05.19.05
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:51 pm by
I have received some enlightenment in the matter of column position. The main news is that I can relax. My position is not a judgement on the relative merits of each article. Instead they take out which is the most obviously British article in the section and replace it with mine for the Irish edition. Andrew Sullivan is victim to a similar geo-political vagary. If the US is big in the news and the esteemed editors consider it a popular read, they’ll put him in the main paper. When everyone’s sick of America he gets demoted back to the Review and I get demoted in turn. This is admirably logical and much better than someone saying ‘god she’s crap this week, hide it on page 7″.
In the matter of ‘house style’ they don’t like nicknames and exclamation marks. Isn’t it a poor day when you don’t learn something? Also, today is my birthday. I’m 34. I think I’m doing ok for 34. That still gives me about 20 years to be host of the Late Late. Surely I can manage that?
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Posted in Domestic/Relationships at 12:47 pm by
While Joe Higgins more than anyone is entitled to take umbrage at the remarks I like his priorities when he stated in today’s IT “He rang me and I indicated to the Minister for State that I’m more interested in actions rather than words.”
I know Conor is a bit of a disgrace but I think the Turks wouldn’t mind being slagged off if they Dept. Of Enterprise and Employment had done their job properly and made sure they were getting their pay.
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05.18.05
Posted in Domestic/Relationships at 8:40 pm by
The outrage in the Dail is funny.
From Emmet Stagg: “Such a remark would have been unworthy of any member of the House but it is particularly unacceptable from a member who has been appointed by the Taoiseach to have responsibility for overseas development aid,” Mr Stagg said.
Emmet of course was the member found cruising for rent boys in the Phoenix Park some years ago. Everyone was soooo morto and felt so sorry for his wife that they refused to comment on it and no one called for his resignation.
And from Sinn Fein….”international affairs spokesman Aengus O’Snodaigh demanded a public apology “to all Turkish people and others of Middle Eastern origin living and working and paying taxes in Ireland”, as well as a formal apology to the Turkish Ambassador.
Aengus doesn’t want an apology on behalf of those of Middle Eastern origin who are just living here but possibly supported by the state; or living and working here but maybe on the black market. Nooooooo, the apology is only for those living and working and paying taxes. I wonder if SF supporters in the hard drugs trade are paying taxes on their earnings?
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Posted in Domestic/Relationships at 12:55 pm by
Woke up this morning to hear George Galloway’s oratory. Great stuff. Almost moving. At least someone is telling those ignorant yanks what’s what. The day deteriorated after that and by 12.45 I was close to cracking caused by whingeing toddler and failure to book holiday. I wanted to stay in a particular hotel on a particular beach in Marjoca. Everything went against me. Fortunately I turned on the radio in time to hear about Conor Lenihan’s latest faux pas. Abusing Joe Higgins in the Dail yesterday he told him to “stick with the kebabs”! I laughed out loud (which on your own is always a bit weird). Liveline on Radio 1 are going to cover it – meanies. They really hate Conor. Sure everyone knows he’s mad.
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05.16.05
Posted in Domestic/Relationships at 9:09 pm by
Another journo tells me that the meeja are hoping he’ll reform the libel laws so they don’t want to piss him off. However, given my past experience with Herr Minister I think it can’t be this benign; altho’ how clever of him to dangle this carrot in front of the fourth estate. Who can forget the trouble he took to ensure that my own delicate wrists were firmly slapped by the wretched Tribunal? No other politician cared, but he had no compunction about leaning on the eminent justice. He’s clearly v. prickly. One day…..
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Posted in Feminism, Sunday Times Columns at 5:24 pm by
Re-read yesterday’s post and realised I didn’t describe the second life (first being important newspaper columnist….) I restored sense of achievment by making a cake. A classic victoria sponge as instructed by Delia. It didn’t rise enough. Under the ‘what went wrong’ section I think I used the wrong tin. Still, it tastes lovely. Am now domestic goddess.
btw, here’s yesterday’s article. One woman has already called the ST looking for me. I suspect she’s one of the bad parents and wants to abuse me. I’m afraid to return her call. Why are people soooooooooo touchy?
Jabs are for all not just for you
There is no more irrational creature on earth than the concerned parent. You’ll find them complaining about mobile phone masts, even though their little darlings have mobile phones; their houses are filled with wide-screen televisions and computer games, but that won’t stop them screeching about ESB pylons.
Normally the rest of us can ignore this illogical behaviour. But last Thursday’s National Immunisation Conference in Sligo, which highlighted Ireland’s alarmingly low rate of MMR vaccination, indicated why some parents should have statutory lessons in logic.
