Many of you will have heard about the difficulties our glorious leader, Bertie Ahern, is having at the moment. For those of you who haven’t, or don’t know who he is, Bertie Ahern is the head honcho of the Irish Government and leader of the governing party. Prime Minister you might say, though it has a different name here in the Emerald Isle. Anyway, he’s in a spot of bother over alleged (?) financial irregularities. Nothing to rival a previous incumbent, Charles Haughey, or Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, but the amounts appear to run into several hundred thousand at least.
The irregularities have come to light as part of the ongoing Tribunal of Inquiry into (primarily) planning corruption in Dublin. This Tribunal was, ironically, set up by ‘The Bert’ himself in 1997 when either he must have believed his unofficial nickname, ‘The Teflon Taoiseach’ or he never thought it would get as far as investigating him. Basically a lot of money has been discovered in Bertie’s pockets, safes, bank accounts and so on and our man is unable to give satisfactory explanations of where the money came from.
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politics
fraud, Ireland, politics
Isn’t it great to be able to take your music library with you when you fly somewhere? Let’s face it, flying is one of the few occasions left when you are expected to do no more than just sit there (ok, and buy lots of expensive coffee, food etc.). So you don’t have to feel guilty about sitting back and enjoying some tunes.
The brainboxes in the tech industry are making it even easier to do this by merging our iPods with our mobile phones – one less gadget to carry, one less charger, so much smarter.
Except that I was shocked at the announcement on a recent flight to the effect that, although iPods etc could be used once airborne, mobile phones must remain switched off even if they have a flight safety mode and you just want to use them to listen to a bit of Bach.
Oh dear. So much for convergence.
technology
aircraft, flight, iPhone, iPod, mobile telephony, technology
So Eddie O’Sullivan has gone. Certainly pushed, his departure has been dressed up as a resignation, which will benefit all parties. Whatever, at least Ireland can now move on and, hopefully, regain some of the lost ground. Let’s just hope that whoever takes over is given the same level of support and autonomy as O’Sullivan was, and is brave enough to make some sweeping changes.
Over in England, meanwhile, rumours abound. Will Martin Johnson be brought in to the setup as Team Manager? The BBC seem convinced he will. But is this enough? I have great respect for Brian Ashton but I wonder if he is the right man to be leading the coaching team. When one considers what Sir Clive Woodward achieved, or rather how he achieved it, I wonder if a more significant shake-up and approach might be more productive. After all, with the pool of players in England far exceeding that of any other rugby nation, it should be reasonable to expect a lot more in terms of results.
rugby
international, rugby, Six Nations, sport
I’m delighted to read that from 2009 the BBC will be covering Formula 1. ITV have done a pretty good job over the last 12 years but a source of constant irritation – and sometimes rage – has been their need for ad breaks during the race, often leading to critical moments in the races not being broadcast.
The BBC have a great history of high quality coverage and, with their excellent website, will no doubt enhance this reputation in the future. Great news for F1 fans!
F1
BBC, F1
The iPhone has arrived in Ireland – last Friday actually – and I always said I’d be one of the first in the queue. Every time I’ve visited the UK since it’s launch there I’ve made a point of spending some time in an O2 shop playing with it, and what a fabulous device it is! So easy to use (even with my stubby fingers) and such a gorgeous thing to hold. It’s the first mobile phone that I’ve really wanted.
So have I bought one? No. Why? O2 Ireland. OK, so there are several minor issues: I’d like to have more memory (32GB minimum) and maybe 3G, and clearly the software is going to develop very, very quickly over the next few months; but no, it’s the incredibly mean package from O2 that is making me wait.
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technology
iPhone, mobile telephony, technology
