Where to start?

The problem with being away from the blog for any length of time is knowing where to start again. Maybe I should have decided this whole blog would have a specific theme – say, the behaviour of a particularly exotic wasp species during the months of April and May in Leap Years. Then I’d know what to say next (most likely something like “no news today, waiting for 1.1.08″). What I don’t know is how to catch up on ten days or more of Random Access Memories.

Sky News is such an inspiration to me. Or not.  But this whole Iran-captures-soldiers thing. They’re using a photo that looks like it was taken with a mobile phone as their evidence that the ship was in Iraqi waters when they were captured. This apparently means it was okay. Now, personally, if I was an Iraqi citizen I’d be questioning that (don’t quote UN resolutions at me, it would make a difference).

Anyway, “Iran” have captured these people, and obviously for the 15 people in question this is catastrophic. Somehow at times like this we manage to forget about the 15 people, and the 15 families. We forget even easier about the families of the people who took them, as if we have decided they are somehow less human. Is a baby girl less human because her father kidnaps someone else’s? This isn’t my main problem with the story though – my issue is the convenience of it. Let’s say, for instance, Georgie Boy wanted a new war to play with (sorry, shocking frivolity, surely he would never think of millions of lives as something he could “play with” and manipulate for his own gratification. never.) and he wanted his old chum Tony to come play with him. But Tony’s mummy (is that Gordon Brown?) told him no. Hmmmb. Imagine if Georgie Boy needed some way of convincing Tony (and his mummy) of the imminent danger and obvious threat posed by nasty little Iran? Imagine a scenario whereby a US administration constructed a situation specifically aimed at validating entry into a war. Surely that couldn’t happen. Not now. Not ever, eh?

I’m not saying this is an entirely (or even vaguely?) likely possibility. But there’s a definite eau-de-rat about the whole thing.

In other news, the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade was marked in a variety of ways last week – most famously perhaps by Toyin Agbetu but also  by a group of protestors who marched from Hull, home of William Wilberforce, in chains… which I kinda like as a hook. Link pending, I’ll get back to it…

Yowza

A little reassurance today, that I am not the angriest person in the world, nor the most inclined towards ranting. Bravo.

The CHEEK of it

I was going to avoid the following rant until this evening something caused me to snap.

Debenhams. They bought out Roches. Because of where I worked at the time, I knew this long before ‘the world’ was told. It made me want to cry. And possibly commit random acts of arson. But, I did resist. Until now. Now, they have crossed the line. In fact, they did it a few years ago.

How? Styling the FRICKING NATION.

According to this fairly random fashion website, debenhams adopted the slogan in January 2005 to help boost sales and “as a promotional hook”. A right hook delivered to the jaw of their marketing executives might be more appropriate.

Here’s my issue – and please bear in mind the lengths I am going to to resist the previously hinted at “did we really do all that fighting and dying so that lot could swan back in here and buy our souls?” rant.

According to their website, they have branches all over England. And Scotland. And Wales. So even before they came over here, they were using their choice slogan to insult at least two other nations (and this is without getting into a discussion on whether England counts as a nation – or indeed if such a thing still exists, if it ever did, and if it ever should have!!). I don’t know if anyone ever pointed out to them that this was spectacularly ignorant. I do hope so.

In fact, having thought about it, I can only hope that they did use that same ‘thoughtful’ slogan in Scotland and Wales. That would at least dilute the offensiveness of their using it here.

Why take offence? Because at best it’s smug and patronising, and at worst it’s just damned ignorant. Like the fact that apparently Ireland doesn’t qualify as an international location in their eyes. History lessons are apparently beyond them, but maybe they could try Geography – supposedly it’s easier.

What grates at me is that their marketing executives (the aforementioned who should at the very least be given bloody noses if not pink slips) developed the slogan to give a sense of ownership to the english people. I can see the pitch now – “make them feel like debenhams is their national store”. It’s a perfectly reasonable pitch for a campaign run STRICTLY WITHIN THE BORDERS OF THEIR NATION. It would be like if Dunnes Stores had a slogan that said “Buy Irish stuff : it’s nicer and you’ll feel all warm and fuzzy inside”.

The intention of the slogan is to instill a sense of nation and attach that to the brand. So, frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves for daring to use it in another country. What, are we supposed to feel like part of England now? Will we dress in our best britches and go ‘take tea’ with the queen? WHY on EARTH would we want to do that?

It is bad enough that yet another Irish chain has disappeared only to be replaced by yet another english one. It is bad enough, frankly, that grafton street and oxford street are becoming virtually indistinguishable. It is bad enough, that we are ploughing money into a neverending stream of foreign companies and completely neglecting local industry. But for the love of all that is good (and/or holy), must we let them be so damned lazy about taking our money??

The good news is I’m not the only one bitching about debenhams so even if I were for any reason sent to purgatory for it, I won’t be alone.

In the course of my hunting on this topic, I found this curious site for rating and searching a variety of ads. Hours of fun. (No, I’m serious)

Caramelly Goodness

A few weeks ago I noticed that Lemon’s Iced Caramels are now being sold in 6 packs, and stocked in most newsagents etc in the standard ‘twix & mars bar’ sweet display…

Now, I’m not even going to pretend I don’t have a sweet tooth, though I do frequently go through a phase of not being able to touch anything non-savoury. Boxes of Lemon’s Season’s Greetings have been the cornerstone of my christmas for as long as I can remember (that, and Mary Poppins. ‘the true meaning’, etc.).

