Major cuts, public uncertainty and mass opposition; B- DAY IS UPON US.

Few were surprised at Wednesday’s Budget, we had all expected major cuts in the severest budget since the Celtic tiger. Public sector, child benefit and dole payment cuts had all been outlined and very much opposed in the weeks prior to B-day. Still, the reality of Wednesday cuts deep.

Many public sector worker wages are being reduced by 4%+ and sacrifices will have to be made. For many Christmas will be a daunting period and this is very real.

The fact that child benefit is to be cut across the board is strange and unusual. The very practice of offering the rich and highly paid the same benefit as the poor or average joe is a joke. The Government has said that means testing is virtually impossible but surely an institution with access to an abundance of information on each citizen and has the means to means- test and allocate college grants can do the same for child benefit. The suggestion that this is impossible is naïve.

Probably, the greatest shock was that nothing was being prepared for graduates. There is no certainty that recent graduates will have a job. Rather, they are being forced to re-train, as what? No one is sure, or take a cut in social welfare. In fact these graduates look set to face an up- hill battle. Not to mention being combined with a totally new pool of graduates if and when the economy picks up.

The Government had to make some severe choices given the state of the economy but a lot more has to be done.

Twilight- the madness continues

Twilight- the madness continues

With the recent release of The Vampire’s Assistant, True Blood and Daybreakers it seems the Vampire craze is set to continue its hold over the world and leading the pack is the Twilight saga. So did its second instalment, New Moon, leave us thirsty for more or running to the nearest coffin for cover?

The sheer volume of shows programmed at Storm Cinemas Naas, a total of 29 a week, not to mention the screening of the first enstalment prior to New Moon on its opening night did not prepare me for the madness I was to endure. Arriving at the cinema was surreal, hundreds of girls dressed in Twilight t- shirts were prone to screaming ‘team Edward’ or ‘team Jacob’ at a given moment and the fact that we had to queue for half an hour before entering the theatre didn’t seem to phase them one bit. Unfortunately, this was the most intriguing part of the movie experience.

One of the main faults is the extent with which the movie keeps to the original novel. The movie is slow paced and can be little enjoyed by those un- familiar with Stephanie Myers’ novels. The film is inconsistent, at one point we see Vampire Alice drive to Italy from America; the action is minimal, the entire action is confined to a single scene that looks Matrix esk and heartthrob Rob Patz is absent for most of the film apart from a few comical ‘visions’ of him thrown in to keep Twihards happy. Further, Our protagonist Bella is completely defined by her love for her Vampire Edward, which leaves the Bellla stale and lifeless. Once Edward leaves, Stuart is forced to play a one- dimensional character who does little besides mope and pout. Anyone who has had the pleasure of watching ‘Into the Wilde’ will realise that this banality is more to do with Myers’ lifeless prose than Kristen’s acting ability.

However, there are some redeemable qualities, particularly the character development of Jacob Black. Taylor Lautner comes into his own in this film, proving the directors were right to keep him on. Watch out for the scene in which he answers Edward’s phone call, adding an interesting twist.

In all, true Myers’ fans will adore this movie, not to mention those of us who like the occasional shirtless hunk, which this film is riddled with.

Horrendous child benefit cuts

By any ones’ estimation December’s budget shall be interesting.

The Government has threatened to cut child benefit by 20- 25%. This is hardly surprising considering the state of the economy. However, what is surprising is that this is to be a straight- cut, across all households. It is unreasonable to suggest that poorer households should suffer as great a cut as richer ones.

The Sunday Tribune, 25/10/2009, quoted a senior source ‘You can forget about taxing or means testing it.’ Efforts of this nature are proving ‘horrendously complicated.’ Horrendously complicated? Both the social welfare system and allotment of student grants are based on means testing systems. Of course these have no doubt proven imperfect but are preferable. The only thing that is horrendous is that a means- test- system had not been introduced earlier. It makes as much sense to give houses of unequal wealth the same assistance as it does to reduce in equal amounts

Outcry over Stephen Gaetly article spurs highest number of complaints over a single article in BPCC history

Over the weekend, the British press complaints office was so overwhelmed with complaints, a hefty 21,000, against Moir’s Stephen Gaetly article that it crashed for several hours. While readers and critics alike were right to use this forum as a response to the unequivocal ‘gay-bash’, the cynic in me feels that it probably only served to highlight this article and thus drive traffic to the daily mail website. Moir herself seems to understand this, adding fuel to the fire with her statement “ I think it is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones” The fact that her statement was un- remorseful and claimed that assertions such as “The circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy” and “Another real sadness about Gately’s death is that it strikes another blow to the happy- ever- after myth of civil partnerships” are not homophobic will only succeed in fuelling the outcry further and driving even further traffic to the website.

Further, it is interesting that the complaints only caused advertisers to pull their ads from that given page. Meaning that they did not want to hurt the papers’ revenue but also, did not want to be associated with the negativity surrounding the article. I would have thought any one would have been jumping at the chance to advertise on the page spurring so much traffic.

I would recommend reading Charlie Brooker’s article http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-jan-moir

The sham that is Dublin airport

A couple of friends and I had the pleasure of visiting Dublin airport last Friday. We had decided to fly Ryanair and spend Î60 less on our Edinburgh trip. In a further attempt to keep costs down, and like the majority of passengers on our flight, we had decided to side- step the ridiculous luggage charge and carry ours on flight. Now, the Dublin airport website says that the allowance for carry on luggage is … At no point was my bag or anyone else’s weighed but those carrying little wheelie bags had to put them into a stationary box of 55cm x 40 cm x 20cm.
The woman in front of me was able to put her bag into the compartment but as she had to thug hard on the bag to get it back out she was charged the Î30 to put the bag in the under compartment. Surely if the bag fit into the slot it met the airlines’ requirements. Further, this rather time- consuming and painful experience was left to the optimum moment when we were boarding the plane.

Also, the fact that the baggage requirements apply solely to items brought in to the airport is ridiculous. That is, that I can only pack a maximum of 10kg but can purchase as much shampoos, aerosols, razors, clothes etc etc at the airport without affecting my carry- on allowance. Is it just me or does this sound like an elaborate ruse to increase airport purchases.

On, our way back we were sure all bags would be heavier as we had purchased an exceptional amount for such a short trip and were ready to take clothes out of the bags and onto ourselves if deemed necessary. To our disappointment Edinburgh airport’ staff did not way anything and all our plotting and planning became redundant.

My advice, travel from anywhere but Ireland, but if you absolutely must travel from Dublin airport be sure to chose a non- discriminatory, double strap rucksack type.

Ireland goes back to historic beginnings


On Thursday 9th of July, the Government made a decision to uphold Blasphemy as a statutory crime within the Irish constitution. The decision was made to keep the blasphemy section within the constitution and set the maximum fee at Î25,000.

Blasphemy became a statutory crime in 1961 as part of the defamation bill but even then was not enforceable as it had no clear definition. Why are the Government pushing a law that is virtually unenforceable and hold’s no place in today’s Ireland? It is inconceivable to think that Ireland is the same place it was 50 years ago. The Ireland known for its strong religious ethos is long gone and it is about time the constitution represented that move.

In order for Blasphemy to be removed from the constitution a referendum would have to be held. Rather than hold a referendum, putting the decision in the hands of the people of Ireland, the Government have made the decision for us. The Blasphemy law is a wayward, backward constraint on freedom of expression and should be removed. Why should religious beliefs be protected above political or scientific ones? Both of these issues should be decided by the public and the best time to do that is on October 2nd during the Lisbon referendum.