June 2014 – Postcards

Third Samuel Beckett Class OPV to be purchased – Arguments over name commence!

June 30, 2014June 30, 2014 No Comments

The government has taken the option to purchase third new Naval Service ship of the Samuel Beckett class. This has promptly re-opened the argument about what it should be named, given that the Navy has departed from the old scheme of naming ships after female Irish mythological figures. Film-maker Neil Jordan said he would organise […]

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Middle East Politics War

Iran’s useful idiot…

June 29, 2014June 30, 2014 No Comments

Lara Marlowe in the Times: Iran opposed the 2003 invasion, saying it was immoral and illegal. But it brought Tehran’s proteges to power and gave Iran more influence than Washington in Baghdad. “The US fulfilled our goals for us,” says Hossein Sheikholeslam, a veteran Iranian diplomat and foreign-policy adviser to the Iranian parliamentary speaker. “No […]

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Europe History

The scars of war

June 15, 2014 No Comments

Almost a hundred years later, and the landscape still shows the scars of World War I Via http://kottke.org/14/05/the-scars-of-war

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Department of Cruel and Unusual Rules Health Human Rights

Direct Provision – failing the vulnerable, yet again

June 12, 2014July 10, 2015 No Comments

Will we learn nothing, no matter how many reports are written? The Myth of the Cherished Child in Ireland: The last number of weeks have seen much hand wringing and pretense of ‘not knowing’ from government, politicians and the public at large to the treatment of mothers and children for many decades in Ireland. The […]

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Bits & Bobs Politics

Today, it’s Ice-Cream Vans

June 12, 2014June 12, 2014 No Comments

Or Senator would like to get in the news, please, and doesn’t really care how (“Senator wants to clamp down on ice-cream vans for ‘aggressive selling’ | BreakingNews.ie.”). The issue is questionable, but some of the comments are good: Phew, this is great news! It means that they have now solved all the big problems […]

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Life

stephenfry: “Beautiful, sad & true. …”

June 11, 2014June 12, 2014 No Comments

Via Twitter / stephenfry: Beautiful, sad & true. ….

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People

“That seat can never be filled … “

June 9, 2014June 9, 2014 No Comments

Rik Mayall, 7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014 “The People’s Poet & Utter Bastard” via @JasonElsom.

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History

Ex-Para re-enacts D-Day para drop 70 years on

June 9, 2014 No Comments

Gives you hope for your own old age – D-Day parachute jump: 89-year-old perfects Normandy landing (Telegraph). An 89-year-old D-Day veteran wound the clock back 70 years on Thursday by parachuting into the same field where he landed during the Normandy invasion. Jock Hutton, 89, said it was “no problem” to jump from 5,000 feet […]

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History Society

800

June 5, 2014June 5, 2014 No Comments

A Limerick A Day (Broadsheet.ie): Let’s all be dismayed and aghast, At what happened back in the “dark past”, It may be the worst, But it isn’t the first, So for now let’s pretend it’s the last. John Moynes BBC: “The Tuam home was one of 10 institutions in which about 35,000 unmarried pregnant women […]

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Cycling

Keeping rolling – cycling through red with the ‘Idaho Stop’

June 5, 2014 No Comments

This is an interesting idea that has been in use in Idaho (hence the name) since 1982. As someone who travels by bike, it would be useful, you can spend a lot of energy getting up to speed. Also, starting from a stop beside cars can be awkward, especially if they are turning and you’re […]

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Who?

Murf

Third Samuel Beckett Class OPV to be purchased – Arguments over name commence!

Iran’s useful idiot…

The scars of war

Direct Provision – failing the vulnerable, yet again

Today, it’s Ice-Cream Vans

stephenfry: “Beautiful, sad & true. …”

“That seat can never be filled … “

Ex-Para re-enacts D-Day para drop 70 years on

800

Keeping rolling – cycling through red with the ‘Idaho Stop’

Month: June 2014