Away For A Few Days
30/06/08 23:11 Filed in: Work
Off to
Tuscany tomorrow.
And before anyone goes “Lucky sod!”, it’s work, OK?
Back Saturday night.
And before anyone goes “Lucky sod!”, it’s work, OK?
Back Saturday night.
|
Macro Mode
28/06/08 23:25 Filed in: Photos
The
camera that I bought a while back, a
Ricoh Caplio
R7, has a great
lens. As well as a really good wide-angle option,
it can capture some fantastic detail up close in
Macro mode.
I have been playing around with it over the last while, mostly with the produce of my wife’s flower beds, pots and hanging baskets.
A few shots after the jump, and a gallery here.
Wait! There's More…
I have been playing around with it over the last while, mostly with the produce of my wife’s flower beds, pots and hanging baskets.
A few shots after the jump, and a gallery here.
Wait! There's More…
Ryanair Talking Bollocks (Again)
28/06/08 21:40 Filed in: General
Nonsense
Ryanair
CEO Michael O’Leary was on The Last Word on Thursday
evening, arguing against the provision of the Dublin
North Metro project. This is a pet topic of Ryanair,
and one that I noted their opinions on
before.
(Download an MP3 of the interview here.)
But this time O’Leary excelled himself as the arrogant, pompous, “Look at me, I’m on the side of the consumer” little gobshite that he is. His schtick is that because the majority of passengers come to airports in cars, therefore they are not interested in any other form of transport to get them to and from Dublin Airport. During the debate, his views were challenged by Sean Murphy, Director of Policy at Chambers Ireland. Whenever Murphy spoke, O’Leary could be heard making derisory snoring noises.
What he failed to say is that Ryanair have a commercial interest in maintaining the status quo. They have a deal with Hertz at the airport, and earn commission on referrals to Hertz from the Ryanair website. In addition, car parking is a valuable revenue stream to the DAA, and any reduction in that would doubtless lead to higher landing charges for airlines like Ryanair.
Still, expecting them to come clean would be futile. This is after all the airline that tried to pull a fast one on Munster fans earlier this year. Predicting as far back as January that their team would reach the final in Cardiff in May, fans booked the 6.50am flight on Ryanair to Bristol for fares in in the region of €50 or so. Once Munster won the semi-final, Ryanair ‘rescheduled’ the flight to 3pm (which would have been too tight to make the 5pm kick-off time), and offered fans a full refund if the new time didn’t suit. But a few days later, the 6.50am flight miraculously reappeared, this time priced at €229.
But this time O’Leary excelled himself as the arrogant, pompous, “Look at me, I’m on the side of the consumer” little gobshite that he is. His schtick is that because the majority of passengers come to airports in cars, therefore they are not interested in any other form of transport to get them to and from Dublin Airport. During the debate, his views were challenged by Sean Murphy, Director of Policy at Chambers Ireland. Whenever Murphy spoke, O’Leary could be heard making derisory snoring noises.
What he failed to say is that Ryanair have a commercial interest in maintaining the status quo. They have a deal with Hertz at the airport, and earn commission on referrals to Hertz from the Ryanair website. In addition, car parking is a valuable revenue stream to the DAA, and any reduction in that would doubtless lead to higher landing charges for airlines like Ryanair.
Still, expecting them to come clean would be futile. This is after all the airline that tried to pull a fast one on Munster fans earlier this year. Predicting as far back as January that their team would reach the final in Cardiff in May, fans booked the 6.50am flight on Ryanair to Bristol for fares in in the region of €50 or so. Once Munster won the semi-final, Ryanair ‘rescheduled’ the flight to 3pm (which would have been too tight to make the 5pm kick-off time), and offered fans a full refund if the new time didn’t suit. But a few days later, the 6.50am flight miraculously reappeared, this time priced at €229.
The Times They Are No Longer A-Chargin'
28/06/08 21:30 Filed in: General
Nonsense
Excellent
news comes today from
the Irish Times, who will open up their online
service free to read from Monday. The paper has
its faults (pomposity, Dublin-centric,
oh-so-fluffy Weekend Magazine), but compared to
the competition, it’s streets ahead.
