LOL Lenihan

The Irish budget or how not to run a country

From the 2009 Irish Budget

But nobody foresaw the speed with which the global and the domestic downturn would gather pace. In the past few months, the world financial system has been turned upside down. Household names in global finance have been rescued by governments and blue chip companies have either failed or been subsumed into other institutions.

Yeah no one could see that coming! No one could see the housing bubble in Ireland for what it was. No one could see the ridiculousness of the banks offering 120% mortgages. Believe me Lenihan, if you didn't see it coming, then you weren't paying attention.

All they know how to do is tax

I am increasing the Standard Rate of VAT by ½% to 21½% from 1 December. There will be no change in the zero rate which applies to food, children’s clothes and footwear, oral medicines and several other products. The 13½% rate which applies to new houses, labour intensive services, gas, electricity and home heating fuel will also remain unchanged.

21.5 % VAT. Is there anyone who can still afford to live in Ireland? I certainly can't.

Petrol will go up 8 cent per litre. That's some cheek when the public transport system is in shambles and the government increases the price of petrol.

Consistent with moves by other EU Member States such as the UK and the Netherlands, I intend to introduce an air travel tax from 30 March 2009; the tax will apply to all departures from Irish airports. A rate of €10 per passenger will apply, with a lower rate of €2 on shorter air journeys. This new tax is estimated to yield €95 million in 2009 and €150 million in a full year. Further details are contained in the Summary of Budget Measures.

Air travel tax of €10 per passenger departing from Ireland, €2 for shorter journeys

Air travel tax? Air travel tax? Those bastards. I am livid. As an Irish expat who hopes to be able to make it home at least once a year, I am truly disgusted at Brian "the idiot" Lenihan who puts $10 of an air travel tax to leave the country.

Cambodia, on of the poorest countries in the world, has a US$25 tax to leave the country. And the Celtic tiger wants to emulate this strategy. A strategy that makes it difficult to leave the country.

Since 1997, the Fianna Fail government has done nothing but squander the surplus. When this global financial crisis loomed, Ireland should have been sitting pretty. In 2008 the government proposes a air travel tax, in one stroke killing tourism and alienating the Irish abroad.

And I know I'll hear "erra it's only 10 euro". Yeah it's only 10 euro every single time to fly to London, Paris, New York, Bangkok, Glasgow... How many people can only barely afford to travel on budget airlines anyway? With the price of petrol and this new air travel tax, it has become very expensive to come home. 10 euro each time adds up. It is a considerable fee to have to pay.

Welcome back to the 80s where we have Brian Cowen instead of Charlie Haughey. Bloody wonderful

This Budget serves no vested interest. Rather, it provides an opportunity for us all to pull together and play our part according to our means so that we can secure the gains which have been the achievement of the men and women of this country. It is, a Cheann Comhairle, no less than a call to patriotic action.

Yeah except the builders. There was plenty snuck in for them.

All citizens will have to tighten their belts because of reckless spending and mismanagement by a government more concerned with destroying our cultural heritage and pandering to their interest groups.

I'm too pissed off to write more at the moment.

*shakes her fist at Fianna Fail*

What are you going to do to stand up against poverty in 2008?

Almost nine years ago, 189 governments pledged to end poverty by 2015. It takes time to achieve such a lofty goal but still 50 000 people die every day because of poverty. 35 000 are women.

Lousy maternal care, inequality, sexual exploitation, domestic violence and global gag rules that ignore reality, are some of the reasons why women suffer disproportionately.

It's time to stand up and order our governments to fulfill their promises. Governments are supposed to work for the people. Well it's time for a change. Order your politicians to end poverty now.

The Stand up against poverty 2008 campaign is in one month. What have you planned to do for it?

The campaign is very simple - we all demand our governments to fulfill the promises that they have made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The ground has been set. There are projects in place but there is a lack of political will and/or finances to eradicate poverty. So what are you going to do?

One simple way is to participate in Blog action day. Register and plan a post. Profbwoman has resources and more. All we are asking is for our governments to honour their promises - there's nothing too political about that eh!


Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

There are other activities and ideas so go ahead and stand up against poverty.

Kevin Myers and the editors at the Indo are abhorrent

Kevin Myers may be known as someone whose "articles often offer criticism of left-wing opinion and the "liberal consensus", sometimes incorporating hyperbolic sarcasm and parody" but engaging in racist stereotypes in disgusting. It is very important to remember at this point that this vile piece of journalism was ok'ed by three editors at the Indo. He did not act alone. All four are guilty.

The article criticizes aid work and the system of world governance for not resolving issues of poverty and political instability during the past 20 or so years. Firstly, there are certainly valid criticisms to be made about aid effectiveness and distribution. I see the problems first hand in Cambodia.

However, the article uses the most horrible racist stereotypes and Myers is rooted in white male rich privilege. He is judging what he cannot understand, despite claims of having visited Ethiopia.

Sorry. My conscience has toured this territory on foot and financially. Unlike most of you, I have been to Ethiopia; like most of you, I have stumped up the loot to charities to stop starvation there. The wide-eyed boy-child we saved, 20 years or so ago, is now a priapic, Kalashnikov-bearing hearty, siring children whenever the whim takes him.

Just because you have been there, Myers, does not mean you have any understanding. In fact you sound like the typical backpacker - "I am so at one with the Cambodian people, even though I can't speak Khmer and have only been here for a day". One visit does not make you an expert. One visit does not entitle you to make sweeping generalisations about an entire continent. Nothing entitles you to make sweeping generalisations.

You are aware I presume that Africa is a continent and not a country because you write as if there are not thousands of different cultures, languages, poverty levels, education levels and a million other differences between a South African, an Algerian, a Kenyan, an Ivorian or a Ghanaian. Within each of the countries on the continent of Africa there are different tribes and traditions and you demonise them all. How typical - white colonisers have been doing it for years.

But, please, please, you self-righteously wrathful, spare me mention of our own Famine, with this or that lazy analogy. There is no comparison. Within 20 years of the Famine, the Irish population was down by 30pc. Over the equivalent period, thanks to western food, the Mercedes 10-wheel truck and the Lockheed Hercules, Ethiopia's has more than doubled.

Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.

Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.

This dependency has not stimulated political prudence or commonsense. Indeed, voodoo idiocy seems to be in the ascendant, with the next president of South Africa being a firm believer in the efficacy of a little tap water on the post-coital penis as a sure preventative against infection. Needless to say, poverty, hunger and societal meltdown have not prevented idiotic wars involving Tigre, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea etcetera.

Wow you resort to the racist construct that sees black men as oversexed and intent on raping. That's not original. It's not new. It's one of the oldest stereotypes in the book.

You use racism to fuel the fear that is in Ireland that "they" are taking our jobs. "They" are using "our" women. You use your space to create and fan the fear. As thefreeslave eloquently says

Racism/white supremacy is a vicious, global system that has butchered too many human beings, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Yet, it too is a tool, a MAJOR tool and the means, the apparatus of control, rather than the end desired by the ruling class itself.

You use racism as a tool. You accuse "Africans" of being too reliant on aid. You put the blame on the victim. That's nothing new either. Rapists use that defense every day.

Broad brush-strokes, to be sure. But broad brush-strokes are often the way that history paints its gaudier, if more decisive, chapters. Japan, China, Russia, Korea, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 20th century have endured worse broad brush-strokes than almost any part of Africa.

Oh really Myers? Been to Cambodia or Lao recently?

They are now -- one way or another -- virtually all giving aid to or investing in Africa, whereas Africa, with its vast savannahs and its lush pastures, is giving almost nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS.

Your statement that Africa is giving nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS, is... I'm not sure that there are words to express how truly revolting that statement is. Perhaps others will find words to cover that.

Your use of "AIDS" is offensive. No one uses that anymore. "People living with the HIV virus" is how people phrase things nowadays. I will probably be accused of being the PC police but words matter. And you Myers, chose the more offensive of all the available words. As a journalist, words are your craft and you use them to incite hatred.

