You couldn’t make it up!

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

25 January 2012

We submit, without comment, the following report from the edition of the UK’s Guardian newspaper for today 25 January 212.  We have used bold type to emphasise certain passages. We have also underlined proper names.

GAGGING ORDERS PLACED ON NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE WATCHDOG STAFF

by Rajeev Syal

A health watchdog with responsibility for protecting NHS whistle-blowers has asked at least six employees to sign confidentiality agreements that stop them from criticising the organisation publicly.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) asked the six….to sign a contract promising not to “make or repeat any statement which disparages or is intended to disparage the goodwill or reputation of the CQC or any specified person”.

The disclosure has allarmed one member of the [House of] Commons public accounts committee, which will question Cynthia Bower, the CQC boss today. Stephen Barclay, Tory MP [Member of Parliament] for Cambridge North East, said: “It is odd that a body that is supposed to be helping whistleblowers should be seeking to impose gagging orders.”……

The Department of Health…launched an inquiry into the CQC last November over alleged failures that could have jeopardised patient care.

Bower was appointed chief executive in July 2008. She was previously chief executive of NHS West Midlands and was criticised following an investigation into high mortality figures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in March 2009.

One of the commission’s first acts under her leadership was to disband the investigations team….

A CQC spokeswoman said: “Compromise agreements are commonly used in both the public and private sectors where contentious issues arise. Any suggestion that CQC’s compromise agreements could prevent whistle-blowing would be a dramatic misrepresentation of the facts.”

Editorial note: what the CQC calls “compromise agreements” the Guardian refers to as “confidentiality agreements”.

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Not only in Ireland…..! Part 5: Democracy

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: if  you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

24 January 2012

This is the fifth and final part of a daily multi-part series of reports on Ireland derived from a single edition of the Irish Independent newspaper, that of 20 January 2012.  Today’s output consists of three unconnected items: (A), (B) and (C). Part (C) is not connected with the newspaper.

 

Democracy of the elite is Democracy lite.

Democracy lite is democracy without the people.

Democracy without the people is antidemocratic .

 

(A)  Europe is in crisis. The 27 nations of the European Union (EU) are overwhelmed by public and private debt. Unemployment is rocketing. Growth is plummeting. Austerity is the order of the day. Faced with calls from Washington, Brussels and Frankfurt to repair their finances, EU member states are cutting expenditure and raising taxes to plug their deficits.  But who is suffering as a result? Certainly not the banks, whose casino lending policies brought us to this impasse in the first place. No, it is the citizens of Europe who are bearing the brunt of the hardship – and may do for decades to come. However, what  the EU and its member states do not want under any circumstances is to consult their citizens to find out whether the people at large approve of the austerity policies that are being enacted in their name and, arguably, to their detriment. Not only in Ireland is there a blunt unwillingness to seek the views of the electorate.  To date, throughout the Europe Union, no government has dared stage a referendum on the cutbacks. They are afraid, rightly, that they might get the answer “No”.  Which is precisely what has happened in the past – not least in Ireland – on the rare occasions that member state governments have put EU policy to a plebiscite. Instead, governments prefer, naturally, to have their policies rubber-stamped by puppet parliaments in thrall to the partitocracy.

 

This is what Thomas Molloy wrote in this connection in the Irish Independent on 20 January 2012:

 

“An interesting aside to yesterday’s press conference was [Finance Minister] Michael Noonan’s open contempt for referendums….the Limerick man made it quite clear that he hopes the [eurozone bailout] agreement known as the fiscal compact due to be agreed in Brussels this month will only need Dáil [the Lower House of the Irish Parliament] approval before we sign up.

 

His wishes are fervently shared by all his cabinet colleagues, but none of them have ever dared to be quite so dismissive of the people’s right to vote….

 

How the electorate in its present mood will react to an [eurozone] ultimatum which demands agreement in return for cash is anybody’s guess, but it is clearly a test that Mr Noonan is anxious to avoid.”

 

As we intimated above, so much for democracy!

 

 

(B) As a further contribution to this last instalment of the current series of articles on surprising developments in Ireland, we reproduce below a report about Dublin from the Irish Independent.

 

DUBLIN NEAR TOP OF RICH CITY LIST

by  Peter Flanagan

Ireland may have endured four years of austerity and unemployment may be topping 14 per cent, but Dublin is still one of the richest cities in the world.