The new service will also have a new url: irishtimes.com, and the existing one, ireland.com will continue life as a portal for everything Irish. (A portal site? How very Web 1.0!)
The new service will also have a new url: irishtimes.com, and the existing one, ireland.com will continue life as a portal for everything Irish. (A portal site? How very Web 1.0!)
Passwords
27/06/08 22:27 Filed in: Tech
I have
an app here on my Mac called Yojimbo, which is a
repsoitory for various bits ‘n’ bobs. I use it a
lot for things
like licence keys of
purchased software, PDFs of online receipts, etc. But
it also stores all the username and password
combinations I use. If ever I find myself looking
blankly at a login page, I just consult Yojimbo and
find the relevant username and password, having first
unlocked it with a password I keep in my brain.
Mac OS X has a utility that addresses this need and more, called Keychain.
Whenever you visit a
site and enter a username and password, you get the
option to save for future use. This is handy if you
only ever have one user, but if you have two or more
users, it doesn’t work so well. My wife and I both
have Gmail accounts (I have at least four), so
relying on Keychain doesn’t work so well in this
case. Keychain also keeps a record of usernames and
passwords for system functions like wireless
networks, etc.
I have another utility installed called 1Password, which gets over this. This installs a
button on your
browsers, which when you click it, lists all the user
accounts available for the relevant service. If you
think that sounds a bit too risky, it can be locked
off so that it can’t be accessed by unauthorised
users.
Setting effective and memorable passwords can be tricky. We are always told to use letters and numbers and mix lower case and upper case. For some reason that I cannot explain, I have an unnatural memory for car registrations. I can remember the reg numbers of my parents’ cars back to the early 1970s, so combinations of two or more can make a good strong password. Also, and again for reasons unexplained, I have ingrained on my memory postcodes of addresses I lived at in London. Add in the house number and capitalise the first lot of letters, and there’s another one.
One of the big temptations is to use the same username and password combination across everything. This is a serious no-no, because if your cover gets blown, you could be in serious trouble.
Mac OS X has a utility that addresses this need and more, called Keychain.
I have another utility installed called 1Password, which gets over this. This installs a
Setting effective and memorable passwords can be tricky. We are always told to use letters and numbers and mix lower case and upper case. For some reason that I cannot explain, I have an unnatural memory for car registrations. I can remember the reg numbers of my parents’ cars back to the early 1970s, so combinations of two or more can make a good strong password. Also, and again for reasons unexplained, I have ingrained on my memory postcodes of addresses I lived at in London. Add in the house number and capitalise the first lot of letters, and there’s another one.
One of the big temptations is to use the same username and password combination across everything. This is a serious no-no, because if your cover gets blown, you could be in serious trouble.
Time Machine
When Mac
OS X Leopard was released a few months ago, one of
the major features being promoted was
Time Machine. This was
Apple’s revolutionary approach to backing up,
which creates incremental versions of files and
documents that can be accessed by going “back in
time.” So if you create a file on a Monday and
amend it on Wednesday, and then on Thursday decide
you actually wanted Monday’s version to work on,
you can restore your current version of the file
to the state it was in on Monday. When I upgraded,
I set Time Machine up to back up to an external
hard drive, even though I was already using
SuperDuper! as a backup
solution (and Mozy too. And
Flickr for my photos. As
you can see, I’m paranoid about data loss.)
I never had occasion
to actually restore anything from any of my back-up
sets till last week. I was writing a piece on this
site about the death of
Esbjörn Svensson, and was trying
to embed an MP3 of one of his tunes into the post.
Whatever happened, the page file got corrupted and
threw up an error message when I tried to publish.
I deleted the post, rewrote it without the MP3 and
tried again. Same story. It was late and I was
heading for France the following day, so I decided
to leave it till I came back to sort out.
