LETTERS printed in Irish and British newspapers 2018
BUY Yours etc Letters printed in Irish and British papers 2010–2017 by Alison Hackett; hard back, limited edition, hand bound in Dublin
BUY Yours etc Letters printed in Irish and British papers 2010–2017 by Alison Hackett; hard back, limited edition, hand bound in Dublin
I agree with Patricia Casey — the concept of female only professorships (as proposed by Mary Mitchell O’Connor) is insulting to women, discriminatory towards men, and will not eliminate gender imbalance in senior staff employed by universities.
However, I don’t agree with her analysis that the problem will be solved by women competing and winning the professorships on merit — as she did. Yes some women will break through the glass ceiling to sit with the men, but this ceiling has been erected by men. I don’t seek equality for men and women – I don’t believe we are equal. We have a different set of drivers in our emotional, social and physical core. But I do believe we should have equal opportunity as we are no less valid than men.
I know a golf club in the west of Ireland where they have made an extraordinary effort to give men and women equal power in governance. For election to their council there is a separate electoral list for female and male candidates with the same number of places on council available for each gender. Thus their whole council is always comprised of 50% women and 50% men — and this club has far fewer female members than men!
Has our male dominated parliament the courage to take this on, to legislate to ensure gender balance after the next election? If a golf club can do it, the Dáil can do it, and there is no better time than now, a hundred years after women won the vote.
In every constituency create two electoral lists: one for male candidates and one for female candidates. Ensure an even number of seats in the constituency. Everyone exercising their vote on election day is allowed to vote (or abstain) for their preferences on both lists. The candidates getting the highest votes (including transfers etc) on each list are elected. For example in a 4-seater constituency, the top two men and top two women would be elected. In a stroke this would create gender balance in our governance.
Once it is normalised for women to have political power alongside men, then all the other things — sitting on boards, professorships, CEO selection, leadership positions — will start to be the norm too for women.
For musicians in orchestras there are often blind interviews (candidates perform behind a screen) with the result that more women are successful in being appointed. The universities could look into ways of adopting gender blind shortlisting for professorships.
Many men claim they are gender blind. If the imbalance of power had lain with women for a couple of thousand years; if women were at the top of every industry and held senior roles in every sector; if women formed 80% of the Dáil, and there had only ever been female Taoisigh; if men wanted to change the status quo but women wanted to hang onto their power, I have no doubt that women would argue that they too were gender blind. I doubt the men would agree.
Irish Independent 22 December 2018; alternate version Irish Examiner 17 Dec 2018
However, I don’t agree with her analysis that the problem will be solved by women competing and winning the professorships on merit — as she did. Yes some women will break through the glass ceiling to sit with the men, but this ceiling has been erected by men. I don’t seek equality for men and women – I don’t believe we are equal. We have a different set of drivers in our emotional, social and physical core. But I do believe we should have equal opportunity as we are no less valid than men.
I know a golf club in the west of Ireland where they have made an extraordinary effort to give men and women equal power in governance. For election to their council there is a separate electoral list for female and male candidates with the same number of places on council available for each gender. Thus their whole council is always comprised of 50% women and 50% men — and this club has far fewer female members than men!
Has our male dominated parliament the courage to take this on, to legislate to ensure gender balance after the next election? If a golf club can do it, the Dáil can do it, and there is no better time than now, a hundred years after women won the vote.
In every constituency create two electoral lists: one for male candidates and one for female candidates. Ensure an even number of seats in the constituency. Everyone exercising their vote on election day is allowed to vote (or abstain) for their preferences on both lists. The candidates getting the highest votes (including transfers etc) on each list are elected. For example in a 4-seater constituency, the top two men and top two women would be elected. In a stroke this would create gender balance in our governance.
Once it is normalised for women to have political power alongside men, then all the other things — sitting on boards, professorships, CEO selection, leadership positions — will start to be the norm too for women.
For musicians in orchestras there are often blind interviews (candidates perform behind a screen) with the result that more women are successful in being appointed. The universities could look into ways of adopting gender blind shortlisting for professorships.
Many men claim they are gender blind. If the imbalance of power had lain with women for a couple of thousand years; if women were at the top of every industry and held senior roles in every sector; if women formed 80% of the Dáil, and there had only ever been female Taoisigh; if men wanted to change the status quo but women wanted to hang onto their power, I have no doubt that women would argue that they too were gender blind. I doubt the men would agree.
Irish Independent 22 December 2018; alternate version Irish Examiner 17 Dec 2018
Investors tend to have their money on the nose when it comes to protecting their ability to leverage their money — and money can still be leveraged whether Britain is in or out of the EU. But what is the cost benefit analysis of a nation belonging to the EU family versus the lonely road of pure independence? Emperor king penguins only survive in the Antarctic because they have learned to huddle together for warmth. The power of the group is superior to the individual.
The political reality is that you can’t eat the Union Jack or order a starter of sovereignty. The dogs on the street know this. Brexit will either be the soft one on the table or it won’t happen at all.
Irish Examiner 21 Dec 2018
The political reality is that you can’t eat the Union Jack or order a starter of sovereignty. The dogs on the street know this. Brexit will either be the soft one on the table or it won’t happen at all.
Irish Examiner 21 Dec 2018
Political tectonic plates are shifting in Britain. From the cracks constitutional change must emerge. And how might that play out? The Tories break up. Their right flank joins UKIP to become the Nationalist party ('We’re so far right we can’t be wrong.')
Moderate Tories join the soft right from Labour and are known as Tory lite; or the Blairites. The rump of Labour remains on the far left as progressive socialists leading the charge against vulture capitalism.
Proportional representation and coalitions are the norm. The House of Lords is halved in size, formed through a combination of election and nomination.
This is Magna Carta 2.
Irish Independent 19 November 2018; Irish Examiner 20 Nov 2018
Moderate Tories join the soft right from Labour and are known as Tory lite; or the Blairites. The rump of Labour remains on the far left as progressive socialists leading the charge against vulture capitalism.
Proportional representation and coalitions are the norm. The House of Lords is halved in size, formed through a combination of election and nomination.
This is Magna Carta 2.
Irish Independent 19 November 2018; Irish Examiner 20 Nov 2018
Former UK Brexit secretary Dominic Raab seemed to note with some surprise recently that Britain is an island. I don’t want to frighten the honourable gentleman, but I wonder has he also noticed that one part of the UK is part of a different island known as the island of Ireland? And part of that very island is — hold onto your horses, Dominic — part of the EU! And we haven’t even got started on the fourteen British overseas territories, remnants of the British empire, all geographically part of different islands and continents.
Dear UK, in the name of democracy let the people, the demos, have another vote.
Irish Independent 17 November 2018
Dear UK, in the name of democracy let the people, the demos, have another vote.
Irish Independent 17 November 2018
If we suppose a similar death (to that of Jamal Khashoggi) had happened in the Saudi consulate in Mayfair, on British soil, what would the British government do? I presume the value of Saudi purchases of arms and military kit from British manufacturers (worth £1.1bn in 2017) would have to be carefully weighed up against the value of the life of a single journalist. Tricky.
And if it had happened here on Irish soil, on Fitzwilliam Square East? What would the Irish government have to say? No doubt lots of handwringing, regret and heartfelt apologies for any hurt caused. Tough choices will always surface if you’re in the business of politics.
Independent UK 1 November 2018 (scroll down); Irish Examiner 3 Nov 18; Belfast Telegraph 5 Nov
And if it had happened here on Irish soil, on Fitzwilliam Square East? What would the Irish government have to say? No doubt lots of handwringing, regret and heartfelt apologies for any hurt caused. Tough choices will always surface if you’re in the business of politics.
Independent UK 1 November 2018 (scroll down); Irish Examiner 3 Nov 18; Belfast Telegraph 5 Nov
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Theresa May finds the EU’s backstop plan unacceptable. Does she, as prime minister, understand that the British government signed up to the Good Friday agreement? Does she understand that through that agreement Ireland gave up its historic claim to the territory of Northern Ireland, confirmed by referendum in the republic? And that part of the horse trading included Britain’s promise that if or when a border poll indicated that the majority of Northern Irelanders wanted to reunite with Ireland then Britain wouldn’t stand in their way? And now Theresa May and Arlene Foster stand in the way of the majority of Northern Irelanders who expressed their wish to remain in the EU.
The elephant in the room is that no one really wants Northern Ireland. Ireland can’t afford its engorged public sector costs while ritish taxpayers have no option but to feed an expensive fly in the political ointment, and keep a stiff upper lip about it.
And the funny thing is, the EU has understood the Good Friday agreement better than Theresa May and most of her Tory party, not to mention the hard Brexiteers.
Reality will rule the day because the reality is that the EU also doesn’t want Northern Ireland (unless it comes with Ireland), an Ireland to which the EU remains wedded and loyal since 1973. Thus the backstop. Sorry Theresa, it won’t go away.
Irish Independent 20 October 2018; Belfast Telegraph 23 Oct 18; The Times 23 Oct 18
The elephant in the room is that no one really wants Northern Ireland. Ireland can’t afford its engorged public sector costs while ritish taxpayers have no option but to feed an expensive fly in the political ointment, and keep a stiff upper lip about it.
And the funny thing is, the EU has understood the Good Friday agreement better than Theresa May and most of her Tory party, not to mention the hard Brexiteers.
Reality will rule the day because the reality is that the EU also doesn’t want Northern Ireland (unless it comes with Ireland), an Ireland to which the EU remains wedded and loyal since 1973. Thus the backstop. Sorry Theresa, it won’t go away.
Irish Independent 20 October 2018; Belfast Telegraph 23 Oct 18; The Times 23 Oct 18
The DUP have a taste of power, momentarily, a mere flicker in the slipstream of Irish and British history. There they go, shoring up their hold on a kingdom, united only in name, with a high five to the Brexiteers’ wet dream of an empire lost and found. The majority of people in Northern Ireland did not want to leave the EU – how convenient that Stormont is not functioning at present. Arlene Foster can push her party political agenda rather than respecting the vote of the nation she represents.
The greatest sadness is that no one really wants Northern Ireland. Ireland can’t afford that six county nation with its engorged public sector costs. It is Westminster, British taxpayers, who have to feed the maggots of that expensive fly in the British political ointment. Neither does the EU want Northern Ireland (unless it comes with Ireland).
In this log jam Jeremy Corbyn has an opportunity. Having voted against every EU treaty in the past he could reassure the members of his party who will be canvassing — I have no doubt, very soon — that, on mature reflection, he is pro EU and wants to give the people another vote on membership. Is the gentleman for turning?
Independent UK 16 October 2018; Irish Examiner 17 Oct 2018
The greatest sadness is that no one really wants Northern Ireland. Ireland can’t afford that six county nation with its engorged public sector costs. It is Westminster, British taxpayers, who have to feed the maggots of that expensive fly in the British political ointment. Neither does the EU want Northern Ireland (unless it comes with Ireland).
In this log jam Jeremy Corbyn has an opportunity. Having voted against every EU treaty in the past he could reassure the members of his party who will be canvassing — I have no doubt, very soon — that, on mature reflection, he is pro EU and wants to give the people another vote on membership. Is the gentleman for turning?
Independent UK 16 October 2018; Irish Examiner 17 Oct 2018
David Davis rattles his micro sabre at a rally in Bolton — “If you think you can bully this country, you really should read some history books.” But has the former Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union read “The Shortest history of Germany” by James Hawes? In it he’ll find that Sterling was named after the German Hansa merchants (“Legends of the Free Market”) known as "Osterlings", or "Easterlings" in England.
The power of the Hanseatic League was such that it could loan, bribe and lobby states, even as large as England, to support its commercial agenda: in the 12th Century they convinced Henry II to free them from all tolls in London and permit them to trade at fairs throughout England. In 1266, Henry III granted the Lübeck and Hamburg Hansa a charter for operations in England, and the Cologne Hansa joined them in 1282 to form the most powerful Hanseatic colony in London.
Because their money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the "Easterlings”. Thus the name, later contracted, came to stand for a reliable pound’s-worth of their money: the Pound Sterling.
A very German/English story. But what of the Euro, that currency put into circulation by the very European Union that Mr Davis wishes Britain to leave? Used by 343 million people daily it is the world’s second largest reserve currency and the world’s second most traded currency, after the dollar. Mr Davis et al should take note.
Irish Independent 1 October 2018
The power of the Hanseatic League was such that it could loan, bribe and lobby states, even as large as England, to support its commercial agenda: in the 12th Century they convinced Henry II to free them from all tolls in London and permit them to trade at fairs throughout England. In 1266, Henry III granted the Lübeck and Hamburg Hansa a charter for operations in England, and the Cologne Hansa joined them in 1282 to form the most powerful Hanseatic colony in London.