 

A new report from the Brookings Institute in Washington [ranking the 200 biggest metropolitan areas in the world] found Dublin still has the 14th highest income per capita in the world at $55,578 (€42,960) ahead of the likes of Paris, London and Los Angeles.

 

That makes Dublin the fourth highest paying metropolitan area in Europe. Only Oslo, Stockholm and the banking haven of Zurich rank higher….

 

The report puts Hartford, Connecticut, a hedge fund mecca, as the highest earning area on the planet with per capita income of $75,086. Cairo is bottom of the table at $1,989 per annum.

 

 

BÁS IN ÉIRINN (DEATH IN IRELAND)

 

(C) Finally, we end the series with a traditional goodwill toast – not taken from the Irish Independent of 20 January 2012 – that ends in the wish that the listener may be fortunate enough to die in Ireland. Death bulks large in Irish culture, as the tradition of elaborate wakes and funeral processions testifies.

 

 

Sláinte an bhradáin:

Croí folláin, gob fliuch,

agus bás in Éirinn.

Sláinte agus saol agat,

bean ar do mhian agat,

talamh gan chíos agat,

agus bás in Éirinn.

 

The health of the salmon:

a sound heart, a wet mouth,

 

and may you die in Ireland.

 

Health and life to you,

your choice of wife,

land without rent,

 

and may you die in Ireland.

 

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Only in Ireland…….! Part 4: Emigration

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

23 January 2012

This is the fourth part of a daily multi-part series of reports on Ireland taken from a single edition of the Irish Independent newspaper, that of 20 January 2012.

FAMILY FURY AS FINANCE MINISTER SAYS YOUNG EMIGRATE FOR LIFESTYLE

by Fionnan Sheahan, Brendan Keenan and Louise Hogan

Finance Minister Michael Noonan faces the wrath of thousands of families blighted by emigration after claiming that young people were leaving [Ireland] for “lifestyle reasons”.

In an extraordinary claim, he denied that the exodus of tens of thousands of people was purely down to our economy and unemployment levels. 

Instead, he asserted that some people merely wanted to “see another part of the world”.

His comments sparked fury among families whose loved ones had to leave to find work – or face life here on the dole.

Mr Noonan also appeared to accept that emigration was here to stay, after saying that the Government should ensure that young people get the best education so they can get a good job when they emigrate. 

“That’s life in modern Ireland and they have to do their best. I hope they are successful abroad,” he said…..

….last year Social Protection Minister Joan Burton claimed that going on the dole was a “lifestyle choice”.

The Irish Independent recently revealed that about 70,000 people, mostly in their 20s, emigrated last year to the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Germany.

A recent decline in the Live Register [a official tally, update monthly, of the number of people registering for public benefits, including the unemployed]  was blamed on emigration levels and another 40,000 Irish citizens are expected to emigrate in 2012.

Mr Noonan’s insensitive comments struck a raw nerve with families who just weeks ago waved emigrants off to foreign climes following Christmas reunions….his implication that many young people had a choice about whether to stay or to leave sparked most anger.

Mr Noonan said:”There are always young people coming and going from Ireland and some of them are emigrants in the traditional sense. Others simply want to get off the island for a while. You know, a lot of the people who go to Australia…it’s not being driven by unemployment at home, it’s driven by a desire to see another part of the world and live there.”

However, [Opposition] Fianna Fáil jobs spokesman Willie O’Dea said Mr Noonan should “immediately apologise” for his remarks. 

He said:”Of course there are many young people who, after college, travel abroad. But there is an undeniable link between the high rate of unemployment and the number of people seeking work abroad.”

The Irish Independent cited the case of Ms Pauline Fay from Drumconrath, Co Meath.

Ms Fay…has seen a son and daughter emigrate to Australia in the past 16 months. She said Mr Noonan simply did not understand the dire straits rural communities were in, nor the pain of having children on the other side of the world. 

“He is not in touch with the real Ireland,” Ms Fay said, adding that five other young people from the small village were planning to emigrate shortly. 

The paper also interviewed Mr Patrick Conboy, who is studying for a masters in public law at the National University of Ireland in Galway.

Mr Conboy said that many of his friends had emigrated to London, Canada, Qatar and Australia in search of work. He told the newspaper: “My own personal experience and from talking to friends [is that] they have had no option but to emigrate.”

