Some women really need their more educated sisters to guide them away from equality that is found at the bottom of a Brown Thomas shopping bag. "I look so good that I'll be treated as an equal, right?" Wrong. Not that looking good is a crime, but it's no substitute for using that bleached brain of yours.

Not too offended yet? Good, keep reading.

There are few things that have done more for women's lib than Sex and the City. Wait a second, I completely made that up. In fact, ah Candace Bushnell, you've a lot to answer for. You've managed to convince many women that you're a nobody unless you have those Manolo shoes. You're not sexually liberated unless you can talk out loud in public with confidence about your sex life. And you most certainly cannot convene for lunch over a flask of tea and cornbeef sandwiches in the canteen. It has to be a (insert fancy lunch item here) with your girlfriends in the nearest bistro.

Only last week, we heard that it was indeed women who spent most on clothes and entertainment. Men are no match for the ladies when it comes to stretching the plastic from one end of Grafton Street to the other. If you need any further proof, just compare male and female wardrobe contents. It is fair to say that shopping does preoccupy a lot of women who are fortunate enough to have money to spend.

Are you ready for another big shocker? Yes, I'm in top form today. Few women, when compared with men, take interest in current affairs (I have no figures to back this up - an observation). This really annoys me. Obviously, knowing about the latest political scandal does not infer any extra braininess.

But when it comes to election time, I would like to think my fellow voters are informed about the issues of the day in order to elect the best candidate. Of course, I'll be told that I need to get female friends who do pay attention to debates on women's rights, that I'm making sweeping generalisations, and that I'm misogynistic.

So to balance, a lot of men's interests can also be trivial. Everyone knows, when you break it down, that watching 22 men chasing after a leather sphere is pointless. But I love football. However, men do talk about the issues of the day more than women. If someone can answer this why this is, they deserve a medal.

Gender inequality still exists in various shapes and forms. Women are less likely to be put forward by male-dominated political parties as election candidates, hence the introduction of quotas in the near future. Women still don't receive equal treatment when it comes to recruitment and job promotion. However, nothing could be simpler than keeping abreast of what is said in the broadsheets. Nothing bars women from watching the news. Nothing stops them from holding educated views on matters of the day and from expressing those beliefs.

For women to achieve total equality requires an effort on the part of all women to take an interest in what goes on around them on a macro level. Ultimately, this would lead to more women being involved in politics and more women in power. This to me is girl power, not that shite the Spice Girls tried to spin in the late nineties.

EDIT: Here are some surveys/polls that back up what I've been trying to say in this post ...

1. From statistics.gov.uk ...

"In 1999 a third of men surveyed in the British Social Attitudes Survey said that they were interested in politics 'a great deal' or 'quite a lot', compared with under a quarter of women."

2. From the National Review ...

"Women's lack of knowledge is in part due to their lack of interest in politics. According to the National Opinion Research Center, 53 per cent of college-educated men under the age of 30 read a newspaper daily, compared to only 34 per cent of their female counterparts. And the gap opens at an early age. A national survey of schoolchildren found that boys are significantly more knowledgeable about politics than girls, even after controlling for background and curriculum. Quite simply, it may not be in women's nature to care very much about politics."

Published by Colm.  

I would really love to have had the opportunity to ask Frank Maloney his opinion on the farce that was the Irish Lightweight title fight.

The fight took place between Michael Gomez and Peter McDonagh at the National Arena last Saturday night. It was a warm-up match for the Bernard Dunne fight. Balrog pretty much sums up my opinion on the whole sordid affair. Only Steve Collins had the cajones to call a spade a spade while Mick Dowling and Darragh Maloney made it clear that Collins' opinion was his own. Even those who are rhinoplastically challenged could have smelled the odour from the rat that Collins alluded to.

Peter McDonagh's post match interview heard him say that he was delighted to have confounded Paddy Power's odds of 125-1 for him to win. Em, that rat just got smellier.

Only a few hours previous to this, I had been waiting patiently for a horrid breakfast in Stansted airport. A short little man barked an order for a latté with only half a shot of coffee. He turned to me and said in the finest cockney accent that I'd be waiting for my order. Boxing promoter and former London mayor candidate Frank Maloney is a funny little man when you see him in person. He wears bright red shoes and he flies with Ryanair. I was hoping that he'd be on the return flight so I could ask him if he smelled that rat that Steve Collins smelled. Alas, he wasn't.

Published by Colm.  

Went along to see Bell X1 play Bush Hall in Shepherd's Bush last night. Yours truly was on the band's guest list via a mutual acquaintance, but I did feel a bit guilty about going on a freebie for what was a charity event. But I did forgo the opportunity to see Rogue Wave play in Camden, so that was my sacrifice. Anyway, in what is a build up tour for the forthcoming release of their new album "Flock" in the UK, the band decided to play last night's gig for their die-hard fans ... and me.

