Archive for August, 2003

Part-time education in Ireland

Friday, August 29th, 2003

Joanna Tuffy,the (Irish) Labour Party's Seanad spokesperson on education, has a wonderful suggestion for extending education opportunities in the community. The details may need finessing, but overall it hits the nail on the head.

Who owns the media?

Sunday, August 17th, 2003

Find out who owns the media, with Media Channel.

Following ‘the’ news

Thursday, August 14th, 2003

In light of a discussion I recently had over the traditional measurement of the level of newspaper readership in society (should online readership count? what about email summaries of headlines? and should one include only sites that have off-line publications?) it is interesting to examine a new Pew report. It ...

Waspish remarks

Tuesday, August 12th, 2003

Heard on RTE Radio's Rattlebag:The war on terror is like trying to swat a wasp with a fridge

Israel’s new law

Saturday, August 9th, 2003

This requires little comment: The Israeli parliament has passed a law banning Palestinians who marry Israeli citizens from gaining Israeli citizenship, or even permanent residence in Israel. As heard on RTE"s World Report [Real Audio format].

Propaganda and the press

Friday, August 8th, 2003

I've got a letter in today's Daily Illini, criticising the casual use of the phrase 'axis of evil' in that paper. Quote: "The 'Axis' has become a vessel for demonising any and all targets of the current US regime."

Orlowski’s abuse of truth

Friday, August 8th, 2003

This is not too topical, but something I've meant to blog for a while. Earlier this year Andrew Orlowski of the Register wrote a series of disparaging articles about weblogs and blogging, in which he seemed to conflate the concept of the weblog and a small subset of tech-oriented bloggers. ...

CSO launches new survey on incomes

Friday, August 8th, 2003

Seems I'm not the only one interested in having more data available on incomes in Ireland.

Powell criticises Israeli actions

Friday, August 8th, 2003

Can anyone explain why the US government has started criticising Israeli actions? I can't recall this level and form of criticism in the past. Am I wrong? If I'm right, what has changed? A senior American official says US financial aid to Israel may be reduced unless the construction of a ...

Incomes in Ireland

Friday, August 8th, 2003

I asked, they answered. Thanks to my friend Micheál I was directed to the website of CORI's Justice Commission, which includes some interesting data on incomes. They concentrate on the more relevant 'disposable income' rather than on gross or net incomes. From their site: The top quintile (20%) of Irish households have ...