The Senior Player's Advice

One more candidate gives her views

2011-02-24T21:48:00.004Z

I sent a reminder e-mail to the candidates in Limerick City yesterday - all those except Matt Larkin, Conor O'Donoghue and Denis Riordan, because I didn't have e-mail addresses for them, although I did text Conor in fairness. This was to follow on from the questions I had posed to all the Limerick City General Election candidates at the beginning of the months - you can see those responses here

Three more Limerick City election candidates get their answers in

2011-02-07T23:15:00.012Z

One week on from when I first posed the questions, I got three more replies into my inbox in the last 24 hours, this time from the Greens' Sheila Cahill, Sinn Féin's Maurice Quinlivan and Fianna Fáil's Willie O'Dea. It turns out they're all running in the Limerick City, and not the Limerick East, constituency. Credit's due to Sheila Cahill, the Green Party's candidate, who clarified that one for

It's time for some campaigning! (Some) Limerick East Candidates Answer Some Questions

2011-02-01T23:23:00.007Z

Over at Newstalk, Tom Dunne has put together a list of questions to ask any politicians that come canvassing to your door. Quite good ones too, ranging from such topics as the merits of Ford Fiestas versus Ministerial Mercs, Ireland's morbidly obese public sector cats, to the good old HSE. While I too, over the last couple of years, have thought of a fair few questions and or rants to put to our

A reliable man

2010-12-15T23:27:00.002Z

If you want to listen to a good example of phone-in radio show callers getting the complete wrong end of the stick, hear a former Minister for Defence show he has a sense of humour, and here a great rebuttal, have a listen to today's Liveline, featuring Joe Duffy, Willie O'Dea, Anthony and Blindboy Boatclub. Here's the man who was reared in a house where the parents hosted parties where drinking

Limerick Half Marathon

2010-05-03T12:20:00.000+01:00

Park endangered by Limerick City Gallery

2009-12-08T18:22:00.004Z

This story was in the Leader this evening.Apparently the City Gallery is too overcrowded, and it is planning to extend on three sides.Which leads me to conclude that the People's Park will shrink.The Park already lost space in the opposite corner to that hideous block of apartments during the Celtic Tiger years. No fault of the City Gallery perhaps.However, if the City Gallery does need to expand

Why did Alan Kelly MEP call for the resignation of Mayor of Limerick Kevin Kiely?

2009-11-12T18:20:00.004Z

I find it outrageous that Labour MEP Alan Kelly would call for the resignation of an elected holder of public office on the grounds that he doesn't agree with what he says. Freedom of speech is enshrined in our constitution, and I believe that Mayor Kiely was simply exercising this right in his comments reported in the Irish Examiner this week.There is nothing wrong with Mr Kiely criticising

Headline writers: Beware the Diving German

2009-04-20T20:13:00.003+01:00

This tale which is a warning for football headline writers everywhere appeared in Mary Hannigan's Planet Football this morning. Klinsmann is not prepared to bear this cross IT’S not entirely uncommon for the expression ‘he’ll be crucified for that’ to be used in a sporting context, but German paper Die Tageszeitung took it a step further when writing about Jurgen Klinsmann after Bayern Munich

James Vs Joshua

2008-12-21T14:02:00.003Z

Last week I tried my hand at downloading films and TV programmes legally with iTunes but you cannot buy them from the iTunes Ireland store. So I emailed customer support about this. All I got was this ridiculously cheerful, but perfectly useless, response from a chap called Joshua, my new friend. I've boldened the weirder elements of his e-mail.Dear James,Hi there Joshua here again from Apple

Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes: Nice-Cannes

2008-11-12T13:43:00.001Z

Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes: Nice-Cannes A ReviewThis marathon starts off on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and winds its way westwards along the Mediterranean coastline taking in five other towns before finishing up on the prom in Cannes just outside the Palais des Festivals, where the Cannes Film Festival is held. This

Who would Limerick vote for next Tuesday?*

2008-10-31T17:43:00.006Z

A short vox pop, conducted on the streets of Limerick, last Tuesday, in which folk were asked which US presidential candidate they would vote for if they had the chance to do so.On a related note, below is a still from the excellent music video over at JibJab.com of the Bob Dylanesque song "Time for some Campaigning". Check it out.*Clue: His first name has more than four letters.