Frontman Paul Noonan certainly does put on a show. He writhes, he uses one drum stick and two small drums beside him at the microphone, plays guitar, sweats a lot, and is one of the best vocalists around. Pity he doesn't use a larger range in his singing though.
The rest of them play an array of instruments and like to make all sorts of sounds (all the cool kids like Arcade Fire etc are doing this by the way. Playing with bean cans, potato mashers, cheese graters and all that malarkey)

I do have to admit that I'm not a huge fan. But they do rock it out at stages and saved the best til last by playing the legendary "Alphabet Soup".

They play the RDS on the 31st January.

Published by Colm.  

So Martin Cullen has announced the long-awaited list of new penalty points. Let's hope they have the same impact as those that were introduced two years ago. For me personally, these type of measures come 13 years to-the-day too late - but that's another story.

The AA have said that the new penalty point offences merely ink on paper unless they are enforced. These measures can only be seen as something to be embraced. It really concerns me when I hear of people saying that driving rules are introduced merely as another means for harassing the motorist. The Gardai are not the enemy when it comes to penalty points, dangerous driving is.

Published by Colm.  

If you didn't experience the visceral joy of watching Munster and Leinster's victories in the Heineken Cup last weekend, I'm sure you have heard about it all in recent days. The two stunning victories over English teams have been recounted at length in all arms of the media for a few days now. We didn't mean to gloat so thoroughly at your misfortune Mr. Chabal.

Myself and a few work colleagues were discussing whether the glow emanating from Irish provincial rugby at the moment will wash over the national team's Six Nations campaign. We got to mulling over the prospective Irish line-ups. Unsurprisingly no Ulster (or Connacht) players were making the straw poll teams. Some of my Munster work colleagues were relishing this prospect (Still bitter over Heineken Cup '99 I suspect). In the light of the likely absence of Ulster players to make the cut we got around to one of my pet hates. "Why do we have to sing Ireland's Call instead of, or aswell as, Amhrán na bhFiann?", people ask.

I have no love for the aesthetics of Ireland's Call. Excellent sentiment, terrible execution. Within the scope of Rugby, I don't like to see it knocked, because the Irish players all belt it out with as much, if not more, fervour and pride as Amhrán na bhFiann. I'll never forget the tears rolling down the face of The Bull among others in the minutes before the grudge South Africa test in Dublin in 2004 while singing it. It's great to see the same attitude to sectarianism in a team as was portrayed by George Best or Barry McGuigan in their careers.

I would like to see the sentiment behind Ireland's Call extended to our Republic in general. Amhrán na bhFiann is a great tune and my heart subscribes to it, but my head doesn't. I find many young Irish people's reaction to this position is abhorrence. They hold Amhrán na bhFiann very dear as a part of their Irishness. Looking at it objectively, it was a song originally written in English less than 100 years ago. The uncountable Irish people who died in the famine for example, never heard of it. The original translation began with Sinne Laochra Gaedheal rather than the current Sinne Fianna Fáil, leading to suspicion of a song-jacking somewhere in its formative years. This song was popularised in a white hot cauldron of crisis on this Island early in the last century when the nation's psyche was jarred and fractured.

I mean no disrespect to the people who popularised this song, many were heroes no doubt. But my own sense of Irishness is not something I would like to constrain to the short time the Republic I now live in has existed. Nor is it something which I would like represented as a soldier's song. We have come so far in recent decades, far enough to cast away the chip on our shoulder from wrong-doings visited upon us in the past. I would like the national anthem to reflect a different Ireland than is celebrated by Amhrán na bhFiann. There is so much else to fête.

I hope to see a United Ireland in my lifetime and my assumption would be that any unification will entail a change of National Anthem, which is probably one of the more trivial changes that would ensue. The possibility of unification on the horizon likely negates any serious momentum for a change of National Anthem in the meantime building up. That's a shame.

Published by Paul.  

Referenda are, and have been, fantastic tools of democracy in this country. They give society the chance to have their say in how the rules of living are changed. We have been blessed with the opportunities to shape how ordinary decent people go about their business.

In the past, the divorce and abortion referenda have provoked debate around the country. People discussed what it meant to be human beings; what it meant to be parents, spouses, sons and daughters, indeed what it meant to be a family.

Whenever neighbouring countries make changes to law that affects the 'fundamental rights', it's always time to sit up and take notice. Not necessarily to copy or follow suit, but at least to recognise the fact.

It is therefore disturbing when the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern decides that gay marriage, a current and popular issue worldwide, is not worthy of debate in the context of a referendum. He feels that it would not be passed, therefore it should not be held. Bertie, above all people, should know that Irish people love to talk and debate. Not holding this referendum, regardless of the outcome, only serves to stifle the long-held tradition of forming our values through debate and discussion.