In 2000, three children in Dublin died during a measles outbreak. This disease remains a threat to tiny babies too young for immunisation and vulnerable because their older siblings have not been vaccinated. The fault lies with their remarkably stupid parents who believe that vaccination is a personal choice.
Theoretically, it should be harder to persuade parents from lower socio-economic groups to bring their children for vaccination. This is not the case. The bad parents come from the over-educated middle classes with access to the internet. They will leap on discredited pseudo-scientific papers that claim to expose the dangers of immunisation. The vaccine is invariably linked to a condition with an unknown cause. Never questioning the sources or qualifications of the online author, these parents choose to ignore the advice of health professionals and decide immunisation is not for them.
Infamously, Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 study in The Lancet told the world that eight out of 12 autistic children he examined showed symptoms within days of getting their MMR injection. To this day there are concerned parents will quote this “scientific paper” as the reason they are terrified of the MMR vaccine. The conclusions were disputed by leading researchers internationally, but the damage was done. MMR vaccination rates dropped, with devastating results.
Ireland, being particularly susceptible to the contagion of ignorant rumour, suffered most. In 2002 the rate fell as low as 73%. Given that a rate of 90% is necessary to provide protection for everybody, health professionals were alarmed.
It took an investigation published in this newspaper last year to expose the flaws in Wakefield’s paper. His study was based on evidence of parents already embarking on legal action against vaccine manufacturers. In fact, at the time of the Lancet publication in February 1998, the parents of nine children had obtained full legal aid certificates to sue – a figure which eventually rose to 11. Since 1996, Wakefield had been paid by the solicitor of five of the children in the study to examine the link between MMR and autism.
Despite all this, some people persist in the false belief that a risk exists. What they fail to realise is that their personal choice has terrible consequences for everybody else.
The principle of global immunisation is that you don’t have a vaccination so much to protect your child as to protect all children. The goal of immunisation is to reduce the incidence of the disease in the entire population.
Anybody old enough to have a child should remember those health promotion ads featuring the nun shouting “boh” behind the deaf baby. The baby’s mother had caught rubella and when pregnant mums get rubella the results are abortions, miscarriages, stillbirths, and birth defects. So when a mother tries to convince me against vaccination, I ask how she would feel if she contracted rubella from one of her own children while pregnant. Invariably, I am subjected to a lecture about the benefits of a natural immunity.
Natural immunity failed to prevent a huge epidemic of diphtheria in Russia, causing more than 125,000 cases and resulting in 4,000 deaths in the mid-1990s. Russia used to have a well-established vaccine programme. After the dissolution of the USSR, shortages of vaccine led to a dramatic fall in coverage.
In a rich society such as Ireland, we only associate polio and diptheria with poor countries. Measles and mumps seem relatively benign. I am quite sure that if one of my children got measles they’d be over it in a week. But I will not be responsible for my children giving it to the child with the weak heart who could die as a result.
The incidence of measles has been reduced due to the responsibility of most parents. However, in 2001, there was only one case of measles in Northern Ireland where the vaccination rate is 91%. The same year in the republic there were 1,600 cases.
One day we can stop vaccinating, when every country has eliminated the disease. As long as the hysterics exercise their choice not to, there is no hope of Ireland joining the list of disease-free countries. This is the legacy of the bad parent.
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05.15.05
Posted in Sunday Times Columns at 5:49 pm by
Just a few short months ago I was thrilled to be awarded a column in a prestigious newspaper. Finally, in print! How quickly expectations adjust to new circumstances. No longer is the ego satisfied simply by publication: I pay increasing attention to location and editing. Today my prime spot on p5 of the Review section has been nicked by Andrew Sullivan, public enemy No. 1 of P O’Neill. I am relegated to my beginner’s spot on p7. I veer between mild indignancy and worry. Is this the work of a bitter sub-editor on the mainland or a judgement on my subject and ability? What British/Irish politics are at play? To what office rivalries have I fallen victim? The editing is either wise or cruel. I suppose a reference to chip-eating welfare dependents, even if in a sympathetic context is best erased. But does it diminish my spirit?
