A European country that scapegoats a Semitic people, persecutes defenders of human rights by stripping them of employment, and denies freedom of speech to Jews: surely a description of Germany during the Third Reich?
Yes, but unfortunately also a description of Germany at the outset of the 21st century.
In the wake of German Chancellor Merkel’s craven speech [...]

Comparisons between Ireland and Iceland abound, but as recent events there show, the public response has been more vociferous to the injustice of the Icesave bailout. However, as political activist, poet, editor and member of the Icelandic parliament Birgitta Jónsdóttir shows here, Iceland is also like Ireland in that it is a small Island with [...]

Yesterday I spoke to Professor Terrence McDonough on the phone, about his talk at the recent TASC conference entitled Towards a Progressive Economics. In a conversation that lasted about 30 minutes Professor McDonough described how orthodox economics is commonly (and inaccurately) understood and suggested that the left in all its forms should take a fresh [...]

Paul Ginsborg is Professor of Contemporary European History, University of Florence and a frequent public commentator on politics and life in Italy. His books include A History of Contemporary Italy, Society and Politics 1943 - 1988 , Italy and Its Discontents: Family, Civil Society and the State , 1980-2000, and the bestselling biography Berlusconi: Television, [...]

Did anyone catch it?  Stephen Collins did but he didn’t give us the maths.  When Minister Lenihan introduced the Finance Bill he made a small amendment in the new income levy, imposing an extra one percent on incomes above €250,000.  In doing so he put forward two statistics:  first, that this would net the state coffers €60 [...]

David McWilliams has produced a table.  In fact, two tables (I’ve collapsed it into one).  Standing on these tables he spreads the gospel - in order to avoid bankruptcy and ‘decades’ of misery (decades, mind you) we must rip up the pay agreement and start slashing ‘wildly over-paid’ public sector salaries.  We are on the [...]

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5.  Put it in a roasting tray, season with salt and pepper and place on the middle rack.  Cook for 20 minutes per pound and when finished take it out and let it rest for a few minutes. Slice and soak in gravy.  There you have it - Fianna Fail’s recipe [...]

How long is this puppy going to bark?  How long is this recession going to last?  Can we look into a crystal ball?  Can we call upon history?  Estimating the depth and the length of a recession is always a tentative exercise, except in hindsight.  But it can be a helpful exercise in developing the [...]

Finally, a slim ray of light.
‘The problem we have in the public finances is as a result of the fact that the economy is in a recession . . . we have a problem in the economy which has created difficulties in the public finances. It’s not the other way around.’
So said Eamon Gilmore on [...]