PiS is showing party political broadcasts which boast about, among other things, “improved” security – at this point the TV screen shows some jet fighters, possibly the F16s PiS bought the other year. I’m sure it is entirely coincidental that Lockheed Martin has an advertisement in today’s Gazeta Wyborcza for the F16 Fighting Falcon. It’s […]
With a nod to Dean Baker, here’s a go at today’s Gazeta Wyborcza whose front page sub-head tells us that the cost to the taxpayer of ruling party PiS’s pre-election giveaway is 18 billion zloties. In paragraph three, the insignificant detail that this is over 25 years is given. Not quite so terrifyingly expensive after […]
One of the lazy generalizations about blogs is that they are merely electronic diaries–fluffy, self-absorbed journals that are no more interesting than the authors who pen them. While this characterization can be applied to some of the several million blogs in various states of maintenance, it is also fits some of the “professional journalism” that […]
The searing images captured by Nina Berman of wounded U.S. troops returned from Iraq dissolve any false comfort that might be derived from separating the injured from the dead in casualty statistics. In particular, the photograph titled “Marine Wedding” makes you want to go out and grab a cheerleader for the invasion of Iraq–one of […]
There’s more than a whiff of fiddling-while-Rome-burns about the upcoming Zimbabwe International Book Fair, scheduled to kick off at the end of July. According to the rather lean-looking web page posted by Zimbabwe’s government-backed newspaper, The Herald, the theme of the fair will be “Transforming Lives Through Literature.” Among the various high-minded panel discussions taking […]
Despite the world-historical balls-up the Iraq adventure turned out to be, I still have a soft spot for Tony Blair. Perhaps it’s the Gorbachev effect–certain politicians–Bill Clinton was another–are far more appreciated abroad than at home (where they are usually reviled.) And maybe being exposed throughout Blair’s term to the verbal car-crashes that occurred whenever […]
Sunday, the first day of July, rain for what seems the 127th day on the trot. Time for some high culture, as if to persuade ourselves that uninterrupted sunshine rots the intellect. As the Barry clan makes its pilgrimage to the Lucien Freud exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, we are confronted by […]
“I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy,” wrote John R. Bolton in his Yale 25th Reunion Book. Despite this personal aversion to the dirty business of combat, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations–a man who is (to paraphrase an AA Gill quote) to diplomacy what boxing […]
Leona Helmsley, the famous “Queen of Mean” hotel heiress, died yesterday aged 87. Her notorious quote–“Only the little people pay taxes”–has served as a de facto motto for a generation of Irish tax exiles, much lauded for their à la carte charity work.