I would prefer to fisk every point made but I find I don't have the stomach to keep rereading this bile. Legal proceedings should be taken. If anyone wants to respond personally to Myers - I'll be dropping him this post - his email is posted on the bottom of the webpage and reads kmyers@independent.ie

Irish politics: they're special!

From That's Ireland

1. In October 2007, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern became the highest paid Prime Minister in the democratic world at €310,000, more than US President George Bush at €279,000. Fianna Fail Ministers such as Willie O’Dea are paid more than US Vice President Dick Cheney.

7. In September 2007, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, while being questioned at the Mahon Tribunal, said that he must have given £30,000 to somebody else (to make a transaction that the bank had no record for), but he didn’t know who he gave the money to.

11. In July 2007, after a strenuous seven days of work since being elected in mid-June, the Dail adjourned for a three-month summer holiday.

14. In June 2007, Fianna Fail changed the law to create three new Junior Ministers with salaries of €150,000 a year. They had previously done this in 1977 and 1980. When Fine Gael did the same in 1995, Fianna Fail called it an abuse of the taxpayer and an act of hypocrisy, and Bertie Ahern vowed to abolish the new posts.

And so much more. Read the whole post.

Why do they keep getting voted in? Truly incomprehensible. Enough to make one stew in impotent rage, being so far away.

Irish expats have no voting rights. Prisoners can vote. Non nationals can vote. Almost every other developed country (France, Finland, Sweden, Germany, UK, US...) has an overseas voting system; Fins can even vote any Swedish embassy if there is no Finnish presence. Poles can vote in the UK.

Irish abroad have no voting rights. It is a shameful state of affairs for a developed democratic society. The Irish I know would travel to vote. There are Irish embassies in Vietnam, China, Malaysia and Singapore. If the citizens of so many other countries can manage then why cannot the 'second most globalised country in the world', as we so proudly boast, get the finger out and organise voting for its citizens abroad?

Interesting facts

There are 325 kilometres between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore

There are 171 kilometres between Dublin and Cork

It costs US$15 to travel by train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore (that's with a bed).

It costs US$104 to travel by train from Dublin to Cork.

Does not compute unless one factors in the general incompetence of the public transport in Ireland

Frank Kelly's Christmas countdown

And now for some Christmas humour!



Day One

Dear Nuala,
Thank you very much for your lovely present of a partridge in a pear-tree. We’re getting the hang of feeding the partridge now, although it was difficult at first to win its confidence. It bit the mother rather badly on the hand but they’re good friends now and we’re keeping the pear-tree indoors in a bucket. Thank you again.
Yours affectionately,
Gobnait O’Lúnasa

Day Two

Dear Nuala,
I cannot tell you how surprised we were to hear from you so soon again and to receive your lovely present of two turtle doves. You really are too kind. At first the partridge was very jealous and suspicious of the doves and they had a terrible row the night the doves arrived. We had to send for the vet but the birds are okay again and the stitches are due to some out in a week or two. The vet’s bill was £8 but the mother is over her annoyance now and the doves and the partridge are watching the telly from the pear-tree as I write.
Yours ever,
Gobnait

Day Three

Dear Nuala,
We must be foremost in your thoughts. I had only posted my letter when the three French hens arrived. There was another sort-out between the hens and the doves, who sided with the partridge, and the vet had to be sent for again. The mother was raging because the bill was £16 this time but she has almost cooled down. However, the fact that the birds’ droppings keep falling down on her hair whilen she’s watching the telly, doesn’t help matters. Thanking you for your kindness.
I remain,
Your Gobnait

Day Four

Dear Nuala,
You mustn’t have received my last letter when you were sending us the four calling birds. There was pandemonium in the pear-tree again last night and the vet’s bill was £32. The mother is on sedation as I write. I know you meant no harm and remain your close friend.
Gobnait

Day Five

Nuala,
Your generosity knows no bounds. Five gold rings ! When the parcel arrived I was scared stiff that it might be more birds, because the smell in the living-room is atrocious. However, I don’t want to seem ungrateful for the beautiful rings.
Your affectionate friend,
Gobnait

