Macrolog Current Affairs
Macrolog entries filed under Current Affairs
On the Fiscal Treaty Referendum Thu 31 May 2012
A couple of weeks ago, I commented among friends in response to this article in The Irish Times, and specifically the quotes from our Minister for Finance (and Fine Gael member) Michael Noonan. His pathetic, transparent attempts to butter up...
Now That Ireland's SOPA is Law, What Next? Thu 01 Mar 2012
So the proposed legislation dubbed ‘Ireland’s SOPA’ has been enacted into law by Statutory Instrument, despite vociferous opposition from that section of the public clued in to such things. And now the junior minister responsible, Seán Sherlock, has launched a...
Stop Ireland's SOPA Tue 24 Jan 2012
When it rains, it pours. In the wake of the SOPA/PIPA furore, up bubbles ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which, as Forbes reports, contains provisions “just as pernicious as anything we saw in SOPA” and has already been signed or...
Thinking Out Loud: Democracy and its Vilification Thu 29 Dec 2011 | 0 Comments
Three things recently that caught my attention: First, Family Guy writer Patrick Meighan’s account of his arrest at Occupy LA on 30 November, outlining the tactics employed by police to break up the peaceful protest. Though he backtracks a little...
A Referendum Conundrum Fri 21 Oct 2011 | 0 Comments
It’s a big polling day next Thursday. Not only do we get to elect a new president (you can follow all the #aras11 shenanigans on Twitter), there’s also a by-election here in Dublin West (most notable for the sad fact...
Thinking Out Loud: David Starkey, the England Riots, Etc Fri 19 Aug 2011 | 0 Comments
So this David Starkey thing, eh? “The whites have become black”? Enoch Powell? “Jamaican patois”? That old chestnut about black people who ‘sound white’? Really? Anyway, one thing that stands out for me from the Starkey furore — apart from...
After the Quake Sat 12 Mar 2011
These photos of the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami tell a remarkable story. But maybe a more remarkable one is that of Japan’s resilience in the face of disaster. Even amid all the shocking imagery – roads split...
More Thoughts on the Tube Shooting Fri 19 Aug 2005 | 2 Comments
The Observer’s Rafael Behr puts it bluntly: A man slips on his denim jacket (unimpeded by explosives of any sort) and steps outside. He gets a bus to his local metropolitan railway station. He enters the station using the conventional,...
Thoughts on the Tube Shooting Tue 26 Jul 2005 | 2 Comments
On Saturday afternoon, just a day after the Tube shooting incident in south London which has stunned the city even more than the detonator blasts merely 24 hours before, it emerged that the victim of the shooting — the alleged...
London Speaks Sun 10 Jul 2005
I’ve got nothing more to say, not that I had much worth contributing in the first place, being a safe 300 miles away. And anyway, as others have put it, this is not a time to dwell, or “indulge in...
Explosions in London Thu 07 Jul 2005 | 3 Comments
Every news channel here is reporting on a series of explosions in central London this morning. There are reports of blasts in a number of stations along the Metropolitan Circle and Piccadilly underground lines, as well as an explosion on...
Learning a Lesson from Live8: Podcast Wed 06 Jul 2005 | 5 Comments
For my first foray into podcasting, I’ve uploaded an mp3 version of Learning a Lesson from Live8, read by yours truly: Learning a Lesson from Live8 (3.1MB mp3; 13:24) Feel free to download at your leisure....
Learning a Lesson from Live8 Tue 05 Jul 2005
Since you’re reading this, I’m pretty certain you’d found it impossible to avoid the week-long wall-to-wall coverage of Live8 — Bob Geldof’s pet project to raise awareness for the Make Poverty History campaign (not to mention elicit mass support to...
Election Response Roundup Thu 11 Nov 2004 | 1 Comments
In an appendix of sorts to last week’s US election rant, here’s a roundup of related commentary that caught my attention (and might otherwise have been lost in the Linklog): Simon Schama: Onward Christian soldiersHistorian Schama sees the US as...
Obligatory Election Response Wed 03 Nov 2004 | 3 Comments
Unless you’ve been living under the proverbial rock till you began reading this sentence, then you’ll know by now that the Republicans have won the US presidential election. I’m disappointed, certainly. But I’m not surprised. Why? Because you have to...
The Voting Conundrum Sat 12 Jun 2004
Yesterday, polling stations across Ireland were opened for a triple-header of local council elections, European Parliament elections, and the citizenship referendum. And for the first time in my enfranchised life, I’m ashamed to admit, until I got my ballot papers...
The Elephant in our Living Room Tue 13 Jan 2004 | 1 Comments
Anil Dash has linked to a story from Saturday's Guardian on the growing menace of racism in the North, mostly perpetrated by Loyalist street gangs (though for the sake of balance I'm sure the Nationalists have their fair share of...
More Words on the War Sun 23 Mar 2003 | 2 Comments
…anyone who is 100% sure of the morality of their position with regard to the war in Iraq probably hasn’t understood the issues involved. Be prepared to have your mind changed. Remain open to new ideas. Protest / Advocate...
Since We're There, Let's Do This Properly Sat 22 Mar 2003
On my frequent trawls around the blogosphere I almost always seem to find someone who puts into words what I'm thinking better than I do. As an aspiring writer, that cannot be a good omen. But at the very least...
Israel Under the Spotlight Wed 19 Mar 2003 | 6 Comments
Earlier this week I saw some pretty disturbing pictures of Rachel Corrie, an American student and peace activist, who had been literally run over by a bulldozer sanctioned by the Israeli military as she protested against the needless destruction of...
The Iraqi Problem Tue 18 Mar 2003 | 1 Comments
I haven't really posited anything here about the current situation in the Middle East. This is because, in part, I felt that most of what I could have said has been written elsewhere, but also because I still don't know...
Election Results Sun 19 May 2002
It looks like Bertie is Taoiseach again. It doesn't matter much, the way the system is set up, the only parties with enough mass appeal to actually get into government here are the most boring and undynamic ones. I...
1991 Called; They Want Their War Back Tue 05 Feb 2002
Regarding this so-called 'axis of evil': Berlin's deputy foreign minister, Ludger Vollmer, said: "We Europeans warn against it. There is no indication, no proof that Iraq is involved in the terrorism we have been talking about for the last...
Even More On Camp X-Ray Mon 21 Jan 2002
On the hot topic of the detainees in Cuba: I've been mulling over this a lot since yesterday, taking in arguments from both corners, regretting to an extent my 'outburst' yesterday afternoon (it's not something I'd want to use...
More On Camp X-Ray Sun 20 Jan 2002
The whole situation - the contrivances of the US government's handling of Afghani prisoners in Cuba - smacks of Old Testament-style eye-for-an-eye retribution. Call me cynical, but there is no way I would ever believe any 'official' report pertaining...
On Camp X-Ray Sun 20 Jan 2002
If this happened to Americans - any Americans, regardless of what they were doing - held captive in Afghanistan, nobody would stand for it. So how can they get away with it themselves?...
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a production journalist, music writer and mediavore in Dublin, Ireland. Read more »
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This page is a reverse chronology of Macrolog entries by MacDara Conroy filed under Current Affairs. You will find many more in the Archives.