Because their money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the "Easterlings”. Thus the name, later contracted, came to stand for a reliable pound’s-worth of their money: the Pound Sterling.
A very German/English story. But what of the Euro, that currency put into circulation by the very European Union that Mr Davis wishes Britain to leave? Used by 343 million people daily it is the world’s second largest reserve currency and the world’s second most traded currency, after the dollar. Mr Davis et al should take note.
Irish Independent 1 October 2018
Dig a little deeper to understand why Corbyn said what he said (as reported recently by the Daily Mail). Listen to the full speech and decide for yourself rather than reading an opinion article or an editorial which could be guilty of cherry-picking from his speech to serve a particular argument.
Yes, some of Corbyn’s speech was ill judged and he belied a weak position in using sarcasm towards a particular group in public – these actions can definitely be construed as anti-Zionist for which an apology would be helpful. But I am not convinced that they can be extrapolated to antisemitic behaviour. This argument might not have erupted as it did if the Zionists had voiced their objections to the ambassador’s speech (about the history of Palestine) in public.
As it stands none of us know in what way the Zionists disrespected the Palestinian ambassador to his face – “berated” him, as Corbyn alleges – after the speech. But it doesn’t seem honourable or fair to come up and privately attack an ambassador (from any country), after a public speech they have made about their version of their nation’s history.
A Zionist’s version of the history of Palestine will be refracted through a Zionist lens. A Palestinian’s history of Israel will be refracted through a Palestinian lens. Is one lens better than another? Aren’t we all guilty of seeing history through our own lens?
Belfast Telegraph 5 September 2018
Yes, some of Corbyn’s speech was ill judged and he belied a weak position in using sarcasm towards a particular group in public – these actions can definitely be construed as anti-Zionist for which an apology would be helpful. But I am not convinced that they can be extrapolated to antisemitic behaviour. This argument might not have erupted as it did if the Zionists had voiced their objections to the ambassador’s speech (about the history of Palestine) in public.
As it stands none of us know in what way the Zionists disrespected the Palestinian ambassador to his face – “berated” him, as Corbyn alleges – after the speech. But it doesn’t seem honourable or fair to come up and privately attack an ambassador (from any country), after a public speech they have made about their version of their nation’s history.
A Zionist’s version of the history of Palestine will be refracted through a Zionist lens. A Palestinian’s history of Israel will be refracted through a Palestinian lens. Is one lens better than another? Aren’t we all guilty of seeing history through our own lens?
Belfast Telegraph 5 September 2018
Is it the case that fewer muslim women appear in public in France and Denmark (because they aren’t allowed to fully cover up their faces) compared to Britain? Or could French and Danish muslim women secretly be thrilled to have the power of the nation behind them, the nation maintaining their right to show their faces in public?
Just because you live in a country that is multi-cultural does not mean that you are living in an integrated society. Take a look at which group forms the majority of your elected representatives in your parliament, and you will know which sector maintains the greatest privilege and power in your nation.
Irish Examiner 23 August 2018
Just because you live in a country that is multi-cultural does not mean that you are living in an integrated society. Take a look at which group forms the majority of your elected representatives in your parliament, and you will know which sector maintains the greatest privilege and power in your nation.
Irish Examiner 23 August 2018
There have been numerous reports across media outlets about the position the Jewish newspapers in Britain (The Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Jewish Telegraph) have taken on Jeremy Corbyn, Labour and the antisemitism debate.
In Ireland, if the editors of newspapers with titles such as The Irish Catholic, Catholic News or Catholic Voice were to comment on current affairs and an existential crisis affecting Irish Catholics (around 78.3% of the population) we would shrug and pay little attention. Sure, that’s what they would say!
Corbyn is under fire. He could roll over and accept the full definition with examples of anti-Semitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and the Labour party would be perceived as being on the right side of the argument. Going forward it could be “policed” under this non-legal non-binding definition.
Or, the Labour party could adopt the sensible definition of anti-Semitism as articulated in the Guardian by a Jewish writer, Stephen Sedley: “Antisemitism is hostility towards Jews as Jews. This straightforward meaning is at the disposal of any institution or organisation that needs it. It places no prior restrictions on the form antisemitism may take."
Sedley goes on to look at the right to free expression (about the state of Israel, for example) versus the right to freedom from antisemitism pointing out how unwieldy it becomes when antisemitism is pinned down in the “verbose and imprecise” definition of the IHRA.
Exactly what you would expect from a former judge of the appeal court of England and Wales. I salute his common sense.
Irish Examiner 18 August 2018
In Ireland, if the editors of newspapers with titles such as The Irish Catholic, Catholic News or Catholic Voice were to comment on current affairs and an existential crisis affecting Irish Catholics (around 78.3% of the population) we would shrug and pay little attention. Sure, that’s what they would say!
Corbyn is under fire. He could roll over and accept the full definition with examples of anti-Semitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and the Labour party would be perceived as being on the right side of the argument. Going forward it could be “policed” under this non-legal non-binding definition.
Or, the Labour party could adopt the sensible definition of anti-Semitism as articulated in the Guardian by a Jewish writer, Stephen Sedley: “Antisemitism is hostility towards Jews as Jews. This straightforward meaning is at the disposal of any institution or organisation that needs it. It places no prior restrictions on the form antisemitism may take."
Sedley goes on to look at the right to free expression (about the state of Israel, for example) versus the right to freedom from antisemitism pointing out how unwieldy it becomes when antisemitism is pinned down in the “verbose and imprecise” definition of the IHRA.
Exactly what you would expect from a former judge of the appeal court of England and Wales. I salute his common sense.
Irish Examiner 18 August 2018
In stark contrast to the federal level, local politics in the U.S. can be remarkably functional. On a visit to California some years ago my cousin said she couldn’t join me one evening as she was meeting a group from her neighbourhood to discuss a local vote coming up in her municipality. About ten different items were included on the list – issues such as water, schooling, parks, planning and trash collection – on which they would have an opportunity to vote.
As it was fairly turgid in its proposal form (which all households had received) each person in the group was tasked with researching one of the items on the list, coming to the meeting and explaining what the proposed change would mean in simple language. The idea was to describe the pros and cons in changes to local laws that would directly affect their lives. Not a lobbying opportunity but a democratic way to encourage, support and inform voters about local political issues.
Such active engagement in democracy at municipal or town level is impressive. Move up to the state and federal level where politics is big business – and only the big boys can play. The individual voter can do little while lobbyists and big business can do much to undermine the honourable intentions of the authors of the American constitution which opens with: "We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens.”
What a neat idea, I read about recently, to hold a constitutional convention in Philadelphia some two hundred and thirty one years after the first one was held in 1787. The second amendment to the US constitution is surely in need of a national debate - from grass roots level feeding up through to congress and the senate. If something like this is not embarked upon the United States may well find that it is not too big to fail. The union could dismantle into fifty nation states – some with guns, some without. USexit could be Trump’s final rallying cry.
Irish Independent 13 August 2018; Irish Examiner 15 August 2018
As it was fairly turgid in its proposal form (which all households had received) each person in the group was tasked with researching one of the items on the list, coming to the meeting and explaining what the proposed change would mean in simple language. The idea was to describe the pros and cons in changes to local laws that would directly affect their lives. Not a lobbying opportunity but a democratic way to encourage, support and inform voters about local political issues.
Such active engagement in democracy at municipal or town level is impressive. Move up to the state and federal level where politics is big business – and only the big boys can play. The individual voter can do little while lobbyists and big business can do much to undermine the honourable intentions of the authors of the American constitution which opens with: "We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens.”
What a neat idea, I read about recently, to hold a constitutional convention in Philadelphia some two hundred and thirty one years after the first one was held in 1787. The second amendment to the US constitution is surely in need of a national debate - from grass roots level feeding up through to congress and the senate. If something like this is not embarked upon the United States may well find that it is not too big to fail. The union could dismantle into fifty nation states – some with guns, some without. USexit could be Trump’s final rallying cry.
Irish Independent 13 August 2018; Irish Examiner 15 August 2018
Boris Johnson writes an inflammatory personal opinion column in a newspaper. What happens? A major spike in sales (online and offline) for the newspaper concerned. Excellent headline opportunities for the rest of the press who can legitimately report on the news of his bad behaviour. The Muslim community up in arms as their religious practices have been insulted publicly by a member of the British government. A cast iron example of racism has been endorsed by a British newspaper.
If Boris Johnson had started a conversation about whether anyone should be allowed in the public space with their full face covered – by a balaclava, a ski mask or a burqa – then the public could have engaged with him in a grown up debate. It might not have made for such juicy headlines and media sales but the mature discourse would have been a pleasure to witness.
Irish Examiner, Irish Independent 14 August 2018; Irish Times 16 August 2018
If Boris Johnson had started a conversation about whether anyone should be allowed in the public space with their full face covered – by a balaclava, a ski mask or a burqa – then the public could have engaged with him in a grown up debate. It might not have made for such juicy headlines and media sales but the mature discourse would have been a pleasure to witness.
Irish Examiner, Irish Independent 14 August 2018; Irish Times 16 August 2018
It is a national shame that we are witness to the testimony of the women affected by the Irish cervical cancer screening scandal. Flawed decisions at the top of the HSE are at the root of the problem. Compounding their poor choices regarding the outsourcing of cervical screening services to the U.S. the behaviour in not informing the women about their false negative smear test results (uncovered after an audit) was unconscionable. And now the problem has turned toxic as it cannot be extracted from the commercial interests of the insurance companies involved. Everyone runs for cover.
No medical test or screening is perfect. Human beings (cytology technicians) look through a microscope to decide if the cervical cells are normal or abnormal. They won’t get it right every time. There will always be some false negatives, when a technician’s result mistakenly shows that a sick person is healthy, and doesn’t require treatment; and some false positives, when a result mistakenly indicates that a healthy person is sick, and requires treatment.
We now know that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection (which can be carried by both males and females) is a cause of nearly all cervical cancers. There must be a concerted effort for a high uptake of vaccination of both boys and girls in Ireland to prevent future cervical cancers in women and a significant number of cancers in men including those of the penis, anus, mouth and throat.
Now is the time for us to take responsibility. The government must plan to build the laboratories, invest in the expertise, training and equipment, and provide a reputable national screening service. No outsourcing.
Irish Examiner 3 August 2018 Read online here
No medical test or screening is perfect. Human beings (cytology technicians) look through a microscope to decide if the cervical cells are normal or abnormal. They won’t get it right every time. There will always be some false negatives, when a technician’s result mistakenly shows that a sick person is healthy, and doesn’t require treatment; and some false positives, when a result mistakenly indicates that a healthy person is sick, and requires treatment.
We now know that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection (which can be carried by both males and females) is a cause of nearly all cervical cancers. There must be a concerted effort for a high uptake of vaccination of both boys and girls in Ireland to prevent future cervical cancers in women and a significant number of cancers in men including those of the penis, anus, mouth and throat.
Now is the time for us to take responsibility. The government must plan to build the laboratories, invest in the expertise, training and equipment, and provide a reputable national screening service. No outsourcing.
Irish Examiner 3 August 2018 Read online here
Spoiler alert. There is no "negotiating" position. The EU didn't ask Britain to leave. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson et al understand this all too well - the only Brexiteer is a hard Brexiteer.
Irish Independent 31 July 2018; Belfast Telegraph 2 August 2018
Irish Independent 31 July 2018; Belfast Telegraph 2 August 2018
Is antisemitism a subset of racism? Is Islamophobia a subset of racism? Or are there three different behaviours?
These questions are pertinent to the debate about Labour, antisemitism, how it is defined and the wider context of racism. Stephen Sedley’s words in today’s Guardian are reasoned, calm and disinterested (as opposed to uninterested); in my view, this is required reading for all journalists and editors with access to a publishing platform that might influence the mob.
I quote: “Antisemitism is hostility towards Jews as Jews. This straightforward meaning is at the disposal of any institution or organisation that needs it. It places no prior restrictions on the form antisemitism may take." Sedley goes on to look at the right of free expression (about the state of Israel, for example) versus the right to freedom from antisemitism pointing out how unwieldy it becomes when antisemitism is pinned down in the “verbose and imprecise” definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Exactly what you would expect from a former judge of the appeal court of England and Wales. I salute his common sense.
