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 […]
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 […]
Ireland has been slower than most other EU countries to re-open its borders to inward travel. A certain narrative is taking root, endorsed by prominent voices in the scientific community as well as in Dáil Éireann, to the effect that we should spare no effort in keeping Ireland “Covid-free.” This narrative has radicalized our thinking around […]
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 […]
Three thousand, two hundred, and one euros. That’s the cost of the new EU deal to every man, woman and child, in Ireland. Of all the countries in the European Union, only Luxembourg residents will contribute more to the EU budget over the next few years. Irish people will pay in just under twice as […]
My background is in investment risk management, particularly in the quantitative analysis of defined benefit pension scheme assets and liabilities. To put that in English: I’m a spreadsheet monkey. When I have a problem, and if I have enough time on my hands, I usually start with Microsoft Excel. Well, I’ve had a lot of […]
It’s only been a few months, but it sure does feel like the Covid crisis is dragging on forever. Anything that can bring it to a relatively swift conclusion sometime next year would be a tremendous victory for the world, and a monumental scientific achievement. And our neighbours over at the University of Oxford certainly […]
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On the one hand, you have to admire the sheer chutzpah of “if we can’t sell pints, nobody should be able to have one”. But on the other hand…… don’t they have a point? Head of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), Padraig Cribben reacted to the news that pubs will not be allowed to […]
It’s now approaching six months since Covid-19 turned our world upside down, although China and other Asian countries have been tackling the novel coronavirus since late last year. Prediction and speculation are the stock-in-trade of fools but I think we’ve all been tempted to dust down our crystal ball and ponder what the future holds. […]