I've not yet heard anyone make the following simple point, least of all those who are seeking to create the 'progressive coalition' in Britain.Sure, the Tories got the most seats. That's their argument.And sure, the Liberals and Labour collectively got many more votes. That's the only argument they've offered in terms of legitimacy so far.But my argument would be this: surely a coalition made up of Labour, the Lib Dems, the SDLP, Lady Sylvia (former UUP), NI Alliance Party, the Greens (and possibly Scots and Welsh nationalists too) represents a much broader and wider sweep of the UK than a simple coalition of Tories and Liberals, propped up perhaps by the DUP.The Tory spin that such a coalition would be fragile is undone by this argument. Because the very thing that makes it fragile is...
It's been the coldest winter since 1963 here in Ireland, apparently.And we're not unique. Most of the planet has been experiencing exceptionally cold weather this winter.This goes quite a long way towards explaining why you don't hear the words 'global warming' being bandied about so much any more.These days, the buzz words are 'climate change'. I'd be inclined to refer to climate changing by its old-fashioned title, 'weather'.But plenty of the true believers in the cult of anthropogenic global warming are still keen to claim that armageddon is imminent, and it's all your fault and mine for, well, existing basically.Global warming, yesterday.On BBC Radio 4 today, they were covering the British parliament's grilling of the lying scientists who conspired to fabricate data, cover up the...
Fianna Fail were never going to take the axeing of O'Dea lying down.It didn't take long for them to wheel out some dirt on possibly the cleanest TD of all, Not-so-clever Trevor Sargent.The government is rocking, right now. The gaps are opening up. Cowen can't keep it together much longer, especially with Dermot Ahern bootboying around the place as he has been.Trevor's gone, and will eventually be the focus of the Greens again when this regime falls and the Gormley era is consigned to the unrecyclable bin of political failure.In the meantime? Why not do as I do and crack open some popcorn and a nice beer and watch another government minister forced to quit....
With a title like that, you're possibly expecting another economic rant from me.Nope, it's option two on this occasion - this rancid government.I wish I didn't feel compelled to pen my outrage on these two topics so often. It's wearying and depressing to return again and again to stare into the abyss and yell back what I see.God only knows what you lot feel about it.(Well, actually, Statcounter knows. And he says you're way more interested when I write about dead porn stars, or tattooing in Goa, or music piracy, or Irish whiskey, or the farce that is Ulster-Scots. Anything, in other words, other than the above two conversation-stoppers.)So I'll try to think of posting about tattooed porn stars pirating Ulster-Scots albums or something similarly gripping later this week.Remember when John...
In
fine gael,
Fine gael,
Martin Cullen,
mary harney,
willie o'dea,
labour party,
enda kenny,
brian lenihan,
fianna fail,
brian cowen,
greens
The Irish parliament needs a speaker, after the last one was caught swanning around the planet like Marie-Antoinette at the taxpayers' expense.This is a problem for Fianna Fail, because while the ideal would be for a member of an opposition party to take the chair (thus boosting the government's slender majority), it's unlikely that anyone from Labour or Sinn Fein can be bought off, and Fine Gael will have those who might be tempted on a tight leash in the hope of forcing an election or change of government.Hence we're seeing some strange names popping up. The latest is Trevor 'I won't lead the Greens into Government with Fianna Fail' Sargent. On the one hand, that would ensure at least one Green in the next Dail, as literally all of their seats are now under real threat.From a Fianna...
At a time with approaching half a million on the dole, 25% of mortgage holders in negative equity, the government borrowing nearly a billion every two weeks to stay afloat, and all public sector and PAYE workers facing the third round of cuts in their wages, what does this corrupt and shameless government do?They bail out their developer pals to the tune of tens of billions we don't have.Congratulations. If you are an Irish taxpayer, you have just been heisted to the tune of around 35,000 euro. And that will go to bail out Liam Carroll, Sean Dunne and their odious ilk, who gambled and lost on a punt that the property prices they inflated would keep ballooning forever.They've done this by propping up the corrupt bankers who gave them the preposterous sums in the first place. No room for...
As even the bookies are now offering only 1-2 odds on a general election this year, it seems we have entered dead government walking territory.Hence, these local and European elections aren't just a referendum on the government's performance, they are a prelude to the main event of a general election.As I write, the three Dublin seats have been filled, with sitting MEPs Eoin Ryan and Mary Lou McDonald making way for Socialist leader Joe Higgins. In a sense, that tells half the story of these entire elections: a slump in support for the government parties, Sinn Fein disappointment and the rise of protest Independents.We saw the power of support for protest independents on Saturday at the Dublin Central by-election too, where Maureen O'Sullivan, the 'Gregory' candidate, managed to parlay...