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Posted in Uncategorized at 4:17 pm by
Life is starting to normalise. I’ve watched 2 DVD’s in the last week; first movies I’ve seen in months. It wasn’t an auspicious cultural event tho’. First one was National Treasure which must count as one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. I have a pretty low amusement threshold but this tested my limits. It started out as a thriller, morphed into action and towards the end tried to be a comedy. Nicholas Cage couldn’t decide whether to be a geek or a hero. It was terrible. Sean Bean was supposed to be a man of ‘unlimited resources’ but looked like a tramp. The so-called love interest was far too young to be in charge of the national archives and was German. Helloo? I can’t see the yanks giving a kraut that job. Her willingness to squeeze lemons all over the declaration of independence (Cage’s father fortunately stored an improbable number of lemons in his fridge) and then blow dry it lacked all credibility. In addition to this abuse, the DoI was flung all over the place and survived far too well. If it was so robust why did the authorities bother with the very expensive protective environment in which it was stored? A ridiculously large cavern is discovered in the middle of Manhatten and we are expected to believe it remain undiscovered simply because it was under a very small graveyard. I am prepared to suspend disbelief but it was all too much.
Things improved slightly with Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason. Darcy was very drippy but the movie was saved by Hugh Grant. He is sooo much better playing a shit than a bumbling fool. And I couldn’t help admiring his new hair cut and physique, the latter most unnecessarily exposed in a superflous towel scene. I have to confess to some impure thoughts. However the lesbian kiss was silly and far too neat. However it did remind me that my birthday is coming up and therefore my annual treat of staying in bed all day reading Pride and Prejudice delighting in the best romantic lines ever…..Miss Bennett’s fine eyes etc. Perhaps I’ll buy myself the BBC series on DVD and smirk over the wet shirt scene. V. bold.
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05.05.05
Posted in Sunday Times Columns at 9:43 pm by
I caught Fair City last night and tonight. They’ve introduced a new character, Judy, to steal Sammy away from Suzanne. For a love interest, Judy has been very poorly cast. She has quite the worst set of teeth I’ve seen on TV for a while. They are completely crooked and you can see far too much of her top gums. It’s really irritating. Her eyes are crooked too. I’m far from symetrical myself, but I have no ambition to be a soap star.
My head is splitting. In order to get my tummy back in shape I’ve taken to pushing the double buggy to the local village (over 1 mile away) (with two hills in between) (and several very high kerbs) and back again. It leaves me utterly wrecked but if I let myself go now, all is lost.
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05.01.05
Posted in Domestic/Relationships, Feminism at 8:46 pm by
Foreign readers have complained they can’t see even current ST pages without paying. Outrageous! Here is article as it appeared. (in the print edition I’m beside Michael Portillo!!Anyone would think I was important…)
Asbos will just turn bored youngsters into criminals
DESPITE the fact that crime rates in Ireland are decreasing, last week politicians queued up to support the introduction of the anti-social behaviour order, better known as Asbo.
If you like your anti-crime measures draconian and harsh, Asbos are for you. Adopted in Britain in 1999, they are now regarded as the only way in which young thugs who terrorise neighbourhoods without actually breaking the law can be brought to heel.
Police obtain an Asbo by way of civil procedure against an individual, usually a child or young teenager, banning a certain kind of behaviour. It could be shouting, spitting, rampaging through a neighbour’s garden, defacing walls with graffiti or hanging around in an intimidating group at a street corner. Breaking an Asbo is a criminal offence, and in the UK is punishable by up to five years in jail. So without actually breaking a law, an offender can be imprisoned for as little as turning up on a forbidden street.
For harassed neighbours in the urban wastelands tacked onto Dublin, Cork and Limerick, Asbos will be an extremely popular measure. The summer holidays are looming, with three months of long evenings to be endured rather than enjoyed by residents in working-class estates. Gangs of bored teenagers will make their neighbours’ lives a misery with aggressive behaviour, while remaining immune from criminal proceedings. One can hardly blame the unfortunate inhabitants of deprived areas for demanding that someone put manners on these local louts.
Asbos are not targeted specifically at disadvantaged areas, of course. But as children in more affluent areas will be placed in energy-sapping summer camps and ferried from swimming to tennis lessons in SUVs, it’s unlikely that they will be the recipients of these orders.
It’s hardly a surprise that Michael McDowell is eager to put Asbos into the new Criminal Justice Bill. It’s even less of a surprise that Fine Gael, traditionally the standard-bearers of law and order, support not only the Asbos but also the on-the-spot fines proposed in the bill. The fines can be imposed by the gardai in a similar fashion to speeding tickets, allowing quick justice without recourse to a judge or jury. If the parents of the young offenders are in receipt of social welfare, Fine Gael proposes that the money be stopped from their payments.