The whole site is contained as a single Rapidweaver
file (called a sandwich), which is stored on the hard
drive of my iMac, and backed up to my three back-up
systems daily. So by the time I came back home, the
corrupt file was now the backed up one. Normally,
this would cause a problem, but because I have Time
Machine, I was able to fix it quite easily. I just
went back through Time Machine to the day before I
started writing the post that caused all the
problems, and brought that copy forward to the
present, replacing the corrupt one. I then rewrote
the post and voilà, it worked.
Using Music In Ads
23/06/08 22:45 Filed in: General
Nonsense | Music
The
new Bulmers TV ad for summer
2008 is out, and as
usual, they have chosen a great song to accompany
it. This time it’s ‘Lazy Day’ by The Byrds (or
maybe The Flying Burrito Brothers). It’s a good
example of how to do music in an ad like this.
Take a classic song that most people will just
about know, and don’t mess with it. They have done
this several times in the past, including this one
from a few years ago, featuring ‘Sunny Afternoon’
by The Kinks.
A good example of how not to do it comes via the Corona beer radio ad. It takes the 1979 hit “My Sharona” by The Knack and alters the lyrics to “My Corona.” Another line becomes “Ooh, you taste so good, like you should, like I knew you would” or something like that. My ears bleed every time I hear it. Whoever came up with it deserves to be cast into the wilderness wearing sackcloth and ashes, to feed off locusts. Here’s the original:
A good example of how not to do it comes via the Corona beer radio ad. It takes the 1979 hit “My Sharona” by The Knack and alters the lyrics to “My Corona.” Another line becomes “Ooh, you taste so good, like you should, like I knew you would” or something like that. My ears bleed every time I hear it. Whoever came up with it deserves to be cast into the wilderness wearing sackcloth and ashes, to feed off locusts. Here’s the original:
Losing The Run Of One's Self
Over at
Irish Election, in a comment from some dude
called ‘Future Taoiseach’:
Indeed. Why, only this evening, I saw a marauding gang of veterans of the Maastricht and Nice campaigns burn a family of “No” voters out of their home in Bracklone Street here in Portarlington.
A once democraric union of cooperating nation states has crossed the line into coercion and dictatorship. As in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, your vote is not respected unless you vote ‘the right way’.
Indeed. Why, only this evening, I saw a marauding gang of veterans of the Maastricht and Nice campaigns burn a family of “No” voters out of their home in Bracklone Street here in Portarlington.
Esbjörn Svensson
18/06/08 23:20 Filed in: Music
I was very sorry to
hear of the death last weekend of the Swedish jazz
pianist Esbjörn Svensson. He was 44, and died as a
result of a scuba diving accident.
I discovered him about four years ago, and saw him in concert in Vicar Street in May 2005. This was my first "real” jazz concert, and it was an incredible experience. Even though the piano was the lead intrument in the trio, the bass and drums were also to the fore. Although the main focus of his work was on his own compositions, he was also a fine interpreter of standards, as this version of Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight” shows.
I discovered him about four years ago, and saw him in concert in Vicar Street in May 2005. This was my first "real” jazz concert, and it was an incredible experience. Even though the piano was the lead intrument in the trio, the bass and drums were also to the fore. Although the main focus of his work was on his own compositions, he was also a fine interpreter of standards, as this version of Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight” shows.
The Lies Have It
13/06/08 21:51 Filed in: Politics
| Lisbon
Treaty
The result of the referendum
was not unexpected,
but it is still depressing all the same.
The usual clichés were being trotted out on the airwaves all day:
“The people have spoken and we must respect their decision…”
“Now is not the time for recriminations or assigning blame…”
“We must now reflect on what the people have said…”
Blah, blah, blah.
Two things swung this referendum result - ineptitude on the Yes side and lies on the No side.
The No campaign was well under way before the political establishment got its act together. By the time they shook off their ennui, the best the Yes crowd could do was to try to fight an EU referendum campaign assuming that Ireland’s enthusiasm for the EU from times past was still intact. How wrong they were. Their posters were crap, ranging from bland platitudes to “get to know you” opportunities for the candidates in next year’s local and Euro elections. In debates they were forced onto the back foot by a No campaign that had no compunction about lying repeatedly. Then there was the infighting, with public squabbles between the various pro-Lisbon parties.