Not the best advertisement for long-distance running

2008-10-31T17:23:00.004Z

In most normal sports, when an athlete comes off the pitch after a victory or fine performance, normally they offer platitudes expressing their delight and elation. Not so Galwayman Michael O'Connor, best of the Irish in last Monday's Dublin Marathon. In an immediate post-race interview reported by the Irish Times, O'Connor was quoted as saying:"It's my last run," the father-of-two declared. "

Blatter gets tough on fat cats in football just for the money

2008-10-07T16:07:00.003+01:00

"There are national laws in Switzerland, for example, when you buy property or make an investment, you must prove yourself," he explained. "You have to prove your link with the area. "We must ask ourselves about what motivates these owners and are they really interested in the game or just making money?So said FIFA President Sepp Blatter at a meeting at the European Parliament yesterday, in which

America has a lot to answer for

2008-10-01T20:29:00.002+01:00

And I'm not talking about the rights and wrongs of leaving the world's financial system in a holy mess through wreckless lending by American banks and lacklustre enforcement of financial regulations. No, it's far more serious than that.If my understanding of this Runner's World article is to be believed, and I'm not sure if it should be, it appears that some American Universities allow their

The exit polls are... pretty meaningless, in this case

2008-09-27T11:40:00.003+01:00

The Economist, in their ever-increasing drive to make their recently revamped website more interactive, have launched a Global Electoral College, to see how the world would vote in the US Presidential Election.Needless to say, of the countries whose residents have voted, all of them have ended up a very Democrat shade of blue on the world map.While I like magazine's the idea, the results of the

Public Prone to Preach Public Sector Reform

2008-09-13T15:10:00.003+01:00

Terry Prone is to be commended for her recent article in the Irish Examiner defending civil service administrators, who she feels have been made scapegoats for the current ills of the economy. They are a soft target, and Ms Prone is quite right in pointing out how unfair it is to smear a large numbers of workers in this country because of the source of their pay cheque.While she is correct in

War

2008-08-10T08:20:00.003+01:00

Russia claim their forces have killed 2,000 Georgian military and civilian personnel. Such is war. In what other area of human endeavour could you get away with "claiming" to have killed so many people? In day to day life killers do all they can to avoid being blamed for their killing: arrests are evaded; are criminal indictments are defended vigorously.Such is war, which has a habit of turning

Benicassim Festival 2008: Some reflections

2008-07-22T21:35:00.005+01:00

It may have been pretty much impossible to get a proper sleep(-in) in the tents, as curled up underneath a sheet of polystyrene is not the best place to be when tempertures climb into their thirties first thing in the morning. However the good thing about the Festival Internacional de Benicassim was that acts not starting til the evening was there was plenty of time to catch up with the kip at

Three, actually four, observations on Lisbon

2008-06-11T22:52:00.003+01:00

1. It suffered a horrific earthquake in 1755, during Voltaire's lifetime - a poster depicting said earthquake lives on to this day in one of the language labs in UL.2. It is the capital city of one of the darker horses of Euro 2008, who are looking very dark at the moment, if darkness equates to looking incredibly impressive indeed after tonight's performance. Less can be said about Football365'

Do as we say, not as we do

2008-06-05T10:20:00.005+01:00

This morning's UK Independent ran a front page story about a secret deal to keep Iraq under US control indefinitely.Rewind to February 2003. I believe President Bush said one of the reasons for the invasion of Iraq in the first place was to foster democracy there. Interesting then that the Independent's Patrick Cockburn wrote this morning that:"The US is adamantly against the new security