Belfast Telegraph 31 July 2018
These questions are pertinent to the debate about Labour, antisemitism, how it is defined and the wider context of racism. Stephen Sedley’s words in today’s Guardian are reasoned, calm and disinterested (as opposed to uninterested); in my view, this is required reading for all journalists and editors with access to a publishing platform that might influence the mob.
I quote: “Antisemitism is hostility towards Jews as Jews. This straightforward meaning is at the disposal of any institution or organisation that needs it. It places no prior restrictions on the form antisemitism may take." Sedley goes on to look at the right of free expression (about the state of Israel, for example) versus the right to freedom from antisemitism pointing out how unwieldy it becomes when antisemitism is pinned down in the “verbose and imprecise” definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Exactly what you would expect from a former judge of the appeal court of England and Wales. I salute his common sense.
Belfast Telegraph 31 July 2018
Minister Simon Harris has confirmed that he is introducing legislation to ban anonymous sperm and egg donation in fertility treatments in Ireland. The balance of rights is delicate - the human right to create a child versus the rights of the children born through donor-assisted human reproduction (DAHR).
The Irish Fertility Society (IFS) has expressed concerns about the legislation proposed. IFS represents healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, counsellors etc) working in the majority of fertility clinics in Ireland. They have stated recently that they “are advocating for our patients in ensuring they are not negatively impacted by inappropriate laws.” IFS patients are the couples who wish to have assistance with reproduction, help to create a family – thus they would prefer the legislation did permit anonymous donor sperm or eggs. But are the children born to those couples also considered to be IFS patients? Does IFS advocate for them too?
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Being born with equal dignity and rights should mean the right to information about your genetic heritage. The right to information about yourself (wherever it is stored in our digitized data rich world) could become Article 31 of the UDHR.
In my view anonymous sperm and egg donation is a way pre-determining a potential child’s right to know their genetic heritage – perhaps the most profound piece of information any of us can ever know. Story telling is at the heart of programmes such as “Who do you think you are?”; the right to know our own story, as far as is practicable, must not be taken from us.
The relationship between parent and child starts out imbalanced: “parenthood” rather than “brotherhood” or “sisterhood". The shift from dependence to independence is a slow release, a gradual letting go. We can only hope that our children stay the course and take up their universal right to become flawed adults, like the rest of us, wobbling just beneath the surface.
Irish Independent 26 July 2018
The Irish Fertility Society (IFS) has expressed concerns about the legislation proposed. IFS represents healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, counsellors etc) working in the majority of fertility clinics in Ireland. They have stated recently that they “are advocating for our patients in ensuring they are not negatively impacted by inappropriate laws.” IFS patients are the couples who wish to have assistance with reproduction, help to create a family – thus they would prefer the legislation did permit anonymous donor sperm or eggs. But are the children born to those couples also considered to be IFS patients? Does IFS advocate for them too?
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Being born with equal dignity and rights should mean the right to information about your genetic heritage. The right to information about yourself (wherever it is stored in our digitized data rich world) could become Article 31 of the UDHR.
In my view anonymous sperm and egg donation is a way pre-determining a potential child’s right to know their genetic heritage – perhaps the most profound piece of information any of us can ever know. Story telling is at the heart of programmes such as “Who do you think you are?”; the right to know our own story, as far as is practicable, must not be taken from us.
The relationship between parent and child starts out imbalanced: “parenthood” rather than “brotherhood” or “sisterhood". The shift from dependence to independence is a slow release, a gradual letting go. We can only hope that our children stay the course and take up their universal right to become flawed adults, like the rest of us, wobbling just beneath the surface.
Irish Independent 26 July 2018
A recipe for Theresa May’s Brexit Fudge
250 grams soft Brexit butter
1 x 397 grams can condensed British Bulldog milk
175 millilitres Northern Irish milk
2 tablespoons golden Republic of Ireland syrup
800 grams granulated EU sugar
2 teaspoons Boris-Gove vanilla
Irish Examiner 24 July 2018
250 grams soft Brexit butter
1 x 397 grams can condensed British Bulldog milk
175 millilitres Northern Irish milk
2 tablespoons golden Republic of Ireland syrup
800 grams granulated EU sugar
2 teaspoons Boris-Gove vanilla
Irish Examiner 24 July 2018
As Brexit unravels a stream of opportunity we are seeing a serious risk to the integrity of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland opting out of Brexit (and into Ireland/Europe) is a possibility now on the table; and Scotland may not be too far behind in wanting to align with a thirty-two county republic of Ireland in joint membership of the EU.
To lose one nation might be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two would look like carelessness.
Irish Examiner 20 July 2018; Belfast Telegraph 23 July 2018
To lose one nation might be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two would look like carelessness.
Irish Examiner 20 July 2018; Belfast Telegraph 23 July 2018
President Donald Trump loves to rabble rouse. His latest comments are designed to get him attention and sell The Sun newspapers. I invite him to take a look at his own country before attacking others so gratuitously.
There are more guns than people in the U.S. The National Rifle Association (notably supported by President Trump) claims the good guy (with a gun) can take out the bad guy (with a gun) and thus prevent a greater number of deaths. They even propose arming and training teachers to use weapons in schools to protect children.
But let’s consider some statistics about guns and suicide in the U.S. In 2013 almost twice as many firearm deaths were caused by suicide as by homicide (63% and 33.3% respectively). In 2015, of all deaths by suicide, seventy percent were white men and in almost half of the total deaths by suicide, a firearm was used.
The maths is simple. Gun laws in America are not working (especially for white men). What can be done by the president? Enact a new law, pass an amendment – whatever it takes – to maintain the right for the military and police to hold firearms (for the preservation and efficiency of a well regulated militia).
Then ban private ownership of guns. Firearms could be borrowed at gun clubs for target practice; farmers who need rifles for pest control can be licensed etc. The vast majority of people do not need to have guns in their homes or to carry a weapon as they walk around the shopping centre or collect their children from crèche.
Pick a date and hold an amnesty for firearms to be decommissioned at local centres. Task the NRA with organising the official hand over (supervised by the army). America would be great again as peace broker at home and inspirational leader abroad.
Irish Independent 14 July 2018, Belfast Telegraph 16 July 2018
There are more guns than people in the U.S. The National Rifle Association (notably supported by President Trump) claims the good guy (with a gun) can take out the bad guy (with a gun) and thus prevent a greater number of deaths. They even propose arming and training teachers to use weapons in schools to protect children.
But let’s consider some statistics about guns and suicide in the U.S. In 2013 almost twice as many firearm deaths were caused by suicide as by homicide (63% and 33.3% respectively). In 2015, of all deaths by suicide, seventy percent were white men and in almost half of the total deaths by suicide, a firearm was used.
The maths is simple. Gun laws in America are not working (especially for white men). What can be done by the president? Enact a new law, pass an amendment – whatever it takes – to maintain the right for the military and police to hold firearms (for the preservation and efficiency of a well regulated militia).
Then ban private ownership of guns. Firearms could be borrowed at gun clubs for target practice; farmers who need rifles for pest control can be licensed etc. The vast majority of people do not need to have guns in their homes or to carry a weapon as they walk around the shopping centre or collect their children from crèche.
Pick a date and hold an amnesty for firearms to be decommissioned at local centres. Task the NRA with organising the official hand over (supervised by the army). America would be great again as peace broker at home and inspirational leader abroad.
Irish Independent 14 July 2018, Belfast Telegraph 16 July 2018
Theresa May was only delaying her own exit (from the leadership of the Tory party) by trying to get a Tory styled Brexit solution at the Chequers meeting. Time for a reality check. The ramifications and outcomes of Brexit are of far greater concern to the British people than the survival of the Tory party (or who leads them).
Whether you are just about managing or extremely comfortable you will still be asking yourself the questions: What will Brexit mean for me and my job? Will I still have a job? Will it pay the same and will my tax rate be the same? What does it mean for my family and my loved ones? Will I be more secure physically and financially? Will I have the same freedoms that I had as a member of the EU? Will my neighbours have the same freedoms? Will I be more British?
Here’s something May could do: shuffle the cabinet to include a majority of remainers. Come up with a plausible soft Brexit (associate membership of the EU) strategy that is acceptable to the EU and the remain cabinet.
Then hold another referendum for the British people to choose between three options: 1) Hard Brexit 2) Soft Brexit 3) Remain.
Irish Independent 10 July 2018, Irish Examiner 11 July 2018
Whether you are just about managing or extremely comfortable you will still be asking yourself the questions: What will Brexit mean for me and my job? Will I still have a job? Will it pay the same and will my tax rate be the same? What does it mean for my family and my loved ones? Will I be more secure physically and financially? Will I have the same freedoms that I had as a member of the EU? Will my neighbours have the same freedoms? Will I be more British?
Here’s something May could do: shuffle the cabinet to include a majority of remainers. Come up with a plausible soft Brexit (associate membership of the EU) strategy that is acceptable to the EU and the remain cabinet.
Then hold another referendum for the British people to choose between three options: 1) Hard Brexit 2) Soft Brexit 3) Remain.
Irish Independent 10 July 2018, Irish Examiner 11 July 2018
If England wins the world cup....... do you think, in the aftermath of ecstasy and superiority, they might reverse Brexit (as a consolation prize for the rest of the world)?
Irish Times, Irish Examiner 5 July 2018; Belfast Telegraph 6 July
Irish Times, Irish Examiner 5 July 2018; Belfast Telegraph 6 July
I agree with everything Victoria White has written (A person’s knowledge of their genetic identity is a human right, 28 June 2018).
A child has no choice about being conceived and born – this is the responsibility of the parents who conceive (want/need?) that child. At the very core of your identity has to be an understanding of the genetic heritage that has brought you to life – who isn’t curious about where they came from? I find it hard to imagine the existential angst of a child not being told the facts of their existence - with clarity. "Sorry, but you don’t have the right to know who donated the sperm and egg that made you. It was nothing to do with you - it was what I/we wanted. Isn’t my love enough for you?”
Emma Brockes recently told her story of searching for a donor (to have a child on her own) with a raw honesty that took my breath away in the Guardian Weekend 23/6/18. I quote: “When you visit the websites, most are set up to look like quasi dating services, reinforcing the lie that you are choosing a husband, co-parent and the progenitor of exactly 50% of your child's face and personality. […] Everything is extra: $35 for the guy’s baby photos; $50 for an audio file. […] I pay extra for ID disclosure, enabling any child to trace the donor when they turn 18.”
The New York Times reported in 2011 of 150 children conceived with the sperm from one donor - all half siblings. Up to 50 half siblings are regularly finding each other in online platforms when sperm donors have been tagged with unique identifying numbers.
I am incredibly uncomfortable with this situation. We are tinkering with evolution and children’s lives in the most profound way. And we aren’t far off designer babies in our brave new world - get the genetic code just right and bingo you will be guaranteed the baby you want will be brought to life.
I urge politicians in Ireland to think carefully about every aspect of the law and assisted human reproduction - in particular about agreeing that Irish people would be allowed to lie to their children as to genetic identity on their birth certificates. Children must have the right to information about their genetic parents, birth mother, and, of course, their full-time-doing-the-job parents. But then they will know the actual parents - and will have the strongest relationship with them - good, bad or indifferent.
Irish Examiner 03 July 2018
A child has no choice about being conceived and born – this is the responsibility of the parents who conceive (want/need?) that child. At the very core of your identity has to be an understanding of the genetic heritage that has brought you to life – who isn’t curious about where they came from? I find it hard to imagine the existential angst of a child not being told the facts of their existence - with clarity. "Sorry, but you don’t have the right to know who donated the sperm and egg that made you. It was nothing to do with you - it was what I/we wanted. Isn’t my love enough for you?”
Emma Brockes recently told her story of searching for a donor (to have a child on her own) with a raw honesty that took my breath away in the Guardian Weekend 23/6/18. I quote: “When you visit the websites, most are set up to look like quasi dating services, reinforcing the lie that you are choosing a husband, co-parent and the progenitor of exactly 50% of your child's face and personality. […] Everything is extra: $35 for the guy’s baby photos; $50 for an audio file. […] I pay extra for ID disclosure, enabling any child to trace the donor when they turn 18.”
The New York Times reported in 2011 of 150 children conceived with the sperm from one donor - all half siblings. Up to 50 half siblings are regularly finding each other in online platforms when sperm donors have been tagged with unique identifying numbers.
I am incredibly uncomfortable with this situation. We are tinkering with evolution and children’s lives in the most profound way. And we aren’t far off designer babies in our brave new world - get the genetic code just right and bingo you will be guaranteed the baby you want will be brought to life.
