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The Lisbon Treaty vote is coming soon to Ireland, again. To re-cap: France and Holland rejected a planned European constitution so it was repackaged as a more innoccuous sounding treaty, which the Irish then rejected. Three strikes and you’re not out at all at all: the Lisbon treaty is to be voted on again by the Irish in a few days. Back in 2006, after one of the defeats, I mentioned an article in Gazeta Wyborcza by a Judit Kiss in which she blamed – essentially – public relations for the outcome. This time around no chances are being taken: in the Irish debate public relations are already being blamed. Here is an excerpt from a letter by Donncha O’Connell to the Irish Times of September 29^th:

Madam, – The contrast between the punchy slogans of Gerry Adams and the compelling logic of Noel Dorr (both in Opinion, September 28th) speaks volumes. In rhetorical terms, it is simply easier to undermine the case for the Lisbon Treaty than to defend it beyond reasonable doubt.

Isn’t it just so unfair! Mr O’Connell is only one of many, many commentators bemoaning how easy it is to agitate for a no vote and how awful it is that the yes campaigners have to spend so much time and effort refuting their opponents’ arguments. He is right, of course. The supporters of the constitution should not have to waste time persuading people to vote for it.

US members of the public spark outrage by using wartime acoustic weapon to disperse protesting policemen in Pittsburgh.

Only a few hundred blue-uniformed protesters took to the streets of Pittsburgh to protest budget cuts that would affect their livelihoods, but the public was taking no chances. Sonic weapons or long-range acoustic devices have been used by the US military overseas, notably against Somali pirates and Iraqi insurgents. But members of the public turned the piercing sound on their own police yesterday to widespread outrage in military and paramilitary circles.

Pittsburgh punters told the New York Times that it was the first time “sound cannon” had been used against ordinary cops. The sonic weapon appears to be more effective than Londoners’ highly contentious kettling tactics frequently used against striking policemen. But it is equally controversial. It is feared the sounds emitted are loud enough to damage police eardrums and even cause fatal aneurysms.

I hold in my hand a circular concerning the Poland-wide “English Olympics,” a competition they hold every year to reward exceptionally good schoolchildren. As far as I know, these Olympics are held in all subjects, not just English. It’s not a terribly exciting document. It gives the closing dates for various stages – school, regional and nationwide – and directs the reader to http://www.ifa.amu.edu.pl/fa/oja for more information. But there’s a nice touch at the end of the circular, which is a message from the Ministry of Education, reading:

Uwaga! Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej zastrzegło sobie prawo do rozwiązania umowy na realizację olimpiad przedmiotowych w przypadku braku środków na sfinansowanie realizacji zadania w roku 2010.

Loosely translated this means: “Go ahead kids. Knock yourselves out. Maybe we’ll give you a prize and then again maybe we won’t. There’s a crisis on.”

On this day, the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Poland, Poles awoke to learn that the USA has decided not to go ahead with the missile shield. The country is in a state of chassis, as Russian rockets start to rain down on the larger cities. I shudder to think what would happen to leader-writers if Ireland were to vote No to the Lisbon treaty in two weeks’ time…

Some years ago the EU prevented tobbacco advertisers from claiming their cigarettes were “mild” or “low tar” but now it turns out that people are so stupid they even think fags in a light coloured pack are easier on the lungs than fags in a dark pack. You just can’t legislate away stupidity but I suppose in a few more years it will be illegal to sell cigarettes in white boxes. What a change from the heady days of widespread, well-informed, intelligent debate of fifty years ago! I found the following ad for cigarettes in a 1958 magazine. There are three line drawings and a fourth panel has a picture of the offending articles:

[Picture of couple in cinema. On screen a man is smoking a pipe]

“What a dreamboat! My ideal hero!”

[Girl is cold shouldering her date]

“What a date! I’m batting zero!”

[Couple strolls out of cinema, man with pipe, girl on his arm]

“Why you smoke a pipe too! Mm-mm! You’re for me!”

I came across this in an e-mail circular that circulated so much it’s hard to tell exactly who wrote it. It seems to be from either the Dean of Graduate Studies or the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies in Trinity College Dublin, the oldest university in the known universe:

“… all guidelines are mandatory… Theses’ must meet ALL of the requirements and guidelines.”

sic

In Poland and Ireland the demographic timebomb is ticking away. There are ever fewer workers to support ever greater numbers of burdensome old folk. Amazingly, Ireland has found a dual solution: mass redundancies and more procreation:

Irish Times: Birth Rate Highest for 110 Years

Central Statistics Office: Irish Unemployment Rate Reaches 12.2%

Another oddity is that house prices also go down:

Irish Times: Irish House Prices Fall 24% since 2007

And remember how home-taping — sorry, the internet — was killing music?

Irish Times: Profits at Warner Music’s Irish Subsidiary Increase by 70%
Whodathunkit? And although some gloomy types might bring up that old recession, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Irish Times: Welfare fraud action saves €300,000

See? There’s loads of cash swilling around the old country. Just nabbing a few dole cheats will enable us to plug the hole in the economy and bail out the bankers.