Daisy writes:
The wonderful journalist Peter Carvosso, who died earlier this week after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, wrote this piece back in 2002, about the death of his (first) wife Philippa. How sad that, 15 years later, it seems very little has changed for many patients looking for a bed in A&E.
Chaos In Casualty (Peter Carvosso, Irish Independent, March 2002)
Previously: Goodbye Peter
This lunchtime.
Sometimes cyclists can also be obnoxious.
Whaddyanuts writes:
Some complete bell-end has kindly left his bike laying about, half on path and road for good measure at a busy junction in Drogheda town. Everyone is finding it difficult to pass by, but funnily enough, nobody has picked it up and put it out of the way. If it’s still snoozing when I leave the cafe, I’ll gladly upright it.
More as we get it.
Update:
‘sup?
Waddyanuts writes:
Well, after enjoying a 45 minute siesta, I had another glance to see the slumbering pedacycle’s progress and much to my surprise its owner was in the process of waking up his bike. He was in fact, eating in the cafe and a man in his mid forties. No thoughtless kid was involved in trying to euthanise his trike….
Australian artist Sonia Singh rescues dolls from op-shops and tip-shops in Tasmania, repainting their faces and making new clothes for them.
Her ‘Snog, Marry, Avoid’ style make-unders of former Bratz dolls (above) are especially satisfying to behold.
(H/T: John Gallen)
A superb short with an incredible, fluidic cinematography and soundscape, all drawn on recycled paper by Danny Madden.
How it was made.
Breda O Brien of the Iona Institute
Breda O’Brien appeared on RTE R1’s Morning Ireland earlier to debate the same sex marriage referendum with newly wed (in London) Labour TD Dominic Hannigan.
Mrs O’Brien, of the Iona Institute, was asked to share her thoughts on whether she objects to parenting (other than a same sex situation) where children are raised by family members.
Audrey Carville: “Breda O’Brien, for generations in this country, grandmothers have helped their daughters raise their children. Do yo do you object to that?”
Breda O’Brien: “No, and I think one of the really good…”
Carville: “Why, what’s the difference?”
O’Brien: “The reason that I don’t object to that is that our grandmother, helping out in a situation where…”
Carville: “Not helping out, raising. Living with the daughter, raising the child, what’s the difference?”
O’Brien: “The difference is that that doesn’t do anything to a child’s right to a mother and father. That’s actually the difference.”
Carville: “That child doesn’t have, in that instance, they don’t have access to their father. So what is the difference?”
O’Brien: “And we consider that a loss. We don’t normally legislate for…”
Carville: “What is the difference between those two people, raising that child and two lesbians raising a child?”
O’Brien: “The difference is that if a child has come into a relationship, where there are two lesbians, it has come usually by one of two means. One, from a previous relationship and the other is by assisted human reproduction. If it’s assisted human reproduction, it means that a child has been deliberately brought into the world without access to one half of her identity.”
Carville: “But what is the difference for the…”
O’Brien: “Because that doesn’t apply in the case of the grandmother..”
Carville: “…good of the child. The father in the grandmother scenario, the daughter’s partner, the man who fathered the child, he’s not, he’s never been there…”
O’Brien: “Audrey, you’re not suggesting, you’re not suggesting that granny and her daughter get married are you?”
Carville: “What is, no, what is the difference?”
O’Brien: “You can’t see the difference? Do you think we should change the constitution to allow grandmothers and their daughters to get married?”
Carville: “What is the difference in terms of..”
O’Brien: “Do you think we can sort that out?”
Carvile: “…protecting the child and the rights of the child and the good of the child? What is the difference?”
O’Brien: “The difference is if we change the constitution, we are changing that mother/father model. A grandmother, raising a child with her daughter, does nothing to change that model because they’re not asking for rights to be married and to be considered exactly the same as a man and a woman who have brought a child into the world. A grandmother is helping out in a situation where there’s already a loss. Now let me just say, in a situation where the only parents that a child has are two people of the same sex, I think the provisions in the Children Family Bill for Guardianship are excellent, there are a lot of things which are not excellent which would be unconstitutional and I don’t object to that. But we don’t need to redefine marriage in order to achieve those rights, no more than we need to say that granny and daughter need to get married in order to raise the child.”
Transcript of exchange between Breda O’Brien of the Iona Institute and RTE R1 Morning Ireland presenter Audrey Carville earlier
Podcast of show here
Earlier: After Sport
An earlier version of this post misquoted Breda O’Brien. Sorry.
Life tips from the man’s man of Parks And Recreation.
Never half ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.
