Questions & Answers: The End

I have, like many others, been educated and informed by Questions & Answers over many years but all that was almost set to nought by the unfortunate appearance of Brian Cowen on the final programme last night. John Bowman did not need it and I’m not sure whose idea it was. It was self-congratulatory and cheap. Even Bowman did not seem particularly enamoured of the unfortunate set piece designed to honour Bowman but which ended up giving a free plug to the nation by one of the three people responsible for the depth of our current financial woes. The other two being Bertie Ahern and Charlie McCreevy. If no one is interested in inviting Cowen on air it’s because no one wants to listen to his childish denials of responsibility.

Capitalising on Culture, Competing on Difference

This book is by Finbarr Bradley and James J. Kennelly and subtitles as: Innovation, Learning and Sense of Place in a Globalising Ireland. I suspect that these guys are good mates with David McWilliams (even if they believe that he is a tad overconfident in believing the diaspora will come to our rescue)  as the theme of their discourse relates to their being something intrinsically wonderful about being Irishness. I don’t subscribe to this theory. Personally I believe that the Irish people are at a particular point in societal development wherein they take all the credit for the good things in life but none of the responsibility for the bad.

There is no doubt that the authors talk a lot of sense regarding the Irish education system and indeed they are highly critical of that system but it appears that that very critique is enveloped in a facade of specialness about being Irish. It is interesting that the back cover quotes are by Seán Quinn, one of the Anglo Irish Banks golden boys. The other is by Peter Sutherland who is chairman of BP, a company striving to convince us all of their green credentials.

I certainly agree with most if not all of their analysis. They refer to a report from DIT which examines Ireland in 2030. Although here we have the problem that all authors publishing books in the last few years face in being simply out of date due to the fast changing circumstances. Anyway, they say that the report, Imagineering Ireland (author’s italics and spelling)..

It concluded that the type of mindset required was one that could tackle complexity, uncertainty and change. This implies minds orientated to process rather than to structure, ecologically rather than hierarchically driven, value-added rather than competitive, holistic rather than functional and collaborative, and innovative rather than adversarial and derivative. For such a future, a radical new approach to third-level education in Ireland is essential.

I agree but this does not go far enough when we have students entering third level with poor numeracy and reading skills because of poor second level and primary level education. We have such a poor education system because it’s all about jobs stupid. That’s what all those Irish people who have chosen FF led governments believed. It’s about the bobs in your pocket today. Or at least that’s what they believed last year so let’s wait and see.

But what is Irishness? Is it the genetic origins we share with the Basques? Or is it the English, Welsh and Scottish part of us? What about the Norman, Norse and Viking elements. Is it all those Irish, my own ancestors included who went to the US when they were younger only to return and marry at home? Or maybe it’s the many thousands of Irish who left in the early eighties and returned hoping to participate in supposedly never ending boom that was uniquely Anglo-Irish in character. Maybe it’s that very variation in heritage itself? But then there is endless variation in the United States, in Europe, in Asia in fact everywhere in the world.

We need to educate our young people to think for themselves. But that means teaching them to reject unquestioning loyalty to the leader of the party, to the Pope, to a product or supplier of a service. It also means teaching them to question their parents, their teachers and all those who set themselves up as figures of authority and respect.

I remember a public meeting I attended to introduce the Stay Safe Programme in my kids school. One lady (wife of a FF councillor) objected on the basis that the kids were cheeky enough as it was without telling them to say no to adults. There are lots of people out there who are really frightened of being asked to take responsibility for their actions and behaviour and the last thing they want is people asking questions and expecting answers.

And so it is John Gormley who is trotted out to scrap the electronic voting machines while messers Cullen and Dempsey skulk in corners and are not asked to take responsibility for the wasted €51M+.

Listen until it hurts

John Waters wrote an article last week in which he expressed his admiration for Pope Benedict XVI. His enthusiasm was such that I was caused to stop and think about my assumed rejection of anything the current incumbent of the papacy might have to say. The article referred to Pope Benedict’s’ 2005 Encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est. So I thought I’d better have a read and as advised by John Waters “listen until it hurts”.

