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The China Conundrum: should we be asking more questions before getting into bed with China?

Chinese interest in Ireland seems, on the surface, to be the answer to all our financial problems. It’s a dream come true for the Government yet shouldn’t China’s previous development track record be prompting us all to ask many critical questions on how they do business abroad? Here’s some food for thought LAND ACQUISITIONS Iceland: [...]

Will Ireland concede on Irish corporation tax? Interviewed on BBC World Service “World Business Report”

BBC World Service “World Business Report” asked me “What will Ireland say if EU leaders insists it increases its corporation tax rate in line with other European countries?” BBC World Service “World Business Report” (mp3)

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, [...]

Leviathan at the Electric Picnic

Looks like capitalist culture is not dead!

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 [...]

Food Politics

What you should eat, and what companies want you to eat, are not necessarily the same thing. [field name=video]

The year the media died?

Is it all over?

Erin go broke

Paul Krugman has a depressing take on the Irish Ecomomy in the New York Times.

Ways to cut costs without killing your business

It was a 5AM start on Friday morning for a trip to the TV3 studios for a segment on  Ireland AM called “Ways to cut your costs without killing your business.”

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 [...]