The fact that this debate involves gay marriage is only a sideshow in the context of the sentiment of this post. This issue, along with the mockery made of our neutrality, is the latest example of a decay that seems to have taken hold of our democracy.

Published by Colm.  

This is me ...

This guy was in HMV and saw copies of "Downfall", the WW2 Hitler's Bunker film, on sale and stocked in the Comedy section. A member of staff, when
approached, said that there wasn't room for them elsewhere.This wasn't enough
for our bleeding heart champion of the downtrodden. He emailed the company and
gave out.
For. Fuck. Sake.

Harping On, you're a star.

Published by Colm.  

Published by Colm.  

I was fortunate enough to attend the Noam Chomsky lecture organised by Amnesty International last night in the RDS. With 4,000 people on the cancellation list, Chomsky certainly holds a massive appeal in this country. Love him or hate him, there is no doubt he stirs debate and taps into the minds of many beyond the academic elite.

Just after 7pm Prof Chomsky received rapturous applause when he arrived on stage to begin his lecture entitled, "The War on Terror". He began by defining the term 'terror' as "the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious, or ideological in nature...through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear" and he then went on to say "The primary concern should naturally be to take measures to alleviate the threat, which has been severe in the past and will be even more so in the future." This set the tone for the night in which he outlined the threat of terror in the past, how terrorism has been executed, in his opinion predominantly by the U.S. and how today America and its allies continue to be the main protagonist of terrorism in the world. Throughout he quoted from various sources and cited numerous examples to reiterate his statements.

Quickly he went on to outline how American foreign policy and various aggressive military intervention led by the U.S since the end of World War 2, constituted illegal terror acts as defined during the Nuremburg Tribunals. He highlighted examples in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Iran and Iraq. He then discussed in detail the various means by which America has managed to render useless International law and the power of the UN by its refusal to sign up to a host of treaties and by its persistent vetoing of a wide variety of motions at the UN Security Council. Prof Chomsky also highlighted the hypocrisy of American foreign policy, for example, its support for Saddam Hussein during the 80's when providing him with conventional and biological warfare and subsequently justifying its pre-emptive war on the basis that Saddam held weapons of mass destruction.

He cited a number of reports and studies, both independent and within the Bush administration, which showed that, rather than alleviating the threat of terror, attacking Iraq would actually perpetuate the problem. Britain and Tony Blair's alliance in particular with the US came in for repeated criticism. At one point he described Blair as America's "pillion rider" . In responding to a question from the floor he also suggested that Ireland may be complicit in US war crimes by allowing the US army to use Shannon Airport in its war in Iraq.

Throughout he spoke clinically and with precision as you would expect from a professor of linguistics, even if he is 77. However, I would not describe him as a powerful speaker but one could not argue with the manner and clarity in which he put his argument across. A major disappointing factor was the lack of critical debate during the Q & A. Mostly, the questions came from people with similar views to Chomsky, most notably from Richard Boyd Barrett of the anti-war movement. He predictably brought up the issue of American flights through Shannon. Other topics raised in the Q&A session included: proliferation of nuclear arms; Americas intentions regarding an exit strategy from Iraq; the West's dependency on oil and a comment from a self-proclaimed 'anarchist paper boy' who suggested that capitalism is the root of all evil. He may well be right.

Published by Padraig.  

So Damien Mulley is looking for some sponsors for the upcoming blog awards. This represents a fantastic opportunity for tech and non-tech companies alike to advertise their wares. The damage to their marketing budget would be minimal. You'd have a few hundred bloggers writing and possibly recommending the sponsor to their friends. Joe Public would see references to the sponsor's products on the irishblogs.ie page which has a huge reach.

Seriously. Apple, Sony, Butler's Chocolates, Guinness, Ticketmaster (I hate you btw) and Tower Records. When are you going to produce the goodies?

Published by Colm.  

In an effort to take some of the sordid sex-for-cash business off the streets, the British government is set to redefine what constitutes a legal brothel. As it stands, one prostitute may operate from a building. Under the new proposal, up to three prostitutes may operate from any bordello.

Other new measures to be introduced will see regular kerb crawlers lose their driver's licence and be forced to undergo re-education programmes that point out the error of their ways.

As a visitor to Soho, London in the past week, I've have been dumbstruck by the open nature of the way sex is sold in public. My innocent little mind has been subjected to all sorts of offers, mainly from women and men offering to do all that a pervert's mind desires.

Far from being a prude, I would encourage this initiative and wouldn't rule out the full legalisation of regulated indoor prostitution. However, figures from the Netherlands show that a large percentage of prostitutes working there are non-nationals and many are without working papers. This suggests that they have been trafficked and possibly forced into selling their bodies for sex.