The Four Peaks Challange Report

Wow, what an experience!

Since Friday lunchtime I’ve flown to Liverpool, driven to LLanberis in Wales, driven to The Lake District in the north of England. On to Glasgow, then Fort William, and back to Edinburgh. Flown back to Cork and driven to Killarney and back. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it. Five Opel Zafiras with five climbers and two support staff in each and one van with the gear.

Leaving Cork Airport at 15.50 with another group leaving from Dublin about two hours later, all to Liverpool. Then we hit the road west for North Wales, LLanberis and the Snowdonia National park. Dinner and bed.

Up at 4am for breakfast prepared by the support team and the first climb begins, Snowdon (highest mountain in Wales). Finished by 9.30am, the group gathers in a car park for change of gear, food and then we’re off again.  We retrace our steps to Liverpool and take the M6 north to the Lake District and Scafell Pyke, the highest mountain in England. Amazing who you see at the motorway rest stop: none other that Tony Robinson of Timeteam fame.

The teams are ready for their second climb of the day,  heading off at 3pm from Seatoller (great name). They are greeted at the finish about 8.30pm with dinner in a local pub.

We hit the  road for Glasgow very late, after 10pm and reach the hostel at about 1.30am. We get about two hours sleep before it’s off again and the A82 to Fort William stopping for driver rest breaks along the way. It’s an awful morning weather wise with rain and more rain which stays almost all day. But what incredible scenery.

We reach Fort William and the teams start up Scotland’s highest peak about 7.30am. This is a long climb with rain, low mist and snow at the summit. The climbers are wet and need a suitable local to change into dry clothes before the 3hr drive to Edinburgh. We must be in Edinburgh for check-in for the flight to Cork by 6pm. So the local Morrison’s supermarket provides a covered walkway cum changing rooms (with rubbish disposal, toilets and te and coffee). Any port in a storm.

Half way to Edinburgh, an automatic text from Aer Arann tells us our flight is delayed, eventually by six hours and we finally leave for Cork at 11.30pm. So it’s 1.30am before we arrive at Aghadoe Hostel in Killarney. A good nights sleep by the weekends standards and the support team are up at 7am preparing breakfast.

Just time for a group photo (that’s me at the back), then it’s back into the cars for the final stage, Carrauntwohill, Ireland’s tallest peak. It’s all over for another year by 6pm after a glorious day weatherwise in sharpe contrast to yesterday (or was it today, anyway…) with food and refreshments at Kate Kearney’s in the gap of Dunloe.

So what did you do for the weekend? Well I did support staff for the Four Peaks  Challenge. I drove lot’s of miles. Prepared lot’s of sandwiches. I slept in a car for quite a bit and sat squashed with my knees nearer to my tonsils then they should be. But boy did I meet some wonderful people: Corkonians, Dubliners, Sligo-ers, Welshmen, Englishmen and a lone Frenchman. Hillwalkers extraordinaire and dedicated supporters of a great charity.

Doing anything interesting next June Bank Holiday weekend? Well….

By the way: the challenge raises funds for Friends Of Londiani, a Cork based charity that supports sustainable development in rural Kenya.

The Four Peaks Challange

Big adventure coming up next weekend.

The wife and I are off to the UK to provide logistical support for 25 climbers who will climb the highest peaks in Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland over the weekend. We fly to Liverpool, pick up some rentals and drive to Llanberis in Wales. Early the next morning the climbing teams will climb Snowdonia. Then into the cars and we drive to the Lake District in England. The teams then climb Scafell Pike after which we drive to Glasgow where we overnight.

Sunday morning, bright and early, we head for Fort William and Ben Nevis. After Ben Nevis we head for Edinburgh and the flight back to Cork. Sunday night is Killarney with Carraun to be climbed on Monday morning.

All of this is to raise money for Friends of Londiani. The charity expects to raise about €25,000 from the event. Should be a really interesting experience and with luck I’ll post a few photos somewhere next week.

The first part of the Harambee 2007 project team will be setting off for Kenya in a few weeks time and Marg (my partner/my wife) will be joining them in August.

