In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.
In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a State Electoral Commission who heads the local divisional office full-time, and oversees elections in their division, or an employee of a private firm which carries out elections and/or ballots in the private and/or public sectors, or anyone who carries out any election and/or ballot for any group or groups.
In Canada, the returning officer of an electoral district is appointed for a ten year term by the Chief Electoral Officer. The returning officer is responsible for handling the electoral process in the riding, and updating the National Register of Electors with current information about voters in the electoral district to which they are appointed. Before enactment of the Canada Elections Act in 2000, in the case of a tie between the two leading candidates in an election, the returning officer would cast the deciding vote. Since 2000, a tie between two leading candidates automatically results in a by-election.
Plot
Politicians. The men in suits we love to hate. Enterprising documentary maker Sebastian Rake embarks on a journey to prove that not all politicians are expense fiddling, vacuous, power hungry vipers. Leonard Cartwright could be that man. A firm believer in straight talk, he decides to strike out on his own and start a new political party. A new movement to sweep out the tired and corrupt establishment. Sick of expense scandals and too-smooth men in suits, the nation warms to him. Rake's film has stumbled upon a brilliant subject, and he gains exclusive access as Cartwright goes from strength to strength- providing an unexpectedly healthy challenge to the main parties in the election of May 2010. The cameras are even there to document the equally spectacular downfall......
One man takes a stand
Plot
It is 1977, Dublin rocks to the music of Thin Lizzy and the world is stunned by the death of Elvis Presley. Frankie, caught between acne and adulthood, has just completed his final exams in school. Convinced he will fail, he survives the summer organising a beach party, having lustful thoughts about two girls he believes are unobtainable and fending off the advances from a visiting American family friend, all whilst coping with his oddball family.
Keywords: abbey-theatre-dublin, absent-father, actor, actress, adultery, american, apology, aquarium, asphyxiation, bare-breasts
An Offbeat Family ... An Off-The-Wall Comedy!
When school ends... and life begins.
[Da, Frankie's father, returns home by having the cab driver smash through the front gate. He steps out of the car, lifts a bugle to his lips, and delivers a small toot. He calls in a Shakespearian manner]::Jack Griffin: Come forth, my family, come forth! And see what treasures thy father has brought thee.::[He begins pulling presents from the back seat of the car and tossing them as the kids run to him: a large orange bouncing ball, a costume hat, and the like]::Jack Griffin: By the way, somebody has to fix the gate. Frankie! Thou looks perplexed. Place upon thy cranium this hat and go forth. Not fifth.
Frankie: Ah, look at them. Jane Wayne and Romy Thomas: the fruit of the gods. I'm never gonna slow-dance on a moonlit beach and whisper, "I love you, Romy." Or "Jane," whichever one I happen to be dancin' with. No, I'm lookin' at a life sentence. Solitary confinement. What am I gonna do?
Frankie: [Frankie wakes up hungover after partying to celebrate the end of classes] Seventeen years I've been waitin' for this day. Freedom. The oyster of my life about to open. Instead, it feels like a badger died in my stomach. And I've an awful feeling that nothing will ever change.::[His mother enters the boys' bedroom]::Cathleen: You, Frankie Griffin, are a useless article. You don't do a hand's turn from one end of the day to the other. Look at the state of ya! Eyes fallin' out of your head with the drink. And, and, and the smell of ya! You'd never think of helpin' out around the place, not in a million years. What do you think? You think your shirts and trousers get washed by magic, and march down the path, and throw themselves up on the line? Do you? And what about these socks I keep findin' under your bed? Stained with what, I'd like to know?::[She indicates his younger brother in the bed opposite]::Cathleen: Ray's the only one of you with any decency! I was too soft to use the wooden spoon on your arse when you were growin' up. Shoulda had you put to sleep.
