My early years are replete with memories of the wisdom contained within the Irish seanfhocal. My mother, a fluent Irish speaker, enjoyed nothing more than a good natter as Gaeilge with a seanfhocal at her…
Monthly Archives For December 2009
Is aviation security mostly for show?
Is aviation security mostly for show? Bruce Schneier is the United States' foremost security expert and also a voice of sanity and reason in the debate on anti-terrorism measures. Here he correctly argues that terrorism…
Anne Enright | Ireland’s Recession
Anne Enright | Ireland’s Recession From the most recent London Review of Books, Irish novelist Anne Enright provides a sort of diary of Ireland’s recession. Telling the truth was, in the circumstances, not just boring,…
100 Films of the Decade – Part 5: The Top 10
The top ten for the decade – or, as the more observant will notice, a top 12 – a miscalculation resulted in there being more left at the end than I originally thought. But none…
Turbulence 5: Left-wing Political Magazine | Editorial: And Now For Something Completely Different?
Turbulence 5: Left-wing Political Magazine | Editorial: And Now For Something Completely Different? Issue 5 of Turbulance, a British Left-wing magazine provides plenty of interesting articles on the various crisis' across a range of issues:…
Böhm/Dabhi | Upsetting the Offset | mayflybooks.org
Böhm/Dabhi | Upsetting the Offset | mayflybooks.org Something for the Xmas stocking, I seriously doubt, unless you take the contrary notion of giving it to the aspiring carbon-neutral person in your life with an energy…
A Christmas Prayer
Did you not get chips with it? Baby Jesus, meek and mild Bless the faithful with your smile Holy Jesus, sacred child Keep us safe from all things vile Down from heaven, into manger Out…
Morbid Symptoms: Health under Capitalism
The latest Socialist Register, which was published in October 2009, is called Morbid Symptoms: Health Under Capitialism. As one of the editors, Colin Leys says, the aim was to show that health is a subject…
New Data on Residential Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions | Financial Regulator
New Data on Residential Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions | Financial Regulator The Financial Regulator today published new data on mortgage arrears and repossessions. The data show that as at end September 2009 there were 791,634…
The latest CSO Earnings and Labour Costs Survey
The latest CSO Earnings and Labour Costs Survey The CSO Earnings and Labour Costs Survey shows that average weekly earnings fell overall by 1.1% from €706.03 in Q2 2008 to €698.43 in Q2 2009. However,…
TRIPS-Plus and the Ever Increasing Tightening of IPR
This is the second part of a two part series on the Trade Related Intellectual Property System (TRIPS) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and the international treaties negotiated through the World Trade Organisation by economies…
Democracy Now | Study Reveals "Revolving Door" Between Capitol Hill Staffers and Healthcare Lobbyists
Democracy Now | Study Reveals “Revolving Door” Between Capitol Hill Staffers and Healthcare Lobbyists A new study on healthcare lobbying published in the Chicago Tribune has found that healthcare companies have spent $635 million on…
100 Films of the Decade – Part 4.
The Man Without a Past (Aki Kaurismäki – Finland, 2002) Kaurismäki narrowly missed out on both the Palme d’Or and Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for this film in 2002 but it deservedly made him…
Coin Collecting, by Kevin
Money is brilliant. Some people think that it is not brilliant, but they are wrong. It is. If you think about it, money can be used to buy anything. Darts, newspapers, Matlow’s Refreshers, season tickets…