What they should have done from the outset was pool their resources and establish one strong Yes campaign, with the focus on the issues and not the personalities. The treaty was always going to be a difficult sell, as the issues involved didn’t resonate with people’s everyday lives. The Yes campaign failed to make the treaty relevant enough to the electorate to motivate them to vote for it.
In contrast, all the No campaign had to do was to raise as many spectres as it could to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of the electorate. It didn’t matter how they did this, as the end justified the means. So they presented a campaign that ranged from what could be called “creative interpretation” of the treaty to outright lies. Tax, neutrality, abortion, worker’s rights, etc., it didn’t matter - just keep spreading the shit and some of it would eventually stick.
What’s disappointing is that no-one on the Yes side had the balls to nail these lies at source. Rather than getting bogged down in technical arguments with sloganeering opponents, it might have been more productive to just call the lies as they emerged. Rather than trying to explain the ins and outs of QMV, or the Maastricht protocol or whatever, it might have been more productive to just say to the naysayer: “We have explained time and time again that the concerns you raise have been addressed. Why do you persist in repeating these unfounded misrepresentations/lies?” Forcing them on to the defensive and making them justify their point of view would have stopped their lies in their tracks.
But that’s all the realm of “what if” now. The referendum has been lost and we must move on to salvage something from the wreckage. Ireland’s political capital in the EU has plummetted in value, and it is now up to Brian Cowen and the rest of the government to restore our reputation as an enthusiastic member of the EU club. It won’t be easy. Neither will it be easy to explain to our EU partners why Ireland rejected the treaty. A lot of the critical detail of the treaty was actually won by the doggedness of the Irish negotiators on behalf of the smaller states, such as the rotating commission arrangement. Originally, the bigger states would have a permanent place on the commission, with the smaller states rotating. Irish intervention changed that to all states regardless of size having to share and concede time on the commission. (Not that it really matters anyway, as commissioners represent their portfolios within the EU, not the states from which they come.)
Still, we can always look on the bright side. At least the threat of the New World Order as outlined by Jim Corr has been averted. (YouTube audio link.)
The usual clichés were being trotted out on the airwaves all day:
“The people have spoken and we must respect their decision…”
“Now is not the time for recriminations or assigning blame…”
“We must now reflect on what the people have said…”
Blah, blah, blah.
Two things swung this referendum result - ineptitude on the Yes side and lies on the No side.
The No campaign was well under way before the political establishment got its act together. By the time they shook off their ennui, the best the Yes crowd could do was to try to fight an EU referendum campaign assuming that Ireland’s enthusiasm for the EU from times past was still intact. How wrong they were. Their posters were crap, ranging from bland platitudes to “get to know you” opportunities for the candidates in next year’s local and Euro elections. In debates they were forced onto the back foot by a No campaign that had no compunction about lying repeatedly. Then there was the infighting, with public squabbles between the various pro-Lisbon parties.
What they should have done from the outset was pool their resources and establish one strong Yes campaign, with the focus on the issues and not the personalities. The treaty was always going to be a difficult sell, as the issues involved didn’t resonate with people’s everyday lives. The Yes campaign failed to make the treaty relevant enough to the electorate to motivate them to vote for it.
In contrast, all the No campaign had to do was to raise as many spectres as it could to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of the electorate. It didn’t matter how they did this, as the end justified the means. So they presented a campaign that ranged from what could be called “creative interpretation” of the treaty to outright lies. Tax, neutrality, abortion, worker’s rights, etc., it didn’t matter - just keep spreading the shit and some of it would eventually stick.
What’s disappointing is that no-one on the Yes side had the balls to nail these lies at source. Rather than getting bogged down in technical arguments with sloganeering opponents, it might have been more productive to just call the lies as they emerged. Rather than trying to explain the ins and outs of QMV, or the Maastricht protocol or whatever, it might have been more productive to just say to the naysayer: “We have explained time and time again that the concerns you raise have been addressed. Why do you persist in repeating these unfounded misrepresentations/lies?” Forcing them on to the defensive and making them justify their point of view would have stopped their lies in their tracks.