However, these smaller projects can be interesting pilots and advise on any future legislations. So, think of the kiddies and keep the hookers off the streets.

Published by Colm.  

Here is my email and their response to the HMV WW2 incident.

My email

To whom it may concern,

While scanning the aisles in your Henry Street, Dublin branch yesterday, I noticed that a very prominant 'Comedy' stand was stocked with the movie 'Downfall'. This was a movie that centred around one of the greatest acts of genocide since time began. I suggested to a shop assistant that people may be offended by the location of this stock. She replied by saying that the store had run out of space.

Wasn't that a reason the Nazis gave for expanding the Fatherland?
Yours etc,
Colm Bracken.

Their Response

Dear Mr Bracken


Thank you for your email that has been forwarded to me from our Internet Department.

I was most concerned to hear that the 'Downfall' DVD was displayed incorrectly in the store. As you rightly stated in your email, the racking of a DVD of this nature in the Comedy section is both insensitive and highly inappropriate. However, after contacting the Store Manager, Paul, I do believe there has been a genuine misunderstanding by the member of staff you spoke to at the time.

Although Paul is unaware of the DVD being displayed incorrectly, he has explained that the store were perhaps remerchandising at the time and the DVDs have been moved whilst this was done. However, we both agree that this in no way excuses the fact that this happened nor the comments made by the member of staff. Paul has asked me to pass on his sincere apologies for this and has assured me that he will be speaking to all his staff in regards to this matter.

Once again please accept my apologies for this and should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards

Nick Probert

HMV Customer Service

Published by Colm.  

Earlier in the week, Iran announced it was re-establishing its nuclear fuel operations, bringing condemnation from around the world, most forcibly from the US and Britain. The US said it risked "serious escalation" in its stand-off with the West after Tehran broke the seals on equipment at its uranium enrichment facility. Notably however, Jack Straw ruled out going to war with Iran and the Americans were keen to stress that they would pursue their options through the UN security council.

How real are the chances of war with Iran then? Given the motives for which we were led to believe warranted an attack on Iraq, is it not fair to assume that the threat to world security now posed by Iran warrants the same action as was taken in Iraq? This seems not to be the opinion of the US or Britain and it appears any major attack on Iran is remote. There are of course a number of obvious reasons. American military resources are considerably stretched at present and the US military simply may not have the capacity to mount an attack on another country. Secondly, and despite what some neo-cons might say, the political implications at home could be catastrophic for Bush if another war front was opened.

Thirdly, and perhaps a much less obvious reason; the US will never send ground troops into a country that might actually fight back. Iran, like North Korea, has too much military might at present. Iraq, on the other hand, was the weakest military force in the region when attacked in March 2003. Ten years of sanctions and air strikes saw to this along with the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians. This allowed America to commence its pre-emptive war in the knowledge that they would face little in the way of resistance from the Iraqi National Guard.

Attacking Iran on the other hand would be a completely different proposition. Any assault would be met with much greater resistance than in Iraq and consequently American casualties would be far higher, something the US has been eager to avoid in every war it has fought since Vietnam. Instead we will likely see considerably more covert operations when dealing with Iran. There is already some evidence that America, Israel and Turkey have been attempting to stir up Azeri nationalists in Northern Iran for a number of years. Such actions, along with sanctions and 'selective' bombing, might help to destabilise Iran and potentially allow an American-backed government into power. There is also the issue of the Shiite Muslims in Iran. Any confrontation with the Shiites in Iran could destabilise the façade that is the government in Iraq, leading to even more problems. However America and its allies decide to deal with the current situation, the prospect of another war is unlikely.

Published by Padraig.  

If anyone is interested in taking a peek, I've finally put up the video from the Mogwai gig last Saturday night. It captures 9 minutes of their final track of the night, "Mogwai Fear Satan". Unfortunately the sound isn't great as we were stationed right beside a big stack of speakers, it's ok in the 'quieter' moments. You'll definetly appreciate this if you were there, or if you are familiar with the track Mogwai Fear Satan.

For some reason you can't skip in the video, so just let it play to 5:31, when all hell breaks lose and Stuart Braithwaite makes a fairly impressive lunge with his guitar. I wasn't going to forget this moment either way, but the video helps to re-live it. Video is here (98MB mpeg, 9 mins long, right click, 'Save As')

Also, some reviews of the Dublin gig I've found:

Mogwai Fan Site:

"pretty solid performance hampered by occasional technical difficulties (most
noticeably the vocoder sputtering on and off). worst hunted by a freak
i have ever heard live redeemed by the best mogwai fear satan i have
ever heard live (helped in no small part by the crowd actually shutting during
the quiet part for the first time in my memory of mogwai gigs). the new songs
went down fairly well, especially auto rock and the vicious rendition
of glasgow mega-snake."

