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 […]
Polling over the last few months in the US election has been fairly consistent: Donald Trump’s goose is well and truly cooked. It’s not just one pollster either – it’s been all of them. An approval rating stuck in the very low forties, and states like Texas and Georgia, which have always been rock solid […]
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the removal of statues being an assault on our history, and the decision of the Shelbourne Hotel to remove, yesterday, four statues that had adorned its exterior walls for a century and a half is interesting, in that context: The Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin has taken down […]
The plan to re-open schools was released yesterday to great fanfare, and contains lots of big announcements, which are neatly summarised here, courtesy of the journal.ie: 1,080 extra teachers will be added to post-primary schools at a cost of €53 million to help reduce class sizes. Additional substitution, supervision, guidance counsellors and psychologists will also […]
What’s the world coming to when you can’t trust a politician to cut their own salary without actually increasing it by accident? Clarified this evening: voluntary pay cuts taken by the previous Govts lapsed when new Govt was formed, so today's 10% is effectively a renewal of those cuts. e.g. Taoiseach's salary €207,590; Varadkar had […]
As most people have, by now, heard, one of the first legislative priorities for the new Government was to pass legislation enabling all three “super junior” ministers to be paid a bit more: The Dáil has passed laws to increase remuneration for a third ‘super junior’ minister who will now be entitled to an allowance […]
A stunning story from Ben Haugh in the Times at the weekend: Six locations in Ireland were discussed by government officials as possible sites for a new autonomous city named Nextpolis proposed by a wealthy Hong Kong businessman, The Times can reveal. The Department of Foreign Affairs has been in contact with the Victoria Harbour […]
The result of the Green Party leadership contest, had it been narrated by David Attenborough, would have seen the magnificent old naturalist whispering into the microphone about Eamon Ryan something along the lines of “the old male has seen off his rival, for now, but it has come at a steep cost. Wounded and bruised, […]
A very rare victory for common sense, these days, so naturally it didn’t happen in Ireland: Nick Buckley MBE, who was ousted as chief executive of his own charity last month following some mild criticisms of the Black Lives Matter manifesto, is back in charge thanks to the Free Speech Union. As of today, the […]