I attended the sixth and final debate of the Pfizer Health Debates Series in association with the Irish Times. The series, which included six debates across Ireland in 2009, offered attendees an opportunity to hear important health issues being discussed in an open forum by leading commentators.The debates also provided an opportunity for audience engagement and open discussion.

The motion for the final debate was “This house believes that reduced health spending should not lead to poorer healthcare“. It transpired that the wording of the motion was somewhat misleading as both sides seemed to be in agreement that it isn’t about spending more money; it isn’t about cutbacks; it’s about spending more wisely. The motion was carried by a large majority.

These public debates have provided an opportunity for those attending to articulate perspectives and concerns through a question and answer session following each debate. They have been successful in raising awareness of the many wrongs in the Irish health system while also acknowledging the many good parts. At a time when the health service is facing cutbacks of over €1 billion, the positive message to take away from this debate is that money is not the sole factor in health. Better organisation will lead to better outcomes. Increased spending on healthcare does not necessarily lead to better results. Less can be more.

HonestReporting Media BackSpin, 26. November 2009

Zuletzt erinnerte ich mich wieder daran, warum die letzten Medien-Lancierungen, Marwan Barghouti sei der palästinensische Nelson Mandela – unglaubwürdig sind. Deshalb nämlich, weil niemand bei den Palästinensern selbst nachfragt.

Jerusalem Post-Kolumnist Khaled Abu Toameh mit einem kritischen Blick auf die Außenwahrnehmung Barghoutis:

Anders als viele westliche Medien haben palästinensische Journalisten und Verfasser selten – wenn überhaupt – Barghouti als “charismatischen” Führer oder als “palästinensischen Nelson Mandela” bezeichnet. Zyniker und Verschwörungstheoretiker in den palästinensischen Gebieten noch weiter, wenn sie davon ausgehen, dass Barghouti in Wirklichkeit Teil einer US-israelischen  Intrige sei, ihn zum zukünftigen Führer der Palästinenser zu machen. Um ihre Behauptung zu untermauern, stellen sie so profane Fragen wie: Seit wann erlaubt Israel denn einem strengst bewachten Häftling, Medieninterviews zu geben oder in seiner Zelle israelische, palästinensische, europäische und amerikanische Offizielle zu empfangen?

Zweifellos wird Barghouti von vielen Palästinensern respektiert. Doch nicht, weil er der palästinensische Nelson Mandela oder Saladin ist – der moslemische Krieger, der die Kreuzfahrer aus Jerusalem herauswarf -, sondern weil er in einem israelischen Gefängnis sitzt.

Wenn die Palästinenser selbst Barghouti nicht als Mandela betrachten, warum spinnen die Mainstream-Medien dann weiter an diesem Mythos? Das neueste Beispiel dieser Art liefert Irish Times-Korrespondent Michael Jansen, wenn er schreibt:

Von vielen Palästinensern wird er als ihr Nelson Mandela gesehen.

Rede mir nicht ein, wie Barghouti wahrgenommen wird, sondern zeige mir, wie er wahrgenommen wird. Nimm’ einfach den ganz normalen Palästinenser auf der Straße ernst.

Man kann Barghouti jederzeit an seinen eigenen Worten messen, seit er Israels meistinterviewter und bestbewachter Häftling ist. Im Gespräch mit Corriere Della Sera ließ er die Gewaltoption offen.

Natürlich verträgt sich das nicht mit der rosigen Wahrnehmung Barghoutis durch den Westen….

Lesen Sie bitte Toamehs vollständigen Beitrag [In Englisch].

Dazu passend: Barghouti Is No Mandela

It’s Michael White (normally a sane and reliable voice in the maelstrom of political opinion) who drops today’s bollock. Find it on Mike’s Guardian Politics Blog:

Ed Balls – not always a man to trust up a dark ally

What makes it worse is the context:

yesterday … I watched Dave [Cameron, but you didn't need telling that, did you?] – pieties about the Iraq war dead and the Cumbrian floods put to one side – tearing into Brown over Hizb ut-Tahrir. Oh no, not those tiresome Islamist puritans again, I hear you murmur. Agreed, but Dave started it, not me.

And under the telling title:

Election season smears are back – watch out Muslims, Jews and Red Kate

“Red Kate”, believe it or not, is the recently-discovered “most powerful woman in the world“, Cathy Ashton. So, step aside, Hillary.

“Recently-discovered” as a result of the British media’s total abstinence from the realities of EU affairs. That’s also another reason for regular resort to the Irish Times and other immigrant periodicals.

The reason for the abnormality in spelling of said collider, is that the largest thing built ever, the Large Hadron Collider has been tested and is deemed working, and the science community is practically jizzing themselves just talking about it. Everyone from the BBC to the New York Times to Al-Jazeera to Scumbag Style have reported on this thing, which is meant to recreate the Big Bang and definitively prove the existence of the elusive Higgs-boson.

Said Professor Peter Higgs, the scientist whom the theoretical particle is named after, in regards to the costly delays when the LHC was fired up fourteen months ago, to the Irish Times: (Continued after the jump.)

“I am relieved . . . It has really been delayed,” and in stating the obvious even further, “I know they are going to be very cautious to avoid any problems so I am keeping my fingers crossed that there isn’t going to be any more accidents.”

The delays were caused by an electrical fault that dumped liquid helium into the tunnel only nine days after the system first went online in September of last year. Now the problems have been fixed, new equipment and software has been installed, and the system was fired up on Friday, to much celebration from the staff who worked over-time getting the system ready.

Now, the Large Hadron Collider might be involved with finding the Higgs boson and Strange Matter, but according to The Register that’s not all they’re looking for. At least Director for Research and Scientific Computing at CERN, Sergio Bertolucci, seems to think that the collision might open an extra-dimensional portal, which from “Out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it.” Talk about a geek hard-on; this is the stuff of science fiction, man!

Granted, the portal would only be open for “a very tiny lapse of time, 10 (to the -26 power) seconds, [but] during that infinitesimal amount of time we would be able to peer into this open door, either by getting something out of it or sending something into it.” What could possibly be lurking for us beyond the scope of space and time? What could perchance make the leap into our dimension? Probably something from our deepest, darkest fears, which lurks in the pits of despair.

