Those Were The Days My Friend… The End Of The Euro Is Nigh

February 11, 2010

Martin McCauley writes: ‘Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end…’ as one famous song went.Remember the time when the euro was launched with great fanfare as the common currency of the European Union in January 2002? The French and the Germans were beside themselves with glee: the euro, they proclaimed, would become so powerful that it would eclipse the almighty US dollar and rule the world. For a while over 375 million people used the euro every day and it was considered the second most important international reserve currency. Not anymore, though. The Greek economic meltdown has undermined confidence in the euro. There is a feeling that Spain, Portugal, Ireland might follow the same path and go bust. Imagine a meeting called by the head of the European...

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Category: Business
Tags: China, crisis, euro, Greece, Ireland, Spain

Musical Chairs: It’s Who Playes The Music Matters

December 21, 2009

Thomas Mathew writes: Remember the old game of musical chairs, the one in which children ran around a row of chairs, while the music was playing, and had to get seated when the music stopped? The number of chairs was always one less than the number of players. Eventually one chair and two players would be left and the one, who managed to grab a seat first, would win. The secret, of course, was not in who was the fastest or the most attentive. The person who really mattered was the one who played the piano or switched the music on and off. He or she could choose the moment when to cut off the tune and influence the game. The same principal applies to the game of ‘musical chairs’ in politics: he who plays the music decides who wins. This happened in Britain in the 1980s, when the then...

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Category: Point Of View
Tags: Britain, EU, Greece, Ireland, musical chairs

What’s All The Fuss With Thierry Henry’s Handball? All Footballers Cheat

November 23, 2009

R.F.Wilson writes: Pardon me for not joining the indignation brigade that has been busy screaming their heads off, demanding a replay of that supposedly ‘fateful’ World Cup qualifying match between France and Irealnd because Theirry Henry had helped to score the decisive goal in injury time with a skilful hand gesture. And let me also discard the preposterous suggestion that the disputed goal supposedly put the integrity of the beautiful game into doubt. I will start with this: what exactly do they find beautiful in the game? The beauty has all but gone a long time ago, especially from the international matches. National teams now consist of overpaid players, who have multi-million contract obligations with their clubs and sponsors that overshadow any other commitments. Let me...

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Category: Sport
Tags: cheating, Football, France, Ireland, Thierry Henry

The EU Needs To Be Punished. For Its Games With The Lisbon Treaty

October 6, 2009

Thomas Mathew writes: Well, if anyone still had any doubts about the contempt with which the European Union’s top brass treats its member nations, the referendum in Ireland on the Lisbon treaty should by now clear everything up. The commissars in Brussels have lost all sense of reality and are now only concerned with increasing their powers and turning the EU into a monstrous federal superstate, resembling the former Soviet Union in all but name: a central unelected government ruthlessly imposing its decisions on the nations, even if they go against the interests of these nations. The referendum in Ireland was so blatantly rigged in favour of the Yes vote that it resembled an election in some banana republic, where the results are always known in advance. I would like to know how much...

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Category: Point Of View
Tags: Britain, David Cameron, EU, Ireland, Lisbon treaty

A Cynical Look At Outpourings Of Jubilation. What’s The Point?

October 5, 2009

In the past week we have witnessed huge numbers of people rejoicing on the streets of their respective cities, in their respective nations, due to different reasons. Scenes of jubilation broadcast across the world included loud laughter, screaming, tears of joy and even hysterical shaking and hugging of random people. Happiness radiated on the faces of men, women and children. Now let us get all these outpourings of joy in some sort of order. First came the scenes of jubilation on the streets and beaches of Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian metropolises, as the country celebrated winning the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Then came the scenes of joy from Ireland where supporters of the Lisbon treaty were celebrating the victory for the ‘yes’ vote. Later massive outpouring...

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Category: Let's Be Cynical
Tags: elections, Greece, Ireland, Lisbon treaty, Olympics, Portugal

People Living In The EU: Support The ‘No’ Vote In Ireland

September 6, 2009

Thomas Mathew writes from France: Would it not be great if the Irish people say ‘no’, for the second time, to the European Union’s Lisbon treaty, in the forthcoming coming referendum that has been forced on Ireland by Brussels? The arrogance and smugness with which the EU has treated the first referendum that took place last year was disgraceful. In effect, we are witnessing a classical coup, organised by the unelected clique in Brussels, to seize power from the 27 member nations and install a communist type of dictatorship. That is why the first Irish vote, a ‘no’, was brushed aside by the EU bureaucrats with such arrogance. So that you know, the plan of the EU is to create a federal superstate, with unelected officials running things from Brussels. It would resemble...

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Category: Angry Rants
Tags: Ireland, Lisbon treaty, referendum

Will The Irish Hold A Second Referendum On Lisbon? Eamon Has A Solution To The Problem

December 10, 2008

Christopher Lee writes: In Flanagan’s, just across O’Connell’s Bridge in Dublin, this morning Eamon tapped the side of his wooden leg with an empty glass and said, ‘The fecking Euro-peons are at it again. Unless we have another referendum and vote the way they want (say ‘Yes’ to the Lisbon Treaty) then they’ll be cutting off the money.’ I had his glass filled and he lapsed into thought. He didn’t have to go far. Here in Dublin there is disbelief that Ireland is being blamed for holding up the Lisbon Treaty – which it has not done at all. Now, it is true that the Irish government has not publicly taken the decision to hold another referendum – and another after that, if the people don’t twig they’ve got to vote ‘Yes’,...

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Category: Let's Be Cynical
Tags: Ireland, Lisbon treaty, referendum