But that’s all the realm of “what if” now. The referendum has been lost and we must move on to salvage something from the wreckage. Ireland’s political capital in the EU has plummetted in value, and it is now up to Brian Cowen and the rest of the government to restore our reputation as an enthusiastic member of the EU club. It won’t be easy. Neither will it be easy to explain to our EU partners why Ireland rejected the treaty. A lot of the critical detail of the treaty was actually won by the doggedness of the Irish negotiators on behalf of the smaller states, such as the rotating commission arrangement. Originally, the bigger states would have a permanent place on the commission, with the smaller states rotating. Irish intervention changed that to all states regardless of size having to share and concede time on the commission. (Not that it really matters anyway, as commissioners represent their portfolios within the EU, not the states from which they come.)
Still, we can always look on the bright side. At least the threat of the New World Order as outlined by Jim Corr has been averted. (YouTube audio link.)
More Thoughts On Renegotiating The Lisbon Treaty
10/06/08 22:45 Filed in: Politics
| Lisbon
Treaty
Last night,
I posted my
reasons for voting Yes to the Lisbon
Treaty this Thursday.
Since then the issue of renegotiating the Treaty has come up again, so I’m going to hammer a few more nails into this one.
As I said last night, if Ireland rejects the Treaty and is forced to go back to renegotiate it, this will have to be done by the very people who negotiated it in the first place. Some naysayers seem to think that we will be in a position of strength in this situation, given our requirement for a referendum in order to pass the Treaty into Irish law.
This is utter horseshit. If we do that, we will be sending our representatives back into the negotiating chamber on their knees. As far as our EU partners are concerned, our negotiators were satisfied with what they got last time round, especially given the fact that the bulk of the negotiations were done on our patch, during our presidency of the EU in 2004. Those opt-outs, protocols and clauses that we gained in the original round of negotiations were the result of hard bargaining, and not everyone was happy that we got them. So if we go back looking for more, we would more than likely end up with less than we had originally.
What is this “better deal” that Libertas, Sinn Féin, Kathy SInnott MEP, et al seem to think we can extract from our EU partners? The simple fact is that it doesn’t exist. The lake of goodwill in today’s EU is not particulaly deep and if we think we can send our horses to drink from it having first let them trample over everyoines else’s flowerbeds, we’ll soon find out that it has dried up.
Even in the best case scenario, whereby we actually come through a renegotiating process with a treaty that is no worse than the one we have now (we will not get a better one, remember), there is every likelihood that the very same hurlers in the ditch will come out and oppose that one too.
In simple terms - this is the best deal we’re going to get. Let’s take it and move on.
Since then the issue of renegotiating the Treaty has come up again, so I’m going to hammer a few more nails into this one.
As I said last night, if Ireland rejects the Treaty and is forced to go back to renegotiate it, this will have to be done by the very people who negotiated it in the first place. Some naysayers seem to think that we will be in a position of strength in this situation, given our requirement for a referendum in order to pass the Treaty into Irish law.
This is utter horseshit. If we do that, we will be sending our representatives back into the negotiating chamber on their knees. As far as our EU partners are concerned, our negotiators were satisfied with what they got last time round, especially given the fact that the bulk of the negotiations were done on our patch, during our presidency of the EU in 2004. Those opt-outs, protocols and clauses that we gained in the original round of negotiations were the result of hard bargaining, and not everyone was happy that we got them. So if we go back looking for more, we would more than likely end up with less than we had originally.
What is this “better deal” that Libertas, Sinn Féin, Kathy SInnott MEP, et al seem to think we can extract from our EU partners? The simple fact is that it doesn’t exist. The lake of goodwill in today’s EU is not particulaly deep and if we think we can send our horses to drink from it having first let them trample over everyoines else’s flowerbeds, we’ll soon find out that it has dried up.
Even in the best case scenario, whereby we actually come through a renegotiating process with a treaty that is no worse than the one we have now (we will not get a better one, remember), there is every likelihood that the very same hurlers in the ditch will come out and oppose that one too.