Day Six

Nuala,
What are you trying to do to us? It isn’t that we don’t appreciate your generosity but the six geese have not alone nearly murdered the calling birds but they laid their eggs on top of the vet’s head from the pear-tree and his bill was £68 in cash! My mother is munching 60 grains of Valium a day and talking to herself in a most alarming way. You must keep your feelings for me in check.
Gobnait

Day Seven

Nuala,
We are not amused by your little joke. Seven swans-a-swimming is a most romantic idea but not in the bath of a private house. We cannot use the bathroom now because they’ve gone completely savage and rush the door every time we try to enter. If things go on this way, the mother and I will smell as bad as the living-room carpet. Please lay off. It is not fair.
Gobnait

Day Eight

Nuala,
Who the hell do you think gave you the right to send eight, hefty maids-a-milking here, to eat us out of house and home? Their cattle are all over the front lawn and have trampled the hell out of the mother’s rose-beds. The swans invaded the living-room in a sneak attack and the ensuing battle between them and the calling birds, turtle doves, French hens and partridge make the Battle of the Somme seem like Wanderly Wagon. The mother is on a bottle of whiskey a day, as well as the sixty grains of Valium. I’m very annoyed with you.
Gobnait

Day Nine

Listen you louser!
There’s enough pandemonium in this place night and day without nine drummers drumming, while the eight flaming maids-a-milking are beating my poor, old alcoholic mother out of her own kitchen and gobbling everything in sight. I’m warning you, you’re making an enemy of me.
Gobnait

Day Ten

Listen manure-face,
I hope you’ll be haunted by the strains of ten pipers piping which you sent to torment us last night. They were aided in their evil work by those maniac drummers and it wasn’t a pleasant sight to look out the window and see eight hefty maids-a-milking pogo-ing around with the ensuing punk-rock uproar. My mother has just finished her third bottle of whiskey, on top of a hundred and twenty four grains of Valium. You’ll get yours!
Gobnait O’Lúnasa

Day Eleven

You have scandalised my mother, you dirty Jezebel,
It was bad enough to have eight maids-a-milking dancing to punk music on the front lawn but they’ve now been joined by your friends the eleven Lords-a-leaping and the antics of the whole lot of them would leave the most decadent days of the Roman Empire looking like “Outlook”. I’ll get you yet, you ould bag!

Day Twelve

Listen slurry head,
You have ruined our lives. The twelve maidens dancing turned up last night and beat the living daylights out of the eight maids-a-milking, ‘cos they found them carrying on with the eleven Lords-a-leaping. Meanwhile, the swans got out of the living-room, where they’d been hiding since the big battle, and savaged hell out of the Lords and all the Maids. There were eight ambulances here last night, and the local Civil Defence as well. The mother is in a home for the bewildered and I’m sitting here, up to my neck in birds’ droppings, empty whiskey and Valium bottles, birds’ blood and feathers, while the flaming cows eat the leaves off the pear-tree. I’m a broken man.
Gobnait O’Lúnasa

The defenders and those who render

Marvel at the hypocrisy of our politicians! On one hand Dermot Aherne blathering on about what an inspiration human rights defenders are. From the Irish Times

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern today told a massive gathering of human rights defenders in central Dublin they were an inspiration to the world.

"You represent a combination of practical idealism and courage which is an inspiration to others — in your countries and also internationally," he said.

"The impact of your work is felt not only by those whose rights you seek to vindicate but also by the rest of the world who you inspire to act."

Human Rights defenders are inspirational of course. They do a dangerous, necessary, wonderful job. The Government isn't always praising their work to the skies.

In fact the Minister's words ring hollow. He is a member of a government that violates the rights of others. Our government facilitates the 'rendering' of suspects through our borders - Extraordinary Rendition or how to cooperate with the Americans to break international law so we don't lose our 'special friendship'.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, you know, Mary Robinson's old position, came to Dublin to rebuke Bertie for human rights violations. Disgusted yet? I am.

The Government should search US military planes landing at Shannon airport to confirm they are not being used for rendition flights, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has said.

"I stressed that it's not just the direct complicity that is of significance but also either neglect or wilful blindness to what's going on.