Yep...Probably Something Just Like That.

Clay Shirky

Clay Shirky is probably one of the people whose opinions on the Internet and knowledge sharing I take more seriously. I’m interested in the emphasis he puts on those elements of modern media and communication which are more beneficial to society as a whole, than the more myopic “Make your fortune from the Internet and only work for 4 hours a week” commentators. His piece I read today takes on the concept of smaller local bookshops, who are more and more threatened by massive online sellers. Though he doesn’t agree with some organisations seeking governmental intervention on the issue, nor their arguments for seeking this intervention, his final comments are crucial for many commercial enterprises. In criticising the comments of the American Booksellers Association, he also criticises many of the reasons put forward over the last, maybe, 15 years of the development of the Internet. However, at this stage any references the ABA make to themselves as some kind of guardians of culture, ring hollow to anyone who can see through them to the obvious commercial elements of their arguments. His article can be found here: Local Bookstores, Social Hubs and Mutulization

I don’t really take issue with anything he says, but I find his comments on social hubs etc very interesting. The idea of bartering, co-operatives, social hubs etc as part of cities’ social systems needs to be investigated more by individuals, the concepts themselves exclude any government or state involvement, which may be why I find them so attractive. In my experience such concepts exist quite freely in rural areas or put in place by NGOs and community groups in working class areas and have worked successfully in many cases. They are concepts which really should spread to all parts of society in all areas. The argument that these movements allow for too much localisation, doesn’t allow for the development of an interlinking system of local organisations.

One of the best articles I read is an interview in the Columbia Journalism Review and was a better insight into the changes the Internet has made and a perfect counter to those who argue that modern society cannot cope with the level of distraction and knowledge created this new flood of information. His points about information filtration are particularly apt

Obama, just another politician?

I have been cynical form the very beginning about how much hope and “a new beginning” would have to do with Barack Obama’s reign. Of course, I was remorsefully whipped by his enthusiastic followers anywhere I ever mentioned it. They obviously never read Noel Ignatiev’s How the Irish Became White, an interesting argument for abolishing the “white race”, what it stands for, not the people. There was plenty of horror here in Ireland when it was mentioned that more and more Irish-Americans were voting Republican, conservatism follows wealth.

So far my cynicism re-Obama still stands, bearing in my mind I am an outsider and judge him more on his foreign policies than his domestic ones. I have yet to see a substantial change in attitude from the last 15 years. A change yes, but not enough to convince me he’s not another patsy to corporate lobbying.

Aside from my own misgivings, I still find disparity in reporting on his speeches, talks etc fascinating. Two pieces from 18 November, writing on the same visit to China. One from the New York Times: During Visit, Obama Skirts Chinese Political Sensitivities where the only mention of Tibet is Bill Clinton’s speaking to President Jiang Zemin in 1998. The article is simply a list of failings in Obama’s approach to Eastern Asia. However, The Irish Times runs an article Obama’s remarks on Tibet tempered by praise for China commenting on how Obama made the US’s position on human rights and equality clear to President Hu. Yes there’s a level of hypocrisy in his comments, but why did the NY Times omit referring to them altogether? What gives?

Hitler’s hidden bunkers and Mao’s massive one

Anyone wondering about life in China and how it manages to compete so strongly against the US, almost on salary alone should read through Viceland’s feature on the “hidden city” built by Mao under Beijing. It’s a pretty alternative and specific view of the city, but there are some insights into the poverty and squalor that exist in the country as more and more people are pushed towards the cities: Chairman Mao’s Underground City

Of course Mao wasn’t the only dictator who like his tunnels. This video posted on Disinfo.com is pretty interesting, plus it features Anthony Beevor whose book Stalingrad is a great read, my fondness for references aside.

Megacity One Children

Funnily enough I cam across this article in New Scientist which put forward some evidence that children who show less fear are more prone to taking a criminal path later in life. Fortunately, the article recognises that the evidence is relatively weak, but believes the conclusions warrant further investigation. Every time I read anything proposing the possible early detection of traits in humans images of Judge Dredd flash through my mind. However, again, the same article does mention that such results can really never be properly followed through on because a child’s environment can still draw them away from criminality and vice versa.

Lego

This piece in Gizmodo was just a nice nostalgia trip for me, hope it’s the same for you!

I write this post with a nod and a wink to Holemaster who asks, “what’s wrong with Ireland?”.

We are. Says he.

But I think we were once upon a time, ie, in the not too distant past. But not now.

Really, now we’re more clueless and badly led. By people who don’t know the first thing about governance. People who were democratically elected unfortunately. So maybe we, as a whole, are to blame on that front alone.

But to my mind, corruption requires great knowledge of the systems you’re corrupting and a certain mastery of those very systems. Our social leaders (TD’s, bankers, etc) and those who oversaw the boom, and the subsequent bust, don’t have that mastery. They’re too stupid to be corrupt. And thus they have made us the laughing stock of Europe. We’re gambling our grandchildren’s future due to their ineptitude and incompetence, not because of corruption and the nod and a wink culture.

As an aside, an article in the Irish Times yesterday states that there’s ‘little corruption’ in Ireland. In fact we’re on a par with the Germans on the world corruption table. Make of that what you will.

You don’t have to but it’s suggested that you read this first:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/1116/1224258920419.html

In the place of any particularly insightful investigations of the reasons, interests and mistakes that have led to the economic downturn in Ireland, not to mention a sense of history and reality regarding economic booms in general (surprise surprise, they don’t last forever), the Irish media is a flurry with articles and opinion columns looking for meaning in what is apparently a new topsy-turvy world. A new series the in the Irish Times inviting young people with ‘bright ideas’ to voice their opinions started today with Cameron Stewart founder of clothing company Ark. He’s founded this ethically run company on the basis that every time you wear the brand you’re encouraged to perform acts of kindness to help spread the love and give people hope. These range from simple acts such as giving up your seat on a bus or buying a stranger a coffee to painting an orphanage or helping the homeless. The message coming from Stewart’s article seems to say that while the recession is no doubt a negative thing it has in fact helped us to see things a bit clearer, to have less faith in material things as a way of making us happy and to appreciate the important things in life such as family, friends and relationships. True happiness one might say.

