The great puzzle about the lockdowns has been how support for the restrictions has divided along class lines. In general, low income earners, especially manual workers, oppose the lockdowns strenuously, while high income earners – the laptop class – seem to support it strenuously. This class divide, the elite versus the workers, is reflected in the […]
There was a time when humanity’s heroes were almost invariably the champions of freedom. In politics, philosophy, story-telling, and beyond, our idols were those who fought the good fight so that people could live free and in peace. It was viscerally understood, by all of us, that freedom was a good thing and that no […]
It is not hard to feel sympathy for the organisers of the Dublin Marathon. Speaking to Kieran Cuddihy on Newstalk’s Hard Shoulder last evening (an item in which yours truly also featured), lead organiser Jim Aughney said that the cancellation was not because the organisers lacked faith in the vaccine programme, or personally believed in […]
The point of the media – the reason it exists – is to report the news to the public. Our job, as journalists, is to pull together relevant information about the things that are happening in the world, and present it to you, the public, in a way that is accessible, understandable, and accurate. When […]
In 2019, Sinn Fein tabled a Motion of No Confidence in the then Minister for Health, Simon Harris. Ahead of the Dáil debate and with cringe inducing bravado, Harris took to Twitter to challenge his political opponents. “Bring it on” he tweeted. Well, bring it on they did, and it wasn’t all empty guff and political opportunism […]
Last week, Ireland’s Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, announced that he would be opening discussions with the hospitality sector to introduce a system for restricting indoor hospitality to customers who have been vaccinated against Covid. There was no public outcry. The government was not widely condemned for proposing to oblige restaurants to engage in systematic […]
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has expressed his “disappointment” and “discomfort” with the way in which members of the public have been critical of NPHET online. When they say they’re “all in this together,” they aren’t joking. Speaking in the Dáil last week, Donnelly went to bat for everyone’s favourite unelected body of government advisors. […]
Over the weekend, 140,000 fans poured into the Red Bull Ring, in Spielberg, Austria, to watch the Formula One Austrian Grand Prix. Tens of thousands watched England defeat Ukraine in Rome, in the European Championships. Across the continent, crowds poured into bars, restaurants, and sporting events. Meanwhile, in Ireland: A pilot music festival is taking […]
Outspoken CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, has accused NPHET of putting out a “variant-scariant narrative” which he says “will be shown to have been completely bogus”. Leary made the comments in an open letter to Minister Eamon Ryan and in an interview with Newstalk’s Hard Shoulder. He took aim at what he perceived as the government’s mis-management of […]
The last time I was involved in a car accident, it was November of 2015, and the main cause of the accident was that I left my wallet in my office and had to run back inside to get it. My now-wife and I were due, that evening, to have dinner in a nice restaurant. […]
Credit to TDs for extracting this fairly revealing statement from Ireland’s benevolent dictator. But let us face facts: When Holohan says “September or beyond”, he means “or beyond”: NPHET would have recommended keeping pubs and restaurants closed for indoor dining until the “end of September or beyond” had they not proposed a vaccine pass, the […]
Mandatory Hotel Quarantine was introduced in Ireland at the start of 2021 as part of a Government strategy to help get the country back to normal. Six months on, the policy has completely failed, because Ireland remains the most restricted country in Europe. The policy was introduced, let us not forget, on the basis of […]