Jack Griffin: [Frankie knocks on his father's door] Come in. I know this is an important summer for ya, Frankie, and, uh, I'm sorry that I'm gonna miss it. I don't even know if I'm gonna be back for your birthday. So, so just in case, I, uh...::[He presents Frankie with a goldfish swimming in a bowl]::Jack Griffin: Happy birthday, my boy.::Frankie: [Frankie takes the bowl] Thanks.::Jack Griffin: You're welcome. Now, you're goin' to University, and you're gonna need spendin' money. So here's what I suggest. You get yourself a summer job.::Frankie: Da. About University. I don't think my exams went all that well.::Jack Griffin: Ah, Frankie, you'll be fine, you'll be terrific. I know it!::Frankie: I been thinkin', maybe I should go away, see the world or something.::Jack Griffin: Oh, no, Frankie. Let the world wait for you!::Frankie: Why do *you* always get to go away?::Jack Griffin: Well, this is something that's very important to me, Frankie. There's even, there's even talk about a film.::Frankie: What I'm tryin' to tell ya is that I probably won't even get into college!::Jack Griffin: Ah, you know, Frankie, I remember, when I was your age, I felt, I felt exactly the same as you.::Frankie: So, how did you do?::Jack Griffin: Oh, I did, I did, I did great. Great. Well, in English.::Frankie: Da, please. I'm serious!::Jack Griffin: I know ya are, son. Look, um, do you have anything special lined up for the summer? Do you have, um, a girlfriend, maybe?::[He laughs a little. Frankie doesn't answer and looks away in annoyance]::Jack Griffin: Look, Frankie, "these few precepts in thy memory keep. This above all: to thine own self be true, for it follows as the day the night, thou canst not be -"::Frankie: [Frankie finishes the quote from Hamlet:] "not be false to any man."::Jack Griffin: Yes.::[He looks defeated, but looks up as Frankie turns to leave, and he says urgently:]::Jack Griffin: Frankie! There's special instructions for feedin' that fish! You can't over-feed him, or, or he'll burst!
Frankie's mom: Did you commit sex with a Protestant?
Frankie's mom: There are plenty of good Protestants.::Frankie: Yeah?::Frankie's mom: Yea. It's a shame they're all dead
Frankie's mom: Up with the Republic! Up with the Republic!
Cathleen: Have you forgotten about the Famine?::Dawn Griffin: [trying to get his attention, as his mail has arrived] Frankie?::Cathleen: How the Brits starved millions of our innocent people just so they could make cakes for that fat bitch Queen across the water? What about 1916? They shot down thousands of innocent Irish revolutionaries! Think of Parnell and Wolfe Tone and poor old Robert Emmet! And now you, you've become a Proddy lover!::Dawn Griffin: [still trying to get his attention] Frankie.::Frankie: [Frankie finally gets angry with his Ma's lecture and shouts] Most of the Irish revolutionaries were Protestant! Emmet, Parnell, Wolfe Tone - all Protestant! Half of the so-called heroes who you think of as havin' noble blood were Protestant!::[She looks astounded. She looks over to Father Michael for help, but he nods apologetically. Frankie is right]::Cathleen: [trying to rally her own spirits] I suppose Pearse was a Prod. And DeValera!::Frankie: No. DeValera was American. That's how he missed gettin' shot in 1916!
[repeated line]::Nelson Fitzgerald: Nothing's ever gonna be the same.
Cathleen: Romy Thomas. Her and the other one she runs around with. All hair and legs.::Frankie: At least they aren't hairy legs.::Cathleen: Ha. Watch it, mister. You know what those two girls are? Protestants! You stay away from them. There's an international conspiracy between Communists and Protestants, and I'm not havin' you in the middle of it!
Plot
Political satire closely mirroring real-life British politics of the time - a self-serving Conservative minister "crosses the floor" to join the opposition Labour Party, at a time when the Conservative Party has a majority in Pariliament of just one seat.
Keywords: satire
Plot
The story of three women who are involved in adulterous affairs - and Rose, who believes that anyone who sleeps with another's husband is committing a crime against womanhood. Ah, but how long will Rose be able to resist the charms of married photographer Paul...? Will Ray leave Sandy? Will Martin leave Margaret? Is ANY relationship better than NO relationship? And will Rose's erotic pictorial portfolio from Paris be the ultimate downfall of Paul? Stay tuned....
Keywords: adultery, based-on-novel