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Writing in clear English: top ten tips
Want to write clearly, right from the start? Then you need to plan, write and edit in equal measure. Here are Clear Ink’s top tips for getting your message across. www.clearink.ie Writing and speaking are tools for communicating a message. That’s it. Yet so many things – jargon, legalese, academic-speak, overly formal or informal language, [...]
Lehman Brothers: has the sector learned anything?
September 15th marks one year since Lehman Brothers – an investment bank that I worked for in the 1990s – was allowed to crash and burn. What, if anything, has the financial sector learned since then? Well, if President Obama’s opinions are anything to go by it’s not much. Today he told an audience in downtown [...]
Losing faith in the church’s business methods
Originally published as a business column in The Irish Times, May 5 , 2009 PLATFORM:Catholicism’s senior management must explain and atone for its questionable actions, writes MARGARET E WARD It’s a multi-billion euro business with properties and offices throughout the world. The company’s services are used by a huge percentage of the global population and [...]
The cost of “Keeping up with the Fitzpatricks”
Ireland needs a drastic shift in cultural attitudes – away from entitlement and towards personal responsibility. The arrogant aristocracy has made taxpayers as cheap as chips.
Mansergh vs. Ward on BBC2 NI “Hearts and Minds”: Youtube
Martin Mansergh, junior minister for Finance, and I had a very lively discussion on the telly last night. We were, of course, talking about the economy. He was a nice man but he was completely unprepared. Our lovely interviewer Noel said we’d just have a nice discussion but it quickly turned into a row. I suggested [...]
40 questions looking for answers..from government, regulator and banksters
Anglo Directors’ loans 1. How much did Seanie & co borrow? Who authorised it? 2. What did they use it for? a. Did they buy shares, debt or CFDs? b. Did they use money to manipulate the share price in some way? c. What were the terms of the loan? Was it secured? d. Did [...]
Wanted: a maverick gunslinger to save us from the cowboys
WANTED: MAVERICK gunslinger to cut down enemies of the State. Year 2010: Tumbleweed blows through the empty streets of the International Financial Services Centre. The once proud little place in the wild west of Europe is almost abandoned. A few nervous survivors squint through cracked glass at the young, fair-haired woman outside. She is wearing [...]
Toxic tips from D’Oh School of Economics
Originally published as a business column in The Irish Times, October 3, 2008 BREAKING NEWS: Homer Simpson has been operating the controls of the international financial system for the last several years. Mr Simpson, normally the animated nuclear safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Plant, is known to spend much of his time eating doughnuts, [...]
Frustrated customer speaks out
Dear Strong Language, No one understands me! What can I do? I’m a good customer, really I am, but sometimes when my bank, solicitor and other service providers contact me, I feel like they’re talking another language. My post-box is jammed with letters that say things like: “I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated September [...]
Beware the legalese virus
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 [...]
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