Notes On The Front

A Different Prism

Ireland into the 21st century – with such a bewildering speed and transformation that future historians will rely on the refrain of ‘all is changed, changed utterly.’ Even the prospective power-sharing alignment in the North only confirms, and conforms to, this modernisation. The exception, of course, is the Republic’s stubborn maintenance of the governing duopoly of parties that is rooted in events decades ago

Not only has little changed in terms of party alignments, we are still looking at the issue in the same time-worn way.

Kitty on the Edge

Obviously Kitty has read one too many missives from ISME and IBEC about how small Irish enterprises would be world champions were it not for high taxes, high wages, over-regulation, public sector workers, trade union, environmentalists, whatever else you're having. I’m not in any way condoning Kitty’s actions but I have sympathy: what’s a body, whether two-legged or four, to do when the dogs of neo-liberalism keep howling outside your door?

Feel The Sweat

Don’t you just love it when the Right get all worked up over the injustices that the moneyed-classes must endure in our democracy? Marc Coleman was particularly agitated by those opposed to cutting the top rate of tax:

'But it's when you consider that one in 10 taxpayers pays about two-fifth of all income tax paid in the country that these figures hit home . . . the Left wants to exercise its thirst for social justice . . .instead, it begrudges a tax cut to those who live by their own sweat and who give a hugely disproportionate share of income tax revenue. Pathetic, really.'

Ouch, that hurts. I was overwhelmed with guilt. Ashamed that I ever thought progressive taxation was the best way to finance public expenditure. I was about to drop a donation in the charity box at the top of Ailesbury Road when I started to pull down some data on tax and income. And - surprise, surprise -there was more than just a sleight-of-hand being employed with these figures.

Connecting Dots

When children begin one of those connect-the-dot puzzles, the idea that the exercise will lead to any coherence seems foolish. By the time they finish tracing, they have completed the picture and, hopefully, learned a valuable lesson – that disparate pieces of information can, if you approach the matter creatively, but rigorously, create a new picture.

For instance, a social welfare programme, improved health, progressivity, more childcare places, economic security, less crime, better educational performance – what simple tracing could make all these cohere?

For me, it started with grooming rats.

The Addicted Economy

‘I started on it but I always thought I had it under control. Now it controls me.’

‘Hey, I was young; a little bit wouldn’t do any harm. It’s not fun anymore.’

‘You don’t start off with the intention, y’know, it just creeps up on you . . then all of a sudden it consumes you.’

No, these are not tales from the sufferers of substance abuse.  These are the accounts of victims of an economy addicted to multi-nationals.

Unsolicited, Unnecessary, Unwelcomed

It came at the end of the speech. Covering all the bases, including his Commitments for Change, with passionate words on the health service (‘health is a community service, not a market commodity’: absolutely), the Labour Party leader was drawing to a close, with a final appeal to the electorate and a motivation to the membership. Then, from nowhere, Pat Rabbitte announced that Labour was committed to a cut of 2% in the standard tax rate – from 20% to 18%. Shock is an understatement.

It's the Eco-nomy, Stupid

Thanks to Progressive Gardener for bringing this to my attention.

What would you say to a proposal that would (a) reduce carbon emissions, (b) reduce public expenditure, (c) increase business profits, (d) create new jobs, and (e) remove a particularly nasty bit of pollution.  And all in one proposal?  Sound like fantasy-land?  Then welcome to Bromley, where today's fantasy is . . well, today's reality.

In one of his periodic bouts of Green-bashing, the Tanaiste, Michael McDowell, stated that the environment won't save the economy. 

Dumb and Lazy

There are some who believe the reason why wealthy people are wealthy is because they’re smarter and work harder. The corollary is that the poor are not so smart and are lazier. And for those in the middle – smarter than the poor but lazier than the rich or some such variant. Not many are so explicit but it is certainly arguable that this attitude is implicit in many political and social observations.

What's France?

J ust once I’d like to see the following news report:

Tuck McGrath, CEO, explained the reasons for the company closure. ‘It’s all management’s fault. Our Human Resources Manager is a caveman. Our export marketing guy never heard of France. And the financial controller still uses an abacus. The workforce, however, were great. They worked overtime without pay, took cuts in wages and holidays and came up with some brilliant suggestions. We should have listened to them when they said our new line of lingerie for pets wouldn’t sell.’