Not to be outdone, Labour has stepped up with a “Take back our neighbourhood” policy, also supporting the introduction of Asbos. However, this does not sit easily with many in the party and the introduction to Labour’s policy document explains why Pat Rabbitte has decided to take a hard line with anti-social elements.
While Labour acknowledges the roots of a lot of anti-social behaviour lie in disadvantage and marginalisation, the party feels it should also stand up for the common good and act to protect communities from the scourge of anti-social behaviour.
One suspects this enthusiasm to be seen to be tough on crime has more to do with the popularity of Sinn Fein in disadvantaged areas. Sinn Fein has less formal, and possibly more effective, methods of controlling anti-social behaviour. But while the big parties propose this extreme measure in an attempt to compete with Sinn Fein in these enclaves, Gerry Adams’s party actually opposes Asbos.
Though it pains me to have to agree with Sinn Fein on anything, that opposition is soundly based. McDowell claimed last week that he supports Asbos because they have been seen to work in the UK. A trawl through the British press since 1999 reveals no such consensus. Instead one reads of a litany of failures. Asbos have turned into little more than authorised vigilantism, criminalising children, eccentrics and even the mentally ill.
We are used to reading court reports in which the identity of minor offenders is concealed so that their characters are not irretrievably stained. With Asbos not only is there no such protection, but offenders’ photographs are plastered around a locality and residents urged to report infringements. Even if the Asbo is never breached, what chance has its object of regaining their reputation? Would you hire someone you’d seen on a Not Wanted Here poster?
Those in favour of Asbos will argue that they act as an early warning system, giving potential offenders the opportunity to rectify their behaviour before falling foul of the criminal justice system. Success can only be claimed if the object of an Asbo neither breaches it nor commits a true crime. In Britain, 40% of Asbos are breached, thus criminalising teenagers for, in some cases, just hanging around. If there is any consensus, it is that putting young people in jail ensures their rehabilitation is a most unlikely outcome. McDowell’s Progressive Democrat colleague John Minihan claimed last week a 40% breach rate should be interpreted as a 60% success rate. This is not the case – defence lawyers in England will tell you that many of the 60% are later prosecuted for actual crimes.
If most Asbo recipients end up in jail anyway, how can McDowell claim that success in the UK is the basis of their introduction here? Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the system is the variety of behaviour targeted by Asbos. In the legislation on which they are based, Asbos can be issued for any behaviour “likely to cause alarm”. In England, a 23-year-old woman who repeatedly threw herself into the Avon was banned from jumping into rivers or canals. A mentally-ill man was prohibited from sniffing petrol anywhere in Teesside. Most famously, a woman was given one ordering her not to be seen wearing her underwear at her window or in her garden. The local Asbo unit handed out diaries to her neighbours to record when she was seen in her underwear. As Matt Foot of ASBO Concern observed, it gave a new meaning to neighbourhood watch.
If you are the victim of youths loitering aggressively on your street, you don’t care about these extreme examples. You just want the ruffians moved on. But given the failure of Asbos in the UK, they are clearly not the solution. Successful remedies are based on preventative strategies. If you want the youths to move on, they have to have somewhere to move to. The government simply has to put money into vulnerable communities to provide safe shelter and activities for young people.
Active community policing is also essential. The proposed on-the-spot fines are being compared to speeding tickets. But everyone knows that speeding fines have no effect on the numbers speeding; it is the sight of a patrol car that gets motorists to slow down. Similarly if you want to stop anti-social behaviour, you have to have police on the street all the time.
For those undeterred by the police presence, restorative justice is far more effective than jail time. This can encompass everything from meeting the victim of your crime to community service. Unruly youths are more likely to refrain from vandalising public spaces if they have been forced to clean that public space themselves.
Since it costs €250,000 per year to keep a juvenile in jail, spending money on young people before they commit a crime is extremely cost effective.
John Lonergan, governor of Mountjoy, has for years recommended targeting toddlers in those specific geographical locations that are known to produce criminal youths. If you want someone to behave at 13 you have to provide adequate care when they are three. Everything else is a waste of time and money.
The most frustrating element of the debate on juvenile offences is that both Fine Gael and Labour are perfectly well aware of these more effective solutions, which are even included in their policy documents. Unfortunately the political consensus in support of Asbos ensures that they will become the first line of defence rather than the last, and “softer” solutions will never see the light of day.
It is facile to expect opposition parties to oppose everything the government does. However, it is a pity that in this case Fine Gael and Labour did not choose to overcome their distaste of Sinn Fein and form a united opposition against these ugly instruments of social control.
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