From 1986, an ad for Hoffmans lager.
Short and sweet.
A Don Draper masterclass.
Yearly Archives: 2014
Dricographic
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It’s been a long year for the Pope,
That shining white liberal hope,
His big beaming smile,
Can charm and beguile,
Any chance of reform? Well, erm, nope.
John Moynes
(Christian Post)
Free Fruit
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Dublin city centre’s music and arts festival Forbidden Fruit returns this June Bank Holiday weekend and yesterday revealed the first acts for the Saturday including Flaming Lips and Bell X1.
Sunday’s installment will be revealed at 11am TODAY.
WE have TWO Double passes to the first day to GIVEAWAY to the first two readers who can correctly answer this question..
When was the last The Flaming Lips concert in Ireland?
Lines MUST close at 11am.
Thanks Elaine Byrne
UPDATE: ‘Dave’ and ‘therealkevinwhitty’ win the tickets. Thanks all.
Dear Enda
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[Enda Kenny at the New York St Patrick’s Day parade, and a LGBT pin]
We the undersigned wish to express our strong concerns regarding your proposed participation in the St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City. By singling out openly LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) groups for exclusion from the parade, the organisers are sending out a message of discrimination and intolerance towards a section of the community and diaspora who deserve to have their contribution to the global Irish family celebrated and recognised on the same basis as everyone else.
It has been claimed, disingenuously, that because no group is allowed to display overtly political banners, the prohibition on LGBT people depicting any sign or symbol that would identify them as openly lesbian or gay is not discriminatory.
This is a claim that our identities are inherently political, which is false. Our organisations are first and foremost about community and visibility, not any political beliefs. The many other groups who make up the Irish-American community are all allowed to march under banners identifying who they are so we are clearly being subjected to a discriminatory double standard.
You gave a very welcome personal vow last November to actively campaign for what you describe as the ‘equality issue of gay marriage’ in next year’s referendum. You are also on record as stating that you are “proud to stand here as a public representative, a Taoiseach who happens to be a Catholic but not a Catholic Taoiseach. A Taoiseach for all of the people, that’s my job”. These were crucially important statements about the kind of Ireland you envision. You have an opportunity to serve as an ambassador for these same modern and inclusive values, ones which are shared by the vast majority of Irish people, at home and abroad.
Therefore, we strongly urge you to decline to march in the St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York next week – an honourable stance adopted by the city’s Mayor, Bill De Blasio, and the New York City Council. The exclusionary policies of the organisers are completely at odds with the statements you have made around these issues. If, however, withdrawal at this stage is problematic, we ask that you wear the rainbow-flag lapel-pin [above] as a sign of solidarity with the Irish and Irish-American LGBT communities.
Where we are banned from marching and representing ourselves, our organisations and our community, you can act as our representative, our “Taoiseach for all of the people”, and show New York, Ireland and the world the values of our proud, inclusive and modern Ireland, that draws strength from our traditions but has dispensed with the damaging prejudices of the past.
LGBT Noise
National LGBT Federation (NXF)
Marriage Equality
Gay Switchboard Ireland
INTO LGBT Teachers Group
Atheist Ireland
Dundalk Outcomers
Union Of Students In Ireland (USI)
SIPTU LGBTQ
BeLonG To Youth Services
ShoutOut
LGBT Lawyers Association of Ireland
Trans Student Network Alliance
Action For Russia
Senator Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan
Senator David Norris
Senator Averil Power
Panti Bliss – Rory O’Neill
John Halligan TD
Clare Daly TD
Ailbhe Smyth, Feminist campaigner
Add yours below if you wish.
FIGHT!
Previously: He Reigns Over Our Parade
New York St Patrick’s Day Guidelines
Pic: James Higgins
Thanks Max Krzyzanowsk
[Former Garda John Wilson on TV3’s Tonight With Vincent Browne last night]
“I just want to say, in relation to Sgt [Maurice] McCabe that I believe that Commissioner [Martin] Callinan should be proud to have a member of the calibre of Maurice McCabe as a member of our police service and I am demanding now, in the public interest, on behalf of the Irish people, that Commissioner Callinan restores Sgt McCabe’s full access to the Garda PULSE system with immediate effect. And I am making that demand in the public interest.”
Former garda John Wilson on the Tonight with Vincent Browne Show last night.
Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe has been banned from using PULSE since mid-December 2012.
Watch back in full here
Previously: The Thin Blue Timeline
Hyrule PD
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From the Garda Inspectorate report:
“There was a lack of management oversight in not implementing required monitoring mechanisms at the operational level, providing training for cancelling authorities and clear policy guidelines for its use. These problems were mentioned by several senior garda officers who lamented, “… if everyone had just followed the manual …we wouldn’t be dealing with this …”. The Inspectorate was told by senior garda staff, that but for the public scrutiny, the extent of the deficiencies within the fixed charge processing system would not have been detected”.
“By way of example, the Inspectorate notes from the Assistant Commissioner and PSU [Garda Professional Standards Unit] reports and from focus group meetings that requests for cancellation of FCNs are accepted over the phone. This process is in breach of current policy, where all FCN cancellation requests must be in writing. However, the Inspectorate accepts that in some cases FCN cancellation requests are undertaken in good faith.”
“Road traffic offenders who receive a FCN and who do not pay it are served with a summons to attend a local district court. Focus group and stakeholder meetings suggested that on conviction offenders were avoiding penalty points by intentionally not producing their driving licence in court. The court summons advises the offender to bring their driving licence and a copy of their licence to court. Where offenders do not bring their driving licence to court, there is no system to ensure penalty points are endorsed on the driving licence. This is a very serious issue. In a recent Parliamentary Question, the Minister for Justice and Equality published figures indicating production rates of driving licences in court for convicted offenders. In the period March 2012 to August 2013 a total of 16,493 offenders were convicted of penalty point offences across all district courts of which only 6,653 (40%) had their driving licence number recorded. The individual rates of recording of driving licence details across all district courts varied from a rate of 15% at Drogheda/Dundalk District Court to 60% recorded in the DMR region. A total of 9,840 (60%) convicted offenders avoided penalty points on their licence during this 18 month period and this deficiency in the system needs to be addressed.”
“Currently there is no statutory provision that enables the use of discretion by the Garda Síochána in cancelling FCNs.”
“As part of its fieldwork, the Inspectorate examined the FCN cancellation files from the nine districts inspected for August 2012 and January 2013, which resulted in the examination of 103 files from nine districts. The Inspectorate notes that in only one of the nine districts examined, was the cancellation policy implemented as required by the manual.”
“A total of fifty-five inspectors and superintendents were identified as breaching policy in cancelling fixed charge notices of varying degrees of seriousness. As a result of these breaches of policy, most were referred to their divisional officers for a “reminder” to comply with policy and three referred to Garda Internal Affairs for investigation.”
The Duel
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Agilus – the ‘world’s fastest robot’ according to its manufacturer KUKA – is programmed to take on German table tennis champ Timo Boll (ranked number five in the world) in this promo by Velvet Mediendesign.
The match was filmed at an abandoned sports hall in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Behind the scenes feature (including some actual speed footage) here.