It’s difficult to really take issue with anything that Stewart is saying and I certainly don’t wish to dismiss him simply as an idealist and write him off. However, even before the recession became official in Ireland throughout the media there was already a wave of articles and features on what were effectively ethical business people: entrepreneurs whose businesses seemed as concerned with profit as they were with environmental or human rights issues. Again, what could possibly be wrong with that? And again I’m not exactly here to say that there is, however I do think there is more room needed to introduce a critical analysis. Taken as a whole, or as a movement it would seem that these ethical-entrepreneurs are advocating social change through consumer choice. As a phenomenon this is not particularly new, one recalls how just a few years ago Shell’s advertising campaign focused purely on their environmental projects and had nothing to do with the company’s product itself. This is brand marketing and I do not wish to use this space to launch a critique of that, it has already been covered elsewhere.

If we take for granted that the media do engage in certain amount of agenda setting as regards politics, and relatively recently people’s own private concerns, the proliferation of these kinds of features can be seen to constitute a form of propaganda advocating that people, the individual, can become active through consumerist choice operating within the set of rules laid down by the free market economy; seeking social change through the mechanisms and supports of business and operating within our own small sphere of influence. The word active has multiple meanings. It has a political/social sense: I can change things by buying a particular product which donates to charity or by helping a man on the street. Following on from this it also has a very personal sense. In effect what one can say is: I become active through my choice, through my choice in the market, selecting this product because it is more ethical or charitable than this other one, or doing what I can. Here we enter a very personal and contentious space. We are talking about the individual and how they are individualised.

The theory of the individual is obviously a vast subject to try and attack and I’m certainly not setting out to formulate a theory of it here. However what we can say in a very summarised way is that the formation of the individual in both an ethical and political sense is something akin to a battleground. If we take Foucault as a staring point (and I certainly do) we can begin to look at the various struggles throughout history which have centered around the constituting of the individual and one of the major weapons of course in these battles was ideology. The notion that we live in a post ideological age is slowly dying after a quite a short life, and all the better for it. What I think has happened however, since the great ideologies fell at the end of the twentieth century is that we are now faced with a new battleground, one that is a lot murkier, less dualistic and while maybe not more complex perhaps it is more subtle. If left and right don’t particularly mean anything anymore we remain in a much hazier middle. If we acknowledge that ideology has played and continues to play such a key role in the formation and constitution of the individual then what is left when ideology itself becomes such an uncertain territory?

I think we are seeing at least some of the results now. To quote Badiou “the being of the individual is the lack-of-being, it is only by dissolving itself into a project of that exceeds him that an individual can hope to attain some subjective real”^1*. While I can’t really go along with the notion that lack-of-being constitutes the being of the individual (this seems to me to be too psychoanalytic/Christian in outlook) I think what we can take from this is the idea the importance of the movement (project), a movement driven by an ideology, in the constitution of the individual. Consumerism is a movement. It works like any other setting out forms of conduct and behaviour, setting down beliefs and defining individual outlooks and lifestyles, these are all individualising factors. One unique feature of consumerism as considered in this way is that it actually works towards making itself invisible while at the same time spreading its influence further and further. What consumerism works towards more and more is to position itself as both non-ideological and at the same time unquestionable, as some kind of natural order and it has succeeded in many respects.

Following on from all this what can we say about Ark and Cameron Stewart’s article. Well a few things. I wish to reiterate that I’m not completely opposed to someone coming along and simply asking people to be kinder to one another. Stewart specifically says “we are a movement more than a company…” however the problems with such an argument, especially one coming from somebody who actually runs an enterprise, is that it presupposes a fundamental idea that the individual is a consumer and lives within a predetermined sphere of influence. As such it encourages them to become actively individual through their consumer choice and by performing small acts of kindness. What of course is not taken into account in this analysis is the determining effect that consumerism itself plays in the constituting of people as consumers, and the formation of their sphere’s of influence. It’s the prison officer asking us nicely to keep our cells tidy and be friendly to our fellow inmates.

What before might have been an ethical consideration worked out in relation to either self assessed beliefs or one imposed/encouraged by a religious network has now become inexorably tied to the market, a market which over time has evolved to treat everything, even concepts like charity or compassion, as marketable commodities and as such devaluing them completely. Consumerism can be regarded as complicit in the creation of the world in which its new humanitarian messages/angle have become necessary. We can perhaps consider this movement, and Ark is just one of many, in the same light as the merchant classes of the Middle Ages commissioning so many artistic and civic projects but at the same time working to maintain the status quo, the exploitation of the workers and so on. While those businessmen in no way considered the masses as capable of taking part in civic life today we are encouraged to make change, as long as it is, of course, within the system and status quo we already find ourselves. In a time when real tangible benefits to the poor are in danger of being cut in order to balance the state’s budget it is perhaps not enough to simply ask that everyone help one another within the system they find themselves, it’s time to ask real questions about the system itself.

Notes & References:

*I have substituted the word ‘individual’ for the word ‘subject’ in this quote in order to maintain a coherence to the piece. I feel it doesn’t sacrifice too much Badiou’s original meaning

1. Badiou, Alain, The Century, tr. Alberto Toscano, Polity Press. 2007, pp 100-101

“You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself” Ricky Nelson, ‘The Garden Party’.

Last night I took my Dad – or rather he took me – to the O2 to see Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam. Billed as Cat’s (let’s call him that to ease confusion) first gig in Ireland the concert promised a trip down memory lane for the oldies in the crowd. Indeed, as we observed, the crowd was composed mainly of people in their 40s and older. Though it might be wrong to assume, there was definitely an air of expectation in the concert that this was a Greatest Hits tour, a chance for the paying Irish public to finally hear the songs that coloured their past, live.

Stevens, on stage © Ciara Norton

And from the outset it looked like this was what it would be. Cat began his set strolling onto the stage, guitar in hand. He was shortly joined by two more guitarists and together they entertained with the kind of folksy music Cat became famous for. There would be no dancing to this music but the crowd were happy, perhaps full of expectation that soon a Cat Stevens hit would make its voice known. After a few slow songs the stage opened to reveal keyboards, bass and drums and it was then that the show really got going. For about ten minutes, that is.

