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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Can Science Tell Us the Meaning of Life? Mon Dec 23, 2024 19:54 | Dr David Bell
At Christmas time, Dr David Bell reflects on what has true value in this world, the limits of science to tell us what that is and what a baby in a manger might have to say about it.
The post Can Science Tell Us the Meaning of Life? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Non-Crime Hate Incidents Surge in Half of Police Forces Despite Government Crackdown Mon Dec 23, 2024 17:46 | Will Jones
The number of?non-crime hate incidents?recorded by police has surged in half of Britain's forces despite attempts by the previous Government to crack down on the practice, official data show.
The post Non-Crime Hate Incidents Surge in Half of Police Forces Despite Government Crackdown appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Reeves?s Simplistic Thinking Spawned This Budget from Hell Mon Dec 23, 2024 15:44 | David Craig
Simplistic linear thinking by Rachel from Accounts and the Treasury spawned this Budget from hell, says David Craig. A systems thinker would have known it would send the economy into a doom loop of recession and decline.
The post Reeves’s Simplistic Thinking Spawned This Budget from Hell appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link British Drivers Steering Away From New Cars In Their Droves Mon Dec 23, 2024 13:00 | Sallust
British car-buyers are turning away from new vehicles in their droves and keeping their reliable old petrol models going for far longer as Labour's Net Zero war on affordable motors heats up.
The post British Drivers Steering Away From New Cars In Their Droves appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Britain on Brink of Recession After Growth Revised to Zero Following Reeves?s Horror Budget Mon Dec 23, 2024 11:09 | Will Jones
Britain is on the brink of a recession after official figures were revised to show zero growth in the third quarter of the year and living standards fell, with Rachel Reeves's horror Budget blamed.
The post Britain on Brink of Recession After Growth Revised to Zero Following Reeves’s Horror Budget appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Has Bertie's Begging Bowl Exposed The Emptiness Of The Opposition?

category national | crime and justice | feature author Tuesday October 03, 2006 15:55author by bruise violet Report this post to the editors

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After nearly a fortnight of political turmoil, which Bertie really wishes would have died down by now, today seems to be the D-day on which all of his future will be decided. After his Nixon-esque interview on Six-One, the FF strategists were surely hoping that his personal life being laid bare for the cynical public, as well as his stated intention to pay back the "loans", were enough to silence the hounds. However the Manchester payment, by some group of businessmen, for some vague reason or other, is going to cause him enormous damage, and it remains difficult to see how he could come out on the other side of all this with his image as a simple man of the people intact. Surely even FF are going to be wondering if sticking with their leader is worth it. In the last general election, his face was the face of Fianna Fail, adorning the posters on the lamposts, with the slogan 'A Lot Done, More To Do'. They face losing the next election if Bertie is still at the helm and is the brand of FF.

But by the end of play today - if McDowell does pull the plug and Bertie gets the chop in an internal putsch, and we're all watching a leadership contest, or maybe even a general election nine months sooner than expected - will whatever happens make the slightest bit of difference? I find it hard to believe so. I dont think that any replacement for Bertie will be any less susceptible to corruption. Fianna Fail has always been the friend of the builder, developer, businessman, and whoever else is interested in getting access to the tent at the Galway Races - for the right price.

The party is completely devoid of any political ideology whatsoever, occupying a bland populist space somewhere between centre and centre-right, with the odd bit of rhetoric about social democratic values post-Inchydoney but not doing a fucking thing about it, and not exactly sure of how green it is either but willing to play that card whenever Sinn Fein threaten some of its marginal seats. Ahern's laughable claim to be a socialist at the helm of FF shows just how muddled and directionless the electorial giant really is at its core. This is the party that gave rise and shelter to Liam Lawlor, Ray Burke, Beverly Cooper-Flynn, Ivor Callely, Charlie Haughey, Ned O'Keeffe, Frank Dunlop, John Ellis, Padraig Flynn. These are just the people that got caught out. Who knows what else is happening at the moment.

So whats the alternative then? The Mullingar Accord, linking Labour with Fine Gael, is the one being pushed on the public at the moment, with the two muppets at the helm claiming its the only viable option. Enda Kenny's billboards, which no matter which way I go I cant escape from, strike me as particularly vacuous and inane. The man is like a washed out version of the Tories David Cameron. Kenny has no substance and even less style. FG are like their counterparts across the floor, ideologically dead and their only platform is to get the other lot out. This is the party that has given us the likes of Michael Lowry and Anne Devitt. You cant help but feel that FG would definitely have a lot more corrupt members - if they ever stayed in power for the same amount of time as FF.

Happy to help this right wing shower on their way is the ex-Stickie Pat Rabbitte. Hard to believe that at some point in the past a chunk of the Labour front bench were actually Marxists. Never mind the fact that FG are possibly even more right wing and conservative than FF, Rabbitte and the other Labour Party people have shown themselves to be total careerists by abandoning their ideals for the sake of a slice of power. A slide to the right and a sweeping under the carpet of eventual coalition-destroying policy clashes such as abortion, homosexual marriages, and the US Military in Shannon; Labour have tried to make themselves into a New Labour a la Tony Blair, but without the same success in the polls.

Neither of these options strike me as attractive. I think I'm perfectly happy to occupy a neither/nor position. What is it I'm looking for, I hear you ask. Well, all of Irish parliamentary politics (bar one or two members, you can probably guess who if you're reading this site) strikes me as incredibly childish and stupid. Trying to explain the divide between FF and FG to foreigners just shows up how the public have bought into this false opposition between one right wing party and another - and constantly given them 75% of the vote, year in, year out. Labour are all the more pathetic for buying into this, as are the Greens and Sinn Fein who never rule out going into coalition with anybody. FF and FG are mirror images of each other, yet for decades the public, more the fools, believe that somehow a civil war is enough to divide them for eternity. Labour as pawn brokers in any hung Dail could have sat it out and let the two big boys cobble together their seats, thus opening up the paradigm of a left/right divide in Ireland, like any other mature European country, yet every time they've hopped into bed with the right wing with the thirst for power. And so we'll hobble along again until the next election when nothing ever changes. Where is the real opposition to all this?

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   Has your local developer got one?     author    Tue Oct 03, 2006 20:39 
   Dick Roche calls for leaker to be outed     On The Other Hand    Tue Oct 03, 2006 20:40 
   Don't Vote-It Only Encourages Them!     Statin' the Obvious    Tue Oct 03, 2006 23:06 
   Rubbish     Buckbowski    Thu Oct 05, 2006 13:38 
   does it really matter..     hedgehog    Sat Oct 07, 2006 04:42 


 
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