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Archive for May, 2008

Beware the legalese virus

By ⋅ May 30, 2008 ⋅ One comment

EUROPEAN SCIENTISTS are concerned about the rapid spread of an aggressive virus known as legalese LT08. A close relative of jargonitis, academicspeakis and gobbledegook, the malady has taken hold of European laws and infected civil servants throughout the EU. The virus, mostly found in EU legislation and government publications, attacks the human mind and hijacks [...]

Even a worm will turn

By ⋅ May 16, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

IT’S THE turn of the worm. Earthworms, it seems, are demanding their rights after an eternity as an unpaid, voiceless, faceless majority. Spurred on by a Department of the Environment study this week, the worms have demanded pay negotiations with gardeners and farmers. The study, Benefits and Costs of Biodiversity in Ireland, finds that earthworms’ [...]

Getting back to the bare essentials

By ⋅ May 2, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

This article was originally posted as a column in The Irish Times business section in May 2008. Trappings of wealth are being stripped away by a shaky world economy and irresponsible personal spending, writes Margaret E. Ward WHEN I was a child, my mother would dress my little brother for Mass each Sunday. He was [...]

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