In his column in yesterday’s Sunday Business Post, David McWilliams convincingly restates why the toll bridge on the M50 is perhaps the crowning glory of “rip-off Ireland.” Many people may not be aware of it, but the toll operator built only the bridge while the rest of the gridlocked M50 was paid for out of […]

Although the web version of the New Yorker does not appear to mention it, the Ian McEwan short story “The Diagnosis”, which appears in this week’s issue, is almost certainly the opening chapter of the writer’s forthcoming novel, “Saturday“.My first encounter with McEwan’s work came through reading what, in my view, is still his best […]

Europeans never miss an opportunity to mock Americans’ grasp of geography; we chortle with glee when some poor hick stopped in the street points to west Africa when asked the location of Iraq. (One wonders whether a similar Vox Pop in, say, Dublin’s Grafton Street would elicit more precise directions).Well, here’s a chance to see […]

A propos of nothing in particular, I offer this link to a fascinating record of a family’s birth, growth, and maturation. You can find out more about the Argentinean photojournalist behind the project, Diego Goldberg, here. What is interesting is that the stark portraits of this attractive family encourage speculation about the lives led between […]

The competition to become the first Irish person in space is becoming ever more bemusing. First, Bill Cullen, professional self-made man and memorialist of Dublin in the rare ole times (see here for his musical tastes), announced he would be the first Irishman to be launched into (sub)orbit via the services of Virgin Galactic (which […]

It’s been a while since my last post–events (principally the passing of a close grandparent) have distracted me from my duty to the blogosphere. The break makes you realize one clear connection between a blog and its pre-digital antecedent, the diary. In both cases, gaps in the entries often actually suggest heightened activity rather than […]

In the usual annual lists of best books, several reviewers have mentioned the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. This 60-volume set is a snip at just �6,500.00. One critic in “The Spectator” claims it’s so good that it’s worth flogging your daughter’s pony to afford it. Such is The Spectator’s readership.At least it’s eligible for […]

With the dollar touching new lows against the euro almost every day, the United States’ trade deficit, running at about $600 billion a year, is much in the news. This article from the New York Times (requires free registration), which tracks the 22-day journey of the enormous Korean-registered container ship Hyundai Glory from China to […]

In the wake of the smoking ban in Ireland, many pubs in Dublin now feature outdoor ashtrays, shaped like boxes and clamped to a wall. Advertisers, aware of the eyes of a captive market, have started putting small posters on the front of these ashtrays. (This painful exposition is for readers outside Ireland–that vast horde). […]