"I think the optimum protection is very much to try to verify, to go beyond assurances. Ideally, there should be random searches just to give some assurance that the commitments made by another country are respected right through the chain of command," she said.

"I don't think it's diplomatically offensive to conduct random or occasional searches to verify."...

Ms Arbour said that while there were signs of a rowing back in the US, some of the damage caused by certain counter-terrorism measures could "be relatively permanent".

One of the main areas of concern, she said, was the attempt to redefine torture.

"The erosion of the standard against torture is very disturbing. More and more there is this discourse that there may be cases where it is okay.

"Also, there is a questioning of what torture really is. I think it's going to take some time to go back to what it was."...

"They say to me, 'why are you wasting your time talking to us about this issue, why aren't you in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo, why aren't you talking to them?'

"There is also this idea that the West/the US promote human rights issues that suit their agenda and they have declared themselves to be in a realm of non-accountability. In human rights promotion, the concept of universality and equal treatment is pretty fundamental and now it's very much jeopardised." (Source)

And this is what our government facilitates... a bureaucracy that is attempting to redefine torture and use it as a tool for extracting information. It is commonly known that torture is an extremely inefficient way of extracting information. In must cases, people torture because they like the power and because they can. Torture is not justifiable under any circumstances.

Hypocrisy. Follow the High Commissioner's advice, Bertie. It's good advice and it's good for the country, not to be so closely associated with torture.

Bad governance

With the discovery of oil in Cambodia and the potential for rags or riches, one can only reflect on how nice it is that we have good governance at home who would never compromise the good of the country. Yeah right. Hat tip to Mark.

Political Fact Sheet “An Act of Economic Treason”

In 1975 Justin Keating's terms for oil exploration included a provision for the state to require a 50% stake in any commercial find. There was also between 8%-16% production bonuses and a standard corporation tax of 50%.

Keating was basing his policy on the Norwegian model. The Norwegians offered direct assistance to their Irish counterparts to set up a state oil company and offered them direct involvement in the commercial development of the North Sea Fields.

Between 1975-87 Minister Dick Spring introduced a sliding scale of state participation on marginal fields. This was to attract further investment however the interests of the Irish state were still maintained.

In 1987 Charles Haughey appointed Ray Burke as the Minister for Energy. Burke began negotiating with the oil companies, meeting directly with executives on occasion against the advice and in the absence of his department officials. He introduced radical new terms, which included.

• Abolishing state royalties.
• Abolishing any state participation in oil and gas exploration.
• Abolishing any state stake hold on commercial finds.

In a Dáil speech during the same month Dick Spring called this “An act of Economic Treason”

Both Ray Burke and Charles Haughey have since faced criminal charges by the Mahon “Payments to politicians” tribunal. The tribunal investigated a payment of €30,000, which Burke received from Mr Robert Rennicks a director of a company owned by Mr Tony O’Reilly.

Coincidentally Mr O’Reilly is a 45% stakeholder in Providence resources, a major oil and gas exploration company. Providence has several prospects in the porcupine basin just of Irelands west coast. The company claims to have identified 25 trillion cubic feet of gas and 4 billion barrels of oil in the Dunquin prospect in the porcupine basin. This is estimated to be worth about 50 billion in monetary terms.

O’Reilly also happens to be the chief executive of independent newspapers, consisting of The Irish Independent, The Daily Star, The Sunday independent, The Sunday World and The Evening Herald. The question is independent newspapers really independent when it comes to the Corrib gas issue?

In April 1992, Bertie Ahern further improved terms for the oil and gas companies by needlessly reducing the corporation tax from 50% to 25%(lowest rate in the worldwide). Recent investigations uncovered that he had no bank account during this period as Minister for finance i.e. no records of his personal finances for this period.

In June 1992, the government introduced new licensing terms, which permitted oil and gas producers to sell their products at market prices.

This was a step away from the previous arrangement with marathon oil, which had sold gas to Bord Gáis from the Kinsale Field at a bulk discount for many years. This means that Bord Gáis must now pay full market prices for any gas purchased on behalf of the Irish public.