At this point Cat started talking about the “surprise” in store for the audience. I knew, as I had paid attention, that this meant a preview of Cat’s new musical Moonshadow. I presumed that as it had not been the opening act (a much better slot, no?) it would be little more than a few minutes of the second act, not close to the entirety.

Cat Stevens and Band, o2 Dublin, © Ciara Norton

The interval ended and the real fun began. Cat ambled on stage, sat on a box and with his guitar sang an unfamiliar song while two children played on stage. Their voices – the irritating sing-song kind – interrupted the song to talk about a land of no sun or too much sun or something like that and it was at this point that I began to grow nervous and the crowd started to shift their weight in the plastic seats.

This was as close to a full-blown musical as you could imagine in the middle of a concert. Plotlines developed, characters formed, children grew old and old people grew tired of the rebellious youth. It was hard to stomach, hard to watch a musical the majority of the crowd didn’t seem to know was coming when Cat Stevens was obviously wandering about backstage. Oh yes, he had left the stage after the first song and his cast took over the singing duties. This meant, in case my point is not clear, that the audience DID get to hear his hits, but these were the hits sang by cast members of a West End musical, their every syllable enunciated through grinning, gurning mouths.

Nobody in the audience paid to listen to an actor sing ‘Father and Son’, nobody wanted a female cast member to twist ‘Wild World’ into a lament for her lost son and nobody wanted to see ‘Matthew & Son’ turn into a dance routine. It was hard. I hate to see people on stage boo-ed, I understand that the cast members of Moonshadow were merely doing their job and I suppose they were doing it well, or as well as can be expected in the face of a hostile audience.

Then it was over. People were still walking out when Cat reappeared to tell us he’d be back in five minutes, that he hadn’t left us, that he hoped we hadn’t left him. So we stayed and hoped that a hit was somewhere in our future, a familiar song to heal the hurt of the unexpected musical. But it wasn’t coming. Cat introduced songs from recent albums, he thanked us for coming and spending “so much money”* and smiled his way through his second, shorter set. Even ‘Moonshadow’ was ruined by the addition of the lead from the musical returning on stage to falsetto his way through the classic. At this stage everyone was uneasy, Cat affirmed that he would not be playing some songs like ‘Hard Headed Woman’, presumably not in keeping with his current outlook on life. For his encore Cat began with a new song ‘All Kinds of Roses’ from Roadslinger. The crowd screamed blue murder and he replied “Now I know what Dylan felt like”. Not that this was comparable to Dylan’s electric moment, in any way.

I left during the second song of the encore, a reimagined version of ‘Lilywhite’. By then it was too late for me and I had to leave. Anyone know if he ended on a high note? EDIT: Apparently I missed Ronan Keating and Cat sing Father and Son together. That I can definitely live without.

To conclude, for I know I’ve rambled on  long enough,  I am usually in giving any performer the benefit of my doubt. I don’t like to boo (I didn’t last night) and I don’t like to hear others do so. I respect a performer’s right to play his recent songs, not concentrate on hits from 30 years ago. I do have issue with the promotion (POD and AEG in association with the Irish Times and 2fm were the promoters) of a concert that used Cat Steven’s hits to entice people into the O2. The preview of the musical was not billed as the major part of the show it was. I knew about it but I believe myself to be in the minority of people there who were aware it was part of the show. I respect Cat Stevens but I do not respect last night’s show or the promoters who allowed what happened to happen. As he might have learned last night “it’s hard to get by just upon a smile”.

*DISCLOSURE: my tickets were free, not that this prevents me from being angry on behalf on the thousands of others who paid €80 and upwards for the privilege.

EDIT: The Daily Telegraph’s reviewer had this to say about last night. I can’t say that I agree with calling the people in the crowd who registered their disapproval loudly “churlish and mean spirited”. Brian Boyd’s four star rating and my own differ widely, especially when it comes to Moonshadow.

]]> http://whereimbloggingfrom.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/anthology-of-interest-ii/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:14:44 +0000 Eimear Ryan http://whereimbloggingfrom.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/anthology-of-interest-ii/

Two interesting-looking anthologies coming up soon. The first I found through John Boyne’s blog: From the Republic of Conscience, a collection of stories and essays by Irish writers inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

They ran as a series in the Irish Times last year, and I’m pretty sure I already have them collected in a supplement-type thing, but it’s always nice to have them in book form. I remember really enjoying Anne Enright and Claire Kilroy’s stories, but that Neil Jordan’s was really dull.

What is meant by being fair to everyone, that everyone has to pay their fair share, that all will have to feel the pain?

We all feel that we should be the ones exempted from the cuts. As we didn’t cause the recession that we shouldn’t have to pay the price to dig us out.

But this is not realistic as I am beginning to realize. We will all feel the pain in one way or another.

Pain, what it will be for some people:

1. Not having enough fuel to heat your home

2. Not having enough to feed your family properly

3. Not having enough to dress yourself properly

4. Not being able to afford to see a Doctor

5. Not being able to afford medicine

6. Not being able to afford Christmas

7. Being in Dept and not being able to pay your bills

8. Being in danger of losing your home

9. Losing your home

10. Not being able to afford school books.

If the December Budget is to be FAIR we all  will suffer at least 5 or 6 of the above. When I hear that John Gormely, Noel Dempsey, Mary Harney etc are among those having problems that I have listed above, then I will know that Brian Leneghen is being fair to everyone and that we ALL  are  paying our fair share

Not my words (I wish) but the words of the Chief of the HSE Prof. Brendan Drumm. On an article by Ailish O’ Regan on the Irish Independent, Regan reveals to us that Mr. Drumm has refused to comment on his bonus of €70,000.

Currently Mr. Drumm is earning a salary of over €400,000. So while our health care system is falling to that of a standard of a third world country (and yes it is my friends and don’t tell me other wise) we have the Chief Director earning €400,000 plus. There are questions that do need to be asked. Nurses are being let go from work due to cut backs. Newly qualified nurses and health care professionals have been forced to pack their bags and move to the UK, Middle East, US and Australia against their own will. Some nurses I have spoken to have moved to countries like the UK and Australia and have left their husbands here in Ireland so “they can pay the bills”.

