Welfare as tragi-farce

Friday, July 13, 2007

Scene: A social welfare office in Ballythisis- progress. Ten staffed customer-service hatches line the far wall. The first person in the queue, a very nervous, bald, middle-aged man, looks down at his wet, scuffed shoes.

Behind a shiny glass partition, two Government ministers sit back-to-back to ensure a full view of the cash [...]

We cannot run from it – age will wither them

Friday, June 29, 2007

Grandpa broke out of the Carousel yesterday. Everyone else was excited by the night’s colourful, explosive finale but he couldn’t stand the thing so he just ran and ran. It took some planning with the plastic surgery and all, but it looks like he might actually make it to Sanctuary. Grandpa is [...]

Kids of prey

Friday, June 15, 2007
The vultures fly ever closer to the large brown object slumped in the shade of a small tree. The mighty wildebeest is too old and tired to keep up with the great annual migration across the Serengeti plains. When the predators get him – sooner rather than later – the birds of [...]

Bitter pill

Friday, June 1, 2007
The candy man was the only thing on my mind when I shuffled my egg-shaped body through the door. I was huge and those transactions – I mean contractions – really slayed me, writes Margaret E. Ward.
From the exact moment I became a wild animal in a cage or, to use the [...]

Birthday presence of mind

Friday, May 25, 2007
The blindfolded girl holds a stick in her tiny hands. She whooshes it through the air until she makes contact with the brightly coloured bull-shaped piñata. Thwack. A harder thwack. No joy. The bigger boy steps up and takes his best hurling-style swing to its cardboard belly. The bull yields, spilling sweets [...]

Speak out

Fri, May 18, 2007
The line is busy again. Ok, now I’m through but I’m on hold. The automated bank branch voice comes on: “Press 1 to buy our latest high-cost, low-profit investment product. Press 2 to become a credit slave. Press 3 to wait on hold for an hour and then be disconnected. Cash-cows, your [...]