Sometimes you wonder if your senses are deceiving you. The eyes nearly fell out of my head a week ago when I saw a front-page headline on the Irish Daily Mail: ‘HSE Defends Forum with US Expert on Men Breastfeeding.’ I turned away. But when I looked back the headline was still there unfortunately, befuddling…
A view from the Plinth A visit from Donald Trump to Doonbeg for the Irish Open golf is in prospect. I am not expecting to face the political dilemma of whether to attend a sitting in Leinster House for an address by the President. That is not going to happen. It’s not even clear whether…
Ann Widdecombe was always a hard act to follow, but the demands on her time meant she was also a difficult act to get onto the stage in the first place. You knew however, if only you could get her out in front of that crowd, she would be brilliant. It took us 12 months…
I owe Alistair McConnell a phone call. A few weeks ago, he got in touch with me by email. He wanted to hear my concerns about RTÉ’s broadcast output. Alistair is the Head of Editorial Standards and Compliance at RTÉ. He emailed me after his Director General, Kevin Bakhurst, appeared some days previously before the…
The AI option on my smartphone, where I go to check things fairly often these days, tells me that Nokia is still in the business of making “brick” mobile phones or “flip phones” — the phones you use if you don’t want to bother with the internet, WhatsApp, photos and lots of other apps. If…
I think I should start this article with a ‘bad language’ trigger warning because at least two rude words, neither of my own making, are in there among the jumble of thoughts clamouring for expression on this page. I was pleased when a friend offered me two tickets to attend The Rest is Politics (TRIP)…
As I write this, my Fianna Fáil colleagues in the Seanad are bringing forward a motion to debate Online Safety. I don’t doubt their good intentions, but the text of their motion is too deferential towards the Government, the EU and Big Tech. Artificial Intelligence is reshaping our world, they say, and the Government has…
One of the things that can make politics tricky is the use of ‘bait and switch’ tactics by activists in and out of government. In the commercial world, ‘bait and switch’ means the act of advertising goods as an apparent bargain, while intending to substitute lower quality or dearer goods all the while. The ‘bait’…
It strikes me sometimes that a lot of people are incapable of holding two or more competing ideas in their head at the same time. Or that many are unwilling to do so. I had an exchange recently with RTÉ Director General, Kevin Bakhurst, at an Oireachtas Committee, over RTÉ’s decision to boycott the Eurovision…
It is remarkable how seldom our political leaders contribute fresh ideas about policy or take risks in order to open up new fronts in tackling the nation’s problems. There are many reasons: Lack of imagination. Distrust of the electorate. Fear of one’s political opponents and how they might seize on any ‘gaffe’. Subservience to political…