August, 2012

I watched Mitt Romney’s speech last night and was impressed by several things. 1*   The man looks as though he’s been dry-cleaned. I don’t just mean his shirt or his suit or his tie. All of him – face, hair, teeth, eyes – everything. I know the PR people take great care with their candidates […]

I watched Mitt Romney’s speech last night and was impressed by several things. 1*   The man looks as though he’s been dry-cleaned. I don’t just mean his shirt or his suit or his tie. All of him – face, hair, teeth, eyes – everything. I know the PR people take great care with their candidates […]

Politicians are good at avoiding the issue, sliding away from under a question and raising another issue entirely. Media people know this, which is why good ones are alert to it and haul the politician, sometimes kicking and screaming, back to the question under consideration. In the past twenty-four hours, I’ve seen two examples of […]

Politicians are good at avoiding the issue, sliding away from under a question and raising another issue entirely. Media people know this, which is why good ones are alert to it and haul the politician, sometimes kicking and screaming, back to the question under consideration. In the past twenty-four hours, I’ve seen two examples of […]

It’s fashionable these days to denounce Charlie Haughey as a hypocrite, a forerunner of the greed that brought the south of Ireland to its knees, probably into a bit of gun-running as well. But whatever you think of Haughey, one phrase of his has stood the test of time. “A failed state” was how he […]

It’s fashionable these days to denounce Charlie Haughey as a hypocrite, a forerunner of the greed that brought the south of Ireland to its knees, probably into a bit of gun-running as well. But whatever you think of Haughey, one phrase of his has stood the test of time. “A failed state” was how he […]

Been away.  And what do I find when I come back?  The UUP, not content with allowing the DUP to disembowel it at the polls, is now doing what it can to take any of its bowels left and send them through the shredder. If this had been a movie, there’d have been a darkening […]

Been away.  And what do I find when I come back?  The UUP, not content with allowing the DUP to disembowel it at the polls, is now doing what it can to take any of its bowels left and send them through the shredder. If this had been a movie, there’d have been a darkening […]

You learn a lot about a country or state  (yes, Virginia, there is a difference – come to Ireland some time) by checking out their media. The media partly reflect what people want, partly shape what they think people need. In the UK or Ireland,  you got  TV  interviewers who pride themselves on their terrier-like […]

You learn a lot about a country or state  (yes, Virginia, there is a difference – come to Ireland some time) by checking out their media. The media partly reflect what people want, partly shape what they think people need. In the UK or Ireland,  you got  TV  interviewers who pride themselves on their terrier-like […]