The atmosphere of oppression – for some, of course, it’s more tangible than any “atmosphere” – has given ruling regime PiS quite a boost in the opinion polls. PiS has gained 8 points and PO lost 6.
Irish Independent, March 26, 2007 Taoiseach Bertie Ahern promised an extra €300m a minute to voters as he took pre-election auction politics to a new level. In the course of his 23-minute address to the Fianna Fail ard fheis, he promised €6.9bn in tax cuts, pensions and public service spending. Irish Times, September 5, 2007 […]
The atmosphere of oppression – for some, of course, it’s more tangible than any “atmosphere” – has given ruling regime PiS quite a boost in the opinion polls. PiS has gained 8 points and PO lost 6.
Supposing you, the prime minister of – oh, say, a central European country of around – for argument’s sake – 35 million people, wanted to smear someone – a former political ally, for example, who has started blabbing. And suppose this country is by now jaded with political scandals, what might you do? Also, you’ve […]
I missed the debut of RTE’s “gritty” new drama about life on the fringes of the Celtic Tiger, Prosperity. However, RTE has obligingly not only made it possible to watch the first episode on the web, but allowed aspiring writers to download the series scripts for perusal.Here’s page 1 of “stacey’s story,” copied and pasted […]
This is (apparently) a fairly old piece of news among the techno-savvy, but I was happy to hear about it over the weekend and perhaps you might be today. According to TechCrunch, the latest version of Google Earth features a “secret” flight simulator that can be summoned up using the key combination Ctrl+Alt+A (for Windows […]
If there are more than the usual typos in today’s entry it’s because I am looking over my shoulder more than usual. Here’s waht I read in last week’s admirably well-informed Polityka (they correctly predicted that businessman Ryszard Krauze was in the sights of the authorities): In fact, a (probably) legal tap was put on […]
In an obscure, out of the way cinema, in an obscure, out of the way town, I stumbled across a comic gem the other day: a part-Polish production of a parody of David Lynch, complete with people dressed as animals moving slowly, people passing through borders into — into what? other worlds? the past? fiction? […]
Yesterday I had a perfectly average day — the details of which I will not bother you with — nicely rounded off with a refreshing ten hours kip. Is this “dignity under pressure”? Am I keeping my head while others all around are losing theirs? I ask because the signs in Polish are particularly — […]
First some background: As you might have heard, piffling issues such as the war in Iraq and the stalled reconstruction of New Orleans were brushed aside this week by many U.S. media outlets. Instead they focused on the arrest of U.S Senator and (erstswhile?) member of the Singing Senators Larry Craig, who was unfortunate enough […]
First, the Catholic Church crumbles, then David McWilliams tells us we’re all filthy-rich HiCo decklanders, but this news threatens to cut the last, frayed ropes tethering us to auld sod: From The Guardian: “My goodness: Nigeria overtakes Ireland in Guinness salesNigeria has overtaken Ireland as the second-largest market for Guinness as Diageo pushes the black […]