In an editorial, the Irish Independent said:“Quite clearly the economic downturn, which has resulted in the loss of at least 300,000 jobs over the past four years, is obliging large numbers to look for jobs abroad.”

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Only in Ireland…….! Part 3: The Economy

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

22 January 2012

We said in our Mission Statement that Antigone1984 would be prepared at times to chill out and loosen up. This is the third part of a daily multi-part series of reports from Ireland taken from a single edition of the Irish Independent newspaper, that of 20 January 2012.

We hope that our Irish readers do not take offence. For one thing, the articles in question have already been published for all the world to see in one of Ireland’s two main daily newspapers. For another, we ourselves at Antigone1984 have Irish as one of our nationalities: we are surely entitled, from time to time, to have a laugh at ourselves. Finally, it is not our intention to suggest that these news reports typify the Irish national character. We keep an open mind on that question.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Extracts from a report by Thomas Molloy

It was “Alice in Wonderland” once again at the Department of Finance yesterday as the Government congratulated itself for meeting all the targets set by the bailout partners while admitting that many of those targets have not actually been met.

[The bailout partners are the so-called troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund]

If only the nation’s children could get away with the same strategy and tell their teachers that they had done all their homework except the things they hadn’t done.

Whether [Finance Minister] Michael Noonan tolerated such excuses when he was a teacher back in the 1970s is not known, but expressions of disbelief from reporters met with a tart response from his colleague Brendan Howlin [Minister for Public Spending and Reform] who effectively replied that the IMF and the European Commission have approved our progress and that is all that matters.

To be fair, Mr Howlin has a point. It is good news for this country that the troika has ended the fifth inspection with the now routine thumbs-up…Still, it would be foolish to take yesterday’s bland conclusions at face value….The reality is that IMF and ECB officials cut their growth forecasts for this year in half and warned of very difficult times ahead. This is troika-speak for another year of hell.

Behind the scenes, the troika is growing impatient with governmental foot dragging.

The Government’s insistence on using some of the proceeds from the sale of state assets to fund a jobs-creation programme that the troika believes to be a gimmick is one source of tension.

The Government’s focus on financial targets and seeming indifference to structural reform is another…. 

Mr Noonan and Mr Howlin have got away with delays on issues such as reforming job-activation programmes, the personal insolvency laws, what to do with the Permanent TSB [Trustee Savings Bank] and bank stress tests but there are signs patience is wearing thin…..

Yesterday, everything went smoothly at the latest parent-teacher meeting, but back in the staffroom everybody is feeling restive while the board of governors must be going insane.

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Only in Ireland………! Part 2: Religion

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

21 January 2012

We said in our Mission Statement that Antigone1984 would be prepared at times to chill out and loosen up. This is the second part of a daily multi-part series of reports from Ireland taken from a single edition of the Irish Independent newspaper, that of 20 January 2012.

PRIEST PUNCHED IN HEAD DURING MASS, COURT HEARD

by Stephen Maguire

A man allegedly punched a priest during Mass after the cleric refused to accept a donation from him, a court heard.

Seamus Doherty (66), who is charged with assault, arrived at St Columcille’s Church in Glendowan, Churchill, Co Donegal, before 8pm Mass was due to start on January 15, 2011.

He went into the sacristy of the church and offered Fr Michael McKeever a donation of cash. The priest refused and went on to start Mass. However, Mr Doherty, of The Rock, Churchill, began to interrupt the ceremony.

He began shouting and standing in the middle aisle of the church, Letterkenny District Court was told. 

Fr McKeever asked Mr Doherty to stop but he refused and at one stage he pulled a bottle of alcohol from his pocket. The priest asked Mr Doherty to go to the back of the church but the man began swearing at Fr McKeever. 

He then began to shout allegations that the clergy were responsible for the suicide of a young local man whose family was present at the Mass.

Fr McKeever, assisted by members of the congregation, eventually went down to Mr Doherty and asked him to leave.

However, Mr Doherty became more aggressive and allegedly punched the priest in the forehead before leaving.

Defence solicitor Frank Dorian said his client had a problem with alcohol and also had mental health problems. 

“His behaviour is irrational….by hitting a priest he has now hit rock bottom,” he said.

Judge Paul Kelly said:”I have heard this man has problems. It may well be better that he is taken off the streets to address these.”

He adjourned the case until March 15  for a probation report.