Economic Aches

2008-06-04T22:55:00.002+01:00

Last Saturday night I was told by a friend me that The Economist told him that Ronald Reagan once told whoever would listen that inflation is “as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit-man.” In these gloomy economic times, with FÁS predicting losses of 55,000 construction sector jobs by the end of 2009, when the credit crunch seems to be to property

Futbol Mondial's FIFA 2008 Fanatics

2008-06-04T21:14:00.007+01:00

Futbol Mondial is a great programme at the best of times, with the offering from the Trans World International stable normally bringing us such delights as the Asian Champions League, how an Ecuadorian footballer copes with life at Wigan Athletic and Tomas Brolin – life after football. However, I was left feeling a little disturbed by the last item they ran on tonight's show. After running a

Why I'm glad I'm not a British taxpayer

2008-05-21T23:05:00.003+01:00

Just spotted this entertaining stream of consciousness on the ever insightful, always amusing, Football365 Mediawatch page.Thought For The DayJoey Barton plays for Newcastle, Newcastle are sponsored by Northern Rock. 'The Rock' are now owned by the taxpayer - in other words, us. Therefore we pay Barton's wages. In addition to this he is now being held at Her Majesty's Pleasure so not only are we

Out of Africa: not much hope, but a good read all the same

2008-05-16T19:07:00.003+01:00

The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence Martin MeredithA Book ReviewOf all the regions in the world, Africa is one were economic reports regularly show that standards of living have actually decreased there in the past thirty years rather than increased. Right now there are more armed conflicts there than in any other continent. It seems that the news reports to emerge from

Did I go to any of the gigs mentioned below?

2008-05-16T19:02:00.002+01:00

No.Why not?Because the best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men gang aft agley. Also I forgot about the Utah Saints gig.

Thou Shalt Always try to go to good gigs...

2008-04-24T17:16:00.005+01:00

...if you have the time, money and interest I suppose.The good people at the Limerick Post dropped a copy of their paper in our letterbox today. It informed me that there are three gigs over the coming weeks that I might like to go out and see. Feel free to come along if you want to too.1. Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius PipFriday 9th May at 9.00pmSeomraí na Trionóide, Cathair Luimnigh.They brought us "

Surprise Sur-Bloody-Prise

2008-04-24T11:35:00.004+01:00

It appears that the first results of the recount have gone to Robert Mugabe.Suppose Martyn Turner was spot on, as he often is, when he sketched this cartoon a few weeks ago:Speaking of inflation, here's a bit of trivia:Zimbabwe currently has an inflation rate of 150,000%, but this is moderate compared to historical figures. For example in Hungary at the end of the Second World War, inflation was

What I learnt today

2008-04-20T20:46:00.004+01:00

Michael O'Leary has some Neck. I didn't learn that today, that fact has been in the public domain for long enough. However I did learn about what he did in the wake of the Aer Lingus flights for a fiver fiasco, courtesy of this snippet from Sue Denham/pseudonym in today's Sunday Times:Ryanair's Michael O'Leary couldn't wait to dump on Aer Lingus when it was forced to do a PR u-turn and honour

Sympathy for the Duvel

2008-04-11T00:52:00.006+01:00

Bernard Werber is a French science fiction writer. He used to be a journalist. According to Wikipedia, son œuvre fait se rencontrer mythologie, spiritualité, philosophie, science-fiction, biologie, futurologie, logique ainsi que des données scientifiques peu connues.Some of his books take the form of mini-encyclopaedae (is that the plural? how am I to know?), where he basically just takes a

Running

2008-04-11T00:41:00.002+01:00

A sport of no great skill. Just plain hard work, from what I can see.