Ireland's Over-70s are responding the the FF-PD-Hobbit coalition's decision to take away their medical cards in this week's budget:...
Aren't you just fed up with hobbits and hippies going on about global warming?Isn't there a large part of you that loves driving cars with big engines, flying off to Europe for the weekend and heating your home?And don't you secretly yearn for the day when the globe actually does warm a bit so that Ireland doesn't seem like it's lost in a permanent monsoon mist all the time?Well, feel guilty no longer. If it were not for the global warming phenomenon, we wouldn't be having cool animal death matches like this one.Be honest - who wouldn't pay good money to see a shark fighting a polar bear?Apparently the bears are heavier with longer reach, but the sharks are older and faster.In the blue corner, sporting the fin and razor-sharp rows of meat-shredding teeth...In the red corner, weighing in...
Okay, so first the global warming advocates tell us we need to cut down fossil fuels because of carbon emissions.Then Green politicians start demanding more biofuel use to replace the oil and petrol that's running out.Then, because foodstuffs are being diverted to biofuel production, grain prices soar, other food prices follow, and 100 million people end up starving, according to a top secret World Bank report that got leaked to the Guardian newspaper.I have a potential solution to the problem. Reverse the production of biofuels immediately. And in the interim, while the world's starving await the next harvest, let them eat their Greens.When will these back-to-the-middle-ages, yoghurt-knitting hobbits stop concocting junk science to justify their Luddism?And when will the rest of us stop...
History will not record that Louth Fianna Fail councillor Tommy Murphy dealt Bertie the first cut.Nor will history record that Progressive Democrat senator and leader candidate Fiona O'Malley dealt Bertie that first cut.Despite the belated scramble by the abject Green Party leader, Minister for Environment John Gormley to slide a knife into Ahern, history will not record that he dealt the Taoiseach the first blow.No, the first of the thousand cuts that kill Bertie's Taoiseachship came from Minister for Health, Mary Harney.Let me be clear. I do not like Mary Harney or her policies in the Department of Health. She has presided, literally, over a repudiation of responsibility that verges on criminal and has undoubtedly contributed to circumstances in the Irish health service which have cost...
The Green Party were once thought to be too 'flakey' for government. Their insistence on principled stands on issues that mattered to them meant that prior to the rainbow government, no one would consider them as coalition partners.They ran in the recent election on a series of principled stands, and their leader vowed not to enter government with Fianna Fail after the election.As a result, they garnered many votes from Fine Gael and Labour voters who were intent on seeing Fianna Fail removed from office.But after ten days of negotiations, during which they were mightily screwed by the Fianna Fail negotiating team, the Greens settled to go into government with them.What's worse is that they sold out every one of their principled stands in order to gain access to government. What's worse...
Well, the Greens have been bought off by the Prince of Darkness and will now enter government with Fianna Fail.They will replace the previous small party, the PDs, who were decimated by the electorate following their dalliance in government with Fianna Fail.The Greens may just have signed their own suicide note.Certainly it must now mean the end of Clever Trevor Sargent's leadership. Only a few months ago, he said he would resign the leadership if the party goes into coalition with Fianna Fáil after the next Election. However, Mr Sargent also said that he would make himself available to serve as a Minister in such a coalition. So don't expect him to stay out of the ministerial merc on principles....
As promised, here are some pics of Michael McDowell at the recent general election count at the RDS, during which he made his speech resigning from political life.There has been some debate in the media and online about whether McDowell was mobbed and jeered by Sinn Fein supporters as he made his speech. This first pic clearly indicates that it was the media who did the mobbing.McDowell was no sooner in the RDS than he was surrounded by photographers and hacks, as this pic indicates.Here he is giving his speech about loving his country and so on.And following his departure, where he was indeed jeered by a People Before Profit member carrying a sign reading 'Michael McDole', John Gormley of the Green Party arrived in time to be declared elected.Finally, some people might be pleased to know...
Exit polls put FF on 41.6%, FG on 26.3%, Labour on 9.9%, SF 7.3%, Greens 4.8%, PDs 2.6% and others at 4.8%.Some websites and news sources make that a FF government, and Paddy Power has already paid out on Bertie as next Taoiseach.But my number crunching suggests that that can only lead to a rainbow, unless Labour do a FF deal or FF go into bed with SF and/or the Greens.It still seems to be an extremely tight election, people. Roll on the first counts at lunchtime!I'll be in the RDS this evening monitoring six of the Dublin counts and will be reporting back to Cian and the boys at Irishelection.com with live......