SPLUTTER!
Marrakesh, Morocco
Friscondo writes:
Tricolour hung back to front outside Casino de Marrakech. And no it’s not the Ivory Coast, I asked. Shocked! Asked them to fix it. Will keep you posted on that and other international events….
Women Rising
at
Constance Markievicz
Interested in the role of Irish women during the violent birth of modern Ireland?
Then get thee to the Newman House on St Stephen’s Green, Dublin on Friday, from 2pm until 6pm, for a free seminar, entitled Revolting Women: Irish Feminist, Labour and Nationalist Movements 1913-1923.
They say:
“The seminar showcases the archaeological work of Laura McAtackney who recorded and analysed the graffiti on the walls and prison cells of Kilmainham Gaol, particularly focussing on the graffiti by women political prisoners.
The seminar will also reveal key findings from papers by political revolutionary women which have been hitherto overlooked in public archives.”
“Papers by Will Murphy, Rosemary Cullen-Owens, Dr Ann Matthews and Padraig Yeates examine how gender roles and divisions came into play in this era and also how the position of women in Ireland today might frame a certain number of key questions in historical research.”
“A closing roundtable of Lindsey Earner-Byrne, Linda Connolly and Margaret Ward addresses the wider questions of why history matters to those of us interested in gender relations, and the more contested question of why gender matters in history writing.”
Revolting Women: Irish Feminist, Labour & Nationalist Movements 1913-1923 (Eventbrite)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcTBj7e4k80
What you may need to know:
1. Adaption of Jane Austen’s classic. With zombies.
2. This has been in development since 2009, when Natalie Portman was attached.
3. Sam Riley will be doing the whole tortured wet puffy shirt thing.
4. The previous adaption of Seth Grahame-Smith’s other mashup, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2010) didn’t exactly set the world on fire.
5. Proving that a movie needs more than a snappy title.
6. Broadsheet prognosis: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of braaaaiins.”
Release Date: 12 February 2016.
(Mark blogs about film, TV and other stuff at WhyBother.ie)
Terry Prone
Ahead of a talk on Friday morning for Image magazine on workplace relations, Terry Prone shared with the title what she “looks for in a work colleague and how to appropriately confront and overcome issues in the workplace”.
As the reporter notes, Ms Prone’s answers are “clear and concise and jam-packed with pearls of wisdom”. To wit:
How do you recommend people make a stand about issues they are unhappy with at work?
“Be unsurprised, sometimes shit happens. Talk to an outside expert, they’ll be able to give you an open, honest answer and a fresh perspective. And never, ever, ever talk to a lawyer.”
What are your top tips for managing internal politics in an office environment?
“It’s very simple: Don’t get involved. Get along with everybody. And if that doesn’t work, then that workplace is not the one for you, it’s time to get out.”
What makes a good colleague?“Diligence, discretion and a sense of humour. First, work out your objective, you need to figure out exactly how you want the issue to proceed. Don’t ever start with the desire to get something off your chest. Road to no-town. Once you have a clear head, examine who needs to be influenced, work out how best to influence them.”
What makes a good boss?
“Diligence, discretion, a sense of humour, the capacity to take the helicopter view and the ability to damp down your emotional neediness.“
Terry Prone On Creating A Harmonious Workplace (Image)
Previously: Kate Fitzgerald on Broadsheet
Image: Image
Thanks Fiona
If you’re old and you need to keep fit,
But you’re not sure how to do it,
Make sure a robot,
Is something that’s not,
Lacking from your work out kit.
John Moynes
(Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore)
Allie Conti writes:
In a federal suit filed on Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union, three plaintiffs argue that the CIA interrogation program designed by psychologists James Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jesse subjected them to torture. The 82-page complaint, written on behalf of two former prisoners and a family member of another who died in custody, is the first legal challenge to the architects of the brutal methods used by the government to extract information from suspected terrorists after 9/11.
“According to a 2012 article in the Nation, after 9/11, a bounty system emerged in which African warlords would sell “terror suspects” to the CIA for cash. Suleiman Abdullah, a newlywed fisherman in Tanzania, was captured in March 2003, possibly by the help of one such warlord named “Mr. Tall.”
“He was taken first to Kenya, and then shuffled around to various places in Afghanistan, like a prison called COBALT—where, according to the ACLU, he was assaulted with music by the Irish boyband Westlife alternating with heavy metal and kept in a pitch-black cell that smelled like rotting seaweed.