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Only in Ireland………! Part 1: Justice

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

20 January 2012

We said in our Mission Statement that Antigone1984 would be prepared at times to chill out and loosen up. So here goes. For about the next week we intend to alert readers to reports from a single issue of the Irish Independent newspaper, that of today 20 January 2012. No, guys, this is not fiction. These are true stories. They give a taste of life as it is lived today in the Emerald Isle.

JUDGE APPEARS BEFORE HIMSELF ON MOTORING CHARGE

by Majella O’Sullivan

A district court judge was due before himself yesterday. 

Judge James O’Connor was in the unusual position of being both presiding judge and defendant in his own courtroom.

Judge O’Connor had to deal with a summons that was before Cahirsiveen District Court yesterday that had been issued to him for failing to display a valid national car test (NCT) certificate on his vehicle. 

James O’Connor of Coolroe, Glenbeigh, Co Kerry, is accused of committing the offence, contrary to Section 18 of the Road Traffic Act, at Newmarket Street, Cahirsiveen, on July 21 last.

On the date when the alleged offence occurred, his car was parked at Newmarket Street outside the courthouse where a court sitting had been in progress. 

Judge O’Connor is the presiding judge at District Court number 17 in Kerry.

At yesterday’s sitting, solicitor Jean Harrington, acting on behalf of Eamon Kelly solicitors, requested the State to furnish all statements, documents and garda notebooks relating to the matter.

This was the first time it had appeared on the court list.

Judge O’Connor then adjourned the matter for mention to the March 15 sitting of the court for a full hearing date to be decided by the President of the District Court……..

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Half a loaf

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

19 January 2012

The conviction is widespread that people who profess to have concern for the condition of the poor should – they too – keep their coal in the bath.

Unless these “do-gooders” live their own lives at the minimum level of subsistence, it is claimed, they have no business preaching about the need to alleviate poverty.

It is true that money spent on anything above basic necessities could be used, alternatively, to alleviate the plight of the less well-off.

But are we supposed to believe then that because we are not all fashioned from the stuff of saints we must resign ourselves to being out-and-out sinners?

Those who give up everything to aid the poor, as did St Francis of Assisi, are indeed admirable. But does that mean that those who give up something but not everything are brazen hypocrites? Surely, it is better to do something than to do nothing?

Aristotle coined the world entelechy to mean the complete realization or expression of a potential.

If  one applies this to human development, it can be considered as the duty of each individual to realise their potential. In other words, we have the duty to develop our own potential and this duty must be balanced against what duties we have towards others.

If one accepts this argument, then it goes some way to justify to the view that one is not obliged to sacrifice one’s personal interests entirely to the interests of others. Charity, on this basis, begins at home.

Those who condemn “do-gooders” as hypocrites, would they prefer that they did nothing at all? Logically, the disadvantaged benefit from some help, however, limited, even if they would benefit more from more help.

It seems to us that the distinguishing mark of a civilized human being is a wish to share the benefits of existence with others. Even if one does not do this perfectly, that is no reason for doing nothing at all.

In many countries, philanthropists gain tax advantages. So what? If their philanthropy benefits those who are not so fortunate in life, then good has been done. The tax advantages are irrelevant.

Another criticism of “do-gooders” is that they only do good to salve their consciences – consciences guilty because of the consciousness of relative advantage in life. Again, so what? If good is done, it is good done. If to help others salves people’s consciences, where is the harm?

A question that often arises in this time of galloping widespread poverty is whether one should give alms to beggars.

There are people on both right and left who are vehemently against this.

Some people on the right believe that people who are poor have necessarily become so through their own fault. To give alms to such persons, they believe, would be “morally reprehensible” (sic). It would be rewarding the culpable for vice. Let them starve. They deserve it.

We make no comment.

Those on the left  tend to believe that the state should ensure that everyone is provided with life’s necessities.  Some of those on the left deduce from this that it is wrong to give money to beggars. From this viewpoint, charity usurps the role of the state. By refusing to give anything to beggars, you are encouraging them to rise up and demand from the state what is theirs of right.

The latter view, it seems to us, is both extremely harsh and a tad unrealistic. Is it likely that that tattered broken-down disease-ridden hulk in front of you will rise up and demand their due of the state as a result of your “principled” refusal to hand over a few coppers?