Bertie Ahern gives Bord Gáis permission for a pipeline to be built from Galway to Bellanaboy . By giving this permission Bertie unfairly influenced the planning process for the refinery by exerting political pressure on planning officials prior to their decision.

In 2002 the government introduced legislation, which allowed a private company (Shell) to place Compulsory Acquisition Orders on the land of Erris farmers. This is the first time in the history of the state that this has occurred. The legislation allowed the government to purchase the land for Shell without the permission of the farmers.

Astonishingly the current Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural resources Noel Dempsey in 2005(when the Rossport 5 were in prison) and as recently as November 2006 continues to grant exploration licences under the same overly generous terms and conditions to oil and gas companies. (Source)

And our government have the audacity to send advisors to help Cambodia on how to avoid the 'resource curse'. Get your house in order Fianna Fáil.

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone

Romantic Ireland is dead and gone and Bertie Aherne, our 'man of the people' leader finds a way to nail the coffin shut with such a display of greed and casual disregard for the people of Ireland unrivalled even by Charlie boy at his peak

WHAT need you, being come to sense,
But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence
And prayer to shivering prayer, until
You have dried the marrow from the bone;
For men were born to pray and save:
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.
- William Butler Yeats

Bertie's accepted a €38 000 increase in salary. It's more than Gordon Brown; more than Bush Junior; and than more European leaders. Certainly over double what I earn. As Ciaran Byrne from the Indo puts it

Blair and Brown knew in their hearts it was wrong. Our lads have no much moral qualms. Ahern will now take home a hefty €310,000 -- €43,000 more than Gordon Brown, who leads a country of 60 million people, and €20,000 more than US president George W Bush.

The Dutch prime minister somehow gets by on an annual wage of €123,000 while in Poland the new PM Donald Tusk will have to make do with looking after 38.5 million people on a salary of €49,500.

After 24 hours of silence from the Government, Mr Ahern was cornered yesterday and trotted out his usual world-weary patter. "I don't tend to worry about these things...the Government will implement the pay scales..that's it."

How nice and privileged Bertie must feel by not having to worry about such things. Quite the lap of luxury when the health system is falling apart; the roads are a disgrace; government offices have a hiring freeze; people being evicted in the middle of the night unable to pay their mortgages because the ridiculous house prices; and violations of our constitution, allowing military aircraft en route to a war of aggression to land in our country just to stay in bed with American business. And you, little man, don't worry about these things! How nice that we have such inspired leadership. Let them eat cake comes to mind.

Mr Ahern said he didn't have a publicly-funded palace to live in -- apparently explaining why, at €310,000 a year, he should earn more President Sarkozy of France, British Premier Gordon Brown, and even President George Bush.

"I'm glad I don't own Chequers and I don't have No 10," Mr Ahern said, when asked why he should earn more than world leaders of more powerful nations. "I don't have the Elysee Palace -- if you want to build those in, then you know what the figures would be."

He went on: "I certainly don't want the White House. There is no comparison, and I think people know that."

Yes, there is no comparison either in the surface area or in the population size. However I think we can compare political fuckups and Bertie, you've fucked up, just like Bush junior. It might interest you to know Bertie, that the Irish Republic has an official residence for the president. You may remember her - lives in a des res near Castleknock, the Áras, I believe it's called. So why on Earth should you think that you deserve to get paid more than Prez Bush or Sarkozy when you're not president. You are a minister and your job is to run the country so do your job. Get the health, transport, and education systems back on their feet for a start. Earn some of that increase you are so determined to take.

A taste of Dublin

Yesterday I saw a tuktuk driver wearing a Dublin GAA Irish Football geansa.

Probably one of the strangest things I've seen here. Arnotts logo a blaze across it. Have they outsourced to Cambodia? Check your labels GAA fans and let me know.

The Vikings are coming!

A Viking ship has set sail for Dublin from the Danish port of Roskilde, in an attempt to recreate the voyages undertaken by early Norsemen.

The 30m (98.5ft) long replica, called Sea Stallion, is said to be the world's largest reconstructed Viking vessel.

It is based on a ship made nearly 1,000 years ago in Ireland, which in 1962 was excavated from the Roskilde fjord.