Sounds legit.
Thanks SJ
From top: Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin (left) and Michael Noonan, Minister for Finance, yesterday; Anne-Marie McNally
Budget 2016 had everything.
Except fairness and vision.
Anne-Marie McNally writes:
I would really have preferred to focus on a pretty big international finance story this week but my column drops the morning after the night before and so ignoring the Budget is not a luxury I have.
For the past few weeks my time has been taken up with detailed discussions about very specific budgetary measures and teasing out where the dominoes will fall if one provision is included and another excluded.
Those kinds of discussions that put your head into spaces you really hope you never have to occupy – the headspace of a single parent wondering how he or she will feed the children; the stress of a parent trying to get a couple of kids back to school each September; the person struggling with mental health issues and considering the ultimate action; or the elderly person lying on a trolley and wondering if or when they will be treated with dignity.
What does not, and should not, cross your mind during those discussions is how many votes is this provision going to buy me? It seems however that the discussions that took place amongst Government parties were dominated by the latter concerns and unburdened by the former.
If a ‘Messaging Group’ came together and helped frame this budget it is very clear that the message agreed upon was thus: “We’re here to entice a vote out of you.” There was no ambiguity, no shame in the game, and a very clear stance that here was a budget with a sprinkling of something for everyone – on the face of it at least.
I could start going into the specifics here about zero funding for mental health services despite our youth suicide rate being 2.5 times the EU average; only €18million allocated to health spending in the middle of an emergency department crisis yet not one cent of that €18m is set aside for Emergency Department measures and so on and so on.
But it all comes back to one basic tenet – phrased by Catherine Murphy TD yesterday evening – this budget is a budget for the next general election rather than the next generation.
That old adage ‘You live and Learn’ seems to be notably absent from Irish politics. In 2002, pre-election,we had a giveaway budget. In 2007, pre-election, we had a giveaway budget. Well that worked out well didn’t it?
Why is it so difficult for a Government to say, ‘You know what, yes, things are looking ever so slightly more positive, so if we map out a plan for the next decade or so we can start to now put in place measures to ensure that we don’t end up back where we started in 2008.”
But alas, the lure of a cheap election stunt takes over and before you know it we’ve Minister [Brendan] Howlin telling us this budget will create “certainty for the future”’ – it will indeed, an absolute certainty of a repeat of the past.
The usual refrain of ‘sure what would you do differently?’ will ring out and I can answer that one easily. I certainly wouldn’t have made the decision to prioritise commemoration ceremonies over homelessness services and I wouldn’t have forsaken the next 20 years of Irish society for a cheap shot at emulating Fianna Fáil of days gone by.
If politics doesn’t have a vision then what’s left is a depressing vista of individual ambitions where decisions are made based on keeping seats rather than promises. That’s not my vision and I’m willing to bet it’s not yours.
Anne-Marie McNally is a political and media strategist working with Catherine Murphy TD and will be a candidate for the Social Democrats in the forthcoming General Election. Follow Anne-Marie on Twitter: @amomcnally
‘sup?
Dan writes:
I know you don’t normally do this, but I found this social services card on Grafton Street this morning at about 9am. I handed into Pearse Street Garda Station.
Update: Gerard located
Cars block a JCB from working on a site earmarked for the Travellers left homeless by a fire at a halting site in Carrickmines at the weekend; and Martin Collins
Further to the blockade at Rockville Drive in Carrickmines, Dr Gavin Jennings spoke to Martin Collins, co-director of Pavee Point, this morning on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
Dr Gavin Jennings: “Those who were left homeless, by Saturday’s halting site fire, where are they now?”
Martin Collins: “Well, first of all Gavin, over the years, I’ve had my disagreements with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council but on this occasion I really have to commend their leadership, their courage and their sense of urgency in finding alternative accommodation for these homeless Traveller families. So I think they must continue that courage and that leadership even in the face of such adversity and hostility from those local residents. I also want to commend the support of the wider community in Carrickmines and indeed in Sandymount at the surrounding areas. This small number of people involved in the blockade are certainly not representative of the wider community who have shown great support and solidarity to these Traveller families in their time of stress and need. I have to say, Gavin, I mean, I’m 30 years involved in the Traveller struggle, I’m 48 years of age, I’m on the the planet, for 48 years, as a Traveller man, I have never witnessed such depth of hostility and hate towards my community as I have on this occasion. I think this small number of individuals in this estate are completely and utterly void of any humanity and any compassion. And I think their actions are only compounding the stress and the trauma that these Travellers families are already enduring. And I think any right, decent, sensible, fair person looking at this situation, would see it that way.”