In simple terms - this is the best deal we’re going to get. Let’s take it and move on.
New Apple Goodies
If it’s early June,
then it must be Apple World Wide Developer
Conference time. That means a keynote from
Steve Jobs, which usually means new goodies. Not
always mind, as the WWDC, as its name suggests, is
aimed at third-party software developers, so the
shiny new kit doesn’t always materialise at this
time of year.
But this year it did. The 3G iPhone is on the way, and just looking at it now, it really is a magnificent piece of work. It looks like they overcame the initial problems of getting 3G the iPhone, such as battery performance, and then some. The only price we know of so far is the US$ one, and it starts at €199 for an 8GB model. This is half the current price for an original iPhone, and a third of the initial price of the 4GB model released just under a year ago.
Hopefully, O2 will launch it in Ireland with a decent price and contract, but based on their past form, I won’t be holding my breath.
The other announcement of note is MobileMe, or .Mac 2.0. This is a long overdue upgrade to Apple’s online suite of apps and utilities, and as a subscriber, I am delighted to see this one coming down the tracks.
But this year it did. The 3G iPhone is on the way, and just looking at it now, it really is a magnificent piece of work. It looks like they overcame the initial problems of getting 3G the iPhone, such as battery performance, and then some. The only price we know of so far is the US$ one, and it starts at €199 for an 8GB model. This is half the current price for an original iPhone, and a third of the initial price of the 4GB model released just under a year ago.
Hopefully, O2 will launch it in Ireland with a decent price and contract, but based on their past form, I won’t be holding my breath.
The other announcement of note is MobileMe, or .Mac 2.0. This is a long overdue upgrade to Apple’s online suite of apps and utilities, and as a subscriber, I am delighted to see this one coming down the tracks.
Yes
09/06/08 22:29 Filed in: Politics
| Lisbon
Treaty
On Thursday, I will get
up at some ungodly hour and make my way to Dublin
Airport to catch a 6.30am flight to the UK for a
meeting. I should be back in Dublin about 12 hours
later, so there will still be plenty of time before
the polling stations close to go and cast my vote.
And if you hadn’t worked it out by now, that vote will be a Yes. I’m voting Yes for several reasons:
Furthermore, I simply don’t believe the arguments put about by the various No campaigners. The tax issue is one. We retain a veto on the issue of Corporation Tax. It won’t change unless we agree to it.
The commissioner issue is nonsense. You would swear listening to the arguments that Ireland was the only state that was due to lose a commissioner in the rotation. It will affect every member state. Furthermore, commissioners do not represent their own states’ interests at the commission table. They are there to manage a portfolio without fear or favour to any member state, their own included. To say that each member state has to have a representative commissioner at all times is like saying that every constituency in Ireland has to have a representative minister in the Cabinet. Ireland’s interests will be represented by the Council of Ministers, The European Council (Heads of Government), and the European Parliament. All of these bodies are made up of people who have either been elected to their national parliaments, or directly to the European Parliament itself. Unlike commissioners, who are appointed.
Finally, there is the notion going around that if we reject the Lisbon Treaty, we can somehow negotiate a better deal for Ireland. This gibberish is being peddled by Sinn Féin and also by Kathy Sinnott MEP. So let’s say we do reject it. Who is going to have to go back to our EU partners to renegotiate it? One thing’s for sure, it won’t be the Shinners, or Kathy Sinnott, or any of the other naysayers. It will be the government, the very people who negotiated this deal in the first place, and who are trying to convince the electorate that this deal is the best Ireland can get.
If you can’t make up your mind, or if you feel you don’t understand what it’s all about, I would recommend that you read the Referendum Commission booklet that was delivered to every household in the State. If you can’t get hold of that, they have a website lisbontreaty2008.ie
And if you hadn’t worked it out by now, that vote will be a Yes. I’m voting Yes for several reasons:
- I believe that this treaty is a positive step forward for the EU.
- It brings reform to where it is needed.
- Ireland’s specific concerns have been addressed (even though I’m not bothered about one or two of them.)
