Dear Sir... Readers' Views (24/11/16)
Country without the stomach for revolution
I have just returned from Ireland visiting my seriously ill brother and while he is receiving the best possible care by those in charge of his case, it is abundantly clear that they are operating under extreme stress through an appalling lack of health funding.
I am sad, firstly, but then extremely angry that Ireland has reached this stage of degradation. It is quite understandable that, however unwise it may appear, Brexit and Trumpism have revolted against a system which favours the elite.
My impression from my brief visit is an emptiness that defies explanation. Corruption, in my opinion, has seriously consumed Ireland principally stage-managed by the elite at the top, the compliant patsies and yes-men they depend on in the middle, and the illicit underbelly at the bottom.
The remaining 80% or so are being taken on a long rewardless ride.
To me, Ireland now also requires a peaceful revolution but nowhere, sadly, can I detect the stomach or appetite for it.
Decent leadership is similarly absent. I simply cannot believe what I just witnessed. Very sad indeed.
World of business will not wait for us
There are quite a number of people in the small business sector who do not get sufficient advice from support services.
For instance, people who become redundant and have a reasonable amount of money should be taken into the confidence of support services and be given whatever assistance is available. They should be encouraged to set up in industry.
It is no good saying that if you encourage people into one line of manufacturing, it will cause a snowballing effect and put somebody else out of business.
The IDA and other agencies are aware of what is available in the marketplace and of where the openings are.
They should be prepared to work with those people who become redundant and who may have particular skills. They should encourage them to set up their own business.
This would not only alleviate their own problem but also the problem of others. There is an old and very true saying — that self-help is one’s best preparation. One of the reasons we have problems in relation to manufacturing vis-à-vis import substitution is that we do not recognise that we can do things ourselves. We do not want to go to the trouble or the pain, financial or otherwise, of moving into that arena.
This is something we should do as a matter of urgency, otherwise we will have nobody to blame but ourselves.
Very often when assistance comes, it comes too late. That is something which could and should be rectified. While recognising the tremendous work done by the IDA and other agencies, they should try to ensure that they speed up this work because time does not stand still and in the business world, nobody will wait for them.
As part of our industrial policy we should ensure that in other instances, firms, particularly firms who have had the benefit of IDA assistance, do not assume a dictatorial attitude and decide that they can dispose of their plant to whosoever they please for whatever purpose they consider right. They should consider that they have a duty and responsibility to the bodies from which they got assistance and also to their employees — and they should not be allowed forget it.
Battle of Kinsale signs need work
I have just finished a tour around Kinsale as a committee member of Kinsale History Society with colleagues from Tyrone.
I must say our signage on the 1601 Battle of Kinsale is in a very sorry state, with one missing and others in need of repointing and repainting.
This needs to be done urgently as it’s our centenary year in our struggle for freedom and we need to remember our freedom fighters of 400 years ago, as well as a 100 years, and the one that’s missing.
Time to cancel Thanksgiving
America is having a big day today, Thanksgiving. It started years ago. The most widely known early Thanksgiving is that of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts, who feasted for three days in 1621 with the original native Americans, the Wampanoag Tribe.
After the latest election in America there will be no more Pilgrims allowed in, should they cancel Thanksgiving?
So enjoy the turkey this Thursday because we will have to put up with a turkey in the White House for the next four years.
Education under attack in Turkey
The Turkish government continues to attack and undermine education and exert increasingly oppressive control on schools under the guise of responding to the failed coup attempt.
According to the Egitim-Sen trade union, which represents third-level education, almost 40,000 education workers have already been dismissed, including 2,219 who lost their jobs under the latest emergency decree at the end of October.
In addition, 2.829 education staff have been arrested without trial, while legal procedures have been initiated against 6.792 academics and administration staff.
Unfounded and illicit dismissals, investigations, persecutions and arrests continue on a daily basis.
The government’s is seeking to impose gender-separated and faith-based (Quran) classes. Official statistics show 1,597 religious schools in 2015, contrary to the Article 14, pt 1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child guaranteeing that “States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
IFUT strongly condemns this attack on education and education trade unions.
We call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, to raise the protection of human and trade union rights in Turkey as a matter of urgency and to demand that Turkey abides by international commitments and obligations.
Transplant idea is a head-wrecker
I see where a neurosurgeon is planning to carry out the first human head transplant (Irish Examiner, Nov 18). Will we actually put old heads on young shoulders? It seems impractical. There is a medical risk that the head and the body might reject one another.
The next step might be brain transplants. This vexed question would raise new frontiers in psychosurgery, techno-ethics and applied philosophy. Maybe cyborgs are the future. Would modern science generate an Einstein or a Frankenstein? It may be life, but not as we know it.
There is also a moot theological point as to whose soul might suffuse the new entity. Would the brain donor then become me or would I become them? Would both the donor and the recipient be blissfully unconscious of their existences? Or would a newly merged consciousness emerge, with the best of both of us, or maybe the worst?
Would the new Lazarus have to go back to school? Could the new, improved “I” continue to claim “my” pension validly? Would “I” still know “myself”? Would the “new me” be morally responsible for “my” thoughts, words, actions and omissions?
Would the operation be reversible if it were not a success? Would I be able to change my mind physically? To paraphrase a famous popular song, “the silicon chip inside my head might switch to overload.”
I have a recurring nightmare that, when I die, they will connect my brain to the office computer. Surely, after a lifetime of hard work, they might let me rest in peace. I don’t think I could stand the eventual boredom of an eternally earthly existence. I think I’ll just buy a new suit so I can look my best to go whenever my time comes.
The tailoring should be cheaper, as I won’t need any pockets.
If you’re an addict, deal with it yourself
I have an addiction to Ben and Jerry’s Cookie/Caramel Core ice cream, but I don’t expect the government to legislate for one of my very few personal weaknesses. I simply try to discipline my indulgences.
Those who gamble, drink, etc, should equally be responsible for their own actions. Those too weak to be responsible want a nanny government while saying nothing about drivers who get three-year suspended sentences for killing someone.
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