Jennings: “So those who have been left homeless, where are they now Martin? Because some, most of these, are relatives of those who were killed. Isn’t that right?”
Collins: “That is correct. I suspect Gavin that maybe they’re staying with family members, you know, in a kind of make-shift arrangement, a temporary arrangement. By no means satisfactory.”
Jennings: “Has that been since Saturday, Martin? They haven’t been staying on the site since the fire, have they?”
Collins: “No, I, I honestly don’t know where they’re staying but I suspect they would be staying with extended family members. Others might be staying in temporary accommodation, offered by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, maybe some hotel rooms. But this site that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown has earmarked will take care of their medium-term needs until a longer-term solution is found. I would urge the residents to reflect on their actions and the stress and the trauma that they’re adding to these families’ lives. It’s just, it’s unbelievable and it’s unacceptable.”
Jennings: “Martin we couldn’t get any of the residents to speak to us on tape or on the programme. They had told our reporter who was there yesterday that one of their primary concerns was that while the council were telling them this was going to be a temporary solution, they feared how long termporary would be. Now, given that the site where the fire happened, was itself only supposed to be a temporary location, that, and correct me if I’m wrong, turned into a, it was there for seven years. Can you understand their concerns?”
Collins: “I think that’s an absolutely fair point. I can understand where the residents are coming at, from that perspective. But I think, you know, it’s not beyond solicitors or the legal systems’ ingenuity to develop a contract that is water tight that this site would exist for a particular period of time. There’s ways and means around this Gavin. But I do appreciate the point that’s being made in that regard because I know myself from working with different county councils across the country, when you do develop sites, it’s meant to be temporary, two or three years, and the next thing we know it’s there 25 years. So I do accept that point. And I’m not suggesting that this site would be there for any long period of time. This is an immediate emergency. We need an immediate solution so Dun Laoighaire Rathdown have time then to locate a site that would be a long-term solution to meet the needs of these families. So that’s how Pavee Point sees it and we would encourage Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to continue to find a site and we really commend their courage and their sense of urgency. And I would urge the residents, at even this late day, to search deep inside their conscience and ask themselves, you know, is this right? What they’re doing? And I’ll think they’ll find it is not right and I’d say they’re only adding to the pain and suffering that these families are already enduring.”
Listen back here.
Previously: ‘A Peaceful Stand-Off’
Pic: RTE and Derek Speirs (Flickr)
The halting site in Carrickmines at the weekend, following a fatal fire which claimed ten lives
Kitty Holland (“Councils must do more for Travellers after fire”, Analysis, October 12th) lists the failure of local authorities across the State to make progress in relation to the provision of decent accommodation for Travellers.
I worked for two years as manager of the Southside Travellers Action Group and the problems listed by your reporter correspond almost exactly with those we faced 15 years ago. There is one key difference, however. At that time, no funds of any substance were provided by central government to local authorities for Traveller accommodation.
Successful lobbying by Traveller organisations, such as the Irish Traveller Movement and Pavee Point, resulted in a change in the funding approach by central government around 2006. Money was made available to local authorities.
Since then, shamefully, over €50 million allocated by the Department of the Environment for Traveller Accommodation remains unspent. €50 million!
The need for decent accommodation is obvious and the pictures and stories emerging from the tragedy in Carrickmines are clear proof of the need for radical action.
Local authorities that fail to spend their allocated budgets in this regard should face penalties and those councillors who continue to oppose Traveller accommodation plans should be shown the door at the next local elections.Are we going to allow another generation of Traveller children to grow up in these conditions or are we going to attempt to create a fairer society for all of our children?
Aodh O’Connor
Perrystown,
Dublin 12.
Meanwhile, on Morning Ireland this morning, Tánaiste Joan Burton said:
“Can I appeal to all members of local authorities right around the country to please use the funds which have been made available by central government to local authorities for Traveller accommodation. Some local authorities, including the local authority where this dreadful tragic fire [in Carrickmines] took place, those funds have actually not been used. If the funds are use, I can say there will be an undertaking to provide additional funds.”
Local authorities and Travellers (Irish Times)
Previously: Halting Funding
Heard The One About Local Authorities Refusing Money?
Rollingnews.ie