Why I like The Economist

2008-04-11T00:21:00.002+01:00

For a while now I have subscribed to The Economist. There are numerous reasons why. In this post I will attempt to outline some of them.Its highly divisive, yet eloquently expressed opinions.The fact that it consistently refers to itself as "this newspaper", and does so in the third person.The random one-off articles it contains, such as the state that picture-book publishing is in at this

Ovestating the Case

2008-01-31T01:36:00.000Z

While much has been said in the media, both locally and nationally, about the regeneration of certain troubled areas of Limerick on foot of the Fitzgerald Report's findings, less column inches have been given to the rejuvenation of Thomas Street in the city centre. Well at least that was the case until this evening, when it made the front page of the Limerick Leader.Apparently, Thomas St traders

Viva la Resolution, thanks to Nike and iPod!

2008-01-29T11:49:00.000Z

The market leaders in mp3 portable music players, Apple iPod, have teamed up with sportswear giant Nike, to bring out the latest piece of technology for the gadget-savvy jogger. Known simply as the ‘Nike + iPod Sport Kit’, it consists of a pair of Nike runners that have been modified to contain a pedometer with a wireless sensor, and a sensor that this communicates with which is attached to the

Kneejerk Reaction to some recent news stories

2007-12-20T01:55:00.000Z

Adjective kneejerk Of a reply or reaction, automatic and easily predictable; reacting spontaneously in the expected manner.[1] This evening, Newstalk reported the following:Falling employment in the construction sector can be an opportunity for Ireland - that's according to Enterprise Minister Micheal Martin.Speaking in Dublin at the launch of the Fas annual labour market review

Seven Mile Run

2007-12-19T17:22:00.000Z

What is the point in having a few links to some (presumably useful) websites to the left of my blog postings if I’m not going to give some background on each of the websites? That is a matter open to debate. Anyway, without further ado, I would like to extol the virtues of Mapmyrun.com. The website is very user-friendly, and does exactly what it says on the address bar. Instead of using

Student Life in Limerick

2007-12-15T14:00:00.000Z

What do the general public of Limerick think about students from their dealings with them? What do students themselves feel Limerick has to offer? Have a listen here.Limerick has quite a high ratio of full-time students to the city’s total population. There are at least 15,000 full-time students here. However, perhaps due to the biggest third-level institution, the University of Limerick,

Experts gather for International Resuscitation Conference 2007

2007-12-10T04:32:00.000Z

RESUS 2007 Every year up to 360 people die as a result of overcrowding in Irish hospitals, delegates heard at the 2007 RESUS International Resuscitation Conference and Skills Showcase held at the South Court Hotel last weekend. Fergal Hickey, President of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine said that: ‘An overcrowded hospital should now be regarded as an unsafe hospital.’ He was

International Student Badminton Tournament

2007-11-24T09:00:00.000Z

Limerick PostThe sound of shuttlecocks being whacked over nets echoed around the Arena and old Sports Building last weekend, as UL hosted the fourth annual Irish International Student Badminton Tournament. 230 players, from novices to internationals, spent all of Saturday and Sunday trying to serve, smash and sneakily drop shot their way to victory in the Badminton Ireland event. In total,

Student badminton puts Limerick on map

2007-11-14T09:00:00.000Z

Limerick Independent, Limerick LeaderUp to 250 student badminton players from all over Ireland, the UK and Europe converged on the University of Limerick Sports Arena last weekend for the fourth annual Irish International Students Badminton Tournament. The Irish ISBT is organised by students, for students. Badminton-playing students, alumni and members of universities competed in four skills

Adults go back to school in increasing numbers

2007-11-01T09:00:00.000Z

Limerick IndependentWhile the back to school rush is a recent memory for many schoolchildren, they are not the only ones returning to education. Adults form a large number of those who stocked their shopping trolleys with pens, refill pads and highlighters last August. According to Aontas, the Irish National Association of Adult Education, 150,000 adults participate in evening courses

Letter to Kieran O'Donnell TD regarding a Shannon-Limerick Rail Link

2007-10-25T15:15:00.000+01:00

Dear Mr O'Donnell,I was glad to hear of the question you put to Minister Dempsey about the prospect of a rail link between Shannon Airport and Limerick city. I read about it in both The Irish Times and the Limerick Post.The Irish Times report said the following:"The feasibility study by MVA Consultants has put a cost of €700 million on constructing the rail link. However, this has been disputed

