“…..one of Ireland’s newest, youthful, and most vibrant political parties” December 12, 2016
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Uncategorized.12 comments
Modern Conservatives …. anyone any idea , names involved ring a bell with anyone?
Making a meal of it… December 12, 2016
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.18 comments
Reading Stephen Collins piece in the IT on Michael D. Higgins words on the death of Fidel Castro I do have to wonder is this not all a bit exaggerated? I’m far from Higgin’s biggest fan. Indeed I’m not sure I’m a fan at all. Nor would I be the person to deliver an uncritical appraisal of Castro. But there’s an odd sort of dislocation between the supposed problem and its actuality. It is almost Pharisaic, this demand that Higgins must articulate position x or y or otherwise be discredited. Moreover it’s almost a demand for perfection, which in a world of Trump and Farage and so on seems odd, to put it mildly.
And then there’s his assessments of other Presidents, not least this:
When Mary McAleese ran for the presidency in 1997, there were again fears that if elected she would pursue a narrow agenda focused on her concerns as a Northern nationalist which had clearly motivated her political career.
Good to know that that was a ‘narrow’ agenda. By the way, is he correct in the following about her ‘most spectacular public success’?
Her most spectacular public success was the role she played in paving the way for the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland, but she also worked behind the scenes to promote peace in Northern Ireland and to bring people from the two communities together.
And then there’s this in relation to Higgins.
Like his predecessors President Higgins is popular with voters. He has carried out his public duties with a bit of style and his natural likability has won people over.
However, if the Castro episode is repeated he will have to be called to account for the way he is using his office regardless of the damaging political fallout.
What fallout is that precisely? Who is damaged? What is damaged? Have I missed something?
A frozen post-conflict situation December 12, 2016
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.6 comments
The editorial in the SBP this weekend on the issue of Adams and Brian Stack was perhaps unusual given the broader tone of Irish media in this dispute. As it notes, the issue, and the personal confrontation at a news conference between Adams and Austin Stack was ‘another reminder that after more than 20 years since the IRA ceasefire, the hurt caused by the Northern conflict is very real’. How could it be otherwise. 20 years is both a remarkably long period of time and yet for those with personal histories like the Stacks and many more a blink of an eye. Indeed even the 43 years since the murder of Brian Stack is no time at all for that family.
And the SBP notes that ‘Adams has told the family… that he cannot go further in meeting their demands to discover who actually killed their father because he has no extra information. There is no prospect of him disclosing the identify of the senior IRA figures who he helped the Stacks to meet in 2013 at an undisclosed location in the North.’
And it adds:
It is a truly Faustian bargain for families of those murdered during the conflict. They have to effectively accept that minimal information about their loved ones last moments is the best they can hope for from shadowy IRA figures or loyalist paramilitaries.
And continues:
But this is the unfortunate reality of conflicts throughout the world. The victims rarely get the justice they deserve. There are cold case investigations by the PSNI ongoing, but the prospects of success are always remote.
And it goes on to note that the parties have been unable to agree on a peace and reconciliation process – in large pat because it would require an amnesty for those involved in the 1,800 unsolved murders. This it describes as ‘unpalatable’ for many.
And so this is where matters stand. Inching hardly at all forward, perhaps in some ways back – no one will admit to anything in the current context. And that central reality, that were a process to be set in place only information would be made available. There would be no charges and no prison sentences. I don’t know if people see it in quite these terms, but one has to presume that the ending of the conflict and the broad agreement on this is what is regarded as the quid pro quo. So what are we left with? Parts of the media and the political structure dancing around the edge of this, knowing full well that little or none of this will be resolved short of the processes described. Indeed what of the latest news, as reported in the IT, and also mentioned in the Sunday Times yesterday, that at least one, perhaps a number of other TDs, were aware of details of the Adams email on the Stack case? What perceptions does that generate?
And then there’s time. Those involved are getting older, some have already gone. Already one generation involved in the Troubles, a young generation at that at the time, are preparing to move out of front-line politics. But that addresses none of the substantive aspects of this. And in any event would prove merely a pyrrhic victory one has to suspect for those parts of the media and political structure referenced above. And yet that appears to be the way this all ends.
Left Archive: Republican Socialist Youth Movement – Handbook of a Revolutionary Movement, RSYM/IRSP c.2000s December 12, 2016
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To download the above please click on the following link. rsymhandbook
Please click here to go the Left Archive.
Many thanks to the person who forwarded this to the Archive.
This 14 page document, a Handbook for the Republican Socialist Youth Movement, is of considerable interest. Under a range of headings it outlines what is the RSYM, what is Republican Socialism, the Good Friday Agreement, Loyalism, Religion, Internationalism, Activism and asks readers to ‘Join the struggle’. It notes that the RSYM ‘was founded in September 2005 following discussion between young Republicans and Socialists who were influenced by the irish Republican Socialist Movement. it was agreed that an active, educated and energetic youth movement was needed to further the cause of Republican Socialism in Ireland.’