Services have been closed down also. It angered me to read in the Irish Times yesterday that the states main secure unit for highly disruptive children based in Ballydowd in West Dublin will be closed down. The 12 children will be sent to another unit based in the North of the City. After the release of a report from HIQA it was decided that this facility will no longer suit its purpose. This facility was built 9 years ago to the tune of €13million. It now has been deemed unsuitable and the children should be moved to a newer facility? This is bamboozling to the mind as one would think we could invest a few thousand euro and make the changes but no we will close the facility down and waste the money we invested.

That is just a little example of what is wrong I am only starting on this issue but if I was to take two examples as the two I have taken above and put them up on my blog every day for the next year we might have a little think about how effective the HSE is actually running and see if Mr. Drumm does deserve a total of €400,000.

As a saying goes “There are no problems- just solutions waiting to be found”

Over the weekend, the Irish Times picked up on Declan Meade’s editorial in the current Stinging Fly, in which he voices his concern about Arts Council cuts and what it will mean for the future of the Fly and similar organisations. Read the Times’ Loose Leaves column, or go ahead and support the Fly by getting a subscription.

Too recession-struck to fork out cash? At least sign the petition by the National Campaign for the Arts to support the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, the Irish Film Board, and anything else arty that might get fooked come the next budget. G’wan.

W OW, just back from walking in the Cinque Terre in Italy. And what a time I had. I really am glad that I wasnt elected in the Local Elections, because if I was I would have worked very hard for the electorate who would have put so much trust in me and wouldnt have had the time for myself that I now have.

What can I tell you about the Cinque Terre and my time there? Well, the Cinque Terra translates as the Five Lands. These are five villages perched on the side of hills. They were isolated from each other until C 1970 so very few outsiders visited them. Paths were then opened  between the villages, cut into the side of the hills. Some of these paths are smooth and surfaced, but some are very rough . and eneven with hundreds of steps. Some are very narrow without guard rails so can be quite dangerous. But with normal levels of walking fitness , good walking shoes or boots and care  they are a nice challenge.

The five villages are Riomaggiore, Manarola,Corniglia Vernazza and Monterosso.

Each of the villages has its own distinct character. My own favourite is Vernazza. It is quite small but very picturesque. You can see it whenyou are about an hours walk away and as you come closer its various colours and shapes are fascinating. Then at about half an hours walk away you are passing the local Olive Groves and Vineyards, on terraces stepped into the hills. When you walk into the town its just magic.

In this town is the Gianna Franzi Restaurant. This is the restaurant that the food critic Michael Winner said was one of the best in the world. We were honoured to be able to get a booking there and we had a beautiful lunch.

We walked to other destinations too like Portfino amd Port Venere. We also took a boat over to the Island of Palmaria and had alovely walk amid the local herbs like Carob,  Myrre and wild asparagus.

We also had to climb 1000 steps between Camoglia and Portofino which was a real challenge and the descent was very hard on the old joints.

Apart from the first day when we startd out in torrential rain for the first 30 minutes, the weather was in the twenties all the time.

I shall draw  a veil over the night time activities except to say that they were equally enjoyable.

Helpful hints are always welcome at Redfellow Hovel. They are not frequent. Unlike all the wingeing criticism, snide sarcasm, heartbreaking stories from “Dear Friends” with mega-million money worries in West Africa, and miscellaneous stray spam.

So what’s to be made of a suggestion that James Joyce got the Larry McHale dog reference wrong?

Apparently there is an Edwardian three-act political farce, The Eloquent Dempsey, by one William Boyle. It was one of the early plays performed at the Abbey Theatre company, who took it on tour around the archipelago, playing it in rep. along with Yeats’s Deirdre.

In the play a character announces:

“You’re like Lanna McCree’s dog — piece of the road with everybody.”

At which reference Malcolm’s own recollection clicks back into gear.

Dáil Éireann was giving the Special Powers Bill the second reading. One of the proposals was to extend the period of detention provided for by the provisions of the 1939 Offences against the State Act. Deputy G. Fitzgerald was enjoying himself, laying around in tremendous form:

The Minister made no positive effort to explain why such internment is necessary, because internment this is. Deputy [Barry] Desmond spoke in divers tongues. Like Lanna Macree’s dog, he went a bit of the road with everybody. He referred to the fact that four times in the Minister’s brief he gave the reasons why this measure was necessary. In a surprisingly brief and inadequate introduction to such a measure he said four times this was in response to a demand from the Garda Síochána.

That is an obvious direct borrowing from Boyle’s script.

There is yet another variant, used by Tom O’Dea in the Irish Times (January 2001), putting the local version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire firmly back in the cupboard:

Gay Byrne must perceive that Millionaire is a prefabricated piece of multinational junk television accorded him by vain trendies in RTÉ who take off down the road after every passing caravan, like Leannamachree’s dog.

Even that has a history: any bets that Tom O’Dea had been reading An Fear Rua (sadly no relation) on the topic of the 2000 Eircell Hurling All Star nominations:

Offaly this year were a bit like the apocryphal ‘Leanna Machree’s Dog’ – they went a bit of the road with everyone. Their strangely ‘liom leat’ performances have been rightly put in perspective by the selectors by in giving defeated semi-finalists Galway ten nominations over six for Offaly, who actually made it to the final.

Or, possibly, the same idiom from the same source, in a politico-sporting observation:

Remember a few years ago when Dick Spring TD, in the colours of Ireland, failed to hold a dropping ball in Lansdowne Road and cost Ireland a Triple Crown? … Ask Albertus Magnus, the Longford Slasher Reynolds, and he’d probably say Dick spent most of his time in politics dropping clangers, if not balls. Now, the latest Kerry politician to join the ‘Fabien Barthez School for Butter Fingers’ is none other than Fine Gael’s Spokesperson on Sport and Recreation, Jimmy Deenihan.

… His policy is a bit like the story of oul ‘Leanna Machree’s Dog’ … who was prepared to go a bit of the road with everyone who passed by.

Who ever owned the damn dog, it’s there in the canon with Paddy McGinty’s Goat and Nell Flaherty’s Drake , all aboard Johnson’s Motor Car:

The Irish Times today has reported that the Central Statistics Office has said that average weekly earnings in the Public Sector excluding Health Sector Workers has increased by 3.2% in the 12 months to June 2009, Average weekly wages rose from €942.81 to €973.09 in that period. Some 2700 less people were employed in the Public Service at the end of June mainly due to the non renewal of temporary workers.