I urge politicians in Ireland to think carefully about every aspect of the law and assisted human reproduction - in particular about agreeing that Irish people would be allowed to lie to their children as to genetic identity on their birth certificates. Children must have the right to information about their genetic parents, birth mother, and, of course, their full-time-doing-the-job parents. But then they will know the actual parents - and will have the strongest relationship with them - good, bad or indifferent.
Irish Examiner 03 July 2018
The Moriarty tribunal accused Michael Lowry of "cynical and venal abuse of office" by his refusal to acknowledge the “impropriety of his financial arrangements with business men Denis O'Brien and Ben Dunne.”
The McCracken Tribunal found that Ben Dunne knowingly assisted Michael Lowry evade tax: "What was contemplated and attempted on the part of Mr Dunne and Mr Lowry was profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking.”
When a business person and a politician interact are we so naïve that we don’t understand that the business person will usually try it on? Give it a lash? Why wouldn’t you press for better terms or try sweetening up a politician to vote your way with development land or a broadcasting licence? Is it worse for a businessman to offer a bribe to a politician or for the politician to accept the bribe? Are these two crimes equivalent?
If public life means anything then it means that yes we do expect higher standards to be adhered to in public office. Public service means serving the public (not just your constituents and business buddies).
Being the chief executive of a company means something different. It means serving the interests of the company and getting the best deal for the company’s shareholders – by whatever means – as long as you are on the right side of the law. If you break the law and are found out you must face the consequences and risk your company’s reputation when you face the judgment of the court. If you get away with a bit of fuzziness as to whether you actually did break the law – well, good luck to you.
Just like a husband or wife entering a liaison with an unmarried person – the higher moral standard is on the married one to remain faithful and resist seduction. It is they who have made a promise of fidelity to their spouse. The seducer only needs to think about themselves – they have no moral obligation to the cuckolded wife or husband.
Do tribunal findings mean anything in Ireland? Is there no bar to being allowed to stand for election? At least Fine Gael banned Lowry from standing for the party again.
Lowry made a promise to serve the state (us). He failed miserably.
Irish Examiner 29 June 2018
The McCracken Tribunal found that Ben Dunne knowingly assisted Michael Lowry evade tax: "What was contemplated and attempted on the part of Mr Dunne and Mr Lowry was profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking.”
When a business person and a politician interact are we so naïve that we don’t understand that the business person will usually try it on? Give it a lash? Why wouldn’t you press for better terms or try sweetening up a politician to vote your way with development land or a broadcasting licence? Is it worse for a businessman to offer a bribe to a politician or for the politician to accept the bribe? Are these two crimes equivalent?
If public life means anything then it means that yes we do expect higher standards to be adhered to in public office. Public service means serving the public (not just your constituents and business buddies).
Being the chief executive of a company means something different. It means serving the interests of the company and getting the best deal for the company’s shareholders – by whatever means – as long as you are on the right side of the law. If you break the law and are found out you must face the consequences and risk your company’s reputation when you face the judgment of the court. If you get away with a bit of fuzziness as to whether you actually did break the law – well, good luck to you.
Just like a husband or wife entering a liaison with an unmarried person – the higher moral standard is on the married one to remain faithful and resist seduction. It is they who have made a promise of fidelity to their spouse. The seducer only needs to think about themselves – they have no moral obligation to the cuckolded wife or husband.
Do tribunal findings mean anything in Ireland? Is there no bar to being allowed to stand for election? At least Fine Gael banned Lowry from standing for the party again.
Lowry made a promise to serve the state (us). He failed miserably.
Irish Examiner 29 June 2018
There is a blindingly obvious solution to Brexit and the Irish border. Bear with me.
The Irish free state of twenty-six counties was formed in 1922 with an inherent Catholic bias later to be built into the constitution (in direct opposition to ‘Protestant’ Britain). A hundred years later Ireland has become a more liberal, secular and cosmopolitan republic than anyone could ever have imagined.
Northern Ireland wanted to remain in the EU (by a respectable majority of 55.8%). Thus now is the time for Northern Ireland to hold its first referendum on its complicated relationship with Britain and Ireland.
What would a thirty-two county Ireland (member of the EU) look like if a majority voted to leave the union? Up to forty extra representatives in the Irish parliament (representing the six counties). Instead of the Irish title of Teachta Dála (TD) all elected representatives in the new Irish parliament called MIPs (Members of the Irish Parliament). Alternate sessions of parliament held in Belfast (Stormont) and Dublin (the Dáil). Irish no longer required for entry to the civil service or the Gardaí etc. as English is constitutionally recognised as the leading language of the country. Everyone living in Northern Ireland allowed to hold a British and/or an Irish passport.
A Britannia-Éire mix suited to the pluralist nation of Ireland.
Britain could finally figure out its political relationship with the EU unhindered by its physical geography (internal border).
The choice is simple: would Northern Irelanders prefer to identify as Irish Europeans or British nationalists?
Irish Examiner; Belfast Telegraph 28 June 2018; Irish Independent 29 June 2018
The Irish free state of twenty-six counties was formed in 1922 with an inherent Catholic bias later to be built into the constitution (in direct opposition to ‘Protestant’ Britain). A hundred years later Ireland has become a more liberal, secular and cosmopolitan republic than anyone could ever have imagined.
Northern Ireland wanted to remain in the EU (by a respectable majority of 55.8%). Thus now is the time for Northern Ireland to hold its first referendum on its complicated relationship with Britain and Ireland.
What would a thirty-two county Ireland (member of the EU) look like if a majority voted to leave the union? Up to forty extra representatives in the Irish parliament (representing the six counties). Instead of the Irish title of Teachta Dála (TD) all elected representatives in the new Irish parliament called MIPs (Members of the Irish Parliament). Alternate sessions of parliament held in Belfast (Stormont) and Dublin (the Dáil). Irish no longer required for entry to the civil service or the Gardaí etc. as English is constitutionally recognised as the leading language of the country. Everyone living in Northern Ireland allowed to hold a British and/or an Irish passport.
A Britannia-Éire mix suited to the pluralist nation of Ireland.
Britain could finally figure out its political relationship with the EU unhindered by its physical geography (internal border).
The choice is simple: would Northern Irelanders prefer to identify as Irish Europeans or British nationalists?
Irish Examiner; Belfast Telegraph 28 June 2018; Irish Independent 29 June 2018
The French revolution was about ending absolute monarchy and privilege enjoyed by the aristocracy and the Catholic clergy of the established church. Enlightenment values of humanism took hold as modern republics were formed. In 21st Century France public schools are strictly secular - religion is an after school activity. School students are not allowed to wear ostentatious religious symbols - neither Christian cross, Jewish hat, nor Islamic hijab. French secularism (Laïcité) discourages any religious involvement in government affairs and state policies.
Now that Ireland has had its own revolution can we please ensure our public schools and hospitals (funded by the tax payer) are fully secular while operating according to principals and guidelines laid down by the relevant departments.
Hospitals and schools wishing to identify as “Catholic" can operate in the private sector with regulation - but state support must be minimal.
Irish Examiner 20 June 2018
Now that Ireland has had its own revolution can we please ensure our public schools and hospitals (funded by the tax payer) are fully secular while operating according to principals and guidelines laid down by the relevant departments.
Hospitals and schools wishing to identify as “Catholic" can operate in the private sector with regulation - but state support must be minimal.
Irish Examiner 20 June 2018
WHAT do the objections to the Soapbox cartoon by Tom Halliday tell us (Sunday Independent, June 10)? That religious people are sensitive about their beliefs or that No voters lack a sense of humour? I moved to humour in the dying days of the campaign. Undoubtedly I, too, offended many Christians with my cartoon blog posted online, ‘One billboard outside Dublin’, which displayed a message that small children were looking at: “Every time a woman has an orgasm God kills a kitten.”
I illustrated this cartoon in reaction to the enormous images of aborted foetuses that the No side posted outside maternity hospitals, and elsewhere. They were offensive to everyone — women, men and children. I know of at least one person who almost crashed her car when driving under one such banner on the N11 and many others who were deeply upset at the reminder of their miscarriages.
In my view, legislation should be enacted to ban, or at least restrict in terms of size and location, all political posters in referendums and elections in Ireland.
Sunday Independent 17 June 2018
I illustrated this cartoon in reaction to the enormous images of aborted foetuses that the No side posted outside maternity hospitals, and elsewhere. They were offensive to everyone — women, men and children. I know of at least one person who almost crashed her car when driving under one such banner on the N11 and many others who were deeply upset at the reminder of their miscarriages.
In my view, legislation should be enacted to ban, or at least restrict in terms of size and location, all political posters in referendums and elections in Ireland.
Sunday Independent 17 June 2018
HALF of the world’s population are women, yet women only hold 23% of all seats in parliaments and senates globally. Only three countries in the world have more female elected members than males in their lower houses: Rwanda (61%), Cuba (53%) and Bolivia (53%). Britain is ranked 41st with 32% of the House of Commons being female while Ireland comes in at a disappointing 82nd with 22%. We have become used to serious gender imbalance in terms of politics and power across the world.
Every country should aspire to having at least 50% of legislators being female. This means women wanting to give public service, women wanting to lead, women getting elected.
Britain could be radical and legislate in the following way to ensure gender balance after the next election: Halve the number of constituencies to 325. Create two lists in each electoral area - one for male candidates and one for female candidates. On polling day votes are cast with the electorate (men and women) voting for their preferred man and their preferred woman on each list. The candidates getting the highest number of votes on each list are elected: 325 women and 325 men.
Men would be secure in knowing they would always have 50% representation in parliament. As legislators they would never be in the minority. Women would finally be getting a fair crack at the whip.
Belfast Telegraph 11 June 2018
Every country should aspire to having at least 50% of legislators being female. This means women wanting to give public service, women wanting to lead, women getting elected.
Britain could be radical and legislate in the following way to ensure gender balance after the next election: Halve the number of constituencies to 325. Create two lists in each electoral area - one for male candidates and one for female candidates. On polling day votes are cast with the electorate (men and women) voting for their preferred man and their preferred woman on each list. The candidates getting the highest number of votes on each list are elected: 325 women and 325 men.
Men would be secure in knowing they would always have 50% representation in parliament. As legislators they would never be in the minority. Women would finally be getting a fair crack at the whip.
Belfast Telegraph 11 June 2018
I don’t know how the five justices of the Supreme Court will rule in the “gay cake” case of Ashers bakery but there are some important points to consider.
Trading is a public affair – not private. The agreement to exchange goods and services for money comes under contract law. It is vital that all parties understand the contract. Asher’s wants to trade under particular conditions (i.e. the right to approve the moral of every message they ice on their cakes). Thus, it is incumbent on them then to make that explicit on their shop front and website. They should officially rebrand as “Ashers – the Christian Bakery”.
Now that the 8th Amendment has been repealed and abortion is to be legislated for in Ireland will pharmacies be allowed not to supply medication to terminate a pregnancy when it becomes a legal prescription made by doctors? Some pharmacies in Ireland in the past have chosen not to supply condoms and spermicidal gel in moral judgment of their customers who wish to have safe legal sex. It is extremely embarrassing to ask for condoms in a pharmacy only to be told they don’t sell “that sort of thing.” Even worse, in the 80's a woman trying to buy tampons in the west of Ireland was declined the sale as she had to admit to the pharmacist (who demanded to know) that she was not married.
Will pharmacies in Ireland (and cake shops in Northern Ireland) have to be classified as liberal or conservative? “Gays and Yes voters not welcome” or “All welcome”.
Financial Times 8 June 2018; Irish Examiner 9 June 2018
Trading is a public affair – not private. The agreement to exchange goods and services for money comes under contract law. It is vital that all parties understand the contract. Asher’s wants to trade under particular conditions (i.e. the right to approve the moral of every message they ice on their cakes). Thus, it is incumbent on them then to make that explicit on their shop front and website. They should officially rebrand as “Ashers – the Christian Bakery”.
Now that the 8th Amendment has been repealed and abortion is to be legislated for in Ireland will pharmacies be allowed not to supply medication to terminate a pregnancy when it becomes a legal prescription made by doctors? Some pharmacies in Ireland in the past have chosen not to supply condoms and spermicidal gel in moral judgment of their customers who wish to have safe legal sex. It is extremely embarrassing to ask for condoms in a pharmacy only to be told they don’t sell “that sort of thing.” Even worse, in the 80's a woman trying to buy tampons in the west of Ireland was declined the sale as she had to admit to the pharmacist (who demanded to know) that she was not married.
Will pharmacies in Ireland (and cake shops in Northern Ireland) have to be classified as liberal or conservative? “Gays and Yes voters not welcome” or “All welcome”.
