What you might need to know:

1. TV is the new cinema.

2. Showrunners is a documentary exploring the world of TV showrunners..

3.. It’s directed by Dubliner Des Doyle.

4. It features the likes of Joss Whedon, Vince ‘Breaking Bad’ Gilligan, Damien ‘Lost’ Lindelof, Terence ‘Boardwalk Empire’ Winter and Don Cheadle. Possibly because everything could do with a little Cheadle.

5. They’re currently raising funds to finish the thing (see here:)

Release Date: That’s up to YOU.

By Eoin Thing, parliamentary correspondent:

2.30 Minister Noonan is on his feet

2.34 Interesting point about the GDP ratio in real terms.

2.37 Something about pensions.

2.38 Lol

2.47 That’s not even English.

2.48 He’s been talking to the guys at Goldman.

2.49 7%!

2.50 7%?

2.51 7% so.

2.49 The markets won’t like that.

2.53 Or that

2.54 That’s going hurt the coping classes. The neurotic remain untouched (Again!)

3.00 What about the SMEs???

3.05 Ah

3.11 Howlin on his feet.

3.12 No, really.

3.15 One-stop shop for inferstructural reform? Risky but I like it.

3.20 Take that, Keynes!

3.25 Emphasis very much on growth and jobs and money.

3.33 Howlin promising further measures.

3.34 And a range of other expenditure targets to be met.

More to follow

Not them.

Abortion, silly.

Response by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference to the Report of the Expert Group on the Judgement in A,B and C v Ireland

A society that believes the right to life is the most fundamental of all rights cannot ignore the fact that abortion is first and foremost a moral issue.

As a society we have a particular responsibility to ensure this right is upheld on behalf of those who are defenceless, voiceless or vulnerable. This includes our duty as a society to defend and promote the equal right to life of a pregnant mother and the innocent and defenceless child in her womb when the life of either of these persons is at risk.

By virtue of their common humanity the life of a mother and her unborn baby are both sacred. They have an equal right to life. The Catholic Church has never taught that the life of a child in the womb should be preferred to that of a mother. Where a seriously ill pregnant woman needs medical treatment which may put the life of her baby at risk, such treatments are morally permissible provided every effort has been made to save the life of both the mother and her baby.

Abortion, understood as the direct and intentional destruction of an unborn baby, is gravely immoral in all circumstances. This is different from medical treatments which do not directly and intentionally seek to end the life of the unborn baby.

Current law and medical guidelines in Ireland allow nurses and doctors in Irish hospitals to apply this vital distinction in practice. This has been an important factor in ensuring that Irish hospitals are among the safest and best in the world in terms of medical care for both a mother and her unborn baby during pregnancy. As a country this is something we should cherish, promote and protect.

The Report of the Expert Group on the Judgement in A, B and C v Ireland has put forward options that could end the practice of making this vital ethical distinction in Irish hospitals.

Of the four options presented by the Report, three involve abortion – the direct and intentional killing of an unborn child. This can never be morally justified. The judgement of the European Court of Human Rights does not oblige the Irish Government to legislate for abortion.

Other aspects of the Report also give rise to concerns. These include, but are not limited to the fact that:

The judgement of the European Court of Human Rights permits options on this matter of fundamental moral, social and constitutional importance that are not offered by this Report.

This includes the option of introducing a constitutional prohibition on abortion or another form of constitutional amendment to reverse the ‘X-case’ judgement.
The Report provides no ethical analysis of the options available, even though this is first and foremost a moral issue and consideration of the ethical dimension was included in the Terms of Reference.
The Report takes no account of the risks involved in trying to legislate for so-called ‘limited abortion’ within the context of the ‘X-case’ judgement.

The ‘X-case’ judgement includes the threat of suicide as grounds for an abortion. International experience shows that allowing abortion on the grounds of mental health effectively opens the floodgates for abortion.

The Report also identifies Guidelines as an option. It notes that Guidelines can help to ensure consistency in the delivery of medical treatment. If Guidelines can provide greater clarity as to when life-saving treatment may be provided to a pregnant mother or her unborn child within the existing legislative framework, and where the direct and intentional killing of either person continues to be excluded, then such ethically sound Guidelines may offer a way forward.

A matter of this importance deserves sufficient time for a calm, rational and informed debate to take place before any decision about the options offered by the Expert Group Report are taken.

All involved, especially public representatives, must consider the profound moral questions that arise in responding to this Report. Abortion is gravely immoral in all circumstances, no matter how ‘limited’ access to abortion may be.

Literally no change there then.

Via CatholicBishops.ie

(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

You may have witnessed the ideological clash between Vincent Browne (above) and Dan O’Brien (top), Irish Times Economics Editor over the extent of the wealth gap in Ireland on last night’s Tonight with Vincent Browne on TV3.

It got pretty intense.

Browne said despite the bank debt Ireland is the16th richest country in the world (if you exclude the oil sheikdoms).

O’Brien disagreed (with the ranking of 16th) and said we’re actually 35th, accusing the host of excluding countries he didn’t like. (Dan even brought in the figures).

He added that wealth taxes are ‘very unusual’ around the world and quizzed Browne on how more equal distribution could possibly happen – and even suggested the electorate isn’t interested in such measures.

He said: ‘Nobody is voting for this. You’ve been talking about this for decades. People don’t seem to want it when it comes to election time. How is it going to be achieved? Are you going to go in and take their bank accounts? Are you going to take their homes off them? How do you achieve this equality issue?’

During the boom, he claimed, more money went on welfare than public sector pay – despite public sector workers being very well organised.
Browne replied: “We were one of the most unequal countries in the western world, according to the OECD in the boom years.”

O’Brien literally exclaimed “Vincent, if I hear you say that again, I’m really gonna knock my head off the desk. That is absolute rubbish and because you repeat it a million times, will not make it true.”

BOTH men then said that OECD figures would back up their relative positions.

They then discussed the gini coefficient.

Which is when we went to bed rang Ewok’s dad.

He said:

The Gini Coefficient is a measurement from zero to  one [ zero – perfect egalitarianism. 1 – perfectly unequal wealth distribution]. That’s what all these figures are saying. And according to this, “Ireland is the eight most unequal country in OECD countries’.
If you scroll down to page 2, top of the page I think Figure 2 is what illustrates VinB’s argument best. It basically shows from 2009 to 2010 a rapid growth in inequality. Dan was wrong. What 2010 to 2012 figure would show is another question…

Watch show here

The Calvin and Hobbes Search Engine, created by Michael Yingling (the site isn’t actually Bing-powered. ‘Bing’ is Yingling’s nickname. Is the thing), will link to all the strips containing the search term you input, including summary, release date and the publications they appeared in.

Get your small boy and stuffed tiger on here.

gizmodo

Broadsheet.ie