“The best social programme of all is a job”

This is according to Brian Lenihen on Primetime, April 12th . When I heard him say that it struck a cord but I wasn’t really sure what it was and it has taken a few days to sink in and gather other thoughts around itself. And then I remembered, I think it was Seamus Brennan’s comment early on in the Celtic Tiger story that a rising tide would lift all boats. That was it. That was the FF/PD solution. Give people jobs and all would be ok. That’s it. I mean that was all of it. It was simple. No vision required. No forward planning involved. Create jobs and in the simplistic FF world (PDs are just a right wing rump anyway) all would be well.

I suppose I should mention a vid of Ken Wilber included with Integral Institute’s email this month. In it he explains the difference between the Republican and Democrat mindsets in the US. The Republicans (according to Wilber) believe that all is on the inside: you rise or fall based on your own efforts: God supports or punishes you accordingly. The Democrates believe that people do the best they can in responseto life’s ups and downs: you rise or fall based on circumstances: God wants everyone to succeed. The Rep solutions as a result, minimise government interference and if God wants you to succeed you will. The Dem solutions require massive government support, aiming to help God along.

So when Mary Harney said we were closer to Boston than Bonn, I suspect she meant Dallas. FF/PD seem to have adopted the simplistic solution of give them a job and let ‘em rip. The assumption being that those deserving of God’s favour will do well, earn more and succeed. Those who don’t were probably not up to much anyway and we are better off not having them in the economic gene pool anyway. A meritocratic, competitive society where the winner takes all and then some. Except…

A complete lack of any ability to think beyond the next election has it’s drawbacks. The infrastructure was so delapidated after the recession, if it existed at all, that it would take more than one election to do what was needed. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. It remains to be seen if there are enough people willing to be fooled this time.

Carbon Credits

Quotes are taken from an article by George Monbiot in The Irish Times Magazine, Saturday 13th Jan 2007.

• “The third excuse for inaction is more mundane. This is the idea, now popular with the Irish Government, that we can keep buying our way out of trouble. “Carbon offset companies promise to redeem the environmental cost of your emissions by means of intercession with the atmosphere, such as planting trees or funding renewable-energy projects in developing countries. just as in the 15th and 16th centuries you could kill, fornicate and lie without fear of eternal damnation, today you can leave your windows open while the heating is on, and drive and fly without endangering the climate, as long as you give your ducats to one of the companies selling indulgences.”
• “Buying and selling carbon offsets is like pushing the food around on your plate to create the impression that you have eaten it.”
• “At worst they allow us to believe that we can carry on polluting, just as, before the Reformation, the sale of absolutions encouraged people to believe they could carry on sinning. I cannot think of a more effective means of postponing the hard choices we need to make now.”

What I love is the image of buying indulgences. It give a very clear image of how the powers that be have a mindset that will be ridiculed in 20 or 30 years time. The Roman Church really sold bits of paper that certified that the sins had been erased. It is part of the, so called, “tradition” of the church. I suspect the mindset is the same. The need is for the powers that be to make money with the least effort possible. Their power is based on the status quo. To suggest change or to require changes in the behaviour of their supporters would require leadership and risk their positions of power. It would be hard and difficult work. Better to get others to do the work and just buy in the solutions. Is Dick Roche really as stupid as George Bush or are they just the worst type of politicians?

Channelled Authorship – stage 3 speech

Mr Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters and welcome guests.

This evening I want to tell you about 3 books, 3 authors and 3 writers.

These books, authors and writers have something in common. They all involve what I am calling Channelled Authorship. My purpose tonight is to let you know that such material exists and to tell you something of the experiences of the writers involved. We need not concern ourselves with the content of the books themselves except to say that each gives advice or information that many millions of readers have found useful in helping them live their lives.

Letter from Health Services Executive

3rd December 2006.

Dear Patient,

Thank you for your understanding and patience whilst arrangements were being put into place to secure suitably qualified orthodontists to complete your treatment programme.

I have secured the services of a number orthodontists, one of whom will treat you.

