Bloggers Book Club – Northern Lights

Northern Lights, or what do we do with problem called, em, Lyra, was a last minute substitute  for Sam Kean’s The Disappearing Spoon, which proved hard to get (mainly due to the paperback only being release this month, I think). While I can’t compare the two books, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by Northern Lights as I’m not a huge fan of fantasy fiction (Tolkein being an exception).

This is a world a bit like ours, university lecturers who think they know everything (hello to Moore McDowell), a church that insists on a monopoly of “truth”, downtrodden gypsies and, of course, talking polar bears. But bears aren’t the only animals that talk, Lyra, like all humans is born with a daemon. Some kind of furry creature that can change shape at will, can talk and feel everything its human feels – a bit like a politician at election time. There is an invisible bond between humans and daemons (think Fianna Fail and property developers) and when one dies so does the other (unlike Fianna Fail who are obviously some abomination of nature).

Pullman’s fantasy world is just as difficult for young children to navigate as our own. Adults that are supposed to protect children end up damaging them or worse. The official world seems to help or turn a blind eye to the Gobblers – child catchers intent on trying to separate children from their daemons – a bit like official Ireland and child-abusing clergy.

And like our world, some parents are not averse to using their children to gain positions of power. Poor Lyra, along with her daemon Pantalaimon, has to contend with both a mother and a father who wish to do her harm in order to further their own ambitions. Not only that but she was abandoned in a stuffy university (Oxford) to be brought up by the dons. But Lyra possesses her own qualities and she sees off many adversities in her quest (all fantasy fiction has to have a quest) to free the children taken by the Gobblers and also to, as she thinks, rescue her father from a frozen prison near the North Pole.

Pullman is a consumate writer, his characters may not have much depth but they allow the story to move at a pace and the reader’s attention doesn’t flag. He also has the skill in persuading us to suspend our disbelief (Bears that make armour from the sky, witches, a talking grey goose) and buy into the story. And he doesn’t think much of organised religion, whats not to like? All in all a pleasant read and if I see the other two books knocking around a bookstore (its just a shame Waterstones has closed its covers) I may just have my daemon (a half-bee called Eric) pick them up.

Check out the other members of the BBC for their views: Lily, Marian, Marie, Lorna, Val, Jenn, Edie, Catherine, Jenny, SusanC, Winifred, Ann, Susan, Dee and Tommy who suggest the book.

Read Full Post »

The Politician has been drinking…

PJ and Enda have one for the road

If it’s good enough for Bobby Alyward its good enough for Cork Fine Gael TD, PJ Sheehan. It all comes back to the culture of the rural redneck downing his pints and piling into his motor to weave his weary way home. After all, its his god-given (or was it De Valera?) right as a daycent skin and salt of the earth gombeen to do what the feck he likes. And not only that, as an elected official it’s practically his duty to abuse the subsidised bar and then abuse the cop that tries to prevent him exercising his full rights as a higher Power (prefer Jameson myself).

What the whole unedifying spectacle shows is that deference to politicians is still alive and well among the police force. The lady in blue should have arrested the ignorant old twat and slapped him in the slammer overnight. If only there was an independent witness present on that 8th July night that could corroborate what actually happened and back up the cop in question.

But wait, there was someone and that someone is a well-respected party leader who decries politicians abusing their positions or gaining favours just because of what they are. Step forward Enda Kenny, PJ’s boss, who immediately leaped to the defence of…PJ Sheehan by telling the policewoman to ignore what Sheehan had said about ruining her career. And Kenny wasted absolutely no time at all (whats two months in politics?) by asking Sheehan to reflect on his own position. Of course, Kenny was in no way influenced to act by the leaked police report into the whole affair.

This is the quick, decisive and unblinkered leadership that the country is calling out for. Its enough to make you cry – or emigrate.

