You seen all the news on tv and in the newspapers and there is no escaping the fact that the conservatives in England have been re-elected . Its bad news for Ireland and any rethink on Brexit is firmly put to bed now, with a lot of remainers actually losing their seats. The sun never set on the British empire or so a lot of English people think – they re-elected the Tories with a even bigger majority shows you what a “shower of bastards” they are. The Tory government will work hard to ignore calls for a unity referendum in Ireland and a independence referendum in Scotland. They will ensure that Sinn fein doesn’t get into government in the “South” of Ireland and will put more obstacles in the way of Irish unity. Possible future trade deals will see Ireland lose their share of British agricultural markets, time will tell for sure. Boris Johnson has a big a majority as Margaret Thatcher so there is very little way of stopping him. Five more years of Tory England is on the cards , not good for anyone except the English.
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On This Day 5th December
Just noticed this on journalist Michael O’Regan (of the Irish Times) twitter feed about the Anglo – Irish treaty of 1921 was more or less forced through by the British, who had intimidated the Irish delegates into signing the Treaty.
This treaty split Ireland into two states, one with limited independence and another still tied to the British state.
It suited only the British who supplied the Pro-treaty side with money and arms which resulted in the Pro-treaty side winning the subsequent civil war. This is a turning point in Irish history, Collins and Griffith had accepted a lot less than Irish freedom and had buckled under pressure from the British government. This could be said to be “What if ” if Collins and Griffith had held their nerve and refused to split the country what would Ireland be like now ? Maybe a lot less immigration to Britain and the USA and not so reactionary/church ridden past.
Its all a case of “What if ” and maybe but Collins and Griffith should have been prepared to stand together and fight the British rather than risk a civil war in Ireland. Its a case of the wrong decision being made and the effects of which touch us till this very day.
That time of Year.
Well Halloween is over and now its on to the next seasonal holiday-Christmas. Yes they have started the ads already, it seems the Christmas season starts earlier each year but I feel the “Christmas spirit” less and less. What do you think should advertising be banned until December ? Should Toys and there advertising be kept till after 9′ o clock (pm). I feel that Christmas is overdone somewhat and less of the glitz might cost people a little less. That’s the lack of the “Christmas spirit” for you, more like “scrooge “. Well its a lot for one day … meet up with the relatives for a few hours , sit on couch, watch stuff that leaves you with the feeling of Deja vue, you seen it last year or possibly the year before that . Feelings of being stuffed with Christmas dinner , the visit to the graveyards , the walk to the wood with dogs in tow . All a escape from the daily drag for a while. Repeat next year with someone missing as time goes on .Wonder what’s the point of it all and then say “Merry Christmas “to it all.
Lidl’s Ad Campaign comes Unstuck.
Lidl the German discount retailer latest advertising campaign has become mired in controversy. It introduced a mixed – race couple, a man from Brazil and a woman originally from Ireland, they wouldn’t be representative of Lidl shoppers but Lidl chose them for their ad campaign – Save money by shopping at Lidl. They are represented as the “Ryans” despite its the woman whose surname is Ryan and not the man’s, this is against tradition as well. My objection is there are taking a swipe at Irish men trying to suggest we are unfit for breeding and foreign men are better, its prima nocta by any name whilst Irish men are made to pay for the child benefit and possibly the lone parents allowance as well.
Also I nearly sure its not the first time that Lidl has made a advertisement of this nature, they seem to be made by women as the advertisements are never the other way around (Irishwomen don’t “stick” it to themselves that’s for sure). Further more a tweet made by former Irish Independent Gemma O’ Doherty was pulled by Twitter after objections made by the couple.
Maybe what people are objecting to is the “Social engineering” the ad makers are trying to do, portraying it as being acceptable and the “new normal”. Maybe Lidl would stick to its lower end of the groceries market and leave the social engineering to some one else or ask people if they want it.
Laura Brennan- This is me.
Just watched Laura Brennan -This is me on RTE 1 and I must say that I was moved by the programme.
Laura from Ennis in Co. Clare contracted Cervical cancer after being infected with the Human papillomavirus (HPV). She was diagnosed with a Terminal condition basically the cancer had spread to other parts of the body and was untreatable. She showed a brave face with the fact that she had given only two to five years to live and got the news of her cancer at only 23/24 years of age.
Life is only starting for a lot of people at that age. She set about raising the issue that the HPV vaccine was only taken up by 51% of school girls and that take up of the vaccine should be a lot higher and could possibly save their lives later on. She (Laura) did much to highlight the use of the HPV vaccine and so prevent others from developing similar conditions. She admitted that she got HPV from sexual contact, it is a STD (Sexual Transmitted Disease). She received some “hate mail” from ignorant people but it didn’t effect her. She struggled on with the disease as it began to spread to other parts of the body and increase in severity. Her condition gradually got worse and it was time to say her goodbyes to loved ones, after a series of trips to Hospital she passed away on March 20th 2019 at the age of 26.
May She rest in Peace.
https://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv.htm STD Facts
Moongazing Apollo 11 Moonlanding Fifty years .
Making the news is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing by the USA in July 1969. There has been no visits to the moon since 1972 and the last of the Apollo missions, But nowadays there is a talk of going back to the moon to stay this time and possibly onwards to Mars. Its likely to be a expensive exercise with only countries like the USA being able to foot the bill, perhaps a international approach this time might work. The “Space Race” lead to the development of many industries like computers, satellite communications and so on. So there was a dividend to the “Space race” after all. One wonders if they will find a place for us all out in space or we just have to make our cloth fit our measure here on Earth. Mankind is certainly at colossuses numbers these days and some off world migration may ease the pressure on Mother Earth. Though has to say something like that sounds many years away. We wait so see if the space programs brings benefit this time to mankind rather though expensive knowledge which a lot of the programs account for. The moon-landing was a remarkable feat for its time but the pace of exploration was not maintained and robots largely did the exploration, What will one have to say in another fifty years time or what will we have seen ? One Wonders
Renewing the TV Licence.
One evening there last week, I decided to renew my tv licence which was up since the 31st May. So I decided to look up the tv licence website and lo and behold I was treated to what the new family In Ireland looks like. There seems to be no getting away from this stuff like this, all the advertisements which abound and all apparently made by women as they are never the other way around. Seemingly the “women” have taken up with somebody else and are rubbing our noses in it. Do the “ladies” have some other explanation for this ?
I was tempted to click on the “back button” and not pay the tv licence, let them send me the usual legal notices and so on, but like a sucker I actually paid it. (Don’t know why I did) I guess its a case of groan and sigh and be oblivious to the slight we as White Irish males are being given all the time apparently. One wonders why we have to put with this as there is little joy in paying for everything and doing all the hard slog. Maybe some hard slog for the women would change their “attitudes” and make them more appreciative for what they’ve got and not throwing it all way.
I find advertisements like this demeaning maybe I am alone in thinking so.
Some more Pictures/Screenshots
A Quote.
“your greatest weapon is your enemy’s mind”
use your enemy’s fears, insecurities , beliefs against him ~ psychological warfare (very true)
Psychological Warfare.
Psychological warfare
The use of propaganda, threats and other psychological techniques to mislead, demoralize or otherwise influence the thinking of a target population.
dictionary.reference.com