Financial Times 8 June 2018; Irish Examiner 9 June 2018
There are important points in Germaine Greer’s proposal to reduce sentences for rape but it is a pity she presents it in such a provocative manner – as if she intended to anger victims of rape.
Given the binary nature of the adversarial legal system in the UK rape cases will always end up with, in the absence of witnesses, the jury trying to figure out who is telling the truth – the alleged victim or the alleged perpetrator. There is a far greater onus on the victim to prove it was non-consensual sex. The truth is inevitably somewhere in between, as communications around sex tend to get lost in translation, as Greer points out.
Could a rape charge could be reduced to a charge of unintentional sexual assault, similar to a murder charge being reduced to manslaughter – and thus the sentencing reduced? Would this lesser charge allow an accused man to admit that he had not realised that his actions were being received as harmful (by the complainant) and that, on reflection, her enthusiastic consent was not so certain?
Greer falls on her sword in her closing arguments. She tells us that women love men more than men love women, and that women love their sons more than their daughters. Insulting to both men and women this sounds more like the 1950s patriarchy than a first wave feminist rallying call for which she was such a remarkable advocate in the 1970s.
The Guardian 2 June 2018
Given the binary nature of the adversarial legal system in the UK rape cases will always end up with, in the absence of witnesses, the jury trying to figure out who is telling the truth – the alleged victim or the alleged perpetrator. There is a far greater onus on the victim to prove it was non-consensual sex. The truth is inevitably somewhere in between, as communications around sex tend to get lost in translation, as Greer points out.
Could a rape charge could be reduced to a charge of unintentional sexual assault, similar to a murder charge being reduced to manslaughter – and thus the sentencing reduced? Would this lesser charge allow an accused man to admit that he had not realised that his actions were being received as harmful (by the complainant) and that, on reflection, her enthusiastic consent was not so certain?
Greer falls on her sword in her closing arguments. She tells us that women love men more than men love women, and that women love their sons more than their daughters. Insulting to both men and women this sounds more like the 1950s patriarchy than a first wave feminist rallying call for which she was such a remarkable advocate in the 1970s.
The Guardian 2 June 2018
Seventy per cent of Fianna Fáil TDs campaigned for a no vote in the referendum. Their disconnect from mainstream Ireland is a major problem for the party to address as an election looms. But worse. Thirty two TDs in Dáil Éireann, blinded by arrogance and ignorance, voted against us holding a referendum in the first place. They have been found wanting, and now lurk on the wrong side of history. The whole lot of them should resign.
Irish Independent 1 June 2018
Irish Independent 1 June 2018
With apologies to James Joyce....The newspapers had been right: the yes votes were general all over Ireland. Men and women treading softly into polling stations, to vote yes, softly treading through the Bog of Allen, and further westwards, into towns by the dark and mutinous Shannon. Women walking through churchyards, with crooked crosses and headstones, where their children lay buried. Ireland swooned as she felt their footsteps falling faintly on her soul, faintly passing through the universe, upon the living and the dead.
Irish Examiner 28 May 2018
Irish Examiner 28 May 2018
I wish the No canvassers in the Ireland abortion referendum would use the words “abortion on request” instead of “abortion on demand”. Demand sounds like a pregnant woman wanting to terminate her pregnancy for personal reasons (before 12 weeks) on the same level as a toddler having a tantrum. “I demand an abortion! Now!”
If you replace “demand” with “request” it suddenly invokes a kinder mood. One of gracefully accepting reality.
I urge readers to download the proposed legislation (General Scheme of a Bill to Regulate Termination of Pregnancy), read it for themselves and decide. This legislation makes it clear that this referendum is not about just “hard cases” – it is about all abortions being a complex and difficult choice for women to make. I am confident that, for those who wish to see abortion on request – up to 12 weeks – in Ireland, we will see a Yes vote on Friday.
Independent.co.uk 22 May 2019 (scroll down to 2nd letter to read)
If you replace “demand” with “request” it suddenly invokes a kinder mood. One of gracefully accepting reality.
I urge readers to download the proposed legislation (General Scheme of a Bill to Regulate Termination of Pregnancy), read it for themselves and decide. This legislation makes it clear that this referendum is not about just “hard cases” – it is about all abortions being a complex and difficult choice for women to make. I am confident that, for those who wish to see abortion on request – up to 12 weeks – in Ireland, we will see a Yes vote on Friday.
Independent.co.uk 22 May 2019 (scroll down to 2nd letter to read)
A powerful narrative is emerging. Storytelling – and who better than the Irish to tell stories – is forming the backbone of the debate on the 8th Amendment. Stories of lived experiences. I am humbled by the vulnerability of those who have told us their story. Deeply private and intimate experiences. They bare their souls and we are witness to their testimony.
The RTE Would you Believe programme on abortion made for compelling viewing. An excellent non-judgmental sensitive programme telling it as it is – allowing a voice for everyone. Such dignity and respect shown for both the mother and baby by the Norwegians. This is essential viewing – I urge everyone to watch it, whatever your view.
Something to keep in mind if the 8th Amendment is repealed. It is hard for people to go against their instinct and conscience. We must note and respect how painful it will be for some people to have their beliefs no longer upheld by the Irish constitution.
As for me? I long for next Friday when the Irish nation just might try switching it off and on again.
Irish Independent 19 May 2018
The RTE Would you Believe programme on abortion made for compelling viewing. An excellent non-judgmental sensitive programme telling it as it is – allowing a voice for everyone. Such dignity and respect shown for both the mother and baby by the Norwegians. This is essential viewing – I urge everyone to watch it, whatever your view.
Something to keep in mind if the 8th Amendment is repealed. It is hard for people to go against their instinct and conscience. We must note and respect how painful it will be for some people to have their beliefs no longer upheld by the Irish constitution.
As for me? I long for next Friday when the Irish nation just might try switching it off and on again.
Irish Independent 19 May 2018
When you go to see a surgeon there is a significant possibility you will be prescribed an operation. Visit the Homeopathist and your treatment has a 99% chance of being natural holistic assessment and a tincture.
America elected a business man as their president (with significant executive powers) so it should be no surprise that he views the world through a business lens – America.com rather than America.org – and he is the CEO.
Success for Trump is striking a deal and making a profit. However, his need for attention, at any cost, is far more worrying. Whatever is grieving him (his mother didn’t love him enough, his father was cruel and cold, he felt abandoned as a child) nothing – not even the attention of France, Germany, China – the whole world! – will ever fill the void, the need to soothe his inner crying child. I pity him; but for America, I despair.
Irish Independent 14 May 2018
America elected a business man as their president (with significant executive powers) so it should be no surprise that he views the world through a business lens – America.com rather than America.org – and he is the CEO.
Success for Trump is striking a deal and making a profit. However, his need for attention, at any cost, is far more worrying. Whatever is grieving him (his mother didn’t love him enough, his father was cruel and cold, he felt abandoned as a child) nothing – not even the attention of France, Germany, China – the whole world! – will ever fill the void, the need to soothe his inner crying child. I pity him; but for America, I despair.
Irish Independent 14 May 2018
Karl Marx’s manifesto has been retrofitted by Rupert Younger and Frank Portnoy for today’s world (as perceived through their lens – which, by their own admission, is a capitalist one).
But do Marx and Engels (or, indeed, Younger and Portnoy) have anything to say about reconciling the public sector worker (who works as a servant of the state) with the private sector worker (who works for a business owner).
Do we view these workers as the same? One has more secure employment and pension. The other has less security offset by the potential to rise up through the ranks, become a director, and get a share in the dividend of the company.
The workers at the bottom of the pile, in private or public-sector employment will have the same problem – constant anxiety about not having enough money. The public sector outsources the lowest ranking jobs to the private sector: are there any civil servant cleaners? In the private sector those on low paid jobs will have the minimum wage and, more often than not, a zero hours contract.
The public sector must recognise that it would not exist without being able to piggyback on the tax raised on money generated through the exchange of goods and services in the private sector. The public sector also needs to acknowledge that the description “civil servant” or “public servant” implies a certain class status.
The private sector must recognise that poor regulation with a low tax regime will result in major distortions of wealth across society. This will eventually lead to the breakdown of community – mere anarchy will reign.
Financial Times 12 May 2018
But do Marx and Engels (or, indeed, Younger and Portnoy) have anything to say about reconciling the public sector worker (who works as a servant of the state) with the private sector worker (who works for a business owner).
Do we view these workers as the same? One has more secure employment and pension. The other has less security offset by the potential to rise up through the ranks, become a director, and get a share in the dividend of the company.
The workers at the bottom of the pile, in private or public-sector employment will have the same problem – constant anxiety about not having enough money. The public sector outsources the lowest ranking jobs to the private sector: are there any civil servant cleaners? In the private sector those on low paid jobs will have the minimum wage and, more often than not, a zero hours contract.
The public sector must recognise that it would not exist without being able to piggyback on the tax raised on money generated through the exchange of goods and services in the private sector. The public sector also needs to acknowledge that the description “civil servant” or “public servant” implies a certain class status.
The private sector must recognise that poor regulation with a low tax regime will result in major distortions of wealth across society. This will eventually lead to the breakdown of community – mere anarchy will reign.
Financial Times 12 May 2018
I had a conversation with a man recently who said he felt that men were being left out of the debate on the eighth amendment (to the Irish constitution) and their views were not being listened to or respected. All he heard was women talking about women, he said, and he was going to vote no in the referendum.
If there are enough men who feel this way the 8th amendment could be saved. In that case I believe we should have another referendum – this time about men. Sperm has unique life-giving potential and for this reason it must be protected by the Irish constitution. The 37th Amendment Bill should state the following:
Irish Independent 9 May 2018
If there are enough men who feel this way the 8th amendment could be saved. In that case I believe we should have another referendum – this time about men. Sperm has unique life-giving potential and for this reason it must be protected by the Irish constitution. The 37th Amendment Bill should state the following:
- The State acknowledges the right to life of sperm and, with due regard to the equal right to life of men, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.
- 38th Amendment: The protection of male sperm in the Irish constitution does not limit the freedom of men to travel in and out of the state.
- 39th Amendment: The protection of male sperm in the Irish constitution does not limit the right to distribute information about treatment of testicular cancer in foreign countries.
Irish Independent 9 May 2018
I am perplexed by the struggle people are having with talking to children about abortion and the referendum. In my view, it is in the same category as how to answer their questions about God and Santa – keep as close to the truth as possible.
When my children were young and they asked me about God I would say that some people believed in God but that some didn’t, and that nobody could ever be absolutely sure whether he existed or not. When they asked me if I believed in God I would say I wasn’t sure, but that I believed in spirituality; and I would quickly move on to asking them what they thought, murmuring or nodding in interest however they replied.
With the abortion debate children (who are asking) need to know that this is a discussion for adults and they are not yet adults. There are lots of things, such as becoming a soldier, drinking alcohol, and driving a car that only adults are allowed to do.
If the questions were more probing, and a child was old enough to understand, I would explain it in this way:
When a woman is at the beginning of a pregnancy – in the first three months – the baby growing inside her cannot live in the world on its own. It cannot breathe, its skin is so thin that it can’t cope with the harsh air outside, and if it was born it would be blind and deaf and would die very quickly. It simply can’t live separated from its mum.
Then I would say that if a woman didn’t want to grow a baby inside her (this is called being pregnant) but it had accidentally happened, or she couldn’t stop it happening to her, then an abortion is the word we use to allow the woman to stop herself being pregnant. It meant that the growing life inside her could be ended.
Some people believe that a woman should never be allowed to do this (end her pregnancy). Ever.
Other people believe that a women should be allowed to do this (end her pregnancy) up until the baby was 12 weeks old. After the 12 weeks, only in very special circumstances should she be allowed to end her pregnancy. The laws had to be made very carefully to help doctors and pregnant women deal with all the complicated things that can happen to the woman and her baby while the baby is still tucked up inside her womb.
But you don’t need to worry. The adults are going to decide what is and what is not allowed to happen when a woman is growing a baby in her womb.
When you are old enough to be able to grow a baby yourself (if you are a girl), or when you are old enough to seed a baby yourself (if you are a boy), you will have your own opinion and you will be able to take part in the debate.
Irish Independent 28 April 2018
When my children were young and they asked me about God I would say that some people believed in God but that some didn’t, and that nobody could ever be absolutely sure whether he existed or not. When they asked me if I believed in God I would say I wasn’t sure, but that I believed in spirituality; and I would quickly move on to asking them what they thought, murmuring or nodding in interest however they replied.