An average wage of €973 per week gives an average yearly salary of €50, 596 which is well in excess of the average industrial wage. Over the past 12 months, the Unions have been saying that pay has been frozen. What they fail to mention is that increments whereby salaries are increased each year, in the Civil and Public Service are still being given.

If the Government are serious about dealing with the massive shortfalls in the public finances, it must immediately cease paying these increments. No one in the private sector is getting a rise, so why should public sector workers? Secondly, a staggered wage cut must be implement on all public and civil service workers earning in excess of  €35,000 and a cap on €150,000 be applied to all public sector workers.  In the world of Education, all the various allowances such as Substitution Cover should be abolished and included in the duties outlined in teacher’s contracts.

The Trade Union Movement has always been about solidarity between workers. Now is the time for Public Sector workers to show solidarity with Private Sector workers.

*Excluding Health Sector Workers

Standing in Antonio Gaudí’s Parc Güell, you can see across the city of Barcelona to the Mediterranean. This view can tell a visitor more about this city on the sea than anything else.

Straight ahead are the skyscrapers and cranes working towards modernising the city, pulling it into the 21st century. To their left is the Sagrada Família, a half-finished temple intended to dwarf everything else when complete.

Beyond that is the Barri Gòtic, or Gothic Quarter, its winding streets untouched by time and commerce. Nearer the water is the Olympic Village, a reminder of Barcelona’s brightest moment in the sporting sun, and the Camp Nou stadium, the venue for countless crazy nights of soccer glory.

Inside La Sagrada Familia © Ciara Norton

The capital of Catalonia, Barcelona prides itself on its heritage and dedication to the language and customs of the Catalan people. Most people speak Catalan as well as Spanish, streets signs are in both languages and many shops and restaurants advertise only in Catalan.

It is this distinction from mainstream Spanish culture and language that lends Barcelona an offbeat air that permeates the streets of the city. Gaudí began the architectural revolt against straight lines and uniformity when he started his career in the city, and it is obvious that his spirit of adventure lives on in the people and the buildings.

Almost everything he touched is worth visiting. Even the most art-weary tourists can only marvel at the union of nature and art that is Parc Güell. Mosaic tiles on stone arcades, sculptures of lizards and snakes decorated with broken glass, and a gatehouse with chimneys that look good enough to eat are all in a park used by the people of the city for recreation and relaxation.

Park Guell © Ciara Norton

If you start at this park and work your way towards the sea you can visit, with the help of an efficient metro system, all that Barcelona has to offer.

Though possible, it is not advisable to ignore Gaudí. Other landmarks bearing his inimitable touch are La Pedrera, a wave-like apartment building with sculptural chimneys on its roof. Each chimney is a masterpiece, and each set of steps leads to another level – a vertigo-inducing fright.

The Sagrada Família is Gaudí’s unfinished cathedral. Begun more than 100 years ago, and due for completion in 2025, it is a living and breathing work of art, its interior a building site, its exterior a work of deranged genius.

To fully understand the concept of this church and how it will finally look, visit the museum in the basement. Walking by workshops where artists and sculptors labour on this living piece of history is fascinating, and the mind boggles at the scale of the task ahead.

There is, of course, more to Barcelona than one man and his art. The heart of the city, its version of O’Connell street, is La Rambla. This wide, tree-lined street has been romanticised as the heart of Barcelona, but it is now little more than a tourist trap, specialising in overpriced restaurants and some of the city’s seedier spots. It is here that pickpockets – the warning given to everyone who goes to Barcelona – operate.

La Rambla is convenient as the starting point for a wander through the nearby Barri Gòtic and Jewish quarter, a maze of narrow streets with tiny squares and bigger monuments, such as Barcelona’s cathedral, currently undergoing refurbishment.

Atop La Predera © Ciara Norton

Losing yourself in this area can yield a different experience of Barcelona – the shops, cafes and bars are charming and less tourist-orientated than their neighbours a few blocks over. A cloudy day during our visit prompted us to spend hours here, stopping at bars for tapas and mojitos, all the while enjoying the slower pace of life in this part of the city.

While Barcelona, as Spain’s second-largest city, is undeniably a hub of activity, it is also a beach-lovers’ destination, with miles of blue-flag sandy beaches. The area near the main beach is Barceloneta, an avenue of shops, seafood restaurants and bars.

The beach itself is remarkably clean and equipped with anything a sunbather could want. From here you can see down to the Olympic Village, the most notable landmark being the Frank Gehry-designed Peix d’Or, a glittering fish-shaped architectural sculpture along the seafront.

Definitely a city of the night, Barcelona has numerous bars and restaurants that open long after midnight, when the streets are still full of music and of people circling the city, soaking in the atmosphere. Plaça Reial, off La Rambla, is one such area. Sidecar, a popular haunt for Barcelona’s student and artist population, opens until 2am every night, with a nominal entrance fee for the club downstairs if 5am seems like a more appropriate bedtime.

If dancing until dawn does not appeal – it takes energy to sightsee, after all – then a night of traditional Catalan music at Palau de la Música Catalana, considered one of the world’s most beautiful concert halls, might be just the ticket for absorbing some culture and preserving some beauty sleep.

Barcelona is a city in constant flux, always trying to better itself and its cityscape. Its combination of beach and artistic beauty is a break from the sun-holiday norm often associated with Spanish destinations.

Where to stay, where to go and where to eat

5 places to stay

Marina View BB. Paseo de Colom, 00-34-666-463991, marinaviewbcn.com. The Marina View BB is ideally located at the seafront of the city, within easy reach of the centre. The rooms are modern, comfortable and equipped with everything one might need after a day in the city or on the beach. Rooms from about €110 per night.

Urbany. 97 Avenue Meridiana, 00-34-932-458414, barcelonaurbany.com. A modern take on a traditional hostel, Urbany is close to the Sagrada Família. En-suite double rooms cost about €50-€60 a night, depending on the time of year.