Read Full Post »

Let The Great World Spin – Bloggers Book Club

This is my first post for the BBC and this month’s book is Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin. The book won the 2009 National Book Award in America and garnered great reviews in the New York Times, the Guardian and the Irish Times. Apologies to the other members of the BBC for publishing this early but I’m not around on publication day – 6 June.

Although set in New York, the book begins in Dublin with the character of Ciaran Corrigan, whose brother (simply called Corrigan) is struggling with his faith while trying to be a monk among the prostitutes of the Bronx. It ends with the daughter of one of the prostitutes visiting her dying “aunt”. In between, the story revolves around the day in 1974 when Philippe Petit spent 30 minutes on a high-wire strung between the newly built Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. There is no doubting McCann’s writing ability and craft but somehow the book does not quite come together and reads more like a collection of short stories rather than an integrated novel.

This may have something to do with the amount of different voices that he tries to portray. There are 11 different protagonists each with their own story. Some of these stories are well told while others are less engrossing and don’t hold as much interest. Perhaps the weakest part of the novel is the ending where McCann moves the story forward to 2006 and gives an update to some of the main characters but this piece feels almost tacked on and doesn’t flow naturally from the rest of the book.

The stronger passages, such as the story of Claire, a rich Park Avenue dwelling mother who has lost her son in the Vietnam war, have a haunting, lyrical quality. McCann’s prose is almost poetic and gives a great insight into Claire’s insecurity, apprehension and nervousness about the death of her son and about the group of disparate women with whom she seeks solace.

Likewise, the story of Gloria, who becomes Claire’s friend, is just as compelling. Gloria shakes off her past as a descendant of slaves in the deep south by becoming a university graduate. But poor choices with men – “I gave them all of the truth but none of the honesty” – sees her growing old, almost into a stereotypical representation of a church going middle-aged black woman, even though she doesn’t attend any church. The death of her sons and a chance encounter with the two daughters of a jailed prostitute offer Gloria a way to fulfill her earlier destiny to make a real difference in the world.

The weaker stories tend to drag down the novel and give us little insight into the characters. Corrigan, a semi-mystical Irish monk, living with prostitutes in the Bronx, just doesn’t connect. Maybe that is down to the remove due to his story being told by Ciaran, his brother. But Ciaran is not well drawn out, nor is Lara, who plays a major role in the tragedy at the heart of the book. It may be coincidence but both of these characters crop up at the end of the novel. Equally, Claire’s husband – Judge Solomon Soderberg – seems as if he’s just there to move the story along and his character is very under-developed. Some of the pieces around the early computer hackers appear to belong to a different book and strike a bit of a false note.

However, when McCann gets it right he really delivers, in particular, the chapters dealing with Petit are almost hypnotic and hold the attention almost as tightly as the high-wire itself. There is no doubting McCann’s writing ability and, despite the weak sections of the book, this is a very fine read and I look forward to getting my hands on more of his work. Perhaps a look at his short stories – Fishing The Sloe-Black River – would be the place to start.

Check out the other BBC members for their views on McCann – Jenny, Marion, Treasa, Cathy, Marie, Lorna, Val, Jenn, Edie, Catherine, Kirsty, Steph, Una, Susan, Winifred, Ann, lastofthemojitos.

Read Full Post »

Bloggers’ Book Club

Thanks to Lily Collison, I’ve joined the BBC to discuss books and stuff. I’ve missed the April review of Colm Toibin‘s Brooklyn but I have started reading Colum McCann‘s Let The Great World Spin for May. Basically, the idea is that a bunch of bloggers (a commentary of bloggers?) write a review of a book and publish it simultaneously at noon on the first Sunday of the month. Check out the other BBC members for their views on Brooklyn – Jenny, Marion, Treasa, Cathy, Marie, Lorna, Val, Jenn, Edie, Catherine, Kirsty, Steph, Una, Susan, Winifred, Ann, lastofthemojitos.

Marie, Lorna, Val, Jenn, Edie, Catherine, Jenny, Kirsty, Steph, Una, Susan, Winifred, Ann, lastofthemojitos

Read Full Post »

Blind Justice?

