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 […]
after a thumbs up from @harmlessfraud, I’m going to read ‘Under the Volcano’ by Malcolm Lowry # Nick Cave talks to the Guardian about ‘The Death of Bunny Munro’ http://bit.ly/wnUND # From the TMO archives – John Banville and the reigning spirit of the novel, thanatos http://bit.ly/oOBUy # Mark Sarvas writes about E. Annie Proulx’s […]
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 […]
Man Booker shortlist is announced http://bit.ly/1fNsw # Powered by Twitter Tools.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Fintan O’Toole talking about Flann O’Brien http://bit.ly/4lOOeB # And O’Toole’s article on Flann O’Brien – Oblomov in Dublin http://bit.ly/1hjFD # ‘I still think if a book does not confront the crisis of purpose in contemporary life then it must go to the bin’ http://bit.ly/qFUCW # Powered by Twitter Tools.
Leszek Balcerowicz, Polish economic guru, is nothing if not dependable. No matter what the question, the answer is always to liberalise, deregulate etc. etc. I was reminded of him by today’s piece in the Irish Times by Frances Ruane of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). The subhead says it all. No really: all. […]
Three years ago I wrote briefly about high-flying academics working in Ireland who were being given extemely generous salaries in order to prevent them from emigrating from badly depressed, going-nowhere Ireland (funny no one thought of doing that in the 80s for ordinary workers). Today those bonuses are being savagely cut back, at least in […]