And so what if the poor wretches spend their baksheesh on drink or drugs? Are they not as much entitled as anyone else to a few moments of fleeting pleasure?

Methinks our Christian friends will hardly object if we atheists conclude with a citation from the Scriptures, so let us reflect on this text from the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians (Chapter 13, Verse 1) in the Gove version of the New Testament: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

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Have-yachts and have-nots

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

18 January 2012

At a time of global economic crisis, falling output and rising unemployment, the British Government is to make it a priority that that the Queen of England will get her yacht back.  As is well-known, the population of England is divided into the “have-yachts” and the “have-nots”.  The Queen lost her last yacht in 1997, when it was decommissioned, and so for the past 15 years she has eked out a meagre existence as a “have-not”. The year 2012 (ie this year, for those of you still awake) marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Queen’s Ascent to the Throne. The Government, whose members by definition are all “have-yachts”, wants to mark the occasion by ending Her Majesty’s humiliating “have-not” status. She is to become a “have-yacht” again. By the way,  the British Royal family is many cuts above those common-as-muck  Continental monarchs who ride about their kingdoms on plebeian bicycles. But back to the point. The Queen’s yacht will cost £80 million pounds, but this has not dampened the ardour of Her Majesty’s loyal subjects. All over England the lame, the sick, the elderly, the unemployed are hobbling around their hovels overjoyed at the good tidings. “It’s worth getting me benefit cut again for,” said Gertrude of Bolton, who has contributed her wooden leg to a lottery to raise funds for the yacht. “I only get 50p a week anyway since the latest cuts and once I’ve paid me rent and me ‘eating and me food and a black patch for me glass eye, well there’s not much left out of that.” Incidentally, the Government has firmly scotched rumours that the Queen, who lives in a very large number of very large houses, is to be means-tested by a French firm to determine whether she should continue trousering the “Civil List”, which is a royal term for taxpayer’s money used to pay “benefits” to the Queen and her Consort (that is “husband” to you and me). The Government made that quite clear this week, when it decreed that the Royal Family, like the Banks, was “too big to fail” and hence would continue to receive benefits whatever happened, unlike those work-shy cripples and chemotherapy patients who were too lazy to get out of bed in the morning and do a decent day’s work like any ordinary “hard-working family” that was not a benefit scrounger. But let us go back to the yacht.  The government is said to believe that a large-scale celebration is needed to lift the country’s spirits. However, since, thanks to Government cutbacks, there is very little hard cash around, the Government has decided that the large-scale celebration will be strictly limited to members of the Royal Family and senior Ministers (but not Clegg). In a letter sent to the panjandrum overseeing the jubilee festivities, a senior Minister is quoted as saying: “I feel strongly that the diamond jubilee gives us a tremendous opportunity to recognise in a very fitting way the Queen’s highly significant contribution to the life of the nation ….perhaps because of the austere times, the celebration should go beyond those of previous jubilees.”  Well said, Sir! And so say all of us!

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Heads I win, tails you lose

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

 

17 January 2012

If the stone falls on the egg, 

Alas for the egg!

If the egg falls on the stone,

 Alas for the egg!

                                                              Oriental proverb

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Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Antigone1984.com

Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

16 January 2012

Since the start of 2012, the parliamentary leader of the so-called Labour opposition in the UK, Edward Miliband has been rabbiting on about the need for “responsible capitalism”.

Funnily enough, that is precisely what his opposite number, Tory Prime Minister David Cameron, also wants.

On 14 January the UK’s Guardian newspaper carried an interview with Edward Balls, Miliband’s treasury spokesman. The interview was summed up in the headline: “Ed Balls accepts Tory [spending] cuts and public sector pay freeze”.

Government and Opposition are at one. You could not insert a sheet of A4 between the policies of the one and the policies of the other.

What alone divides them is power. The Government has it, the Opposition wants it.

Our pseudo-democracy  is the fag-end of the legacy of popular participative government that saw birth 2500 years ago in Classical Greece.

What we have in the western world is a closed system in which no change is possible. Two parties slug it out for access to the levers of power on the tacit understanding that whichever wins at the ballot box there will be no tampering with the status quo.

At Antigone1984 we call this system “the partitocracy”.

[For a more extended analysis of the partitocracy, see our Mission Statement, which can be accessed at the foot of the rural image at the top of our Home Page. This analysis constitutes Antigone1984’s main contribution to contemporary political debate.]

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