With the abortion debate children (who are asking) need to know that this is a discussion for adults and they are not yet adults. There are lots of things, such as becoming a soldier, drinking alcohol, and driving a car that only adults are allowed to do.
If the questions were more probing, and a child was old enough to understand, I would explain it in this way:
When a woman is at the beginning of a pregnancy – in the first three months – the baby growing inside her cannot live in the world on its own. It cannot breathe, its skin is so thin that it can’t cope with the harsh air outside, and if it was born it would be blind and deaf and would die very quickly. It simply can’t live separated from its mum.
Then I would say that if a woman didn’t want to grow a baby inside her (this is called being pregnant) but it had accidentally happened, or she couldn’t stop it happening to her, then an abortion is the word we use to allow the woman to stop herself being pregnant. It meant that the growing life inside her could be ended.
Some people believe that a woman should never be allowed to do this (end her pregnancy). Ever.
Other people believe that a women should be allowed to do this (end her pregnancy) up until the baby was 12 weeks old. After the 12 weeks, only in very special circumstances should she be allowed to end her pregnancy. The laws had to be made very carefully to help doctors and pregnant women deal with all the complicated things that can happen to the woman and her baby while the baby is still tucked up inside her womb.
But you don’t need to worry. The adults are going to decide what is and what is not allowed to happen when a woman is growing a baby in her womb.
When you are old enough to be able to grow a baby yourself (if you are a girl), or when you are old enough to seed a baby yourself (if you are a boy), you will have your own opinion and you will be able to take part in the debate.
Irish Independent 28 April 2018
The eighth amendment is a clumsy tool for the regulation of abortion in Ireland.
If the eighth amendment had been written with the life of a pregnant woman in mind (keeping in mind the life of her baby) it would have been worded as follows. The wording is the same - the changes are in capital letters.
The State acknowledges the right to life of a PREGNANT WOMAN and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the BABY SHE IS CARRYING, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.
Irish Examiner 3 May 2018
If the eighth amendment had been written with the life of a pregnant woman in mind (keeping in mind the life of her baby) it would have been worded as follows. The wording is the same - the changes are in capital letters.
The State acknowledges the right to life of a PREGNANT WOMAN and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the BABY SHE IS CARRYING, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.
Irish Examiner 3 May 2018
Syria is not a problem for the West to (patronisingly) sort out. Why do no headlines claim that the East has to fix the Syrian crisis?
Set aside for a moment whether it is a good idea to have a permanent group of five countries (China, Russia, Britain, France and the US) dominating all security council decisions, including the right to veto. What the UN could do right now is commit hundreds of thousands of UN soldiers as ground troops in Syria.
UN soldiers are a peacekeeping force. No Syrian should be frightened of a UN soldier. The Russian UN soldier is the friend of the American, Chinese, British and French UN soldier – their duty is to support each other. A French policeman gave his life to protect and save the life of a French woman a few weeks ago. UN soldiers should also be prepared to give their lives to protect the citizens of the country in which they are serving.
If all soldiers were UN soldiers there would be no need for national armies. If a Syrian chemical weapon or Russian jet or British missile or Israeli bomb was to land in Syria while UN soldiers were there it would be seen as a major act of aggression against us all – the United Nations of the World.
I can’t think of a more honourable thing to do than serve as a UN soldier: to help maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to cooperate in solving international problems; to promote respect for human rights; and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.
But for the moment my pen is mightier than the sword.
Irish Examiner, Belfast Telegraph 18 April 2018
Set aside for a moment whether it is a good idea to have a permanent group of five countries (China, Russia, Britain, France and the US) dominating all security council decisions, including the right to veto. What the UN could do right now is commit hundreds of thousands of UN soldiers as ground troops in Syria.
UN soldiers are a peacekeeping force. No Syrian should be frightened of a UN soldier. The Russian UN soldier is the friend of the American, Chinese, British and French UN soldier – their duty is to support each other. A French policeman gave his life to protect and save the life of a French woman a few weeks ago. UN soldiers should also be prepared to give their lives to protect the citizens of the country in which they are serving.
If all soldiers were UN soldiers there would be no need for national armies. If a Syrian chemical weapon or Russian jet or British missile or Israeli bomb was to land in Syria while UN soldiers were there it would be seen as a major act of aggression against us all – the United Nations of the World.
I can’t think of a more honourable thing to do than serve as a UN soldier: to help maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to cooperate in solving international problems; to promote respect for human rights; and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.
But for the moment my pen is mightier than the sword.
Irish Examiner, Belfast Telegraph 18 April 2018
Maintaining hope and faith in humanity is hard enough these days. And now Patrick Wintour’s article about the ineffectiveness of the UN has sent a chill down my spine. The Russian vetoes (against sending Syria’s crimes to the international court), marginalisation of the special envoy, obstructing efforts to outlaw chemical weapons, the institutionalisation of impunity – the last few nails have been hammered into the UN’s coffin. These are dark times.
In its founding charter the United Nations declares that it will strive to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.
Countries that regularly commit human rights abuses (e.g. no women’s rights, persecution of religious minorities, lack of freedoms of the press) are violating this charter. Why are they allowed to remain as members of the UN?
The UN is not fit for purpose. It should get rid of the veto, a device being used by bully states to the detriment of vulnerable people - the very people the UN is supposed to be protecting.
Guardian, Irish Independent, Financial Times, Irish Examiner, Irish Times, Belfast Telegraph 10-13 April 2018
In its founding charter the United Nations declares that it will strive to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.
Countries that regularly commit human rights abuses (e.g. no women’s rights, persecution of religious minorities, lack of freedoms of the press) are violating this charter. Why are they allowed to remain as members of the UN?
The UN is not fit for purpose. It should get rid of the veto, a device being used by bully states to the detriment of vulnerable people - the very people the UN is supposed to be protecting.
Guardian, Irish Independent, Financial Times, Irish Examiner, Irish Times, Belfast Telegraph 10-13 April 2018
Google’s motto “don’t be evil” is charming. Could the counterpoint to this noble ideal be the fact that the Google office environment is infantilising the (mainly) young men that work there?
Recently, I had reason to call into the reception of Google in Dublin and wondered if I had landed in a posh crèche for grownups. Giant primary coloured letters - the yellow ‘o’, the red ‘e’ and the blue ‘g’ - house work pods and seating stations. The office spaces have names like 'Clown College', 'Funland' and 'Bouncing Castle'. Workers have a canteen with free food, a gym, swimming pool, pool tables, shuffle boards, bean bags and swings. Staff can bring their shirts in to be laundered.
So, it is heartening to hear that 3,000 of Google’s employees have urged the company, in an open letter to the New York Times, not to work on a Pentagon ‘AI surveillance engine’ used for drone warfare. Don’t be evil Google (Mammy/Daddy). Good luck with that.
Just about every scientific advancement has been used for both good and evil. It is only institutions and parliaments that can tame the beast of science and how it is bent to serve human greed and hegemony.
Irish Independent, Irish Examiner 9 April 2018
Recently, I had reason to call into the reception of Google in Dublin and wondered if I had landed in a posh crèche for grownups. Giant primary coloured letters - the yellow ‘o’, the red ‘e’ and the blue ‘g’ - house work pods and seating stations. The office spaces have names like 'Clown College', 'Funland' and 'Bouncing Castle'. Workers have a canteen with free food, a gym, swimming pool, pool tables, shuffle boards, bean bags and swings. Staff can bring their shirts in to be laundered.
So, it is heartening to hear that 3,000 of Google’s employees have urged the company, in an open letter to the New York Times, not to work on a Pentagon ‘AI surveillance engine’ used for drone warfare. Don’t be evil Google (Mammy/Daddy). Good luck with that.
Just about every scientific advancement has been used for both good and evil. It is only institutions and parliaments that can tame the beast of science and how it is bent to serve human greed and hegemony.
Irish Independent, Irish Examiner 9 April 2018
Some questions to ponder. If the jury in the Northern Ireland rape trial had been composed of eight women and three men, would the same verdict would have been reached? Should jury deliberations be chaired by a judicial appointed neutral (non-jury) legal executive of the court? Should all rape and sexual assault cases have a balance of men and women on the jury?
Did every individual on the jury have sufficient experience and competency to process and understand three days of summing up by a judge?
Does the inquisitorial system of jurisprudence (as practised in, for example, France) have anything to offer the adversarial system in getting to the truth of a matter?
Could a rape charge be reduced to a charge of unintentional sexual assault, similar to a murder charge being reduced to manslaughter? Can we find a shade of grey amidst the black and white?
Irish Times 31 March 2018
Did every individual on the jury have sufficient experience and competency to process and understand three days of summing up by a judge?
Does the inquisitorial system of jurisprudence (as practised in, for example, France) have anything to offer the adversarial system in getting to the truth of a matter?
Could a rape charge be reduced to a charge of unintentional sexual assault, similar to a murder charge being reduced to manslaughter? Can we find a shade of grey amidst the black and white?
Irish Times 31 March 2018
If it is beyond doubt that Cambridge Analytica perverted democracy in the US election of 2016, and if it is beyond doubt that it perverted democracy in the Brexit referendum in the UK, then why can’t the US election and the Brexit results be declared invalid and run again? Who is in charge? Parliaments and institutions? Or big business in collaboration with corrupt politicians?
The American and British parliaments should bring in an emergency act – because this is an emergency. Make it illegal to publish opinion polls in the three weeks before a national election. In the same three weeks disable Facebook which has proven itself to be an actively biased player in the dissemination of information. The same act should come into effect for any platform that has a near a monopoly on the personal information of a nation’s voters. The untrammelled power of a handful of businesses is perverting democracy in the Western world.
Irish Independent 24 March 2018
The American and British parliaments should bring in an emergency act – because this is an emergency. Make it illegal to publish opinion polls in the three weeks before a national election. In the same three weeks disable Facebook which has proven itself to be an actively biased player in the dissemination of information. The same act should come into effect for any platform that has a near a monopoly on the personal information of a nation’s voters. The untrammelled power of a handful of businesses is perverting democracy in the Western world.
Irish Independent 24 March 2018
To help break the logjam over the Irish Language act in Northern Ireland the government of Ireland could propose that the Republic of Ireland no longer requires every single document in the European Union to be translated into Irish. We are an English speaking nation with our deepest roots embedded in Irish culture, but do we need the EU to work through Irish? Should the Irish version of our constitution take precedence over the English version?
It is the greatest irony that Britain, the home of the English language, is turning its back the EU – a union of twenty seven nations who willingly embrace English as their second language and use it for international communications. English is a unifying force in Europe. I suspect that the Irish know all too well the good fortune that will come our way when we are the only country in the EU with English as a first language.
Could English be Britain’s greatest gift to Ireland?
Irish Independent 23 March 2018; Irish Examiner, Belfast Telegraph 26 March 2018
It is the greatest irony that Britain, the home of the English language, is turning its back the EU – a union of twenty seven nations who willingly embrace English as their second language and use it for international communications. English is a unifying force in Europe. I suspect that the Irish know all too well the good fortune that will come our way when we are the only country in the EU with English as a first language.
Could English be Britain’s greatest gift to Ireland?
Irish Independent 23 March 2018; Irish Examiner, Belfast Telegraph 26 March 2018
Jeremy Guscott claims Ireland does “not have any world class players in their Grand Slam-winning squad." How churlish. As a player and a commentator I would have thought he would understand that rugby is a team sport. Individuals don’t matter. It is the team performance that distinguishes – the ability to think and perform together in a concert of skills.
Or does he mean that the English team is of such a low standard (despite having world class individual players on its squad) that Ireland couldn’t help but win?
In my view, the team that won the Grand Slam is a world class team.
Irish Independent 21 March 2018
Or does he mean that the English team is of such a low standard (despite having world class individual players on its squad) that Ireland couldn’t help but win?
In my view, the team that won the Grand Slam is a world class team.
Irish Independent 21 March 2018
There are now three options on the table for the referendum on abortion:
1) Retain the 8th amendment. You take the view that the unborn baby (no matter what stage it is at in its development) has fundamentally the same rights as its mother (on whom it is dependent, in utero). You think every case should be assessed individually on the medical needs of both mother and baby with a belief that a choice will never have to be made in terms of one being more important than the other. You trust our doctors can make medical decisions under such a system. You understand there will inevitably be more X,Y,Z and A,B,C cases.