What happens to people in this country when they get to a position of power? Do they just subscribe to the adage that power corrupts? Or maybe its as simple as living in a culture where there is no responsibility and it doesn’t really matter what you do as you will not be answerable. Even the language of power doesn’t acknowledge that doing wrong must lead to some sort of punishment. Dáil deputies cannot be called liars in the Dáil, no they tell untruths or omit to tell the truth. If we did the same we would be liars and quite rightly so. Power is facilitated in this by the lack of action by the police and the courts.

Limerick Gangster (from http://www.independent.ie)

Willie O’Dea told ‘untruths’ to the High Court. According to himself he forgot what he had said in a taped interview three weeks prior to the signed affidavit to the High Court. Actually what he did was perjure himself. Perjury is a criminal offence yet O’Dea has not been charged with the crime, let alone arrested for it. O’Dea doesn’t even recognise that he is further diminishing the standing of politics in this country.

The Catholic bishops of Dublin colluded with and facilitated the abuse of children in Dublin. This is another criminal act. Yet, as with O’Dea, the authorities have been silent on the issue. The bishops went off to Rome to kiss the pope’s ring (insert your own appropriate gag). They got a bit of a telling off and then listened as the weasel-faced bastard tried to blame a lack of faith for preponderance of paedophiles in the Irish institution. These bishops should be in handcuffs and chains and not colluding in writing a pastoral letter that will absolve them and put the blame back on the victims.

Read Full Post »

Child Line

Image courtesy of http://www.proprofs.com/

Rosemary MacCabe’s Irish Times blog has generated a bit of excitement but I’m sure that it Rosemary wishes that commentators concentrated on the clothes and not the ethics. Extolling the virtues of Penny’s (Primark) cheap clothing is one thing but professing ignorance of their history of involvement with Asian sweat shops that use child labour is not something one would expect of a journalist employed by a reputable paper.

Rosemary is correct in saying that she’s not writing about business ethics. However, to go on and say that, “cost is not the deciding factor in whether or not a store or designer uses child labour, and that I don’t necessarily think banning child labour outright would be a positive move for anyone involved.” is ignorance in the extreme. While banning child labour is not in Primark’s best interests, to say that exploiting children is a positive because their families have no alternative is quite shocking. Children die, get injured and maimed while working 12 hour, and longer, days. They don’t get enough food, water or sleep, they are brutally beaten and suffer disability.

Maybe Rosemary would do well to do some research into the subject for her next Irish Times piece. She could do worse than look at the website of the International Labour Organization for more information. Primark has signed up to the Ethical Trading Initiative, under which it should, “contribute to policies and programmes which provide for the transition of any child found to be performing child labour to enable her or him to attend and remain in quality education until no longer a child.” However, there is no sign that Primark takes that responsibility seriously.

Read Full Post »

Overdrawn Directors Continue Earning

So long, suckers...

Jim Flavin must be laughing up his very expensive designer shirt sleeves today. The state regulator on all things corporate, the ODCE (Only Dickheads Can Enter), has decided that Flavin is a model upright citizen and a shining example to us all. In 2008 Paul Appelby, head of the ODCE (Our Directors Completely Exonerated), had established an investigation into Jimbo and his mates in DCC (Duping Cretinous Counsel) led by an SC (Superior Carrion) Bill Shipsey.

Obviously Shipsey’s report must come as some surprise to the five judges of the Supreme Court who ruled that the Fyffe’s trading information that Jimbo held was price sensitive and would have a negative effect on Fyffe’s share price. For more background, Ireland.com has a timeline of the important events.