It states that:
The RSYM is a working-class revolutionary youth movement that stands in the proud political tradition of James Connolly, Seamus Costello, Karl Marx and V.I. Lenin. Our aim is to spread the ideals of Republican Socialism throughout the youth of Ireland, with our ultimate goal being the establishment of a 32 County Socialist Republic.
It quotes Seamus Costello as saying ‘It is still Britain’s objective to find and impose a political solution which will guarantee the continued protection of Britain’s economic and strategic interests in both parts of Ireland’.
It argues strongly against the GFA, but also argues that ‘strategies around conspiratorial militarism or economism will make little headway’. In relation to loyalism it suggests that ‘any co-operation with that section of the Irish working class must be on the basis of a principled political position’.
A range of quotes illuminate the text, including ones from Marx, Connolly, Bobby Sands and Guevara.
One striking aspect of it is how neatly it summates the Republican Socialist position as seen from the perspective of the IRSM.
Punk milestones: December 1976, The Sex Pistols – The filth and the fury! December 11, 2016
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The Today Show, Granada, 1st of December 1976 and who appears but this lovable crew, interviewed by Bill Grundy!
Odd looking back at it from a remove of forty years.
Our GDP (nerdy) December 11, 2016
Posted by Tomboktu in Economy.2 comments
So, on Friday the Central Statistics Office reported that Ireland’s GDP grew by 4% in the third quarter of 2016. That’s remarkably high. Growth for a full year of 4% would be good, for a quarter it’s crazy.
Certainly, when the transactions that make up GDP are fed into the formula, the result was shown to grow by 4% in the three months from July to September. (It’s a first cut and will almost certainly change a bit later as more data is gathered and all of it is checked, and refined, but the scale of it — 4% in a single quarter — is pretty much what the revised data will show.)While GDP grew by 4% in the quarter, ‘overall total domestic demand declined by 1.8%’.
It may be mad, but it is what the CSO is legally required to report under EU rules. The source is accounting rules that lead to transactions undertaken by multinational companies in Ireland being ‘booked’ here — to reduce their tax bill.
This is not the first time that our official GDP data produced crazy figures. The reported growth for 2015 was a whopping 26%. It seems that Eurostat ran its eye over the data that produced that piece of madness, and then opined that all was in order.
In fairness to the CSO, it has been working on producing a better indicator of the size of the Irish economy. That will be useful for information purposes. But GDP is more than the standard figure used for “oh, aren’t we doing well/poorly” comparisons. It has legal implications: under EU law, the maximum permitted size of our debt and our deficit are tied to the size of our GDP. So too is the amount of our contribution to the EU budget (on top of the slice of VAT that is regarded as the EU’s ‘own resources’). The higher GDP figure in 2015 did ease the pressure on the state to make cuts in public spending, but if a surge like 26% can occur, there is a risk that it can work the other way if there is another shift in the pressures on multinational firms tax games that results in an abrupt drop in GDP.
And 4% in one quarter tells us that multinationals are still playing tax games with us.
Unfounded? December 11, 2016
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.2 comments
On another issue, the experts conclude that “there was no evidence available that any party is in favour of privatisation of Irish Water now or in the future”. It even states that, even though unfounded concerns about privatisation “contributed to the creation of a climate of uncertainty and mistrust and represents a barrier to making progress”.
So, “as part of a process of settling the water issue”, the experts recommend what in effect would be a reassurance referendum to amend the Constitution to prohibit the privatisation of water supply.
They don’t address the complexities of drafting such a referendum. They merely say that “the adoption of a suitable constitutional provision on public ownership of water services be more fully addressed by the Special Oireachtas Committee, as part of its deliberations”.
Having seen the privatisation of waste collection services in the last twenty years I find it hard to understand why the potential privatisation of water services is ‘unfounded’. Some of those parties who say they are against the privatisation of water services are the very same as those who oversaw the privatisation of waste collection.
Sunday Independent Sensible Statement of the Week December 11, 2016
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Our usual correspondent is on leave. So what is there to do but attempt to find something at least half-sensible in all the mess. No need to ask what the Independent is leading strong with, but this here from Gene Kerrigan is a dispassionate analysis of some fairly tawdry goings on in the Dáil this week.
I don’t have a problem with what some see as “abusing Dail privilege”. It may, on occasion, be necessary to use Dail privilege to enlighten people with information that might otherwise be forever hidden.
I hadn’t followed the Stack case and didn’t know if this was one of those instances, but, listening to my radio, I accepted that Mr Farrell acted in good conscience.
The Dail record suggests otherwise.
Any examples of less sensible statements welcome.
Gamers corner: After Deus Ex: Human Revolution, what next? December 10, 2016
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.5 comments
I’m close to finishing Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and got to admit it is, of that genre of games, flat out my favourite. I’m tempted to play it in the non-lethal way – I tried that for a while but the learning curve was steep and so I drifted fairly rapidly to lethal weapons. But perhaps that’s a project for another day. It’s close to Christmas and it’s not the worst time to see if there’s some post-Christmas bargains in games. So any suggestions as to games that are similar to it? Mac and if I can get Boot Camp working PC too. Fingers crossed.
BTW, as was mentioned recently in comments, the latest iteration of Civilisation is out. Anyone played it yet?