A number of concerned clients have contacted the service and I apologise for not being in a position to individually phone you back. I would like to reassure you that an appointment will be sent to you imminently by post. The HSE is progressing arrangements with these orthodontists to facilitate your treatment in appropriate locations. The logistics of securing appropriately qualified personnel matching existing and future work commitments to available treatment locations is challenging given the timeline pressures to secure treatments as speedily as possible.

An appointment will be sent to you by post for your next treatment very shortly where you will meet your new orthodontist.

Again I would like to thank you for your patience in this matter. Yours sincerely,

*****************,
Local Health Manager,
South Lee
PCCC Directorate

The season that’s in it

The season that’s in it is Christmas and I thought it might be interesting to consider what we can expect from the Christmas Season in the years ahead. It does, of course, depend on whether and if the Celtic Tiger continues to roar and for how long. Being the age I am, I do remember the eighties when the economy was not so good and the season paid more than lip service to it’s origins. Rest assured I am not hankering after the “good old days”. I have eyes that are firmly fixed on the future and what it might look like.

I got a clue last night. I am a member of my local Toastmasters Club, an organisation I would recommend to anyone wishing to leave the keyboard and step in front of a more up close and personal audience. Last night I took the role of Topicsmaster. Those unfamiliar with the Topics session might like to know that it is a part of the Toastmasters meeting when the Topicsmaster nominates members of the audience to speak “off the cuff” for two minutes on any topic of the Topicsmasters choice. If you happen to know something about the topics, you’re grand. Otherwise it can be a nightmare. With practice you do learn to speak like a politician and talk about stuff you know nothing about.

With the season that’s in it, the theme was “Santa and The Grinch”: two Topicsmaster instead of the normal one. I took the anti side, that of the Grinch and presented topics that sought responses decrying Christmas and all that it has come to stand for. What surprised me the most was the ease with which my fellow Toastmasters (of varying degrees of experience) were able to critizise the rampent consumerism that the season has come to represent. The responses included references to the waste produced and it’s environmental impact. The type of labour used to manufacture many of the “tacky” stocking filler products that are purchased. The extent to which many people are seeking to escape the “traditional” aspects of the season by heading off on holidays, snow or otherwise, far away from the family get togethers we have been told it is all about. I accept the respondants were forced to support the Grinch perspective but it was the ease with which they did that surprised. My co-topicsmaster found it difficult to elicit the traditional references to peace and goodwill, sharing and spending time with family.

My conclusion is that there is a conclusion dawning that the last drops of pleasure have been squeesed from the Christmas fest. There are already the beginings of a post-consumerist society that become evident when the consumerism is at it’s height. Gifts to friends and family made some kind of sense when posessions were limited and that jumper or pair of socks, if choosen well, might serve some purpose. But in a society where most can afford to buy clothes, DVDs, games, books, meals out and therapy treatments whenever they wish, the giving of a gift becomes pointless. That the tought may count for something does not wash anymore. Alternatives are sought in goats, chickens and water purifiers but these too soon cannot be considered reasonable responses to the Christmas spirit (whatever that may be or become).

The implications of this gorge-fest are becoming clear. Quantity will not work. We are already becoming an obese nation so the symbol of a grossly overweight white man drinking sugar laden beverages, no matter how striking his attire, is simply not an appropriate one to put before our children. Bulk being out, we attempt to create an impression by spending large amounts of money on very small items, thereby packing more value into a smaller space. But in the heel of the hunt, a watch is a watch and she already has all the jewelry she could ever want. In fact the kids have more toys than they will ever play with and they got them at the company Christmas party. Enter the “hand-made” gift which is to be cherished because it was crafted in West, South or East Cork. The real marketing killer item is, for sure, the gift or book token that roars I have no idea what to get you, but will feel guilty if I don’t get something and have no idea how to get off this ridiculous bandwagon anyway.

So where do we go from here? Well I suggest the adoption of the Thanksgiving holiday. It seems, from this distance, to be a celebration of all that is good in life. It gathers together friends AND family wherever they happen to be. It is a single meal. We might consider leaving out the sports elements and most certainly any gifts. It allows guests to contribute to the meal in kind and does not require the world to prepare for three months in advance. Christmas can then put Santa Claus back in Coca Cola’s box and leave space for that underlying spirit to emerge into the light of a future day.