Nick Kelly in The Times, 10th January:

"Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how good a band Mogwai are.
Tastemakers might grumble that the Glaswegians’ free-form, quiet-loud dynamic
belongs to the last century, but live their music sounds timeless and
transcendent.

What is beautiful about Mogwai is the mix of magic and mayhem
within a single song, that sense of opposing and contradictory forces belonging
together, each throwing the other into sharp relief. But it’s not as though they
are a one-trick pony: their fifth studio album Mr. Beast (due out in
March) is a thrillingly ambitious record that adds to the mix everything from
Neo-Classical piano to computerised electronica — from Mozart to the Mac.

In this context, perhaps it’s not that surprising that the band
were asked to play a week of shows at the ICA in London this week, where they
will be supported by a different band of their choice each night. There are also
gigs scheduled in Moscow and Tokyo, but this show in Temple Bar Music Centre was
their first of 2006.

Opening with their forthcoming single Friend of the
Night, the band were mostly a six-piece for this set, with Stuart
Braithwaite and Dominic Aitchison’s telepathic guitar duel shadowed by two
keyboards, bass and drums. On Auto Rock, which pounded and pummelled
its way to a knockout finish, the sextet were joined by a seventh member to help
hammer away at the cymbals, like a school kid let loose in the music room.

Inevitably, the computer broke down, leading to some frantic
activity on stage and on-the-hoof adjustments to the set list. Not that the
audience was complaining: there was plenty of older material served up, with
crowd-pleasers such as Stanley Kubrick and, from their debut album, Tracy and Summer dusted down with feeling.

After ending the set with We’re No Here (sic) the band
returned for Folk Death 95 from the new album and an astonishing
version of the epic Mogwai Fear Satan.

On this form, Mogwai should fear no one. "

I'd love to see them again soon, they have just announced a number of dates in France once they return from Russian/Japan/US in April. All we need is a date in Barcelona and I'm on a plane (One of my ambitions for the year is to get to a Barca game as they're in some form right now).

Published by Paul.  

One particular photo shows a lap dancer lying naked across a pub stage floor. Go-go girls are apparently a common lunchtime feature in working men's pubs in Hackney. He takes his inspiration from The Toilet of Venus by Diego Velazquez.

Published by Colm.  

A friend recently pointed me in the direction of edge.org, which the New York Times described as "One of the most interesting stopping places on the Web". The Edge Foundation was established in 1988 and its mandate is: "to promote inquiry into and discussion of intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues, as well as to work for the intellectual and social achievement of society." The foundation professes itself to have an informal membership including some of the "most interesting minds in the world".

They seem to have gotten quite a bit of press lately as we entered the new year. Each year they pose an "Edge Annual Question" to their illustrious membership and publish the responses of these great minds. This year's question is "What is your dangerous idea?" Quoting from their editor on this year's Annual Question:


"Something radically new is in the air: new ways of understanding physical systems, new ways of thinking about thinking that call into question many of our basic assumptions. A realistic biology of the mind, advances in evolutionary biology, physics, information technology, genetics, neurobiology, psychology, engineering, the chemistry of materials: all are questions of critical importance with respect to what it means to be human. For the first time, we have the tools and the will to undertake the scientific study of human nature.

What you will find emerging out of the 119 original essays in the 75,000 word document written in response to the 2006 Edge Question — "What is your dangerous idea?" — are indications of a new natural philosophy, founded on the realization of the import of complexity, of evolution. Very complex systems — whether organisms, brains, the biosphere, or the universe itself — were not constructed by design; all have evolved. There is a new set of metaphors to describe ourselves, our minds, the universe, and all of the things we know in it. "


As you can see the 119 responses make up 75,000 words in total. I've only read some of the member's responses to the 2006 question, mostly the contributors who I know of or have read before. It certainly makes interesting reading, and has swallowed up a large chunk of my spare time over the past two weeks. I'll give a brief summary of a couple of the 'dangerous ideas' cited:

Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel argues that by observing someone's brain activity we can see that their (unconscious) brain activity betrays their actions before they are consciously aware of their urge or decision to perform that action. He goes on to pose the question: "Is one to be held responsible for decisions that are made without conscious awareness? "

Geneticist J. Craig Venter argues that advances in gene science and the unwinding of the 'nature versus nurture' debate by science will accentuate what we already know, that all humans are not created biologically equal. He writes, "It will inevitably be revealed that there are strong genetic components associated with most aspects of what we attribute to human existence including personality subtypes, language capabilities, mechanical abilities, intelligence, sexual activities and preferences, intuitive thinking, quality of memory, will power, temperament, athletic abilities, etc." Clearly, this knowledge could lead to great social conflict.

