http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics Just another irishtimes.com weblog Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:45:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Everytime there is a demonstration in the country, the authorities experiences crowd trouble. No, not violence, though we occasionally see that rearing its ugly head - remember the misbeggoten Free Ulster riot some years ago. (more...)Share This http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/11/07/the-numbers-game/ The parallels between Afghanistan and the Vietnam War are growing all the time. Like LBJ, President Obama has a strong interest in social issues and clearly wants to make life better for ordinary citizens of the US. But Lyndon Baines Johnson was brought down by a slow-burning military disaster in ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/11/06/afghan-war-looks-more-and-more-futile/ A certain wag who worked on this newspaper some years back used to have great fun at the expense of aspirants for jobs and promotions that appeared "on the board". His favourite witticism was to tell one or other of the hopefuls: "Your name is being linked to the job - ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/11/05/country-and-western-alliance-2009/ I  watched Morning Ireland for the first time ever this morning, on its webcast (to find it check it out here). It was great to see David Hanly and great to hear that voice like a door on a rusted hinge. RTE peoople describe the above pic of Hanly and ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/11/05/morning-ireland-and-25-years/ Arianna Huffington in her eponymous blog  poses a great question in her headline on Obama's first year in office (see the blog posting here). "Obama One Year  Later," it reads. "The Audacity of Winning vs. The Timidity of Governing". (more...)Share This http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/11/04/audacity-of-opposition-versus-timidity-of-government/ I remember distinctly the moment when the potential of the internet for journalists became clear. I was standing in the newsroom in RTE circa 1996 as a colleague scoped a newly-acquired internet-enabled computer. He checked out the search engine du jour of the time (altavista) and turned round to me with ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/11/03/predicting-our-future-while-forgetting-our-past/ Oh to be David McWilliams's publisher! The publicity he has generated with the extracts from his new book, carried in the weekend newspapers, will have it flying off the shelves. As they say down the country, "He has a great welcome for himself." Or alternatively: If  you don't blow your ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/11/02/flying-off-the-shelves/ Nah. It's not going to happen. But the theory surrounding her candidacy is fascinating. It goes like this: If she is offered the job, Cowen rids himself of a recurring headache in Cabinet - her poor and unauthotitative performance as Tánaiste. Her move to Brussels would also tick the gender balance ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/10/31/commissioner-coughlan/ We had a good debate on this Blog about Tommy Tiernan's "joke" at the expense of Holocaust victims. Despite the controversy his remarks aroused and dropping out of the Canadian "Just for Laughs" tour, Mr Tiernan never did apologise, at least not in any direct form. What a contrast with British ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/10/29/carr-shows-tiernan-the-way/   A friend send me on this Irish version of Shakespeare's the Seven Ages of Man. The Mattie McGrath inspired Fianna Fail version could conceivably cut it back to three. You take a drink and when you sit behind the wheel you are relaxed - so relaxed in fact that you close ... http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2009/10/27/life-in-four-bottles-or-three-if/