The Irish Film Censor’s Office has gone beyond its traditional remit (placing largely ignored classification labels on movies) by “banning” the video game, Manhunt 2, released by Rockstar Games. I’ve used inverted commas around the censor’s move because, if you’re so inclined, you can buy the offending game off the web in about 15 seconds. […]

For the past week I’ve been meaning to flag a provocative article discussing theories forwarded by Gregory Clark’s new economic history, A Farewell to Alms. In the spirit of Monty Python’s All-England Summarize Proust Competition, I’d say the core of Clark’s thesis is that the prime mover of the Industrial Revolution was the upper ranks […]

The ongoing hoo-ha over Aer Lingus allocating its Heathrow slots to Belfast at the expense of Shannon offers insight into how Fianna Fail manages to stay in power. It’s a twist on the old “divide and rule” policy–except in this case it’s the party in government that is divided. FF TDs with seats in constituencies […]

Although overhearing Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh‘s febrile radio commentary at an impressionable age inoculated me against any interest in GAA sports, I can understand the appeal of making the pilgrimage to Croke Park. Jaded by the cash and bling of the Premiership, or alienated by the Burberry-clad smugness of rugger, spectators in search of the endangered […]

Leavening tracks from the latest band du jour from Montreal with golden oldies from Bowie, Mozzer, et. al, Tom Dunne’s evening show on Today FM, Pet Sounds, offers thirtysomethings who have long fled the Somme-like fields of our summer music festivals a painfree way of keeping up with “the kids.” Last night the show played […]

Hodges Figgis, on Dublin’s Dawson street, is having one of its periodic stock-clearance sales that may make you regret coughing up full price the first time around. One of the stacked books I spotted on Sunday was Home Land, by Sam Lipstye, going for a near-steal at €5.99 (or was it only €4.99?). This epistolary […]

In late July The Guardian highlighted the UK’s inability to deliver major infrastructural projects for a reasonable price by asking “Are these the world’s costliest roadworks ?”–a reference to £2.9 billion budget allocated to the widening of the M6 motorway along a 51-mile stretch between Birmingham and Manchester. To hammer home the feeble ratio of […]

Last week, I witnessed RTE’s business correspondent flail on the 9 O’Clock News as he attempted to explain to an impassive-looking Anne Doyle why fears over subprime mortgages had fueled some scary dips in the world’s stock markets. For those of you who remain in the dark about the connection between humble home mortgages and […]

My critique of the “built environment” in Ireland’s countryside might have struck a few readers as unnecessarily harsh–like Tom “Spar” Doorley reviewing the deli section at a Statoil station. And I suppose one man’s sense of aesthetics is another’s snobbery.In my defence, I could say that I do bridle when I came across what seem […]

I admit that my posting regime over the past few weeks has been about as consistent as Bertie Ahern’s explanations about his personal finances. The reason for my most recent radio silence can be attributed to a short holiday en famille on the wind-blasted Clare coast, where I managed to spend an entire week without […]