Irish Left Review

What Do Bond Markets Think of ‘Austerity’?

Michael Burke — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:29:06 +0000

The victory of François Hollande in the French Presidential contest provides a further insight into the operation of the bond markets. It is frequently argued that there can be no retreat from ‘austerity’, which in reality is simply the transfer of incomes from labour and the poor to capital and the rich, because the bond [...]

The Irish Times publishes Morten Messerschmidt

Gavan Titley — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:36:27 +0000

When the Irish Times chose this morning to publish an article by Danish MEP Morten Messerschmidt arguing for Irish people to vote no to the Fiscal Compact Treaty Referendum it left out an important detail from his biography at the end. Messerschmidt is not some anodyn Danish political figure, as Gavan Titley points out in [...]

I have been reading Sarah Clancy’s: Thanks for Nothing, Hippies

William Wall — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:46:23 +0000

For a long time it seemed that Irish poetry could be about anything from pisspots to pig-slaughtering but it could not be about politics. There were notable exceptions of course - John Montague’s magnificent Rough Field, for example, and Thomas Kinsella’s savage Butcher’s Dozen both grew out of an entirely anti-eirenic response to the developing [...]

Objectifying Ads A Sign of a Regressive Ireland

Clara Fischer — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:35:43 +0000

Last week, Fine Gael TD Derek Keating called for the banning of late night adverts, shown on TV3, for what he described as “sexual entertainment services”. There appears to be some dispute about the exact nature of these advertisements, with ComReg purportedly calling the ads “chatline” or “partyline” services, rather than “sexual entertainment services”. Judging by the [...]

On ABC Radio National, PM program: ‘Stupendously idiotic’ policies for Greece can’t work.

Donagh — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:14:32 +0000

On ABC Radio National, PM program: ‘Stupendously idiotic’ policies for Greece can’t work. Good answers…. MARK COLVIN: Well it’s being imposed effectively from Germany, isn’t it? What are the chances that Germany is going to have any patience with a Greece which has failed to form a coalition, which is going into uncharted territories, as you say, [...]

Lecture series on history of radical social movements in Ireland sponsored by Occupy University, Dublin Community TV & the Ireland Institute

Irish Left Review — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:38:57 +0000

5 Wednesdays in May 2012, a series of public lectures on radical social movements in Ireland, is being given at 6:30 pm in Ireland Institute 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 each Wednesday in May. The series is a partnership between Occupy University, DCTV and the Ireland Institute and each talk is being filmed live by DCTV. The first two [...]

Video: David Graeber and David Harvey in Conversation

Donagh — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:49:20 +0000

Video: David Graeber and David Harvey in Conversation David Graeber and David Harvey discuss their new books, Debt: The First 5000 Years, and Rebel Cities, respectively. 25 April 2012 at The CUNY Graduate Center

Choonara, McNally and the US rate of profit | Michael Roberts

Donagh — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:48:49 +0000

Choonara, McNally and the US rate of profit | Michael Roberts As readers of my blog will know, ad nauseum… Oh go on then, say it again, once more with feeling…. I think there has been a secular downtrend visible in the US rate of profit, but there is also a profit cycle in the US capitalist economy that lasts [...]

Charles Dallara of the IIF and How to Negotiate on Both Sides of the Table

Andy Storey — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:40:02 +0000

There has been widespread horror at the rise of the far right Golden Dawn party in the recent Greek elections (they polled 7%), with appalled references to the activities of their “t-shirted thugs”. They are indeed nasty pieces of work, but the real damage to Greek society, and the reason for the rise of the [...]

Shallow, Cynical and Wrong

Eoin O'Broin — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:40:17 +0000

The good people of Tara Street are troubled. The rise of Sinn Féin has caused consternation among the well-meaning liberals at the Irish Times. In response they have deployed their most deadly weapon, the anonymous leader column, in an attempt to warn the electorate of the dangers of the republican menace. The editorial, published on May 12, [...]