Petit Palace Opera Garden Hotel. 10 La Boqueria, 00-34-933-020092. This small boutique hotel is in the Gothic quarter, close to La Rambla and other city-centre attractions. Rooms are spacious and comfortable, and cost about €120 per night in high season.

Ciutat Barcelona Hotel. 33-35 Carrer Princesa, Barcelona, 00-34-932-697475, ciutatbarcelona.com. Centrally located in the Born quarter, this light-filled hotel has a small pool on the roof terrace – perfect for cooling down after a day of sightseeing. Double rooms €90-€130.

Hotel Omm. 265 Rosselló, 00-34-934-454000, hotelomm.es. If you like luxury, then Hotel Omm could be perfect. Featuring a lively bar where the people of the city come to play, and an award-winning restaurant, Moo, there’s every danger of arriving in the hotel and never leaving. Rooms are not cheap, through, ranging from €240 per night to more than €500.

5 places to eat

Els Quatre Gats. 3 Carrer Montsió, 00-34-933-024140, 4gats.com. A landmark for more than a century, this restaurant specialises in traditional Spanish cuisine. Though it is sometimes more about the history of this former cabaret bar than the food, it is nonetheless worth a visit for the inexpensive food and the atmosphere.

Les Quinze Nits. 6 Plaça Reial, 00-34-933-173075, lesquinzenit.com. This restaurant attracts the crowds on busy nights, so expect to wait for a table. The menu is a mix of seafood and meat dishes. It is incredibly good value: a three-course meal with wine will set you back less than €25. Try the traditional Catalan custard for dessert.

Taxidermiste. 8 Plaça Reial, 00-34- 934-124536, xidermista.com. Don’t let the name put you off: the food is great and completely lacking in stuffed dead animals. There are three menus here, which can get a little confusing. The bistro menu is the best value. If you want to sit on the terrace you must order tapas – also good value – but the à la carte menu is on the pricey side.

La Paciencia. 72 Sant Pau, 00-34-934-415387. This is a small bar that does tasty tapas and excellent cocktails. The tapas menu is extensive but small enough for you to know it’s being freshly made. Feast on patatas bravas, croquettes, chorizo and everything in between while watching the world go by.

Quimet and Quimet. 25 Poeta Cabanyes, 00-34-934-423142. This tiny family-run bar is home to the best and most adventurous tapas around. Standing with one of the many choices of wine in hand, you can sample any number of Spanish meats and cheeses.

5 places to go

Parc Güell. Avenue del Santuari de Sant Josep de la Muntanya. Take a trip to the park and you can spend a wonderful day exploring its many hidden gems. It also contains Casa Museu Gaudí (casamuseugaudi.org), exhibiting artefacts from the artist’s life. When the sun is shining there is no better place to enjoy Barcelona.

La Pedrera. 92 Passeig de Gràcia, 00-34-934-845900, lapedreraeducacio.org. Casa Milá, or La Pedrera to the natives of the city, was one of Gaudí’s most successful experiments in modern architecture. For €9.50 an audio tour guides you through the building to the roof and museum in the attic. A fascinating journey into the innovative mind of the artist.

Mercat de Sant Josep. Plaça de la Boqueria, 00-34-933-182017, boqueria.info. Situated on La Rambla, this is Barcelona’s biggest and best-stocked fruit and vegetable market. It is well worth visiting to take in the sights and sounds of the city – especially handy if you’re self-catering.

Palau de La Música Catalana. Sant Pere Més Alt, 00-34-902-442882, palaumusica.org. A beautiful concert hall that hosts national and international acts, always conscious of the preservation of the Catalonian musical tradition. The concert hall itself is a beautiful building, worth visiting if only to marvel at the impressive auditorium.

Barri Gòtic. Containing a Roman trail and the Jewish quarter, the Barri Gòtic is a district of the city not to be missed. It is rich in museums, churches, shops, restaurants, plazas, bars and anything else a tourist could want for. Stop off on Plaça del Rei and see the former residences of the kings of Catalonia and Aragon (museuhistoria.bcn.cat).

Hit the shops

Plaça Catalunya. One of the main squares in the city has everything a shopaholic could need – and more. The streets off the plaza contain the usual high-street names, and the plaza itself is home to El Corte Inglés, Spain’s most prominent department store. elcorteingles.es.

Hot spot

Sidecar. 7 Plaça Reial, 00-34-933-021586, sidecar.es. A small bar with movies projected on to the wall, beer starting at €2.50 a bottle and an indie-rock soundtrack that makes this one of the busiest spots in the area. The club downstairs, open most nights until 5am, is deservedly popular with locals and tourists alike.

Go there

Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Barcelona from Belfast, Cork and Dublin. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Dublin and Shannon to Girona, and from Dublin to Reus, both of which are about an hour by bus from the centre of Barcelona.

Published in the Irish Times, September 12, 2009

I received a communiqué [well -a comment] from somebody who asked why I’d stopped posting to this blog recently. ‘Tis true -I have only posted seven times in the whole of this year.

I had a micro review published in yesterday’s Irish Times of Glenn Patterson’s family history Once Upon a Hill. Check it out here.

Novelist Glenn Patterson sets out to unearth the love story of his grandparents, Jack and Kate – how they fell in love across the Protestant-Catholic divide in Lisburn a century ago, and why they didn’t marry until years after the birth of their first child.

The book’s central incident is “Lisburn’s Red Sunday” – the 1920 murder of an RIC police chief, followed by the looting and burning of Catholic homes. Patterson wants to believe his grandfather did his best to protect his Catholic partner and daughter during the violence, but cannot be sure.

The most fascinating character is Eleanor, Jack’s staunchly Unionist mother, who prevented Jack from marrying the Catholic girl he’d gotten pregnant, but was unfailingly kind to the resulting grandchild.

Patterson’s prose is disarmingly conversational. He pokes gleeful fun at much of the trivia his research throws up, and apologises for his compulsion to add writerly flourishes to a true story. A poignant, tangled and humorous family history.

Jokes about Irish people which appeared in Inside Times, a prisoners’ newspaper in Britain, have left me wondering whether I agree with an obnoxious opinion piece by Rod Liddle in last week’s Sunday Times.

