Month: May 2019

Current Affairs Ireland

The next property crash is looming

The last property crash was brought about by a combination of banks lending on the basis of spurious calculations, massaging their own financial data, and inflated property prices that were completely divorced from reality. Following the collapse, property prices adjusted back to more realistic values. The Government bailed out the […]

Culture

Pete Seeger on his 100th birthday

There are few people more famous in the political song movement than Pete Seeger. Along with his contemporaries Paul Robeson and Woody Guthrie, Seeger represented the might of song in highlighting the common cause, strengthening courage, and inspiring resistance. Song was their weapon in this struggle for a fair, equal […]

Ireland Socialism

“Nice little earners”

There I am sitting among my three or four neighbours, and the talk turns to property. Their property. This topic has bothered me for some time, as it brings out the nastiest prejudices in my neighbours: condemning suspected “welfare cheats,” bothersome tenants, and everything else. Now one of these neighbours, […]

Political Economy

Identity and class

There is no truly universal experience of the world. It is deeply influenced by how we have been taught to orient ourselves in that world, which then predicts how we interact with it. Language is one such example. Monoglot English-speakers break their day down into time slots and scheduled intervals; […]

Trade Unionism

Workers in struggle

Lloyd’s refuse to attend the Labour Court At the Labour Court on 26 April the employees’ union, Mandate, presented the case for all Lloyd’s Pharmacy workers to receive improvements to their terms and conditions of employment. Mandate’s submission includes demands for: A pay increase of 3.4 per cent, backdated to […]

International

A victory for pro-Venezuela activists

A group of determined American activists forced Juan Guaidó’s shadow ambassador, Carlos Vecchio, to flee from a rally that was supposed to mark his triumphant entry into the Venezuelan embassy in Washington. It was supposed to be a day of triumph for the Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaidó and his […]

Current Affairs

Vote left!

This month we face a number of electoral choices: local elections, elections for the EU Parliament, and a proposed amendment to the Constitution. The local elections have produced a staggering number of small parties and independents, hoping to be elected to what is in fact powerless local government. Real power […]