Dear Sir... Readers' Views (03/01/17)
Celebrities were not only ones to die
2016 has seen the passing of some immensely talented singers, writers, comedians and broadcasters. I bought a copy of Anthony Cronin’s novel The Life Of Riley three weeks before he died. I watched Debbie Reynolds in that iconic scene from Singing in the Rain just two days before she died.
I always liked the haunting music of Leonard Cohen. Alan Rickman was first class, I thought, in the 1996 film Michael Collins.
Such a loss these and others are to their professions and to humanity.
But I can’t help feeling that the attention given to celebrities in death, as in life, can completely overshadow the lives of the people who pass away with scarcely a word written or broadcast about them.
I‘ve just got the local parish newsletter and I’ve read through a long list of people who died during the year: all precious human beings to their friends and loved ones, each death a staggering loss.
Each one of the names on the ‘departure list’, if I may call it that, means the world to at least one other person. He or she is a star, shining brightly in remembrance as surely as any of the ones that light up a crisp winter’s sky Life is so precious and so vulnerable that surely everyone’s stint on this planet is worthy of celebration, even if one hasn’t achieved celebrity status as categorised by those who define such things.
Helping the poor is right for a society
Will 2017 be any different? The occupation of Apollo House at the close of the departing year prompted many in power to pay lip-service to the homeless and marginalised... Some figures were bandied about. However one statistic got little or no mention. In 2008, the State provided €80m for “Exceptional Needs Payments” to support the poorest in our society. By 2015 this figure had been reduced to €29m; a reduction of 64%.
The Department of Social Protection closed drop-in clinics, forcing those in need to go to the already overworked charities and, worse, into the hands of moneylenders.
Jean-Paul Sarte was probably right in thinking that the poor don’t know that their function in life is to exercise our generosity. But our ministers do know that taking the safety-net from under the most vulnerable is not the way forward.
As JFK said in his inaugural speech more than half a century ago: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
Reconciliation was part of Rising remembrance
In his article of December 31, Michael Clifford tells us that the 2016 commemorations “struck the correct balance of solemnity, remembrance and reconciliation”.
He failed to mention the fact that they were presided over by a minister (Heather Humphreys) whose grandfather, together with nearly half a million other unionists, signed the Ulster Covenant to “use all means necessary” to prevent the Home Rule Act from being implemented.
That would have emphasised that there has been real reconciliation.
Non-alcoholic beer needs store boost
I have an interest in good quality non- alcoholic drinks as I stopped consuming alcohol two years ago due to health reasons.
Dunnes Stores and SuperValu carry the best range of alcohol-free beers and a limited number of alcohol-free wines which I enjoy at home and socially.
While visiting family in the North I became aware that Sainsbury’s stock their own brand of de-alcoholised wine including white, red, rose, and a sparkling white. I have tried them all and they are very good quality. I think they are made from German wine and retail at £2.50 per bottle.
Could Dunnes Stores or SuperValu not look at producing their own brand of alcohol free-wines? I feel that this is a growth market given the focus on health issues that result from too much alcohol consumption. Not to mention the legalities surrounding drink driving laws and the increased number of drink driving charges this Christmas.
I feel that there is great potential for this expanding niche market and for an Irish grocery chain to be the first to produce their own good quality alcohol-free wines.
Also to ally themselves with the promotion or sponsorship of, for example, the safe driving TV campaigns and health, particularly mental health, initiatives.
Recent examples to amplify my point are: Over the Christmas period, my husband and I visited a local pub and when I asked for Erdinger alcohol-free beer I was told that the delivery to the pub arrived the day before and was sold out that night. Is this not a clear sign that people want to enjoy socialising without the negativity and pressure of alcohol use when driving?
Also in April of 2016, my family and I visited Benalmadena near Malaga in Spain. When searching the local supermarket, there was a wall stacked high of non-alcoholic beers from every single major brewery on the continent. While still on holidays we watched a Spanish game of soccer on TV and noticed that the main advertiser on the pitch hoardings was a non-alcoholic beer.
My question is which of the Irish grocery chains will be the pioneer on the frontier of what appears to me to be a win-win situation for everyone concerned?
Saviours until we can dump refugees
There has been an orgy of embarrassing self-congratulations (media, naval service, the public) about the actions of the naval service in the Mediterranean. Having grown up in a fishing port I know about the dangers of the sea, but plucking people out of boats in the Med cannot be that distressing or traumatic for disciplined military personnel, who have been trained for combat conditions at sea. Moreover, commentators, as far as I can recall , seem to have ignored the fact that we are dumping those rescued on the Italian state. Self-congratulations are never in order but in this case they are not merited either. I don’t know if those we have rescued are refugees or migrants or whether we are obliged under international law to give them shelter but we have a clear moral obligation to do so. There are those who argue that rescue initiatives should be curtailed to discourage the flow of refugees/migrants. While there is a robust logic to that argument, I support the decision to rescue these desperate people and bring them to safety. If, however, we are not prepared to take in those we rescue (after appropriate — weeks not years — screening in Italy following which the refugees/migrants are flown to Ireland from Italy in batches of ‘X’) we should not send naval vessels to the Mediterranean.
Focus on message not messengers
The Apollo House project is not a private initiative by a few wealthy individuals, but a public initiative, led by some people who have the means and the courage to be able to take a risk. They are using their public profiles in the best possible way: To highlight a disgraceful social issue, to mobilise and galvanise support, and to provide a focus for the countless ordinary people who want to help alleviate homelessness.
Questions about the celebrities’ personal wealth and motives only serve to divert from the public, grassroots nature of this innovative project.
Elected politicians are paid to serve and protect the people, not the multi-national banks and hedge funds. The generous and inclusive response of the Apollo House project is infinitely preferable to the right-wing movements that have sprung up across the US and Europe.
If our objections to neoliberal socio-economic decline continues to take the form of progressive social action, Ireland can show the world people power does not have to be reactionary and divisive to be effective.
Cohen’s lyrics offer profound insights
One line from the genius lyricist Leonard Cohen song ‘Dance Me To The End Of Love’ begins: “Dance me to the children waiting to be born.”
However, many have pondered what the meaning behind this line relates to? Children are the result of the dance of love between a couple; One theory is that Cohen visited Auschwitz, and saw all those horrors. then he heard a story how Germans made Jews play their wedding ceremonies to them in camps. They had to pick a bride and a groom, and sing and dance for them. Cohen himself stated that it wasn’t important whether listeners understand that or not, because the song can be read in many other ways. Another theory was that the song relates to abortion. Cohen wrote so fiercely against a culture that discarded women and children and his apocalyptic denunciation of society and his dystopian prophecy found a home in his poetic lyrics. In this line perhaps he is referring to the firmest rejection of a consumer culture that has extended its ideology of commodification even to children. Some would argue that the entire song ‘Dance Me To The End Of Love’ is actually a story he read about Holocaust victims performing music in concentration camps which led to the heart-wrenching song. Whichever way you interpret the line, one can only be mesmerised and amazed at the human insight.
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