“Regional lockdown” is the buzzword in the media this morning, in response to the new outbreak of Coronavirus, which seems to be centered on meat factories in the eastern midlands: HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE said they cannot rule out a regional lockdown in Kildare, Laois and Offaly after a significant rise in the number of confirmed […]
Promises, promises. But RTE is convinced, naturally: Senior Democrats in the US have claimed that Joe Biden will be a friend to Ireland if elected US president. The Biden Campaign held a virtual rally for Irish-American voters and Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle told the event that the Brexit process had put hard won peace and […]
In ancient Rome, a few times each year, the populace would troop down to the amphitheatre to take their seats and cheer as a series of animals and people were torn apart for their entertainment. In the modern era, the equivalent happens with more regularity, and slightly less gore. Yesterday, the chosen victim for the […]
Kudos to the Gardai, who have responded to an apparent wave of dog thefts in recent weeks by raiding a property in Rathkeale, Co. Limerick, where they recovered ten very good boys who had been stolen from their owners by thieves. Gardai are now seeking the public’s assistance in re-uniting the poor doggies with their […]
It’s sort of easy to forget, at this stage of the Coronavirus nightmare, that the purpose of the vast array of restrictions that we have all been living under for the past few months was very clearly articulated at the time of their introduction: To “flatten the curve”. Not to eradicate the virus, but to […]
With Irish schools set to re-open in less than a month, and concern about the recent rise in the number of Coronavirus cases in the country, some welcome good news has emerged from an Australian study which suggests that the risk of virus transmission in schools is very low – as long as counter measures […]
The Government has asked a lot from the people during the Coronavirus pandemic. Thousands have lost their jobs. Young people have forfeited months of their education. Twenty-somethings have lost their nights out. Restaurants and bars have lost their customers. And the HSE, it turns out, have lost their minds: Young people are being asked to […]
Imagine, for a moment, if you can, the reaction in Ireland’s newspapers and radio programmes if somebody like Micheal Healy-Rae, or Mattie McGrath, or Noel Grealish, or Ronan Mullen announced on social media that they had tastefully redecorated their Leinster House office with a calendar featuring scantily-clad, sexually appealing young women. Just take a moment […]
The politicians have headed off on their holidays for the next six weeks, which would, in normal circumstances, be a cause for populist annoyance: it’s well for them heading off on six weeks of holidays with the country in the state it is, etc etc. But this year, the public should breathe a sigh of […]
If you know the name “Virginia Roberts” or “Virginia Giuffre”, but don’t know where from, exactly, here’s a reminder, courtesy of the Irish Times, from last December: Giuffre’s recollections of Prince Andrew are as vivid (in her accounts of his dancing and profuse sweating, and her clinical description of “the whole, entire procedure”), as his […]
More than eighty complaints, would you believe, led to the ad being banned. If you haven’t had the chance to see it, here’s the scandalous tampon ad that the advertising authority of Ireland don’t want you to see: Is it a bit crude? Sure. But it’s hardly an advert for some kind of sexual debauchery, […]
Deeply unfair, you’d have to say: A series of gaffes prior to and during the general election cost Fine Gael at the polls, a meeting of the parliamentary party has been told. Ministers and Ministers of State held discussions reviewing the party’s general election performance on Tuesday ahead of a further meeting of the entire […]