2) You believe that the 8th amendment will continue to throw up problems in the “hard cases” of rape, fatal foetal abnormalities, cancer, suicide. You believe that the 8th amendment should be repealed with a proposal for legislation putting conditions on when an abortion is permitted (by listing all the “hard cases” that might emerge). You believe that a rape accusation can be proved (or disproved) in a couple of weeks to allow for the “rape” condition to kick in and an abortion to be carried out. You understand that a constitutional debate is being transferred to a legislative debate. You understand there will inevitably be more X,Y,Z and A,B,C cases.
3) You believe that the 8th amendment is flawed and should be repealed with a legislative framework of unconditional permission for termination of pregnancies up to 12 weeks. After the 12 week limit you believe there should be conditions and limitations on abortion. You believe that it should only be the most exceptional circumstances that anyone has the right to end a pregnancy after twelve weeks. You understand this will be for the courts to decide and the law will evolve on a case by case basis. You understand that there will inevitably be more X,Y,Z and A,B,C cases.
I respect the first view as a fundamental belief that some people hold; I have difficulty with the second view as it is transfers the current problems from the constitution to the legislature. Same problems, different part of the legal system.
I agree with the third view: I am pro-repeal; pro choice up to 12 weeks pregnancy; and pro-life after 12 weeks. If exceptional cases occur after 12 weeks (as they inevitably will) then I will trust the jurisprudence of the Irish courts in the complex matter of women and pregnancy in Ireland.
Irish Times 21 March 2018
1) Retain the 8th amendment. You take the view that the unborn baby (no matter what stage it is at in its development) has fundamentally the same rights as its mother (on whom it is dependent, in utero). You think every case should be assessed individually on the medical needs of both mother and baby with a belief that a choice will never have to be made in terms of one being more important than the other. You trust our doctors can make medical decisions under such a system. You understand there will inevitably be more X,Y,Z and A,B,C cases.
2) You believe that the 8th amendment will continue to throw up problems in the “hard cases” of rape, fatal foetal abnormalities, cancer, suicide. You believe that the 8th amendment should be repealed with a proposal for legislation putting conditions on when an abortion is permitted (by listing all the “hard cases” that might emerge). You believe that a rape accusation can be proved (or disproved) in a couple of weeks to allow for the “rape” condition to kick in and an abortion to be carried out. You understand that a constitutional debate is being transferred to a legislative debate. You understand there will inevitably be more X,Y,Z and A,B,C cases.
3) You believe that the 8th amendment is flawed and should be repealed with a legislative framework of unconditional permission for termination of pregnancies up to 12 weeks. After the 12 week limit you believe there should be conditions and limitations on abortion. You believe that it should only be the most exceptional circumstances that anyone has the right to end a pregnancy after twelve weeks. You understand this will be for the courts to decide and the law will evolve on a case by case basis. You understand that there will inevitably be more X,Y,Z and A,B,C cases.
I respect the first view as a fundamental belief that some people hold; I have difficulty with the second view as it is transfers the current problems from the constitution to the legislature. Same problems, different part of the legal system.
I agree with the third view: I am pro-repeal; pro choice up to 12 weeks pregnancy; and pro-life after 12 weeks. If exceptional cases occur after 12 weeks (as they inevitably will) then I will trust the jurisprudence of the Irish courts in the complex matter of women and pregnancy in Ireland.
Irish Times 21 March 2018
The Lego in our house, bought almost thirty years ago, will be used by our grandchild when he is old enough to click two bricks together. It is the only toy we kept for recycling.
May I propose that Niels Christiansen considers an alternative business model for Lego – one that is more sustainable, more environmentally aware, and more community based? Lego could become a broker or clearing house for second hand Lego – The Lego Exchange. New sets and designs of Lego would only be brought out occasionally, and replacement pieces only supplied when demand outstripped supply.
Start with a membership model. By logging on to the website, members upload pictures of the pieces they want to trade, the pieces they are searching for, and their rare out-of-date pieces to be offered at special Lego Auction days, perhaps four times a year. Lego would take a commission from every trade or exchange.
There are few toys that bring child and parent together as wonderfully as Lego. Tapping into the parent’s nostalgia (and purchasing power) is likely to be a winner.
Financial Times 14 Mar 2018
May I propose that Niels Christiansen considers an alternative business model for Lego – one that is more sustainable, more environmentally aware, and more community based? Lego could become a broker or clearing house for second hand Lego – The Lego Exchange. New sets and designs of Lego would only be brought out occasionally, and replacement pieces only supplied when demand outstripped supply.
Start with a membership model. By logging on to the website, members upload pictures of the pieces they want to trade, the pieces they are searching for, and their rare out-of-date pieces to be offered at special Lego Auction days, perhaps four times a year. Lego would take a commission from every trade or exchange.
There are few toys that bring child and parent together as wonderfully as Lego. Tapping into the parent’s nostalgia (and purchasing power) is likely to be a winner.
Financial Times 14 Mar 2018
Victoria White bemoans the fact that the Central Statistics Office in Ireland doesn’t carry out the same analysis with (what she imagines will be) the same results as the UK’s happiness result. I suspect that most people (men and women) would say that they were happy when they were working from home minding their children, especially when it was condoned by society. The headline is divisive: outside-the-home working women (bad/unhappy) are being pitted against inside-the-home working women (good/happy).
What is happiness at work? What is unhappiness at work? One of the most stressful factors in life is known to be when you have a feeling of being out of control in the work place – not having self-autonomy, not being valued for your work. I suspect most people would say they were happiest when not working under the yoke of uncaring exploitative employers.
Happiness indices are questionable. Can one country be happier than another? The American right to the Pursuit of Happiness (along with life and liberty) means exactly what? Does it mean that Americans are happier than everyone else in the world? Does one American’s right to bear arms make them a freer and happier person than an American who is injured or killed by those weapons?
Theresa May has appointed a Minister for Happiness in the UK. Will this minister cure Britain of its sadness?
I propose that constitutions and governments across the world adopt a Buddhist philosophy – a philosophy that life is rooted in suffering, that the suffering is caused by craving (envying those who have more material goods than you), and that one can only find release from suffering by eliminating craving. This will require less capitalism and private sector (inequality), a stronger state (public sector), and a fairer redistribution of wealth (via a strong tax base).
Life is intrinsically sad. The happy moments are but a break in the sadness. If you have clean water, food, shelter and love why crave a surplus of money or things? There is no pocket in a shroud.
Irish Examiner 14 Mar 2018
What is happiness at work? What is unhappiness at work? One of the most stressful factors in life is known to be when you have a feeling of being out of control in the work place – not having self-autonomy, not being valued for your work. I suspect most people would say they were happiest when not working under the yoke of uncaring exploitative employers.
Happiness indices are questionable. Can one country be happier than another? The American right to the Pursuit of Happiness (along with life and liberty) means exactly what? Does it mean that Americans are happier than everyone else in the world? Does one American’s right to bear arms make them a freer and happier person than an American who is injured or killed by those weapons?
Theresa May has appointed a Minister for Happiness in the UK. Will this minister cure Britain of its sadness?
I propose that constitutions and governments across the world adopt a Buddhist philosophy – a philosophy that life is rooted in suffering, that the suffering is caused by craving (envying those who have more material goods than you), and that one can only find release from suffering by eliminating craving. This will require less capitalism and private sector (inequality), a stronger state (public sector), and a fairer redistribution of wealth (via a strong tax base).
Life is intrinsically sad. The happy moments are but a break in the sadness. If you have clean water, food, shelter and love why crave a surplus of money or things? There is no pocket in a shroud.
Irish Examiner 14 Mar 2018
Why not legally require Google to split into a commercial and non-commercial arm – Google Commercial and Google Organic? There are plenty of business models where the commercial arm of the company makes the money (by selling its services and product) and the profits feed back into the altruistic and non-profit arm.
As a user of the commercial arm you would understand that you had implicitly agreed to volunteer your data in return for getting a fast search result which was relevant to you – based on your internet history, marketed to you by the highest bidders (which could be political organisations or bog-standard businesses).
If you were using Google Organic (which would operate far slower) you would be confident that a different algorithm was being used. Your likes and preferences and website visits would not have been used for political or commercial self-aggrandisement.
You would see an organic information stream as the result of your search, untainted by commerce.
Irish Times 2 February 2018
As a user of the commercial arm you would understand that you had implicitly agreed to volunteer your data in return for getting a fast search result which was relevant to you – based on your internet history, marketed to you by the highest bidders (which could be political organisations or bog-standard businesses).
If you were using Google Organic (which would operate far slower) you would be confident that a different algorithm was being used. Your likes and preferences and website visits would not have been used for political or commercial self-aggrandisement.
You would see an organic information stream as the result of your search, untainted by commerce.
Irish Times 2 February 2018
Your readers might be interested in some facts about women:
In 1602 The Confucian scholar Li Zhi was imprisoned in China for spreading the ‘dangerous idea’ that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be given equal opportunity in education.
In 1681 A London woman was publicly flogged for the crime of ‘involving herself in politics’.
In 1750 Hannah Snell, a British woman who had disguised herself as a man to become a soldier, revealed her sex to her Royal Marines compatriots.
In 1759 a translation and commentary on Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica by the mathematician Emilie du Châtelet was published posthumously. Voltaire, one of her lovers, declared in a letter to his friend, King Frederick 1772 II of Prussia, that du Châtelet was ‘a great man whose only fault was being a woman’.
In 1889 The Eiffel Tower was completed. Seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers and notables were engraved on the structure but no women were included in the list.
In 1902 Irish born Mary Harris, later known as Mother Jones, was considered to be the ‘most dangerous woman in America’ due to her militancy with the labour unions.
In 1905 Grover Cleveland, the U.S. President, said: ‘Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.’ In 1916 Margaret Sanger was arrested for opening the first birth control clinic in the U.S. In 1971, in Switzerland, women were given the right to vote in federal elections and stand for parliament for the first time.
In 1977 Wangari Maathai established the Green Belt Movement in Kenya later becoming the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2004).
In 1995 Marie Curie became the first woman to be entombed, on her own merit, in the Panthéon in Paris.
In 2018 the male leaders of the two largest political parties in Ireland in Ireland declare their trust in women: pro-treaty and anti-treaty united for once, if momentarily.
Mná na hÉireann, I can feel it. The tide is turning.
Irish Examiner 24 Feb 2018
In 1602 The Confucian scholar Li Zhi was imprisoned in China for spreading the ‘dangerous idea’ that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be given equal opportunity in education.
In 1681 A London woman was publicly flogged for the crime of ‘involving herself in politics’.
In 1750 Hannah Snell, a British woman who had disguised herself as a man to become a soldier, revealed her sex to her Royal Marines compatriots.
In 1759 a translation and commentary on Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica by the mathematician Emilie du Châtelet was published posthumously. Voltaire, one of her lovers, declared in a letter to his friend, King Frederick 1772 II of Prussia, that du Châtelet was ‘a great man whose only fault was being a woman’.
In 1889 The Eiffel Tower was completed. Seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers and notables were engraved on the structure but no women were included in the list.
In 1902 Irish born Mary Harris, later known as Mother Jones, was considered to be the ‘most dangerous woman in America’ due to her militancy with the labour unions.
In 1905 Grover Cleveland, the U.S. President, said: ‘Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.’ In 1916 Margaret Sanger was arrested for opening the first birth control clinic in the U.S. In 1971, in Switzerland, women were given the right to vote in federal elections and stand for parliament for the first time.
In 1977 Wangari Maathai established the Green Belt Movement in Kenya later becoming the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2004).
In 1995 Marie Curie became the first woman to be entombed, on her own merit, in the Panthéon in Paris.
In 2018 the male leaders of the two largest political parties in Ireland in Ireland declare their trust in women: pro-treaty and anti-treaty united for once, if momentarily.
Mná na hÉireann, I can feel it. The tide is turning.
Irish Examiner 24 Feb 2018
It is disgraceful that RTE’s Prime Time and The Irish Times gave a platform to an apologist for the barbaric practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The euphemism used (in the headline) for the physical mutilation of a girl child was “female circumcision” – with the argument presented that it was sometimes necessary. By insidiously allowing the suggestion that FGM was simply like male circumcision, two powerful media outlets in Ireland have (perhaps unwittingly) undermined women, everywhere.
Try this thought experiment. Imagine you are a boy of six and your father, or your grandfather, forcibly holds you down while a religious man cuts off the tip of your penis – and I mean the most sensitive part. Not just the foreskin. Now imagine growing up with a lifetime of genitourinary problems and, due the scarring, sex is always extremely painful.
By taking a blade to a girl’s clitoris you cut up her soul.
