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Off with her head

Anne Harris, writing on the frontpage of the Sindo today, displays a rather curious sense of outrage at the Irish Times’ page one story from Saturday.

The Irish Times should be ashamed of itself. Yesterday, on the eve of their 150th anniversary, the so-called paper of record had, as its lead story, the fact that last year Celia Larkin got a “fast-tracked” second mortgage from the Irish Nationwide Building Society without initially providing details of her income, identification (seriously), bank statements and other loans held by her.

Celia Larkin’s second mortgage — described in paragraph two of the story as a “payment” (see what I mean) was, they say, “connected to transactions investigated by the Mahon (the biggest loaded word of all) tribunal”.

Do they tell us how it was connected? Of course not, because how it was connected would probably change how many readers would view this particular story.

Fifteen years ago, Celia Larkin was lent €30,000 from the Building Trust Fund of her previous employers towards the price of a previously rent-controlled house from which her two elderly aunts were facing eviction. To get such a loan was very convenient but not a crime.

Clearly Ms Harris has vested interests herself. And I believe it is she who should be ashamed of herself. The “Building Trust Fund” nonsense has long since been discredited, thanks to evidence from the staff of the Drumcondra branch of Permanent TSB. They clearly recalled and understood that B/T stood for Bertie/Tim, and building trusts were never mentioned. Indeed one staff member swore that Tim Collins himself referred to it as the Bertie/Tim account. That would put something of a variation on what Harris is getting at, wouldn’t it?

Mahon Tribunal:

March 19 2008 (Q 267)
May 20 2008 (Q412) (Q415) (Q421) (Q422) (Q423)

Economist digest

Learning the hard way
Barack Obama may at last be getting a grip. But he still needs to show more leadership, at home and abroad

Say you’re staying, Mr President
Barack Obama needs to act fast to dispel the idea that he is giving up on his “good war”

Not so nano
The financial crisis may have strengthened the hand of the developing world’s emerging giants

Further into Taliban country
America prepares to step up its military effort in Afghanistan

Reflecting on the Taliban
Westerners are thinking about talking to the Taliban. It won’t be easy

God and Berlin
A referendum next month may import religious teaching into Berlin’s schools

Have combat experience, will travel
The Atlantic alliance at 60 is busier, and going further afield, than ever—but some members want to refocus on threats nearer home

Sink or swim
A deluge of new ships pours into a drowning industry

Connecting up
Online-dating websites prosper in the recession

The pleasures and sorrows of work
The oddities of the daily grind – Alain De Botton’s new book

Kaplan on Afghanistan

From the latest issue of the Atlantic, Kaplan with an analysis of what’s brewing in Aghanistan. I love the conclusion:

“This is not easy shit,” says one American Army colonel. “But what’s the alternative?” That’s why American Brig. Gen. John Nicholson, Jr. says that what is required is “strategic patience.” The U. S. military has already been in Afghanistan half as many years as it was in Vietnam, and with troops pulling out of Iraq and talk of a multi-year hard slog ahead here, Afghanistan is on track to becoming America’s longest war. To that end, significant numbers of American officers and civilian contractors will be embedded in Afghan government ministries for years to come, helping to run things. But does the home front have the stomach for it? Our reaction to the fighting about to unfold this summer will speak volumes.

Easy shit it ain’t.

Picturegate

Holy crap, as they say. #picturegate is the number one trending topic on Twitter, and the Irish internet community is now officially up in arms.

How will the Government Press Office deal with this PR disaster? Send me an email? Demand YouTube take down the vids? The world has moved on since the days of Haughey lads. We can’t be silenced.

It started with a pic…

Continue reading “Picturegate”

Cowen's painting

Actually, strike the previous post.

Who the fuck do the Government think they are?

Who the fuck does Brian Cowen think he is?

How many of our previous Taoisigh gave a fuck about respecting the Office of the Taoiseach? Bertie Ahern? Charlie Haughey?

Who the fuck does the Government press office think they are?

What the fuck is wrong with RTE? Have they no fucking cahones? National broadcaster my ass. Government broadcaster is what they should be known as, or perhaps Fianna Fail propaganda outlet.

What the fuck are we going to do about this?

Damien has some excellent suggestions, and the Irish blogosphere is up in arms. Let’s start by posting Alan’s excellent cartoon of Mr Cowen.

brian-cowen-nude-caricature

RTE apology

As Suzy says, we well and truly live in a Banana Republic. RTE has apologised for broadcasting the news. Last time I checked, Brian Cowen was a servant of the people, not their master. This follows the Maire Hoctor debacle on Primetime. RTE are now officially lapdogs of the Government.

Here’s a question. If the Financial Regulator was captured by the banking industry, has RTE News been captured by the Government – the one it is supposed to watch?

Continue reading “RTE apology”

Manning the barricades

Courtesy of the Economist Intelligence Unit, an attempt to gauge the instability of countries around the world as the economic recession deepens.

The report is available in PDF.

Ireland is ranked joint 132nd with the UK on the social unrest index (being the 132nd most unstable), between Singapore and Tunisia. Of course that situation may change. Norway is rated the most table at 165, while Zimbabwe is at Number 1.

It warns of coming inflation problems and problems with the dollar.

First, the high demand for liquidity that prompted the cash injections is not the result of higher demand for goods and services. Banks will be using the money to shore up their own balance sheets rather than reinjecting it into the real economy. And quantitative easing is designed not to send the money supply into orbit but to stop it from crashing—in other words, to ward off deflation.

Second, policymakers are still going to be on their guard against renewed inflationary pressures (at least in developed economies). Hyperinflation occurs when deliberate attempts to stimulate inflation get out of hand. In Weimar Germany, the major concern for the government and the big industrial combines was unemployment, which they feared could lead to a Communist takeover. A cheaper currency was seen as useful to boost exports and keep people in work.

The costs of excessive inflation are now more clearly understood. Indeed, there is a widespread feeling that loose monetary policy earlier this decade was an important cause of the financial bubble that has now burst.

The greater risk, rather than a renewed surge in inflation as a result of the current massive monetary stimulus, is that the first signs of an upturn prompt an unduly rapid tightening of monetary policy that chokes off the nascent recovery.

I bumped into a friend of the US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in Washington in January, and his opinion was this: The US will err on the side of higher inflation because it is easier to control with tools such as interest rate increases. Deflation is almost impossible to control.

Silver and gold rose rapidly this week too and this looks set to continue.


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