Having offended as many people as possible in an article about the Strictly Come Dancing race controversy , Liddle came to the conclusion that minority groups who are the subject of racism ‘are aghast for a while and then, with dignity and common sense, move on’. Meanwhile the mostly white liberals in charge of organisations such as the BBC feel the need to make a show of their shock and disgust by overreacting.

When I originally read this opinion, I put it down to anti-BBC, anti-political correct provocation. Liddle fell out with the BBC when he was editor of the Today programme, and I guessed that his opinion was more of a reflection on his relationship with the broadcaster than anything else.

However, the difference between my reaction to the Strictly debacle and another story about the publication of Irish jokes has made me reconsider.

When I heard that the dancer Anton du Beke had told his Strictly Come Dancing partner that she ‘looked like a Paki’ because she was wearing fake tan, I found it strongly offensive.

Smiled

But when I read the following two jokes about Irish people, which appeared in a newspaper for prisoners in Britain, I agreed that they shouldn’t have been published, but didn’t feel particularly offended and even smiled though the jokes are not especially witty:

  “A condemned man sat in the electric chair awaiting his execution, but there was a fault. They called in Paddy the electrician to try and sort out the problems. After two hours, he still hadn’t found it and told the Governor, ‘This thing is a bloody death-trap.’”

“An Irishman goes for a job on a building site. The boss asks, ‘Can you brew tea?’ Yes, he says. The boss then asks, ‘Can you drive a fork-lift?’ ‘Why, how big is the tea-pot?’”

Trying to explain the difference in my reaction to the two events, I wondered if Liddle was right after all.

Though he is hardly the first person to suggest it, perhaps it is true that in the West, out of a sense of guilt or self-consciousness, white people react most strongly when minority groups are the victims of racism –anxious to differentiate themselves from the abusers.

But that’s probably only half the story.

Improved Status

Another part of the explanation is the improved status of Irish people internationally and the fact that they are no longer regularly the victims of serious racial abuse in the same way that Pakistanis are in Britain.

My reaction can be explained by the experiences of those who grew up during the Celtic Tiger, when Irish people became more likely to be buying buildings in Britain or financing their construction than working on building sites. As a result the stereotype of the thick Irish labourer has become even further removed from reality than it once was and is less capable of offending.

According to a follow-up piece in the Irish Times today, I am not the only one who was not offended by the jokes, though there are those who were.

Congratulations, Kevin! Here’s the Times‘ write-up:

Good day for Power: Bad Day in Blackrock by Kevin Power, which won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature for 2009 this week, parallels appalling things that happen in our Hibernian world, across the social spectrum, involving young men, sometimes women – and a lot of alcohol.

That’s how one of the selection committee, writer Carlo Gébler, described Power’s debut novel, which revolves around the death of a young man after an attack outside a Dublin nightclub. It was published last year by the Lilliput Press.

In his citation, Gébler praised the way Power created a whole world in our heads: “A world that is Irish, middle-class, prosperous, complacent, violent, narcissistic, philistine, consumerist, cynical, selfish and in absolute denial about alcohol, what it does and how it is abused.” It was, he added, a novel about a kind of culture that creates these catastrophes.

The reader’s capacity to understand Dublin and Ireland today would be increased by encountering this fictional milieu. “And that’s what novels are supposed to do – they’re supposed to tell you lies, which bring you to the truth and help you to live. This does that wonderfully.’’

The €10,000 Rooney Prize, which was first presented in 1976, is endowed by Daniel M Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, now the US ambassador to Ireland. The award is administered by the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing in Trinity College Dublin where it was presented on Wednesday evening. Previous winners include Neil Jordan, Frank McGuinness, Deirdre Madden and Anne Enright.

Words I hate but not in any particular order.

1. ENTITLED

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

190709

Conferences

 They are still milking the Expenses John O Donohue style on Kildare County Council

The council received notice of the following conferences:

7 – 9 August 2009

Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation

Carlton Atlantic Coast Hotel, The Harbour, Westport, Co Mayo

Approx cost per delegate: €750.98

Nominees: Cllrs. O’Loughlin, L. Doyle, Nolan and Byrne

9 – 14 August 2009

The Parnell Summer School 2009

Avondale House and Forest Park, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow

Approx cost per delegate: €857.22

Nominees: Cllr. Miley

14 – 16 August 2009

The Role of Local Government in Protecting our Water Resources

Connemara Coast Hotel, Furbo, Co Galway

Approx cost per delegate: €720.76

Nominees: Cllr. O’Loughlin

20 – 23 August 2009

Humbert Summer School

Ballina, Killala, Lacken & Kilcummin, Co Mayo

Approx cost per delegate: €838.24

Nominees: Cllr. Callaghan, O’Loughlin and Weld

28 – 30 August 2009

From the Canvass to the Council Chamber – Mod 1

Clonea Strand Hotel, Dungarvan, Co Waterford

Approx cost per delegate: €673.42

Nominees: Cllrs. L. Doyle and Miley (Postponed)

4 – 6 September 2009

Planning and the European Law

Days Hotel, Waterford City

Approx cost per delegate: €619.24

Nominees: Cllrs. Callaghan and Byrne

10 – 12 September 2009

Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland 96^th Annual Conference

Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney

Approx cost per delegate: €745.71

Nominees: Cllrs. L. Doyle, Lawlor and Heydon

11 – 13 September 2009

Voluntary Housing and Sheltered Housing for the Elderly

Manor West Hotel, Killarney Road, Tralee, Co Kerry

Approx cost per delegate: €782.52

Nominees: Cllr. Miley

18 – 20 September 2009

Governance Training Seminar for Councillors

Clifden Station House Hotel, Clifden, Co Galway

Approx cost per delegate: €800.67

Nominees: Cllrs L. Doyle and Miley

25 – 27 September 2009

Tipperary Remembrance Trust – Remembrance and Conference Weekend

Tipperary, Co Tipperary

Approx cost per delegate: €580.58

Nominees: Cllrs Callaghan and Miley

Further to a query from Councillor Murphy with regard to the allocation of the budget for attendance at conferences, the administrator agreed that this matter would be raised with the Protocol Committee at their next meeting in September.

It seems that the result of the Protocol Committee meeting was that there was going to be much more control over attendance at Junkets.