Were you on the look out for the European equivalent to the impoverished blacks of America
I’m aware that I risk becoming a crashing bore by banging on about the latest Irish political crisis, which in the global scheme of things appears irredeemably petty and parochial. It’s just that the kerfuffle over Bertie Ahern’s financial improprieties represents one of those episodes that forces you to recognize that a substantial proportion of […]
Taking pot shots at holy cows without even troubling to study the deeper philosophical issues involved — especially where a recently deceased and well-loved public figure is involved — is a cheap and nasty way of drumming up some publicity, which has a long and dishonorable history. So here goes: two of the most respectable […]
Poll results analysed in the Sunday papers suggest that although Joe Public believes it was wrong for Bertie Ahern to take wodges of cash from well-wishing businessmen, the majority of the electorate thinks the poor man (the victim of a witch hunt!) should stay in his job as Taoiseach. Astonishingly, the Sunday Independent states, “Besides […]
It is interesting to compare the coverage so far of the US’s torture bill in Gazeta Wyborcza with that of those radical firebrands at the New York Times. GW (page 7, today) says it’s a key law in the fight against terrorism (this presented as fact, not as Bush’s or Cheney’s position), whose purpose is […]
Judging by word of mouth (and not the increasingly obviously phoney bestseller lists bookshops put up by the door to clear out old stock), Leopold Tyrmand’s Z?y (Bad) is the most popular Polish book I know of. Everyone loves this story of a superhero in the grey days of Polish communism. It’s a good few […]
One rarely gets to witness a major political career imploding. It’s not a pretty sight, as evidenced by the footage of a floundering Bertie Ahern attempting to deal with journalists’ questions about a fee (or was it a gift?) he received for “promoting Ireland” at a mysterious gathering of business people in Manchester. (Click here […]
Military coups in Thailand, rioting in Budapest and here in Poland a government falling apart and apparently bribing opposition members to join them. The main opposition party wants to take to the streets… Where will it end? The prospects are grim indeed. This is only a young state – just seventeen years – and some […]
There were so many dubious defenses thrown up by Bertie Ahern’s teary performance during yesterday’s television interview, that one would have to devote a dozen blogs to demolishing them. Yet here’s one angle that I have yet to hear amid all the cant about our leader being basically a salt-of-the-earth bloke: can you recall the […]