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Honour Savita by silencing the extremists
A protestor holds a picture of Savita Halapannavar If we really want to honour Savita Halappanavar and finally have a proper debate on abortion in Ireland, we need to silence the extremists on both...
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Mis-selling and misunderstanding
By raising PRSI, this government has proved itself no better than mis-selling banks it slavishly serves. Budget 2013: Michael “Tweedle Dumb” Noonan. (Not pictured: Brendan “Tweedle Dumber” Howlin.) Why...
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NRA = IRA
A protestor holds up an anti-NRA sign. The saddest thing about the pathetic statement by the NRA is the fact that nothing will now change. Had they agreed to controls on the most deadly of weapons,...
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Suicide, social media and getting stick from voters
Shane McEntee TD, who died this week. The death by suicide of Irish parliamentarian Shane McEntee has prompted a slew of stroies in Sunday’s papers suggesting that bullying on social media was in some...
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Ten things Irish politicians should realise about the Internet and social media.
1. It’s not new. All this waffle about “abusive comments” and “cyberbullying” would give you the impression that that this had sprung up out of nowhere. It hasn’t. Since the dawn of time on the...
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Manager’s self-belief the undoing of Sweden and Ireland
Erik Hamrén – masterminded a 4-4 draw against Germany, without really being able to explain how. Redemption is by no means given for the two football men who over-estimated themselves most in 2012. In...
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Toblerones and cojones
Danger: May ruin your political career. As a new year of political guff and spoofery dawns, we should forget Swedish-style taxes or childcare – what Ireland really needs is Swedish-style politicians....
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There’s no such thing as “internet journalism”
The Irish Times- why, indeed. Let’s put this to bed once and for all, shall we? There’s no such thing as “internet journalism” – there is journalism, and then there is everything else. There is some...
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Don’t tweet the messenger
NOTE: RTE did not approve this picture, even though I wrote to Bosco in 1981 and my letter was read out. I learned long ago it’s never profitable to suspect conspiracy where stupidity is a more likely...
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The Dithering 2013 – opportunity knocks and no-one answers
Enda Kenny, flanked by some of the Swedish fans and investors that now won’t bother coming to Dublin. The moment the draw for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers was made, I did a little dance. Sweden were...
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Min vecka som fri-Lance korrespondent
- Du är i Oslo idag alltså! Fan vad bra! Då vill vi ha cirka åttahundra ord samt ett par bilder över de två dagarna, det går väl bra va?! - Visst. Vad erbjuder Ni för det? - Jo du, då blir det då det...
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It’s a long, long way from Clare to beer…
Not pictured: Clare Daly. Full disclosure – I’ve never met Clare Daly, but we’re in touch on occasion via e-mail, mostly about how incompetent her colleagues in Leinster House are. It turns out to that...
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“It doesn’t look good, you’ll have to come home…”
I don’t often post personal things here, but I’m going to make an exception this week. This morning the Irish Times carried a piece I wrote about my brother Alan, who fell seriously ill before...
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It Says Here – in the Workmans Club next week, talking about journalism
Many have asked me why a journalist would take the stage in a Dublin club to talk about what he does all day, and admittedly it might seem strange. But rather than hiding in sub-zero temperatures...
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Let’s have a gay ol’ time
I have to say I’m really enjoying Prime Time’s new mix of hard-hitting debate and slapstick comedy as provided by the likes of the Iona Institute, and the fact that it is hastening the death of a...
View ArticleSveriges mixade zoner är just det- mixade
Innan och under Sverige-Irlands VM-kval försökte jag vara en god journalistisk kollega – jag hjälpte till med lite uppgifter om de olika lag, hjälpte folk komma i kontakt med varandra, bjöd på de...
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Thatcher is dead, but Thatcherism lives on
Margaret Thatcher tries the peace sign. You’re right, it doesn’t suit her. And so it came to pass – isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk finally got to change their home page from “No” to “Yes”. Many people –...
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Five freelancing thoughts from the Dublin Freelance Forum
Headed for the airport again after another interesting week of media work in Dublin. Some good radio work, some good discussions with editors and getting bumped off a TV show at the very last second –...
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How Boston marks the end for the right to bear arms
The massive display of force by local and federal authorities in their efforts to apprehend the Tsarnaev brothers (prime suspects in the bombing of the Boston marathon) may have had one completely...
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What do you get when you let fundamentalists define the debate? Six doctors
Catholic Comment’s new intern hears they all like a beer on a Friday. For those of you convinced that we are in the final stages of one of the last great Irish moral battles of our age, I hate to break...
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