Author Archives: Bodger

Love is…

…books and chocolate and candles and mugs.

Aisling Finn writes:

Spoil her or him this Valentine’s Day with one of these beautiful gift boxes from The Book Resort. Fast, free delivery nationwide along with a gorgeous handwritten card.

The Book Resort

Irish-made Valentine’s stuff to Broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marked ‘Irish-Made Valentine’s Stuff’. No fee.

The new uniforms, with hi viz shoulder pads, for all gardaí, Sergeants and Inspectors

Gulp.

This morning.

Via RTE News:

…gardaí will in future wear polo shirts, two-tone soft shell and waterproof jackets and operational trousers.

The uniform will also be clearly badged with the Garda crest for the first time.

Gardaí will no longer wear shirts and ties, except on formal occasions, but will continue to wear the distinctive Garda peaked cap.

Stylish and powerful?

Or reminiscent of low-budget 1980s TV sci-fi?

Only you can decide.

Shirts and ties out as new Garda uniform revealed (RTE)

There was a a fourfold increase in emergency calls from domestic abuse survivors in 2021

RTÉ Investigates – Domestic Abuse, A Year Of Crisis

Laura Fitzgerald writes:

The last 12 months has seen a fourfold increase in emergency calls from domestic abuse survivors. During that time RTÉ Investigates filmed in several refuges across the country as the services reached crisis point.

Having given RTÉ Investigates unprecedented access, staff describe their daily struggle to keep sufferers safe, because a shortage in refuge places means they are forced to live with their abusers. From coercive control, repeated patterns of domestic violence, femicide and the traumatic journey through the justice system, the documentary reveals the human stories behind the statistics.

Last year, the number of people that contacted the domestic violence support services increased by 40% from the previous year, in some cases as a direct result of Covid-19 restrictions.


RTÉ Investigates – Domestic Abuse, A Year Of Crisis tonight at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTE Player.

Illustration via RTE

Ottawa has declared a state of emergency to help deal with an unprecedented 10-day occupation by protesting truckers that has blocked much of the centre of the Canadian capital

This morning.

Ottawa, Canada,

Via CNN

From the western province of Alberta, moving east to Quebec City, and in cities and towns in between, thousands of Canadians have hit the streets in trucks, tractors, cars and on foot to protest the nation’s Covid-19 restrictions.

With persistent and noisy horn honking, protesters are demanding governments at all levels lift their health restrictions, including vaccine and mask mandates, lockdowns and restrictions on businesses and gatherings.

“The whole event has gone beyond just vaccines and it is now about the entire ordeal,” protester James MacDonald told CNN, adding he’s been in Ottawa since last weekend and has no intention of leaving until health measures are dropped.

Crowds of demonstrators join rallies across Canada as Covid-19 trucker protests spread (CNN)

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

Um.

 

Vienna, Austria last Christmas

This afternoon.

Via CNN:

Austria became the first country in Europe to introduce a national Covid-19 vaccine mandate for adults on Friday after President Alexander Van der Bellen signed it into law.

Austria’s sweeping measures will see those without a vaccine certificate or an exemption potentially slapped with initial fines of 600 euros. Checks to see if the mandate is being adhered to begin from March 15.

Pregnant people and those who cannot be vaccinated without endangering their health are exempt from the law, according to the Austrian Health Ministry’s website.

The exemption also applies to people who recently caught Covid-19, and lasts 180 days from the date they received their first positive PCR Covid-19 test.

The new law will last until January 31, 2024 and could see unvaccinated people face a maximum fine of 3,600 euros ( up to four times a year if they are not on a vaccine register by their assigned vaccination date.

Austria signs into law strict Covid-19 vaccine mandate (CNN)

Meanwhile…

Irish/Austrian human rights lawyer David Langwallner (above) writes:

1. The new initiative of the Austrian government to introduce fines for the unvaccinated to be introduced gradually is against the tide and is bonkers, unenforceable and has the distinct sense of a façade. Thus no compulsory vaccinations, as hitherto indicated, merely fines. But courts will be cluttered with such cases, and will they win? And what if you do not pay the fine?


2. No national emergency has been declared in Austria, thus the Austrian Constitutional Court will have to assess this in terms of a derogation non-applied for in Article 4 (Liberty) and Article 8 (Privacy) terms of the Austrian constitution. Since there is no emergency, the liberty right is particularly obvious and those who refuse to pay fines can invoke same and the Austrian Constitutional Court and lower courts should and will act accordingly to uphold their objections. Thus, the façade.

3. The problem is not whether you choose to be vaccinated, boosted, double vaccinated or not. The problem is one of a slippery slope to persecute those who exercise a choice and the precedent it sets for other measures. The problem is the authoritarian removal of legitimate choice.

4. If the science were clear that endless futuristic drugs would, for example, control Omicron then public health considerations in terms of legal doctrines such as proportionality would be apt but there is no clear evidence that warrants this conclusion.

5. The law has further the look of unrealistic enforceability in the extension till 2024 in the absence of a defined emergency which will lead to ongoing review by the courts.

6. Austrian and Australia should be compared to their former colonial or semi-colonial forebearers, though neither might like the comparison, the UK and Germany both of whom are not prepared to go this far. The best boy in the extremist class is also a post-colonial Irish hangover. The good burghers of the constitutional court will react accordingly, I am hopeful.

Getty

Then Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the April 2016 launch in Glasnevin Cemetery of the Necrology Wall, where the names of all those who died as a result of the conflicts in Ireland between 1916 and 1923, are inscribed. These include members of the Black and Tans

This afternoon.

Following a third attack…

“…It is the firm view of Dublin Cemeteries Trust that if the wall were to be repaired for a third time it would be vandalised again.

“Dublin Cemeteries Trust is not in a position to cover the costs of continually repairing the wall or in the position to provide the security that would be necessary.”

Dublin Cemeteries Trust

Gulp.

Meanwhile…

RTÉ Broadcaster Joe Duffy, whose book Children of the Rising chronicled the deaths of 40 children during Easter Week, said he intends to hold a protest at the decision.

“I am deeply saddened and shocked that vandalism and thuggery has triumphed in removing the only memorial in the world that names the children and civilian men and woman killed that week.”

“Surely our mature country can remember all those who died – most of them Irish – regardless of the uniform they wore.”

Glasnevin Cemetery discontinues controversial memorial wall after vandalism (RTE)

RollingNews

The Capital Dock this afternoon in Dublin’s Docklands is Ireland’s tallest building at 79 metres high with 22 storeys

This afternoon.

Further to proposals by Dublin City Council to increase building height limits which may allow 25 storeys or higher in the city…

…KN writes:

It looks like Johnny Ronan’s campaign is finally paying off. Never mind that we neither need them nor can build them properly, the skyscraper satisfies the property developer’s greed and insecurity around size.

Fight

RollingNews