Other interesting contributions come from Martin Rees, Daniel C. Dennet, Leonard Susskind, Brian Greene, Martin Seligman and Steven Pinker (also on some recent science that is suggesting groups of people sperated by gender or race may differ genetically in their average talents and temperaments).

I still haven't read half these contributions, if any of you find any other paticularily interesting ones let us know. In fact, this website could probably prompt about 119 very interesting distinct blog entries.

Published by Paul.  

Mary O’Rourke’s recent comments about her campaigners ‘working like blacks’ was, to say the least, ill-judged. But it got me thinking; what other phrase or analogy could she have used that would have complimented her workers? Straight away the phrase ‘Trojan work’ came to mind. The Trojans were mad for work, and were proud of it too. If you told someone they had just done some ‘Trojan work’, they would almost certainly take it as a compliment. Consider also ‘working like a horse’. Anyone who has read Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ will be aware of the sterling work Boxer did on the farm. He may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer, but Boxer would always produce the goods, and be proud of it too.

So what’s the big deal with the phrase ‘working like a black’? Firstly, let us be sure we are on the same wavelength here. When one says they were ‘working like a black’, it obviously means like a slave, most likely in the American deep south. It is not, as some pleb suggested in a radio talk show, a reference to blacksmiths which is region specific to the West of Ireland. So, there is a huge difference here between the above two examples and the ‘blacks’ one. It is this: blacks weren’t proud of this work, it degraded them, humiliated them and de-humanised them. It is a period in their history which they would rather did not happen, but nevertheless should not be forgotten.

Mary O’Rourke says she meant it as a compliment, fair enough. Why would she want to denigrate the people who just won a vote for her anyway? Nobody has a problem with her congratulating her staff, the problem lies in the method she employed. To say one was ‘working like a black’ suggests that blacks work harder because of their history as slaves. Surely this kind of sentiment has no place in Irish society, especially so because of continuing reports of mistreatment of immigrant workers, many of whom happen to be African.

Finally, while thinking of other phrases, I came up with ‘working like a dog’. What work do dogs do? Well, there are sled-drawing huskies I suppose, but the rest of them don’t do a tap.

El Commandant P.

Published by Colm.  

Last Saturday Mogwai played live in Dublin's Temple Bar Music Center. For anyone who hasn’t come across them before Mogwai are a Glasgow band who make some of the loudest, ear splitting guitar music you're ever likely to come across. Their first album "Young Team" achieved critical acclaim when released in 1997 and while subsequent albums haven't quite lived up to the debut they are nonetheless a unique and interesting band with a reputation for putting on exceptionally powerful live shows.

I was certainly looking forward to the gig, last time I saw them play was at Witnness a few years back. On that occasion they played a formidable set so I was eager to see them in the somewhat more intimate setting of the TMBC. On the night they pretty much lived up to their reputation, smothering the TMBC in torrents of drowning guitars, distortion, feedback and noise. You got the feeling that every single molecule in the building was vibrating to the drone pounding form the stage.

But as the band proved on Saturday night, it's not all noise. They’ve got melody, sharp tunes and are masters at building up the tension before exploding into that crescendo of sound so exemplified by the final song of the night, "Mogwai Fear Satan". I always enjoy a gig when a band sends you home with one of their signature tracks reverberating in your brain and with "Mogwai Fear Satan" there is certainly no coming back on stage.

All in all, it was great show if a tad short of being a classic. They had a few technical errors but I don't think it was the band's fault. There was plenty of banter with the crowd as well. At one point a heckler hollered, "You guys are great", to which the lead singer replied "Thanks very much, we practise a lot". It certainly showed on Saturday night and from what we heard of the new album "Mr. Beast", it sounds like they may well have produced their best record since "Young Team".

Rock on.

Published by Padraig.  

So it's my last day at work here in Ireland. A bit strange to be leaving Dublin and indeed my workplace. I've met some of the brightest and most interesting people in my three years in this city. But London presents a new challenge that I'm grateful to have.

I will continue to post here, probably with the odd story from Old Blighty.

To celebrate my leaving, we will be in The Temple Bar Music Centre tomorrow night.

Published by Colm.  

I haven't watched Letterman in a long time, however I used to be a big fan back in the days when he was on Sky One.

Thank you so much to Stuff for alerting me to Bill O'Reilly's recent appearance on the Letterman show. They talked about the media frenzy in The States over the political correctness of Christmas, Cindy Sheehan, and The War in Iraq. To put things in context, O'Reilly has been quoted in the past regarding Letterman thus:

"Mr. Letterman is a smart guy who can spot a phony with telescopic accuracy and expects his guests to bring something to the table. If a guest begins to sink on this show, the bottom is a long way down."

