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politics
US banks get new rules on property
From WSJ: “[US] banks have generally been keeping a lid on commercial real-estate losses by extending these mortgages upon maturity. However, that practice, billed by many industry observers as “extending and pretending,” has come under criticism by some analysts and investors as it promises to put off the pains into the future… Critics say the [...]
Nama: not fit for purpose
Last night’s Leviathan debate was an interesting one – despite the egg-throwing – and it showed even more clearly that Nama is not fit for its purpose and that the politicans have no idea what they are doing. They are truly making it up as they go along. Nama, according to its website, is an independent commerical [...]
Nobel Prize-winning economist says NO to Nama
Nama is a bad idea said Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, on Wednesday night while addressing Trinity College’s historical society. Nama is likely to “burden this generation for 25 to 50 years or more. I am very uncomfortable with a government with such a minority support making such a decision.” The view that there is no alternative is “just [...]
Revisting 9/11 articles: Museum in the dust
Sculptor Michael Richards spent his last evening on top of the world. After watching Monday night football in his studio on the 92nd floor of One World Trade Center with fellow artist Jeff Konigsberg, he knuckled down to the work at hand….his sculptures took form as World War II pilots falling from the sky, tumbling into debris or riding flame-tailed meteors… Some political artists tend to raise the flag and show the warning signs of things to come — so perhaps he was seeing something we couldn’t,
A SIM game for Nama?
Remember the computer simulation game SimCity in the early 1990s? The objective of SimCity was to build and design a city either without specific goals or towards certain scenarios. The game allowed you to see what would happen in the future based on your specific choices and performance when playing. You also controlled the speed at which time passed. For example, if as [...]
Re-imagining your nation
Stop wringing your hands in despair and think about a brand new Ireland. What would you like it to be?
There’s a lot of living to be done in so-called old age
Originally published as a business column in the Irish Times on May 5, 2009 Western society has hang-ups about ageing, and older people are often invisible or ignored.
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 [...]
Students’ advice for Irish government
Lectured some university students today in News Reporting and asked them to talk directly to the government – using Post-It notes. After class, I was going on BBC2 NI’s show Hearts and Minds as a guest along with Martin Mansergh. I told them I would give them to him after the show. It didn’t happen [...]
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