Category: politics

Categories
politics

Rabbite-ing on

Harry McGee crafts a reasonable article in today’s Irish Times about G.Lee’s double resignation from Irish politics this week. It’s pretty easy to imagine that Lee was shut out in a petty squabble with Bruton over who was the economics top dog. Stupid and embarrassing if you consider the state of the country’s finances. However, if there’s one quote from the article that really got my goat it was this from Pat Rabbitte.

“The calling of intelligently interpreting economic data and relaying it successfully to the average citizen is a different one from writing a prescription for where we are going wrong and what we are doing about it,”

Pass me a sick bag. What a load of patronising toss to suggest Lee wasn’t up to the job but, amazingly, seasoned politicians like himself are. If Rabbitte actually believes that he, his Labour party, or anyone else in the Dail is engaged in writing “a prescription for where we are going wrong and what we are doing about it” then he’s delusional.

Someone should buy him a copy of Anthony Sweeney’s Banana Republic for christmas.

Banana Republic
Banana Republic

Unfortunately, at least one generation of Irish children will understand how delusional he is and how they are being failed, not just by the government, but by the Dail itself. Lee seemed to be the only person in the Dail vocally suggesting that cuts would only worsen the economic situation without stimulus. This didn’t fit entirely with FG orthodoxy so they didn’t take the policy on board. What a burden it is to have 2 economists in the one party when in the midst of an economic crisis. What a sorry lot FG are. The hardest thing about Irish politics seems to be the back-stabbing, character assassinations, petty jealousies, side-deals and keeping track of all of the above. Little time left to serve the people.

Still, George Lee _was_ a bit naive. He could have prepared for political life by referring to the online Merriam Websters dictionary.


Main Entry: pol·i·tics
Pronunciation: \?pä-l?-?tiks\
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
Etymology: Greek politika, from neuter plural of politikos political
Date: circa 1529
1 a : the art or science of government b : the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy c : the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government
2 : political actions, practices, or policies
3 a : political affairs or business; especially : competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership (as in a government) b : political life especially as a principal activity or profession c : political activities characterized by artful and often dishonest practices
4 : the political opinions or sympathies of a person
5 a : the total complex of relations between people living in society b : relations or conduct in a particular area of experience especially as seen or dealt with from a political point of view <office politics> &lt:ethnic politics>


He may have noticed 3b and realised what he was in for…

Categories
politics

Stack’o’Lee

Is what we’ve been served up for the past few days. It’s been a regrettable few days for the opposition. Funnily enough the FG faithful don’t want us to forget about them as they fall over themselves to publicly condemn Lee for his naivety, lack of creativity, childishness, immaturity. If I hear the phrase “threw his toys out of the pram” once more I’ll actually consider voting for Fianna Fail. Only kidding!

While I still don’t agree that George Lee should have resigned his seat, it’s disgusting how FG are attacking him now that he’s left. This is a party that in the worst economic crisis in the history of the state (perhaps) and on the back of 2 tribunals still can’t land a killer punch against the FF government. They were happy to wheel Lee out to support policies in some cases he clearly didn’t agree with. Yet there’s been no letup of party brown-nosers on the telly-box and the radio insisting Lee was useless, Enda “will lead FG to the next election” and how they’re all united under Enda. Lucky them. It’s like aphids being united under a weed.

They need a healthy dose of reality. It’s very clear that the people of Ireland don’t believe Enda is a credible alternative as Taoiseach whatever he may feel. All this talk of unity is flim-flam. When George says he had only 1 meeting with Richard Bruton in his 8 months in FG and that he was having no influence on their economic policy, you believe him. When Brian Hayes suggests George left due to money you don’t believe him. It feels like a tawdry cheap shot. Lee himself was happy to categorically state he was doing very well between his TD salary and expenses and won’t earn that amount in RTE. I believe him, why would he lie? Anyone can find out his RTE salary as it’s public record.

I understand why most people are annoyed that Lee didn’t stay in the Dail as an independent. I’m disappointed. Mostly I’m disappointed that we’ve lost a potential challenger to the hegemony of inherited seats and parish pumpers. It reinforces the notion (perhaps empirically correct) that Irish politics is the sole preserve of the so-called “political class”. What FG seem to miss is that the only people who are surprised Lee left FG are staunch supporters. There’s probably not a single vote to be won by lynch mobbing Lee. It only confirms an impression of disarray and ineptitude.

Someone once succinctly explained to me that “disappointment is when reality and expectations diverge”. Whatever disappointment I have about George Lee is eclipsed by the disappointment I feel about Fianna Gael.

Categories
education politics

Nation of knockers

No, this isn’t a post about mammary glands. I was listening to the Newstalk repeats last night when coming home with my colleague Stephen Garvey. The replay was Eamonn Keane’s show and most of the conversation centred around the new home of the UL president Professor Don Barry. I’m of the opinion that Eamonn is a windup merchant who makes some good points but isn’t interested in balanced reportage. It’s an opinion piece, like George Hook, Matt Cooper etc. This was no exception.