- I am satisfied that Ireland’s sovereignty will not be compromised by this treaty.
Furthermore, I simply don’t believe the arguments put about by the various No campaigners. The tax issue is one. We retain a veto on the issue of Corporation Tax. It won’t change unless we agree to it.
The commissioner issue is nonsense. You would swear listening to the arguments that Ireland was the only state that was due to lose a commissioner in the rotation. It will affect every member state. Furthermore, commissioners do not represent their own states’ interests at the commission table. They are there to manage a portfolio without fear or favour to any member state, their own included. To say that each member state has to have a representative commissioner at all times is like saying that every constituency in Ireland has to have a representative minister in the Cabinet. Ireland’s interests will be represented by the Council of Ministers, The European Council (Heads of Government), and the European Parliament. All of these bodies are made up of people who have either been elected to their national parliaments, or directly to the European Parliament itself. Unlike commissioners, who are appointed.
Finally, there is the notion going around that if we reject the Lisbon Treaty, we can somehow negotiate a better deal for Ireland. This gibberish is being peddled by Sinn Féin and also by Kathy Sinnott MEP. So let’s say we do reject it. Who is going to have to go back to our EU partners to renegotiate it? One thing’s for sure, it won’t be the Shinners, or Kathy Sinnott, or any of the other naysayers. It will be the government, the very people who negotiated this deal in the first place, and who are trying to convince the electorate that this deal is the best Ireland can get.
If you can’t make up your mind, or if you feel you don’t understand what it’s all about, I would recommend that you read the Referendum Commission booklet that was delivered to every household in the State. If you can’t get hold of that, they have a website lisbontreaty2008.ie
Lisbon Explained
08/06/08 23:01 Filed in: Politics
| Lisbon
Treaty
Can No-one In The Yes Campaign Use Photoshop?
06/06/08 00:06 Filed in: Politics
| Lisbon
Treaty
Just A Thought…
06/06/08 00:01 Filed in: Politics
Yes Campaign - Unable To Organise Piss-Up In Brewery (Official)
05/06/08 22:48 Filed in: Politics
| Lisbon
Treaty
Over the last week or
so, I got the distinct impression that the tide has
been turning in favour of the anti-Lisbon point of
view. This evening that hunch has been
confirmed, as a poll in tomorrow’s Irish
Times shows that the No vote is five
points ahead of the Yes vote.
If this follows through to polling day, it will be a disaster for both the government and the main opposition parties. So far they have allowed the No campaign to gain the upper hand and instil the necessary FUD into the minds of the electorate (well, those voters who are going to bother their arses to vote, at least.)
So where has it all gone wrong? They say that a lie gets half way around the world before the truth gets its boots on, and this is true in this case. The Yes campaign have not had a chance to fight this campaign on their own terms, as they have been forced to spend their time and resources denying the claims of the No side. Whatever the issue, be it taxation, neutrality, workers’ rights, the democratic deficit or abortion, the Yes campaign were forced to firefight. But it didn’t matter, because the seed of doubt has already been sown.
The treaty is a difficult sell for the Yes campaign, as it falls foul of the old maxim that all politics are local. The beneficiary of this treaty is the EU as a whole, and is is difficult to point to any aspect within it that is of direct benefit to Ireland specifically. But it is easy to spin a negative interpretation of it, and point to aspects of it that could possibly be to Ireland’s detriment.
To add to the Yes side’s woes is the general sense of apathy among the electorate. A common reaction is to claim not to understand the treaty (a seam well-mined by the No side), and thus not to bother voting at all. Given that the No side probably have a more motivated constituency, this will work in their favour.
Even taking into account the the difficulty in selling the positives of the treaty, the Yes campaign has been very wishy-washy. “Good for Ireland, Good for Europe” claim Fianna Fáil. Bland, bland, bland. Fine Gael and Labour used the campaign as an opportunity to introduce their candidates for the 2009 local and European elections. Labour’s campaign especially was a disgrace, as you really had to look closely for their message regarding this campaign. Where a lamp post had one poster with a photo of Eamon Gilmore making a profound political point, and another one claiming that we are going to pay more tax because of the Lisbon Treaty, there was only ever going to be one winner.