A crew of 65 volunteers will travel the 1,900km (1,200 miles) to Dublin, using only oar and sail power.

The original, which was made in 1042, is believed to have taken part in clashes between the Anglo-Saxons and Normans in 1050-1060, when many Danish Vikings lived in Ireland.

The boat sank in the Roskilde fjord at the end of the 11th century, while defending the country's coast from Norwegian Vikings. (Source)

During the 8th century the Vikings raided and pillaged up and down the Irish coast. They fought battles with the kings of Ireland for two centuries, until they were defeated by the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru.

It was a tad complicated due to the intermarrying. Brian was married to Gormlaith, who was the mother of Sitric Silkbeard, who was the leader of the Norsemen in Dublin and Sitric, himself, was married to Brian's daughter.

On the 23th of April in 1014 Brian's forces met Sitric's on the field of battle. Brian won the Battle of Clontarf, but he and his firstborn son and grandson were killed on the field of battle. The Norsemen suffered heavy losses including those who drowned in an attempt to swim back to their ships. The battle essentially ended the Viking Age (795-1041) in Ireland.

Save the planet

“We are on the edge of the greatest die-off humanity has ever seen,” said Lovelock. “We will be lucky if 20% of us survive what is coming. We should be scared stiff.”

Lovelock has delivered such warnings before, but this weekend they have a special resonance. Last week in Bangkok, Thailand, the world’s governments finalised this year’s third and final report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) setting out how humanity might save itself from the worst effects of climate change.

In it was a message of hope, albeit a faint one. The report set out a complex mix of political, economic and technological solutions. If they all worked, said the report, they could achieve huge cuts in the 25 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by humanity into the air each year, thus keeping global temperature rises below 3C. (Source)

Will the Earth resemble Mars in fifty years time? Will Earth be arid, empty, and lifeless? Is this fear mongering or the far sighted view of a realist?

Whatever arguments are put up in the denial camps, it is clear that our climate is changing dramatically. I notice it in Cambodia even from one year to another. Here everybody dreads April and May. Many people get out of the country for those months because it is so hot and sticky. You sweat wearing a minimum of clothing while surrounded by fans. Even a dip in the pool brings no relief because it is too hot and muggy.

However, this year April and May have so far been tolerable. It is uncomfortable at 34 degrees and 100 humidity but it is tolerable - a far cry from last years experience. It has been raining a couple of times a week. It didn't rain last year.

These changes are profound, sudden and worrying. What does this mean for the rainy season? Will we get a monsoon or a drought? The fortune tellers in Cambodia are predicting a bad harvest and whether one believes in that or not, change is coming. I have already mentioned the climate changes in Ireland last winter. And the changes in these two countries are just highlighted because of my observations.

Climate change is bringing disease, flooding and drought. Tropical diseases are finding their way into temperate zones. Will Europe have to deal with Malaria again? How about Dengue or Japanese Encephalitides?

Additional anticipated effects include sea level rise of 110 to 770 mm (0.36 to 2.5 feet) between 1990 and 2100,[40] repercussions to agriculture, possible slowing of the thermohaline circulation, reductions in the ozone layer, increased intensity and frequency of hurricanes and extreme weather events, lowering of ocean pH, and the spread of diseases such as malaria[41] and dengue fever.[42] One study predicts 18% to 35% of a sample of 1,103 animal and plant species would be extinct by 2050, based on future climate projections. (Source)

It is time to do something. Everybody can save the planet in their own way but governmental cooperation is necessary to really turn the tide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report

report set out a complex mix of political, economic and technological solutions. If they all worked, said the report, they could achieve huge cuts in the 25 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by humanity into the air each year, thus keeping global temperature rises below 3C.

It would involve much international cooperation when the current mentality seems to be "a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face" (Blackadder). Governments, be pragmatic. More climate change is coming and lifestyles and habits are going to have to change. US senator Obama acknowledges this:

The need to drastically change our energy policy is no longer a debatable proposition. It is not a question of whether, but how; not a question of if, but when. For the sake of our security, our economy, our jobs and our planet, the age of oil must end in our time. (Source)

Let's not kill the planet until space travel is more developed and we can escape our own mess. Governments, be responsible enough and adult enough to acknowledge your responsibility in the resolution of this crisis.