Apparently, Shipsey based his findings on a cosy wee chat with Jimbo and found him to be an extremely nice man, kind to animals and good with children. Indeed, Jimbo didn’t realise the information he possessed was price sensitive or would have an effect on Fyffe’s shares. And who could doubt that finding? After all, Jimbo has only a mere thirty-odd years share dealing experience and wouldn’t know all the finickity little laws around directors’ responsibilities and could hardly spell insider dealing. In fact, it’s a wonder that the ODCE (Organising Dances: Creating Enjoyment) would even make a fuss about a ensuring our corporate laws were upheld, sure its only the Supreme Court that was bothered about this little matter in the first place.

Now that Jimbo has been given a gold star, expect him to be named as the head of the banking inquiry.

Read Full Post »

Sunday, em Wednesday Miscellany

Natural Selection
The 2009 Darwin Awards Nominees are up, check out http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2009.html. My own favourite is the woman that died trying to save her moped.

Remote Control
With a bit of luck the Government will miss Gabon’s reform of Civil Service lunch breaks. It’s interesting that in what is supposed to be a knowledge economy that there is such a reluctance to have Civil Servants avail of teleworking. The Department of Finance claims that it is too expensive to equip our homes with office furniture and that there are health and safety issues (our houses become more deadly if we work there, apparently). And there is also a concern about remote linking to Departmental computer systems. However, if we really want a flexible work force equipped to deal with the demands of a fast changing society then we need to look at this type of working. Taking the last few days into account I wonder how many civil and public servants availed of annual or flexi leave to avoid battling the elements to work. At least if they had the option of teleworking they would have been productive.

End Credits
It’s always sad when people who we respect have to take their leave but the last week saw two of my particular (and peculiar) favourites take their final bow. Michael Dwyer has been one of the more interesting and knowledgeable film critics of the past 25 years or so. I remember coming across him first in the In Dublin magazine many years ago and when he established the Dublin Film Festival with Myles Dungan. While I might not have agreed with everything he wrote I did admire his style of writing and the way he supported the film industry in Ireland. He was particularly good at interviewing film makers and the last time I saw him was at the 2007 Dublin International Film Festival when he presented Gabriel Byrne with a Volta and the following interview was fascinating. Dwyer set the bar for critics and he will be sadly missed although Daniel Day-Lewis said during his eulogy that he was relieved that Michael Dwyer never got round to seeing ‘Nine‘.

Another who turned his last sod was the landscape gardener John Cushnie. Cushnie had been part of Gardeners’ Question Time on BBC Radio 4 for the last fifteen years. GQT is a typically English institution, combining wisdom with wit and eccentricity. Cushnie could be forthright in his opinions but he had a wicked sense of humour and wasn’t afraid to send himself or his fellow panelists up. As a working gardener he had a real insight into the struggles of the (extremely) amateur genus.

Bow the Knee
Biffo is a creationist. He’s also a master of spin – at a time when we are dramatically cutting our aid to Africa he is patting himself on the back about the work we are going to do to help prevent climate change in the third world. We would have been better served if Biffo had pointed out the inadequacies of the Pope’s response to the Ryan and Murphy reports of 2009. In fact we would have been better served if Biffo had just kept his big mouth shut.

We are all individuals
Bit of a kerfuffle over at Twenty.

Jehovah
Apparently, it is now illegal to blaspheme in Ireland.

Read Full Post »

Catch Up – Part One

This blog has been an intermittent affair but the recent booze-fuelled break has meant that I’ve been even more remiss in updating than a government press secretary. So what happened over the past couple of weeks?

Apparently, Brian Lenihan will soon start to lose that unbelievably black hair due to the interference in his private life by TV3. There has been a lot of pontificating about the decision by Halligan and her mates to give the Minister a deadline to inform his family about the seriousness of his illness before broadcasting an ‘exclusive’ on December 26th. There are a number of issues with this story that are a bit puzzling.

First of all, looking at the timeline, it would appear that the Government Press Office knew about the illness before Lenihan’s family and called on the major media outlets not to publish the story until the Lenihan family had been informed. This just goes to show that there is a very cosy relationship between the Government and news media. Why should news of this magnitude not be reported? It is a significant piece of news because a serious illness may have an effect on the ability of Brian Lenihan to do his job – one of the most important jobs in the country. Surely, to avoid the sort of mess that has occurred, the Press Office or Brian Lenihan should have issued a statement once the family had been informed – and I assume the family would have been informed very soon after Lenihan was given the news.