The Yes campaign have six days to turn this around. They need to promote this as a way of showing that Ireland is a team player in Europe. They need to definitively nail the lies from Libertas, Coir and the rest of the FUD-merchants.
I’m voting Yes and I hope that it passes, but my hopes are below my expectations.
See also Bock and Irish Election
If this follows through to polling day, it will be a disaster for both the government and the main opposition parties. So far they have allowed the No campaign to gain the upper hand and instil the necessary FUD into the minds of the electorate (well, those voters who are going to bother their arses to vote, at least.)
So where has it all gone wrong? They say that a lie gets half way around the world before the truth gets its boots on, and this is true in this case. The Yes campaign have not had a chance to fight this campaign on their own terms, as they have been forced to spend their time and resources denying the claims of the No side. Whatever the issue, be it taxation, neutrality, workers’ rights, the democratic deficit or abortion, the Yes campaign were forced to firefight. But it didn’t matter, because the seed of doubt has already been sown.
The treaty is a difficult sell for the Yes campaign, as it falls foul of the old maxim that all politics are local. The beneficiary of this treaty is the EU as a whole, and is is difficult to point to any aspect within it that is of direct benefit to Ireland specifically. But it is easy to spin a negative interpretation of it, and point to aspects of it that could possibly be to Ireland’s detriment.
To add to the Yes side’s woes is the general sense of apathy among the electorate. A common reaction is to claim not to understand the treaty (a seam well-mined by the No side), and thus not to bother voting at all. Given that the No side probably have a more motivated constituency, this will work in their favour.
Even taking into account the the difficulty in selling the positives of the treaty, the Yes campaign has been very wishy-washy. “Good for Ireland, Good for Europe” claim Fianna Fáil. Bland, bland, bland. Fine Gael and Labour used the campaign as an opportunity to introduce their candidates for the 2009 local and European elections. Labour’s campaign especially was a disgrace, as you really had to look closely for their message regarding this campaign. Where a lamp post had one poster with a photo of Eamon Gilmore making a profound political point, and another one claiming that we are going to pay more tax because of the Lisbon Treaty, there was only ever going to be one winner.
The Yes campaign have six days to turn this around. They need to promote this as a way of showing that Ireland is a team player in Europe. They need to definitively nail the lies from Libertas, Coir and the rest of the FUD-merchants.
I’m voting Yes and I hope that it passes, but my hopes are below my expectations.
See also Bock and Irish Election
Rapidweaver 4.0
01/06/08 21:57 Filed in: Blogging
Realmac Software have released the latest version
of Rapidweaver, the app I use to publish this
site.
The overall usability of the interface has improved hugely. Basic editing tasks, such as font selection, text alignment, links and HTML are now available from buttons under the main text pane, instead of having to go to the Format menu.
Themes and inspectors are now available as buttons as well. Overall it has a “native OS X” feel to it, and would not look out of place in either iWork or iLife.
There’s also a very slick Cover Flow-style effect to show publishing progress, and the overall speed of publishing seems to have improved immensely.
I think a new theme for UnLaoised will have to be deployed to mark this auspicious occasion!
Rapidweaver 4.0 is available as a free upgrade for registered users of version 3.6. Upgrades from version 3.5 or earlier costs €20.49, and a completely new licence costs €40.28.
The overall usability of the interface has improved hugely. Basic editing tasks, such as font selection, text alignment, links and HTML are now available from buttons under the main text pane, instead of having to go to the Format menu.
Themes and inspectors are now available as buttons as well. Overall it has a “native OS X” feel to it, and would not look out of place in either iWork or iLife.
There’s also a very slick Cover Flow-style effect to show publishing progress, and the overall speed of publishing seems to have improved immensely.
I think a new theme for UnLaoised will have to be deployed to mark this auspicious occasion!
Rapidweaver 4.0 is available as a free upgrade for registered users of version 3.6. Upgrades from version 3.5 or earlier costs €20.49, and a completely new licence costs €40.28.