Anyone else feel like screaming into a void on this issue?

1st May

Well 1st May is an auspicious day. It is significant in many cultures. In Irish tradition Lá Bealtaine or May Day marks the first day of summer and there are many traditions associated with it. Few are practised nowadays. As Yeats wrote, romantic Ireland's dead and gone. It's with O'Leary in the grave.

The other celebration today is International Labour Day. This celebration concerns many millions of workers all over the world. Marches are taking place to demonstrate solidarity or to protest conditions or attacks on union officals.

In Ireland, the unions are marching.

In Cambodia a call for justice has been issued. The statement has been endorsed by 242 groups in Cambodia and by 82 countries worldwide. It calls for a full investigation into the assassination of Chea Vichea, Ros Sovannareth and Hy Vuthy, all presidents, either local or national, of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC).

Hy Vuthy's assassination, which took place in February of this year, followed at least nine violent attacks on union leaders in 2006. No one has been brought to justice for these crimes.

Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun have been arrested, tried and imprisoned for the murder of Chea Vichea but they are scapegoats. International human rights organisations and even multinational corporations are calling for their release.

Cambodia is developing but to undermine the unions is to create a climate of fear. It does not help to imply that their murders and union activities are a coincidence. It reflects poorly on the situation when corporations such as Adidas are insisting on labour rights. Eighty percent of Cambodia's exports are garments from the factories located around Phnom Penh. The industry and rights of the workers must be protected if Cambodia wants to develop.

Keating in Cambodia

Ronan Keating is going to play Phnom Penh next month. I wonder how far one must go to escape his pretentious brand of "music". At this stage, people barely remember Boyzone, which is a blessing, but Ronan is now famous for being famous and making bad covers of course. He has mangled such wonderful songs as "Iris", "Baby can I hold you", "Father and Son", "When you say nothing at all", with his average voice and lack of interpretation.

Anyone remember Dave Fanning's famous voiceover to a Boyzone song when he forgot the mike was on? Dave rightly slammed their "talent" and as a result had to wear a Boyzone t-shirt the following week. I wonder if Ronan will be big in Cambodia.

Irish waves

The NDP

The seas in Ireland are getting rougher. A couple of fishing trawlers sank in bad weather and at last count seven crew members were killed. The reason given relates to global warming. The trawlers are too small for the rough seas which has only recently become a problem.

In the recently release national development plan a grand total of zero euros has been promised to build costal defences for rising sea levels - way to go Bertie - yet €17.6 billion is going to upgrading roads. The major routes are already clogged and traffic in the cities is appalling. Public transport in the form of urban light rail running on electricity might be the way to go eh?

Friends in Cambodia,

Want anything from Ireland / Europe? Now's the time to ask!

Kerry and the future

The waves were so violent that the foam was half a metre thick. My sister crouched down and it looks like she was enveloped by it. Herself and the boyfriend had to run to avoid drowning by the freak wave that attacked them. Otherwise the weekend was very pleasant. Myself and the siblings went to West Kerry for a long weekend and enjoyed the harsh scenery and the bitterly cold Atlantic weather. Myself and the brother found half a boat in pieces on the shore and a wreaked GPS device. It may have been parts of the many trawlers that have gone down on the Irish coast in the last few weeks. The weather is becoming more violent to the extent that the Irish Navy has to invest in bigger boats that can withstand the storms.

Global warming is a pain.

Wake up Politicians - it's your time to shine. Show the world your initiative, your daring, your ability to think beyond election day. Prove to the electorate that there is still a heart in politics. Be the person that history remembers as a daring realist or risk being remembered as a shyster and the corrupt individual who profited from the global tragedy. As they say in Cambodia, "It's up to you".

It's bloody freezing here!

I'd forgotten that after a shower here, I have to run to the bedroom and dive dripping wet under the covers because of the brass monkey weather. It's quite the experience reliving my youth!