Irish Examiner 14 Feb 2018
Try this thought experiment. Imagine you are a boy of six and your father, or your grandfather, forcibly holds you down while a religious man cuts off the tip of your penis – and I mean the most sensitive part. Not just the foreskin. Now imagine growing up with a lifetime of genitourinary problems and, due the scarring, sex is always extremely painful.
By taking a blade to a girl’s clitoris you cut up her soul.
Irish Examiner 14 Feb 2018
Elephant in the room. Interest rates have been kept too low for too long. When money is too cheap a lot of things go wrong. The Irish housing bubble that burst in 2008 was fuelled by cheap money facilitated by bankers soliciting for business from any fool that would take the money they wanted to throw at them.
The banking model is now based on individual’s debt – the more debt a bank sells the better off it will be (as long as they can keep collecting repayments on the debt). What an old fashioned concept that the bank might keep your money safe on deposit, give you an interest rate for looking after it, and you understand that they are allowed to “borrow” your money to lend elsewhere (at a higher interest rate) and make their own return. It was within this margin that money was made by banks in the past while the gold standard meant that we could be sure that the banks with which we had trusted our money weren’t, er, bankrupt.
By giving up the gold standard and moving over to the debt model banks have lost our trust as safe houses.
Irish Independent
Irish Independent, Irish Examiner 10 Feb 2018
The banking model is now based on individual’s debt – the more debt a bank sells the better off it will be (as long as they can keep collecting repayments on the debt). What an old fashioned concept that the bank might keep your money safe on deposit, give you an interest rate for looking after it, and you understand that they are allowed to “borrow” your money to lend elsewhere (at a higher interest rate) and make their own return. It was within this margin that money was made by banks in the past while the gold standard meant that we could be sure that the banks with which we had trusted our money weren’t, er, bankrupt.
By giving up the gold standard and moving over to the debt model banks have lost our trust as safe houses.
Irish Independent
Irish Independent, Irish Examiner 10 Feb 2018
The adversarial first-past-the-post electoral system has driven a wedge of polarity into British politics. It forces homogeneity onto the external face of Labour while being extremely divisive within the party as internal candidates are pitted against each other for selection. Political souls are given up in a Faustian pact to serve the aggregate soul of the Labour party.
In a proportional representation system there is far more nuance. You vote for your candidates: 1, 2, 3, 4…. in order of your preference. A number one vote for a Corbynite can be transferred into a vote for a Blairite (your number 2) if the Corbynite has been eliminated in the first count. More importantly, the Labour party wins (and feels the benefit) of your vote because you broadly agree with the philosophy of the Labour party.
No one has to mention that, in private, the left arm of the party hates the right arm. They’re stuck with serving the same body (the body politic).
Financial Times, Irish Independent 17 Jan 2018
In a proportional representation system there is far more nuance. You vote for your candidates: 1, 2, 3, 4…. in order of your preference. A number one vote for a Corbynite can be transferred into a vote for a Blairite (your number 2) if the Corbynite has been eliminated in the first count. More importantly, the Labour party wins (and feels the benefit) of your vote because you broadly agree with the philosophy of the Labour party.
No one has to mention that, in private, the left arm of the party hates the right arm. They’re stuck with serving the same body (the body politic).
Financial Times, Irish Independent 17 Jan 2018
There is a radical solution to the healthcare crisis in Ireland. But it is radical. I doubt any politician has the guts to do the following. Nationalise the private hospitals. Everything would be sorted in one fell swoop, from capacity to staffing, and the iniquitous two-tier system that has embedded itself in our national psyche would be no more.
I can hear the shrieks from all quarters: "No, we can't!"
I say: "Yes, we can."
Private hospitals are first and foremost businesses, developed as such with incentives from the Government. They cherry-pick cases (easy, low-risk ones) to keep costs down. When things go badly wrong, it is a public hospital that steps in, providing a 24-hour service and sorting out complications. (Haven't you heard the radio adverts saying in a soft voice 'our clinic is here for you, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm'?)
Bless their commitment (and pray you don't get sick on Sunday morning at 3am), because even if you have double the money they couldn't care less. It costs them too much to pay their professional healthcare staff in the middle of the night.
If these private hospitals, and I mean all of them - St Vincent's, the Mater, Blackrock Clinic, Beacon Hospital, Bon Secours, the Hermitage, Barrington's, etc - were to be nationalised, all their staff would be in the public sector and working for the HSE. All the beds would be HSE beds.
The owners of these hospitals would probably be aggrieved. As with compulsory purchase orders for land when building roads and railways, they would need to be compensated. Health insurance companies would probably panic, so let's ask them to come up with a decent proposal for a universal health insurance scheme to run the new single-tier system.
If we can nationalise a bank without any fuss, why on Earth can't we nationalise our hospitals? I can't think of a better way for the State to spend my tax.
Irish Independent 12 January 2018
I can hear the shrieks from all quarters: "No, we can't!"
I say: "Yes, we can."
Private hospitals are first and foremost businesses, developed as such with incentives from the Government. They cherry-pick cases (easy, low-risk ones) to keep costs down. When things go badly wrong, it is a public hospital that steps in, providing a 24-hour service and sorting out complications. (Haven't you heard the radio adverts saying in a soft voice 'our clinic is here for you, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm'?)
Bless their commitment (and pray you don't get sick on Sunday morning at 3am), because even if you have double the money they couldn't care less. It costs them too much to pay their professional healthcare staff in the middle of the night.
If these private hospitals, and I mean all of them - St Vincent's, the Mater, Blackrock Clinic, Beacon Hospital, Bon Secours, the Hermitage, Barrington's, etc - were to be nationalised, all their staff would be in the public sector and working for the HSE. All the beds would be HSE beds.
The owners of these hospitals would probably be aggrieved. As with compulsory purchase orders for land when building roads and railways, they would need to be compensated. Health insurance companies would probably panic, so let's ask them to come up with a decent proposal for a universal health insurance scheme to run the new single-tier system.
If we can nationalise a bank without any fuss, why on Earth can't we nationalise our hospitals? I can't think of a better way for the State to spend my tax.
Irish Independent 12 January 2018
The high rates of payment to university vice-chancellors in the UK, combined with extortionate tuition fees would suggest that a university education has become a private affair run by kleptocrats. Annual tuition fees come in at £9,250 at Bath University, where the vice-chancellor (who has just retired) was paid an eye-popping salary of £468,000 per year to do her job.
It is beyond belief that a university education has become the servant of market ideology in a country famed for its soft socialism in the form of the NHS and free primary and secondary education.
Margaret Thatcher's fetish-like belief in the market at the expense of society has ill-served the English-speaking, Western world. Where is a university education free, or with low tuition fees, these days? Norway, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Russia and India are some examples. And don't forget China - a country heavily influenced by the Soviet Union and a latecomer to the concept of a private university.
It is painful to consider this, but a managed economy can make for a more egalitarian society - albeit with fewer democratic freedoms - than the unregulated market economy, with its winners and losers.
It has been predicted that China will overtake the UK as the second most popular country for international students by 2020. The People's Republic of China's ministry of education might have a thing or two to teach us here in the West.
Belfast Telegraph 5 December 2017
It is beyond belief that a university education has become the servant of market ideology in a country famed for its soft socialism in the form of the NHS and free primary and secondary education.
Margaret Thatcher's fetish-like belief in the market at the expense of society has ill-served the English-speaking, Western world. Where is a university education free, or with low tuition fees, these days? Norway, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Russia and India are some examples. And don't forget China - a country heavily influenced by the Soviet Union and a latecomer to the concept of a private university.
It is painful to consider this, but a managed economy can make for a more egalitarian society - albeit with fewer democratic freedoms - than the unregulated market economy, with its winners and losers.
It has been predicted that China will overtake the UK as the second most popular country for international students by 2020. The People's Republic of China's ministry of education might have a thing or two to teach us here in the West.
Belfast Telegraph 5 December 2017
The dogs on the street (voters) know when there is a witch hunt going on. Politicians squirm, wanting her to take one for the team, take one for Ireland. Civil servants in the Department of Justice breathe a sigh of relief. Minister schminister. This one that one. Makes no difference – pension and job safe (and I’ll still have free parking in the centre of town.)
Irish Examiner 29 Nov 2017
Irish Examiner 29 Nov 2017
I wonder is it time for the two nations – Ireland and Scotland – to put together a proposal for joint membership of the EU? With their similar population size, education systems, and geography, this pair of Celtic Fringe members, each located on a multi-nation island off the western coast of Europe, might get a good deal from Brussels. Economically, strategically and emotionally it makes sense. The deal could include provision for anyone living in Northern Ireland to relocate to Ireland or Scotland if they would prefer to remain living in the EU.
The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of the northern part of Ireland which began officially in 1609. Most of the colonists came from Scotland and England and the land was seized from Irish chieftains such as Hugh O’Neill (who had fled Ireland to seek help from Spain in 1607 – The Flight of the Earls).
I have a relative (now passed away) who was born in Cork in the 1920s. She married an Ulsterman, a staunch unionist, in the early fifties. They moved to Scotland where they settled and had their family. She admitted to me once that she had met relatives of her husband who believed that “the Plantations” had meant the planting of trees in Northern Ireland. History contorts itself according to who is doing the telling and who is doing the teaching.
If this new forward-thinking alliance were to happen between Scotland and Ireland, then Northern Ireland, Wales and England would become the new United Kingdom, the three Brexiteers.
Independent UK online 5 Dec 2017
The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of the northern part of Ireland which began officially in 1609. Most of the colonists came from Scotland and England and the land was seized from Irish chieftains such as Hugh O’Neill (who had fled Ireland to seek help from Spain in 1607 – The Flight of the Earls).
I have a relative (now passed away) who was born in Cork in the 1920s. She married an Ulsterman, a staunch unionist, in the early fifties. They moved to Scotland where they settled and had their family. She admitted to me once that she had met relatives of her husband who believed that “the Plantations” had meant the planting of trees in Northern Ireland. History contorts itself according to who is doing the telling and who is doing the teaching.
If this new forward-thinking alliance were to happen between Scotland and Ireland, then Northern Ireland, Wales and England would become the new United Kingdom, the three Brexiteers.
Independent UK online 5 Dec 2017
Bob Geldof returns his Freedom of the City of Dublin award in a razzmatazz of protest over Aung San Suu Kyi (who also happens to hold the same award.) What’s that all about? It’s all about Bob, a man who has never had to give up his own freedom to uphold his beliefs. I am pleased Mr Geldof was given the Freedom of Dublin award in 2006 for his tireless work on Band Aid and the money he raised for famine relief in Ethiopia.
But I am also proud that The Freedom of the City of Dublin was awarded to a Aung San Suu Kyi for her self sacrificing pro-democracy action in Burma/Myanmar. While under house arrest (for almost 15 years) she was granted permission to leave Burma under the condition that she would never return. She refused, saying: "As a mother, the greater sacrifice was giving up my sons, but I was always aware of the fact that others had given up more than me. I never forget that my colleagues who are in prison suffer not only physically, but mentally for their families who have no security outside - in the larger prison of Burma under authoritarian rule." She never saw her children during those years and her husband died having seen her only five times during the house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency because she is the widow and mother of foreigners. This was written into the constitution, it appears, specifically to prevent her from holding that position. I imagine she is not as free as we think - Myanmar is a country slouching towards democracy.
I doubt Aung San Suu Kyi sought the Freedom of Dublin City in 1999. How petty if Bob Geldof’s actions have the effect of Dublin City Council stripping their award off another (who was given it in good faith at the time). It sounds utterly childish for him to add that he would like his award back if it was first stripped from her.
Irish Examiner 17 Nov 2017
But I am also proud that The Freedom of the City of Dublin was awarded to a Aung San Suu Kyi for her self sacrificing pro-democracy action in Burma/Myanmar. While under house arrest (for almost 15 years) she was granted permission to leave Burma under the condition that she would never return. She refused, saying: "As a mother, the greater sacrifice was giving up my sons, but I was always aware of the fact that others had given up more than me. I never forget that my colleagues who are in prison suffer not only physically, but mentally for their families who have no security outside - in the larger prison of Burma under authoritarian rule." She never saw her children during those years and her husband died having seen her only five times during the house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency because she is the widow and mother of foreigners. This was written into the constitution, it appears, specifically to prevent her from holding that position. I imagine she is not as free as we think - Myanmar is a country slouching towards democracy.
I doubt Aung San Suu Kyi sought the Freedom of Dublin City in 1999. How petty if Bob Geldof’s actions have the effect of Dublin City Council stripping their award off another (who was given it in good faith at the time). It sounds utterly childish for him to add that he would like his award back if it was first stripped from her.
Irish Examiner 17 Nov 2017