Why should any of us give a damn that the president of one of our universities is going to live in a state of the art modern home for the duration of his tenure? It’s owned by UL, it will be used by presidents of UL in the future and it was covered by a philanthropic donation. It is common in many of the best universities in Europe and the US that dean’s/presidents and in exceptional circumstances leading academic staff often occupy salubrious university owned accommodation. Such subsidies are a way of attracting and keeping top staff to occupy prestigious positions. UL have planned this for a while. Sure, I’ve had a salary cut that I’m angry about but that doesn’t mean I want everyone in Ireland to dwell on all the perceived injustices rather than getting on with creating world class universities with world class facilities.

To listen to the report you’d swear the UL president had been given a gift of 2 Million quid by the college and that there was something seedy about this rather banal transaction. It was even compared to FAS. This is patent nonsense. The high build costs are justified by the high quality of the construction and it’s planned longevity. The architecture won’t be to everybody’s taste but you can’t do anything good by pleasing everybody. Prof Barry is objectively doing an excellent job. You only have to see the quality of UL’s courses, the campus and the research in well chosen niches to understand it’s an excellent university. The debt of UL is minor and insignificant relative to the banks and the construction industry. Nobody’s kids are going to suffer because Don Barry was either paid a lot or lived in a nice house yet there’s a cult of lazy journalism looking for easy stories that sees such things hyped and dwelt upon. We actually need to spend more on our higher educational sector if we’re to become internationally credible, not less. Our spend on R&D is much smaller than Sweden, Korea or Finland as a % of GDP yet we want to brand ourselves as a knowledge economy. Lofty ambitions. Considering our small population we’re simply not doing enough to compete. We need to be positive and invest for the future. Some of this will involve recruiting academics for large salaries. Deal with it or we can all mope around, complaining the world is unfair and celebrating our mediocrity.

I have no involvement with UL and if I was concerned with sucking up to people in my blog then I’d have published a lot less posts.

Categories
philosophy politics Uncategorized

Peace and Goodwill

A lasting memory I have of secondary school history lessons is the description of the 1914 Christmas truce during World War I. With subsequent study and a few pointers in the right direction from a friend of mine who’s a budding WWI historian I realised that my teacher had embellished the story somewhat. As, I suppose, history teachers in an all-male school are likely to do when dealing with a class of rowdy teenagers who are only pacified by talk of war.
This event has been romanticised and mythologised for 95 years. In spite of the debris the story has gathered with retelling the facts are inspirational. While retrenching for the new year push British and German soldiers on the front-line reduced their attacks until eventually a temporary truce was declared. What’s even more surprising is that the truce was preceded by gifts from either side including a chocolate cake which some German soldiers slipped into the British trenches. This was accompanied by a note suggesting a temporary ceasefire so the German troops “could celebrate their captain’s birthday”. The 1914 truce was repeated in 1915. The “Boy’s Own” story of the spontaneous football game between both sides is often recounted by football historians as demonstrating the power of sport to bring people together. I suppose somebody somewhere is busy writing a thesis about how the event shows how chocolate cake is a vital ingredient in building a lasting peace. I’m kidding but there’s no doubt that the event has proved culturally significant with experts, historians and clergy all suggesting differing and overlapping messages that we can take from the moments of kindness and sanity amidst one of mankind’s worst atrocities.

For me the most poignant aspect of the 2 Christmas day armistices was the opposition of many in the high command on British, French and German sides to the ceasefire and the orders to resume fighting or risk disciplinary action. In many respects, the spontaneous truces were based on a deepening sense of shared struggle between the opposing soldiers and their mutual distrust and disillusionment with their leaders who were safely ensconced in luxury around 30 miles behind the front line. Yeats put it extremely well in his 1919 poem – “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”

Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.

War and conflict are a constant in human history. Yet people fundamentally want peace. They want the dissipation of war, to go home to their loved ones and rebuild their lives. Perhaps, just perhaps, we don’t need war. That war is similar to an auto-immune disease where the body is tricked into attacking itself.

I’m sure some will disagree but in any war-like conflict I believe you can reduce the initiation of conflict to a policy decision, always accompanied by “heroic” rhetoric and justification. War is so abhorrent that it demands justification whether it’s by Kissinger’s or Obama’s. There’s nobody (especially not Nobel peace prize winners) who don’t comfort themselves with a “just war”. War is initiated by leaders at the cost of their followers. There is no just war, only a just defense of freedom.

For me, the best argument for pacifism and neutrality comes from a surprising but insightful source.

Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. – Herman Goering (convicted war criminal)

Ring any bells? You can verify this as part of the actual transcript taken during the Nuremberg trials in 1946. See more here.
A detailed and eye-witness account of the armistice is available at the First World War Multimedia Archives.

While those reading this post are probably sitting at home in surroundings which are luxurious and, hopefully, peaceful there are many who will spend this Christmas in warzones fearing attack. Soldier or civilian, the gift they really want is peace. They trust their leaders to be just and wise. These are the gifts our leaders need most this Christmas time.