This interview is pretty hilarious, you need to go watch it, but a quick taster:

Letterman:
"Then you should be very careful about what you say, also . . . Have you lost any family members in Iraq?....I'm very concerned about people like yourself who don't have endless sympathy for a woman like Cindy Sheehan. Honest to Christ, honest to Christ...." and later "I have the feeling that about 60 percent of what you say is crap."

It's great TV. You can see the whole interview via Crooks and Liars. Afterwards maybe we could have a poll on who you would prefer to punch in the nose, Bill O'Reilly or Gay Byrne.

Published by Paul.  

Breaking news to emerge in the past few hours is that In Fact, Ah will be travelling to Germany in June for World Cup 2006. Thanks to the grace of benevolent contacts, the crew will attend Match 60 in Frankfurt on July 1. Early predictions are that Brazil and Spain will contest this last quarter-final.

Stay tuned to In Fact, Ah throughout the end of June and beginning of July for all the latest on our wheat beer exploits.

It was in the year of '06 in the lovely month of June
When the gadflies were swarming and dogs howling at the moon
With tortilla chips and Erdinger for Frankfurt we began
In Fact, Ah packed their German phrasebook and jumpleads for the rental car from Hertz

Everybody ...

Some of the lads had never been away from home before (not really, we're seasoned travellers don't you know)
'Twas the first time In Fact, Ah hoped for Brazil to make it out of their group ...

Published by Colm.  

Ok, first off a disclaimer, I know the Irish bloggosphere has been all over this ages ago, so don't shout "OLD!" at me. Today I got the Jose Gonzalez album 'Veneer' which includes the song featured on the now ubiquitous Sony Bravia TV advert.

I went searching irishblogs.ie for posts regarding the advert or the music and clicked through to the Sony Bravia Advert website through a post Claire made a while ago at Gingerpixel.

Now we've all seen the ad on TV, loved the ad, asked what the music is in the background, and maybe got the album. Some of us may even have been lucky enough to have seen Jose Gonzalez in Whelans a few weeks ago but I can't find any reviews of the gig on any Irish blogs. Can any of you?

Anyhow, my reason for resurrecting this topic isn't the album (I've only listened once so far). It's in case you haven't seen the Extended Version of the advert which runs for a glorious 3 minutes. It's one of the most stirring pieces of film I've seen in a long time. Also there are some nice featurettes there on the making of the advert. Go check it out, even if you have to download Quicktime, it's worth it.

Published by Paul.  

KFC, Zara, Harvey Nicks, Vodafone, HMV, Spar, Argos, Debenhams, Virgin, Curry's. Line them up side-by-side and you could be in any city in the UK and Ireland (Dublin and Cork at least). Ian Lumley of An Taisce calls it "Clone Town".

A group of MPs in Westminster recently predicted that corner stores will be non-existent in 10 years time. The blame can be directed at the dominance of the four big supermarket chains. Last year, I was taken aback when I read that £1 in every £7 spent in the UK is dropped into a Tesco till.

Luckily, most areas in Dublin still have a corner store. But for how long? Beside every shop that sells everything from firelighters to fancies hovers a Centra or a Spar that sells insipid lunch rolls and cheap wine. Shops like Tesco buy from suppliers for at least 11 or 12% less due to their sheer purchasing power. It's an unfair die that is cast for the sole trader every day when he opens his doors.

I had the privilege of living beside a very charming corner store in Irishtown where service was always delivered with a joke or some idle chat. After paying for some items recently in a highstreet store, the shop assistant pushed the bag towards me without speaking and continued texting.

Sadly, the new shopping centre in Dundrum has been officially called the 'town centre'. This is a gloomy indictment of the all-consuming attitude of Irish phlebeians who can only feel sated if they come back home with at least three bags every Saturday. It's tragic and it will all end in tears.

***
Maybe it's just me. Maybe I could get a slot on the next edition of Gay Byrne's "Grumpy Old Men" and tell Uncle Gaybo how much I'd like to knock that smarmy, irritating smile off his face. Being 27 probably disqualifies me from the show. But I would like to box Byrne squarely in the jaw, regardless.

Published by Colm.  

For the first time in a while I made the effort over Christmas to sit down and read as often as possible. Fortunately I picked up a wonderful book which had been sitting on the shelf gathering dust for the past year. The book in hand was "An Unsung Hero" the biography of Tom Crean by Michael Smith. It is a fascinating tale about the incredible hardship, immense bravery and the extreme actions that men will take to survive in the most impossible of circumstances.

Most people probably know of Tom Crean from the Guinness advert which re-enacted his 35 mile solo trek to save the lives of two comrades in bitterly cold conditions after having already trekked 1,500 miles across the Antarctic. Given his modesty and understated attitude towards his many adventures, I'm not sure what he would have thought of being the star of a TV advert for stout. But there is no doubt that if ever there was an Irishman who deserved to have his head on a stamp, it is Tom Crean.

