On the first of January, fifteen clandestine immigrants being held in the Ragusa centre for temporary permanence (cpt)*, a secure unit, received a visit from an envoy from the city’s police headquarters. This would, in the normal course of events, probably be the first step in deportation. Instead the official came bearing papers that would […]
…by ignoring it! This extract from an Indo report details how monied (and oblivious) Irish folk are doing their bit in baking the planet: MOTORISTS are turning away from smaller family-style cars for higher performance vehicles. […] The trend shows how increasing prosperity is driving up the size and quality of car bought by tens […]
Please go here for my festive sign-off…
The BBC Radio 4 programme, In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg, is a perfect show for a bluffer like me, as it covers some weighty topic, such as the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes or China’s Warring States period, in a cut-to-the-chase 30-minute format. Bragg is an able moderator, asking questions that a reasonably […]
On Morning Ireland today there was a short piece previewing tonight’s Prime Time Investigates programme on lending practices in Ireland. It seems that one of the reasons why financial institutions are so eager to shower us with cash is that the punishment for bad debtors can end up like something out of a Dickens’s novel. […]
From page 41 from the 700+-page charge sheet against Charles J. Haughey that is the Moriarty report:”The reference to a debt of honour outstanding free of interest in the sum of �110,000.00 to be paid within a reasonable time throws an interesting light on the true meaning of both the letter and the terms of […]
More from the censors’ archives: “At the start of December the editors [of the local newspaper] enthusiastically took to rehabilitating Santa Claus. At least one front page article devoted to this oh so important question was planned… The editors’ plan to completely rehabilitate Santa Claus was foiled by the censor. Two articles and three plates […]
As fears over the impact of climate change mount (the Arctic to be ice free by 2040?), we are being barraged with messages to change our ways. Various concerned parties (many of them, oddly, large oil companies) tell us: enough with the frivolous short-hop flights, how about a hybrid?, and turn the damned lights off […]
Online poll question over at RTE.ie:”Are you concerned about the level of gun crime in Ireland?”Would a “no” seem a bit complacent?