Politics

• Best Political Film

  February 9, 2010 @ 9:30 pm | by Deaglán

  The issue of nation-building is an important one for any society seeking to overcome major problems such as racial division, economic collapse, class differences, etc., etc. (more…)

  Comments (0)

• A Full Blown crisis for Fine Gael

  February 8, 2010 @ 10:09 pm | by Harry

  All day, Fine Gael TDs have publicly expressed disappointment at George Lee’s bolt out of the blue.

  What they should have been expressing is:

  (more…)

  Comments (10)

• Short Visits Make Long Friends: The Case of George Lee

  @ 3:33 pm | by Deaglán

  The recruitment of George Lee and his subsequent by-election success were the best things that happened to Fine Gael for years. Now he’s gone: just like that. (more…)

  Comments (23)

• Cowen off the cuff but still off the track

  February 5, 2010 @ 10:59 am | by Harry

  

  It has been one of few moments that Brian Cowen has been on fire since becoming Taoiseach.

  Last year, he stood up at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner and, without warning, delivered a master class in rhetoric.  First of all let’s pile up the negatives. His lacklustre record as Taoiseach. His general inaccessibility. His mule-like refusal to come out and tell it like it is. His gruesome prose. His secretive instincts. Suspicion of the media.

  (more…)

  Comments (16)

• Mattie McGrath and the spirit of 1968

  February 3, 2010 @ 10:50 am | by Harry

  Fianna Fail’s claim as the great catch-all party can in a sense be personified by the two honourable members for Tipperary South.

  I don’t think there is any other constituency where the contrast between party colleagues is more glaring.

  (more…)

  Comments (5)

• Artist Puts Comic in the Picture

  February 2, 2010 @ 10:27 pm | by Deaglán

  This particular blogger has devoted much time and energy to the fall-out from the Holocaust “joke” from our own Tommy Tiernan. The responses have been fairly dispiriting by and large and have weakened my faith in human nature - at least in its blogospheric manifestation. (more…)

  Comments (9)

• Up in the Polls and Up in the Air

  February 1, 2010 @ 12:05 pm | by Deaglán

  The latest Sunday Business Post poll as well as the last poll in The Irish Times show a modest revival in Fianna Fail’s standing with the public. Clearly they will be hoping to hang in for as long as possible and stave off the general election until they are in a position to win or at least emerge with only minimal damage. (more…)

  Comments (25)

• Truth in the News

  January 29, 2010 @ 1:27 pm | by Harry

  I have always been fascinated by the old news reels like MovieTone news and the way they describe big events. For a modern student of semiotics, they must provide a field day. It’s not just the clipped upper class British accents, the staccato delivery denoting urgency, the obvious propaganda, or the way they crudely attempted to capture a folksy group psychology (oh look, the crowds wave with furious excitement and glee as soon as our victorious hero Mr Churchill disembarks from the naval warship).

  (more…)

  Comments (2)

• Privacy in the Age of 24/7 News

  @ 11:02 am | by Deaglán

  Privacy is becoming more and  more of an issue in these days of 24/7 news and tabloid (or even “broadloid”) intrusiveness. We have had two controversies aired in recent days: the shielding of a witness in a murder trial and the travails of Government minster Martin Cullen. (more…)

  Comments (13)

• The Bachelor’s Lament (Guest Blog Post)

  January 28, 2010 @ 1:33 pm | by Deaglán

   This is a Guest Post by my colleague on the political team here, Mary Minihan. It’s about Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar and his views on the tax treatment of swinging (or not-so-swinging) singletons. Now read on:- (more…)

  Comments (5)