The second puzzling element is that TV3 gave Lenihan 48 hours to tell his family before broadcasting the news. Why wait? If TV3 thought the news was important then they should have reported it immediately.

What really has me scratching my head is the amount of comments in the so-called serious press about the “terrible” invasion of Lenihan’s private life. Once again, Irish journalism trips around the periphery of a subject without getting to grips with the important aspects. The Irish media, with a few honourable exceptions, has become a mere reporting and PR machine and the lack of any serious investigation into Irish politics and society in the past decade is something that should make Irish journalists stop and ponder. The likes of  Gavin’s Blog, Maman Poulet and Public Inquiry seem to be doing more to uncover what is going on in our state than any of the mainstream media outlets.

Another aspect of this issue is the fact that Lenihan has no problem getting treatment at the Mater Private Hospital. It’s great that he can afford to have private treatment but I wonder how he feels as other patients or would-be patients suffer as the public hospital plans to close down beds and reduce services. As Minister for Finance, the decisions that Lenihan takes has a direct impact on the most vulnerable in our society. Fianna Fail and Mary Heartless have spent the past ten years or so trying to destroy what could have been a very good public health system.

There is no surprise that when Lenihan chose to address the nation that he picked RTE to broadcast the interview. This is not just because of the crass report from Halligan at TV3 but also because RTE have become the Government broadcast agency. This is the same station that chose to issue an apology to Brian Cowen because it reported the story about those pictures smuggled into the National Gallery.

Read Full Post »

Altar-ed State

The report on clerical child abuse in Dublin shows a culture of coercion, corruption and cover-up that goes back to the founding of the state. Members of the Catholic Church harvested our schools, our hospitals, our orphanages to find our children so that they could be raped and brutalised. Members of the church used the crucifix as they raped and brutalised our children. Members of the church shook the hands of those who raped and brutalised our children.

Members of the police returned our raped and brutalised children so that they could be raped and brutalised all over again. Members of the police turned a blind eye to those who raped and brutalised our children. Members of the police shook the hands of those who raped and brutalised our children.

Members of the government created legislation that gave power to those who raped and brutalised our children. Members of the government allowed the police to turn a blind eye to those who raped and brutalised our children. Members of the government shook the hands of those who raped and brutalised our children.

We raped and brutalised our children again when we denied them a voice.
We raped and brutalised our children again when we denied them justice.
We raped and brutalised our children again when we denied our guilt.
We turned away from our raped and brutalised children.

We have heard the archbishop say sorry.
We have heard some bishops say sorry.
We have heard some priests say sorry.
We haven’t said sorry.

We haven’t said sorry for meekly giving power over our children to those who hated them the most. We haven’t said sorry for accepting all the lies that came from the church, from the police, from the government. We haven’t said sorry for not changing a culture that allowed the church, the police, the government to rape and brutalise our children.

We need to say sorry to our children that we allowed to be raped and brutalised by the church, the police, the government.
We need to say sorry to our children for not questioning a society that allowed them to be raped and brutalised.
We need to say sorry to our children.
We should say sorry.

We need to change a culture that allows the church, the police, the government to rape and brutalise our children.
We need to put on trial the church, the police, the government for raping and brutalising our children.
We need to condemn the church, the police, the government for raping and brutalising our children.

We need to exclude the church from our orphanages.
We need to exclude the church from our hospitals.
We need to exclude the church from our schools.
We need to exclude the church from our lives.
We need to change the government.
We need to change the police.
We need to change society.
We need a revolution.

 

Disobedience. Disobedience in the eyes of anyone who has read history is our original virtue, it is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.

Oscar Wilde

Read Full Post »