks and Nama - everybody wins except the taxpayer
Overall, it could be said that ECB is circumnavigating its own rules to fund a bad bank that bails out recidivist and delinquent bankers and developers at potentially enormous expense to the taxpayer, but will do little to stimulate what is left [...]
Nearly half of the population would struggle to pay an unexpected bill of €1,000 in the next twelve months, according to a new Eurobarometer study. Forty-five per cent of Irish respondents to the Europe-wide survey indicated that there is a high or moderate risk that they would be unable to cope with such an unexpected [...]
The 9th Peadar O Donnell Weekend took place from the 16th - 18th October. On the Sunday morning there was an excellent debate on the future of the Left in Ireland.
Below are a series of videos from the main speakers. These included Pearse Doherty (Sinn Féin), Veronica Cawley (Labour), Colm Bryce (People Before Profit), Daithí [...]
Leviathan indeed! « Banking Expert Peter Mathews on fixing Ireland’s Banking Crisis
The anger at last night’s political cabaret in Temple Bar last night, Leviathan, was palpable. And with my partiality clearly stated, the defenders of NAMA did not hold themselves to account well. The evening got off to an entertaining start, with fine comedy sketches, [...]
Restorative Justice in Northern Ireland | Victim meetings ‘cut’ youth crime
Shouldn't we bring restorative justice into the south to reduce crime, and take pressure off the prison system?
From the BBC report:
Bringing young criminals face-to-face with their victims can cut crime and re-offending, campaigners suggest.
A Northern Ireland restorative justice scheme run since 2003 has [...]
Raymond Deane | Shlomo Sand’s The Invention of the Jewish People
Irish composer and political activist Raymond Deane reviews Shlomo Sand’s The Invention of the Jewish People
In 1967 the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish published his poem “A Soldier Dreaming of White Lilies,” only to be accused of “collaboration with the Zionist enemy” for his sympathetic [...]
Thinking Allowed | Suburbia & Forgetting
Laurie Taylor discusses the enduring appeal of Suburbia. Despite the number of people living there the term ’suburban’ can be a short hand for small mindedness and lack of individuality. Lynsey Hanley, author of Estates: An Intimate History, compares suburban existence to life on a housing estate. Also, an interesting [...]
Let’s think happy thoughts for a brief while because much else is… well, less than happy. So, here’s something that cheered me up at least a bit and it’s a point that is rarely touched on by commentators more concerned with the jockeying for position of the larger centre right political parties. Reading The Lost [...]
[Not to be confused with the 1960s Irish Workers Group.]
[19 November 2009. Jim Larragy, formerly of the Irish Workers' Group, has made some important clarifications/corrections to this article. Please see the comments below.]
The Irish Workers Group (IWG) was formed sometime around the end of 1975 following a series of expulsions that year from the Socialist [...]
Farhang Morady | Continuity and Change in the Political Economy of Iran: June 2009 Protest Movement and Reactions
An excellent paper on Iran and the recent protest movement, discussed in the context of the economic, social and religious changes in Iran, with particular regard to Shia Islam and its political and social application.
So, the huge [...]
