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An Spailpín Fánach: 06/01/2015 - 07/01/2015
http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2015_06_01_archive.html
Tuesday, June 02, 2015. Can the Seanad Save Free Speech? You remember the Seanad – it’s the theoretical upper house of the bicameral Oireachtas, a growling, snarling watchdog that keeps the Government of the day on their toes. Or so, at least, its proponents would have you believe during the referendum on the continued existence of the Seanad, which the sovereign people choose to retain in a referendum held on the 4th of October, 2013. Which is why the Seanad must do what the Dáil cannot, and take a stan...
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An Spailpín Fánach: 02/01/2015 - 03/01/2015
http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2015_02_01_archive.html
Thursday, February 12, 2015. Cricket: Where Taking the Shilling Takes the Biscuit. Consider furthermore how exactly Wicklow would feel if Dublin’s best player on this Leinster Final Day in front of a packed Croke Park were himself from Wicklow – Aughrim, say – with no connection to Dublin at all, at all. But the prodigy turns out to be no good at hurling. He knows how to hold the thing at the thin bit instead of the thick bit but his wristwork isn’t worth tuppence. However, although a limit...Having foun...
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An Spailpín Fánach: 10/01/2014 - 11/01/2014
http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2014_10_01_archive.html
Thursday, October 23, 2014. We Have Learned Nothing in Irish Politics. First published in the Western People. I, for one, welcome our new overlord. The analysis of the by-election results in Dublin South-West and Roscommon South-Leitrim has focused heavily on how voters are turning away from the major Irish political parties. This was especially obvious in Dublin South-West, where Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour managed just 26% of the vote between them. Ballyhea is a village in County Cork. Every ...
spailpin.blogspot.com
An Spailpín Fánach: 08/01/2015 - 09/01/2015
http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2015_08_01_archive.html
Monday, August 10, 2015. Mayo Pass a Difficult Test. It is the lot of the Mayo supporter to walk with ghosts. Ghosts of past players he or she has seen, memories of past achievements and disappointments, echoes of what-ifs and maybes. Mayo went into Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Donegal with a lot of questions to answer. Some were obvious, like the goal-leakage identified by Malachy Clerkin in the Irish Times on Saturday. Neither Pat nor Noel is a media creature. James Horan’s fr...There i...
spailpin.blogspot.com
An Spailpín Fánach: Can the Seanad Save Free Speech?
http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2015/06/can-seanad-save-free-speech.html
Tuesday, June 02, 2015. Can the Seanad Save Free Speech? You remember the Seanad – it’s the theoretical upper house of the bicameral Oireachtas, a growling, snarling watchdog that keeps the Government of the day on their toes. Or so, at least, its proponents would have you believe during the referendum on the continued existence of the Seanad, which the sovereign people choose to retain in a referendum held on the 4th of October, 2013. Which is why the Seanad must do what the Dáil cannot, and take a stan...
spailpin.blogspot.com
An Spailpín Fánach: 07/01/2015 - 08/01/2015
http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2015_07_01_archive.html
Tuesday, July 07, 2015. Piketty is Wrong About German War Debt. Colette Browne quotes economist Thomas Piketty in her column in today's Irish Independent. As saying that Germany had sixty per cent of its war debt written off after the Second World War. This is not true. It's not true for this reason: there wasn't a Germany after the Second World War to pay any debts. Germany was gone, and there were two states, East and West Germany, in its place. Posted by An Spailpín. Friday, July 03, 2015. Val Doonica...
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An Spailpín Fánach: Won't Anybody Think of Kieran Donaghy?
http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2015/05/wont-anybody-think-of-kieran-donaghy.html
Wednesday, May 20, 2015. Won't Anybody Think of Kieran Donaghy? The last fancy eats he'll see for a while. The Gaelic Players’ Association, or GPA, like to make a big song and dance about the suffering of the inter-county player, and the great efforts that the GPA make to help those forced to wear that crown of thorns, that overladen creel, that 21st Century hairshirt that is the county jersey. As far as the GPA are concerned, the county player, like lovely Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, is worth it. The Indi...
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An Spailpín Fánach: Bias and the National Broadcaster
http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2015/05/bias-and-national-broadcaster.html
Monday, May 18, 2015. Bias and the National Broadcaster. At first glance, the front page story in Saturday’s Irish Independent was a delicious revelation that, for all their bien-pensant rhetoric, the Irish Labour Party are just as venal as the next party. When it comes to the dirty of game of politics. The story quotes an RTÉ source as saying "Our job was to get the best people for both sides, and one would have thought that Leo was the best person on the Government side for the last debate.”. To bring ...
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Fiche Focal ...: January 2010
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Wednesday 27 January 2010. Falling out of Love with Politics. I sat up half the night on April 9th 1992, waiting on the very tight British election to be called. It was supposed to be a narrow but comfortable win for Labour after thirteen years of Conservative rule. But in the end, it went to the wire and Labour lost. Eventually I had to admit to myself that I'm not really a political animal and that my interest is more in the theory than the practice! Regarding the theory - I am still fascinated by the ...
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Fiche Focal ...: June 2009
http://fichefocal.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
Monday 29 June 2009. Little Boy Time: Childhood under Attack. Maybe it's part of that nostaligia thing that I'm going through, these vivid imaginings of episodes and relationships from my childhood that I'm denying has anything to do with the concept of a mid life crisis! In a beautiful piece Chabon talks about one essential component of childhood - the freedom to head off, through streets or woods, with others or alone, every or most days, and just conduct a little adventure. This aspect of childhoo...
