For those of you who haven’t read it, because you didn’t take first year sociology in Trinity (thanks very much, taxpayers) let me save you the trouble: One of these days you’re all going to realise that you’re slaves of the bourgeoisie, and rise up against them to fulfil your own potential. The only problem […]
Both history and fiction fascinate us by showing simultaneously how much and how little the human condition changes over time. We no more live in the ‘real’ world than any generation that has gone before us. Like previous generations, we live within a capsule that is defined as much by what it ignores, cuts off, denies as […]
James Annan is a climate scientist involved in climate prediction, who has made a number of well-known bets against people who disagree with him around climate predictions. In March, he and his associate Julia Hargreaves were looking at the pandemic modelling and predictions that the government in the UK were relying on. Even though it […]
Covid-19 could destroy the EU. With Italexit looming due to Brussels’ coronavirus failure, we may be witnessing the breakup of the EU before our eyes. Ben Scallan reports #gript
WATCH: Fintan O’Toole says he “pities” America over its response to Coronavirus. But here’s a brief recap of what’s happened in his own country #gript
During the course of last Thursday’s Dáil session, the word ‘pharmaceutical’ was mentioned just one time. Even that solitary mention was within the context of a speech given by the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, when he spoke of how the internationally traded sectors of our economy, such as those relating to technology, pharmaceuticals and […]
The Taiwanese community in Ireland has donated a substantial amount of PPE to Irish nursing homes and other long-term care facilities after a fundraising campaign carried out by the Taiwan Ireland Association. Nursing homes now account for roughly 60 percent of virus-related deaths in Ireland and there have been growing concerns about shortages of PPE […]
Peadar Tóibín TD has said that that the lockdown, which he says is taking a heavy toll on many people as well as on the economy, will be made longer and more damaging by the government’s poor handling of testing. The Aontú leader severely criticized the government over what he described as “Testing Dysfunction” “There […]
Tesla founder and entrepreneur Elon Musk has described the continuation of the Covid-19 lockdown as “fascist” in an earnings conference call for the business. He added that many small businesses would not survive the restrictions. Mr Musk the lockdowns amounted to “forcibly imprisoning people in their homes”. “To say that they cannot leave their house […]
In early April, writer Jen Miller urged New York Times readers to start a coronavirus diary. “Who knows,” she wrote, “maybe one day your diary will provide a valuable window into this period.” During a different pandemic, one 17th-century British naval administrator named Samuel Pepys did just that. He fastidiously kept a diary from 1660 to 1669 – […]
At midnight tonight New Zealand’s strict lockdown of 33 days will be slightly eased. As you can imagine, I cannot wait. We will be able to get a few takeout coffees, the children will be able to see their grandparents again and, most importantly, some people can head back to work and some businesses can […]
Great news from a Co Monaghan company which has used its expertise in forklift manufacturing to develop a device which turns one ventilator into multiple ventilation stations. Combilift, best known for its range of forklifts, designed the Combi-Ventilate to address the requirements of hospitals and healthcare professionals facing an expected increase in demand for ventilators during the Covid-19 crisis. They say […]