Man the Lifeboats

What the hell ...

I might as well go along with the spirit of the day.

If you want sound and action, click here, and don't blame me.

Calling the Pot black ...

This is Pat Kenny, one of Ireland's highest paid broadcasters, who, on RTÉ radio, recently challenged the perks being availed of in FÁS, Ireland's state-sponsored employment agency.

Apparently he himself, has had a free BMW from that motor company until this was exposed in the national media. He is now said to be buying the car. Hardly on the HP one imagines.

As an Irish Times reader pointed out today (16/3/09), RTÉ made these people and it is about time they unmade a few of them.

This Day

I make no apology for leading with this pathetically evocative symbol on this, international women's day.

The disgusting practice of Female Genital Mutilation is a reminder that women still have a long way to go to achieve full human rights in many parts of the globe. Their fate is even worse in war zones where rape is increasingly being used as a weapon of war.

At home too, they still have a long way to go, despite substantial progress in the last half century. More often than not they are still the residual partner when it comes to pursuing careers, or, they are obliged to leave home for the labour market to pay a joint mortgage and children are farmed out to crèches.

This is a mad mad world and the struggle for equality still has a long way to go, no matter where you are.

And let us not forget the men!

This day is also the anniversary (43rd) of the toppling of Nelson from his pillar in the centre of Dublin city in 1966, in the run up to the 50 year commemoration of the 1916 rising.

There is an obscure link between these two subjects. After his fall, Nelson's head was used in a fashion shoot on Killiney beach. The height of female progress at that time seemed to be a "nautical outfit with midriff portholes".

Perish the thought.

Text me, Jesus!

This notice at Findlater's Church, Parnell Square, Dublin, caught my eye the other day. If it was for real it would put a distinctly different complextion on this photo in my Flickr photostream.

However, I have the impression that whoever composed the notice is not really a texter as the terms are non-standard and the mix of upper and lower case letters would defeat the purpose of the abbreviated texting notation, minimising keystrokes on the mobile phone.

Free lunch?

This is the sort of advertising that drives me nuts. You would think from reading it that the company was providing a public service for free. Where is the regulator? These guys should be shackled in the brackets they omitted from the ad:

Chasing down numbers
(& texting them back for free).

Advertising is becoming increasingly misleading and dependent on small print to obscure the lies. It is even worse on radio where the reader's word-speed per minute accelerates to the unintelligible as soon as they hit the compulsory disclaimers.

If I had my way I would force advertisers to provide the misleading services they advertise at no additional cost to the consumer. I would also insist that radio ads be read at a uniform speed. The choice would be theirs as to whether you found the whole ad unintelligible or understood both the message and the disclaimers in equal measure.

Don't Bank on It

"The liquidator's report to the High Court said bluntly that the bank had been 'operated and run by the directors with scandalous disregard not only for the Companies Act but also for the Central Bank Act'. According to liquidator Paddy Shortall, possible offences included bribery, conspiracy, corrupt transactions, falsifying or destroying books, publishing fraudulent statements, making false returns to the Central Bank, concealment of property and obtaining credit by false pretences. On foot of his report the Garda Fraud Squad was called in but no further action was taken against Gallagher in this jurisdiction"

The Builders, pps 32/3

Sounds familiar, but it is not about Anglo Irish. This was Patrick Gallagher's Merchant Banking which collapsed in 1982, twenty six years ago.

And there has been no shortage of other implosions over the years, both in this country and abroad, which underlined the need for rigorous, conservative and cross-border supervision. ICI (1985), Savings and Loan crisis (1980/90s), BCCI (1991), Enron (2001), to name but a few.

But the country was becoming bewitched by the Celtic Tiger and it's hubris knew no bounds.

The Celtic Tiger, insofar as it represented genuine economic advancement, was the product of a number of sensible polices over previous decades, including investment in education, strict (albeit intermittent) control of the public finances, joining the EU, attraction of multi-national industries from abroad, and developing an indigenous entrepreneurial sector.

Unfortunately, the financial sector, or at least a large proportion of it along with property developers, lost the run of itself. It was subject to "light regulation" and was, inter alia, advancing megabucks to speculative developers and 100%+ mortgages to ordinary housebuyers. The state itself was becoming accustomed to a lavish income stream, much of it generated by excessive property values and ultimately dependent on mega-loans from abroad.

The country was firmly in hock to the bubble. The system could only continue to work as long as property values kept rising at a sufficient rate to keep householders in positive net equity and to sustain the enormous gambles being taken by the developers and the banks.

Now that the bubble has burst, the country is burdened with repayment of these loans at a time when "private" real estate values have tumbled and public sector income is massively reduced.

And the public sector is stuck with servicing a settlement pattern which has been effectively determined by a crowd of cute hoors rather than sensible long term planning. The Kenny Report (1973) made recommendations aimed at taking the corruption out of land zoning and ensuring that any increase in land values as a result of zoning accrued mainly to the community. These recommendations were sacrificed on the altar of the absolute rights of "private property" by successive governments hiding behind the constitution. It cannot speak well for our democratic system that one party (FF) has been in power for 80% of the last half century.

Some of these thoughts flashed through my mind the other day when I noticed the sign on the pillar of the headquarters of the Bank of Ireland in Baggot St. I wondered if, in its current straitened circumstances, the bank might ultimately be obliged to take down the sign and lease the space for the very activities it now prohibits.

God forbid.




Previous posts:
Blogging against Poverty Bloody bankers et al.
Blogging for the Environment Perverse incentives in the economic system.
Crock of Gold Pardon the somewhat optimistic conclusion!