O’Carroll-Kelly creator has UL audience in hysterics

2007-10-17T22:26:00.000+01:00

Limerick IndependentThe audience was left in hysterics last Wednesday evening when Paul Howard, author of the infamous Ross O’Carroll Kelly series of books and columns, rolled into town to read extracts from his latest bestselling novel, ‘This Champagne Mojito is the Last Thing I Own’. The UL Jean Monnet Lecture Theatre’s austere surroundings were transformed by colourful promotional posters

Human Rights and Criminal Justice Conference

2007-10-13T23:38:00.000+01:00

Irish Human Rights Commission and Law Society of Ireland 5th Annual Conference Human Rights and Criminal Justice 13 October 2007 The Criminal Justice Act 2007 came under heavy criticism from numerous parties yesterday at the Fifth Annual Conference of the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Law Society of Ireland. At the conference, entitled Human Rights and Criminal Justice, the Act was

Thousands of second-level students flock to careers event at Limerick Racecourse

2007-10-02T15:59:00.000+01:00

Limerick IndependentAt least 4,000 secondary school students attended a careers fair held at Limerick Racecourse yesterday. The event was organised by the local branch of the Irish Guidance Councillors, and is now in its fifth year running. There were information stalls from over 50 institutions, who informed students about potential educational and employment opportunities available for

"Shell to Sea" Meeting in Ennis

2007-09-27T23:30:00.000+01:00

The ‘Shell to Sea’ campaign is still very much a national issue, not just a local one, was the message heard at a public information evening hosted on Wednesday by the Clare Shell to Sea group. Countering allegations that their campaign is a case of NIMBYism, the group emphasised that if the Corrib Gas Project is allowed to go ahead in its current form, it will set a precedent for similar

Third World Debt

2007-07-13T17:43:00.000+01:00

Deforestation. Cocaine flooding the industrialised world’s shores. (Ask the people of Dunlough Bay!) Unemployment. Agriculture no longer a viable way to make a living for many. Immigration, both legal and illegal, on the up. Conflict and war. All of these calamities regularly make the headlines, and indeed, give many people many causes for worry. What they also have in common, claimed

Letter to Frank McDonald following his feature on Dubai

2007-05-14T17:28:00.000+01:00

Letter on the subject of the exploitation of migrant workers in the Arabian Gulf to Frank McDonald, Environment Editor Irish Times following his feature piece on Dubai, Bling City.Dear Frank, I thoroughly enjoyed your recent article on Dubai, as I did too yourself and James Nix's Chaos at the Crossroads, which I winced my way through some months back. Whatever about the subjective merits of

Time will tell

2006-05-27T00:19:00.000+01:00

Let's see if I ever use this thing.

Complaining about Complaining

2006-04-04T22:17:00.000+01:00

An Focal James Gaffney rallies against the ingrained culture of complaining in UL by, eh,complaining about it. In a recent issue of An Focal, a number of students were surveyed to see if they thought there is a good atmosphere here on the UL Campus. Most of the respondents agreed to greater or lesser degrees that there was. While I would generally share their sentiments, none of them

Can the International Criminal Court be an effective forum in promoting international justice?

2005-12-09T08:53:00.000Z

On the 18th of July 1998, the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court was signed. The conference at Rome completed the creation of a court with jurisdiction over the most heinous crimes; namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.[1] The purpose of this essay is firstly to analyse the workings of this novel

Law Soc sends delegation to Brussels. Well to Louvain-la-Neuve, actually.

2004-03-23T23:43:00.000Z

An FocalOn Sunday 14th of March two members of the Debating Union, James Gaffney and Judith Lynch arrived in the purpose-built, windswept and fairly deserted university town of Louvain-la-Neuve to participate in that college’s European Society’s inaugural European Week. Thankfully the town was only empty because it was a Sunday, and it seems that all Belgian students go home for the weekend – it