We have many heroes: Cú Chullain; Brian Boru; Micheal Collins; Countess Markievicz; maybe even Roy Keane for some, but few could match the heroics of the great Tom Crean. A key figure in three of the most daring expeditions to the South Pole, he is regarded as one of the great polar explorers. His journey to rescue his comrades Teddy Evans and William Lashly was described by Antarctic historians as "the finest feat of individual heroism from the entire age of exploration".

He was also a member of the now infamous Endurance expedition which became stranded for over 2 years in the Antarctic. In a last desperate effort to save the crew, Crean along with Ernest Shackleton and four others, undertook a perilous 800-mile journey across the Southern Atlantic in an open top boat to South Georgia island. This tale has subsequently gone down in history as "the most remarkable boat journey of all time".

It's an inspiring and remarkable story and in a time when heroes are few and far between, it's a reminder of the greatness that can be achieved, not as a result of status and wealth (I'm thinking Steve Fosset), but though sheer grit, determination and the will to survive.

Published by Padraig.  

I read Sinead's excellent entry on her blog Infertility and 'Anatomy is Destiny' earlier today and like any good blog entry it got me thinking a bit. I had noticed this issue in the media over the past number of months, it certainly seemed to get its fair share of coverage. This Guardian article made a number of interesting points in particular.

My own selfish point of view on this subject is that (as alluded to in the Guardian's article) men seem to have been sidetracked to a large extent in the debate. Maybe more accurately I mean 'family' in place of 'men' in the previous sentence. From reading some of the coverage of the issue you'd swear a woman just needed to make the tough decision to take time out to have a child and hey presto; the stork would arrive heavily laden. Surely there's more two it than that? (Apologies!)

Much seems to have been made of a woman's career as the obstacle to her having children earlier. Is this the salient reason? Career or no career, men and women are settling down with a partner later in life. I don't think men have become much more career minded than they were in previous decades and yet they are not entering marriages or stable relationships until later in life than ever before. Is this a direct consequence of more women now concentrating on their careers also? Or is this shift motivated as much from the male side of society as the female? Does it have more to do with cross-gender societal change rather than something as simple as women concentrating more on their career?

Either way, obviously men who harbour wistfully romantic aspirations of parenthood in a family environment in their 30s need to take note of biology as much as women.

Sinead wrote:

"I’ve talked to several friends about this and it seems than more and more women of a similar age feel the same sense of doubt. Where once the idea of wanting children “but not yet” was at least 7-10 years away, now time is catching up. Being too young, not ready, single or financially challenged have bought many of us time, but now as we trundle out of our twenties, with boyfriends or husbands in tow, decisions will have to be made either way."

This paragraph (with my emphasis) struck me as taking something for granted. Is there a pitstop to make as you leave your twenties where cupid draws his bow in your direction and you are awarded a partner suitable to have a family with? If so, please let me know as I'd hate to miss out! Those of us without partners in tow by the age of 30 need to start thinking about waving at singledom in the rear view mirror before we start thinking about anything else.

Published by Paul.  

In case you missed it, a few days ago Noam Chomsky berated Bertie Ahern and the Irish government for allowing US military aircraft to use Shannon as a stopover for refuelling.

He says "Is Mr Ahern following the will of the Irish people or is he following orders from Washington?". A reasonable question to ask you'd have to agree, considering 150,000 people around the country protested against US aircraft refuelling in Shannon. I'm still waiting for 150,000 to go out and march in support of such activity and in support of the war in general.

Chomsky goes on to say

It can only be justified if the goal of the government is to be the obedient servant of the global superpower. This tells you that western politicians despise democracy and prefer to shine the shoes of the power.

These remarks have been made in advance of Chomsky's annual Amnesty lecture to be held on January 18th in the RDS.

Richard Delevan has an interesting take on the phenomenon that is Noam Chomsky in this week's Tribune. Unfortunately, I don't have the paper to hand so I'll refrain from trying to quote him verbatim in case I make a mistake.

But the general gist of the piece is that people should ask Chomsky some critical questions regarding statements he made in the past instead of fawning in his presence. These critical questions that never get asked can all be found gift-wrapped in the Wikipedia page - Criticisms of Noam Chomsky.

I think it's clear that Delevan doesn't like him. But even I had my own hatred for Chomsky back in my college days. See, Chomsky had the bright idea to come up with what is called the "Chomsky Hierarchy". He describes four categories of formal grammars that generate formal languages. I never had a frigging clue what the whole thing was about, all I saw were pages of stuff like this ...

S → ABS
S → ε (where ε is the empty string)
BA → AB
BS → b
Bb → bb
Ab → ab
Aa → aa

Thankfully, Chomsky's breakdown of all things political is at the other end of the clarity scale.

Published by Colm.