Collateral damage?
A phenomenon which I encounter more and more often, these days, is the case of the secret Gript reader. The secret Gript reader comes to you via Whatsapp, or a twitter direct message, or sometimes, an encounter at a social event. They always say the same thing, more or less, and it goes something like […]
No matter what’s happening as regards Covid in Ireland, the government has one answer and one answer alone: Panic. When deaths are up even slightly, they panic. When hospitalisations are up even slightly, they panic. When deaths and hospitalisations are down, they prepare for an imagined incoming new wave (which may or may not come […]
Herd immunity?
It has not been much remarked upon, in the early days of the new year, that there is one political certainty in 2022: The year begins with Micheál Martin as Taoiseach. It will end with somebody else in the job. Mr. Martin made a deal to take power, and at the centre of that deal […]
Cappagh Hospital in Dublin is not an acute hospital. It is the national orthopaedic hospital, with 159 beds, and seven state of the art operating theatres. It is where you go when you need an operation on your bones, or muscles. It does not accept, and is not equipped to handle, Covid patients. However, at […]
Dull but safe?
2021 was the year of the great Irish vaccine culture war. And, in a sane world, 2021 is where that great vaccine culture war would stay. We now know the facts about the Covid 19 vaccines, and what they do, and do not, do. We know, for example, that the vaccines confer some important benefits. […]
And a Lesson from History
Shocker
In the bible, both Old and New Testaments, it is axiomatic that a child is a gift from the Lord: “For it was you who created my being, knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139); “Truly children are a gift from the Lord, a blessing, the fruit of the womb” (Psalm 127), and […]
We have all heard about the deaths, the lockdowns and the business closures but have there been any actual winners in Ireland’s ongoing Covid-19 pandemic? Strange to say but there have been plenty of winners although most of them prefer not to talk about it. Instead, the view appears to be that their good fortune […]