Anyway, yesterday, I finally gave in and bought this latest incarnation of a six-pack. It was, and remains (I have one left) absolutely wonderful. Magical even.

Possibly I associate these sweets with early cinema trips, but whatever it is they make me feel about 6 and happy as.. well, a kid in a candy store! What’s more, they even put 3 white and 3 pink one in the packet. Fantastically contrived sugarry goodness.

Unfortunately the irish-based sweet factory that makes them (according to the packet) doesn’t seem to exist (yet?) so make do with an old school online sweet shop that sells by the quarter!

[Scratch that, some hunting done and the Robt. Roberts website has been found  - will be informing them of their printing error!]

Go here. Sign up. Now. Please. Thanks.

Halleluia. Or Something.

Somehow I stumbled upon UN Online Volunteering. What a concept.  As was observed some time last year, there are huge numbers of people in Ireland volunteering – and plenty more who would if they had the time. I’m currently amongst the latter group but through the magical medium of the Interweb, I’ve now found a way to spend a few hours a week volunteering in a genuinely constructive way.

The idea is that you sign up, search for an appropriate project that suits your skills, and apply for the position. Many of the jobs are webpage based or document/design based (for obvious, practical reasons) – but that being right up my street, I hardly mind!

Lovely stuff. World redeeming in fact. Yay.

Hero of the Day/Week/Century

Redemption in the form of someone who cares about something (and yes, that’s far too rare):

Patricia Mc Donagh, of the NAPD, grabbed headlines by stating that schools should be about something other than waiting lists and league tables. Shock, horror, etc! You have to love her for saying it though -  “We speak of whole school evaluation and subject inspection and students and parents as consumers, when we should be speaking the language of care, nurture, creativity, imagination and exploration,”. Beautiful stuff. The rest of the article is here.

It’s a little sad that it has to be news though. Possibly sadder still that nobody will listen.

Great vengeance and furious anger

I am stunned.

A few posts ago [I'll get you the link in a minute] I briefly mentioned on the greatest ads I’ve seen in years.  Which is on youtube here for those who haven’t seen it yet.  It’s simple, and effective, and apparently it’s breaking the rules. So, as of a few days ago, one of the most prominent charities in the country has had their main campaign for the year banned from commercial broadcasters. The only vague redemption for the situation is that RTE aren’t listening.

So what’s the basis? Essentially, the campaign centers around a petition to lobby the Government to implement  UN Resolution 1325. The petition is here if you’d care to sign it.

While I fully understand that political ads are banned, the ad itself doesn’t even say anything about how the government have done sweet f*** all for women (ever). Okay, so even I can accept that that’s a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one. The point is, and Justin Kilcullen has been making it to anyone who will listen, that the regulations were not aimed at charities, and while there might have been some fear on behalf of the BCI that you have to keep your standards strict or it gets too messy, the simple fact here is that by banning these ads, significant financial damage is being done to a humanitarian organisation.

On a somewhat separate note, why is it that the BCI will ban an ad that makes people think about something for once, yet they don’t ban ads for hideously fat-and-sugar based products that are causing massive long-term health problems in our children? Why don’t they ban ads for the most dangerous substance in this country, and the one that is killing people on a daily basis and destroy lives up and down the country? Why don’t they ban bullshit ads that try to justify the acceptance of our ‘culture’ of what is tantamount to suicidal behaviour???

Essentially, if the BCI want to be strict and righteous about what they do and don’t ban, they might want to scrutinise themselves a bit better first.

Just when I thought there was nothing to give out about!

So there I was, meandering through a relatively uneventful day, wondering what on earth I could rant about tonight.

It was a fairly typical March Monday. It rained, people were miserable, people stabbed each other with umbrellas (pet peeve of mine, what can I say…).

Then, I met two friends for coffee, and I found the irritation I am here to rant about.

The two friends in question are both graduates, of my ‘esteemed’ alma mater and in the context of the upcoming Seanad elections, I had the audacity to ask these two 24 year old educated, intelligent adults whether or not they were registered.

The fact that the immediate response from one of them was ‘the Shannon elections? what?’ was far from encouraging. I would give him the excuse of being from Coleraine, but even then, why on earth would any of us be interested in Shannon elections? In fact, what on earth would ‘Shannon elections’ consist of? Answers on a postcard please…

Anyway, I tried to persevere and nudge them towards relevant registration information. In return, I was informed that the Seanad was useless, and that as such registration followed by voting was a mere folly and there was no need for any of it.

If that last sentence doesn’t make your blood boil, best not to read on, this is about to descend into a chaotic rant…

The thing is, I quite honestly don’t agree with the sentiment – any of it. For a start, I think the assertion that the Seanad seats are irrelevant is proverbial codswallop. If nothing else, the public profile held by the likes of David Norris would strongly suggest to me that the process of selecting those who are granted that place in our society is of definitive relevance.

Which of course, as an argument, is entirely separate from the small matter of ‘ah sher it’s only a vote, why bother using it when I can just not’…

I don’t get it. I don’t understand it, I don’t appreciate it, nothing… I have never fully appreciated the approach of “I actively choose not to vote” in some definitively idealistic way, but at least that choice involves an active (dis-)engagement with the democratic process. This, frankly hideous, alternative genuinely irks me. I don’t like to stereotype, but the simple fact is that it’s an attitude that is not generally associated with supposedly intelligent adults who consider themselves to be actively involved in our society.

I wonder where we went wrong that people don’t actively seek out opportunities to engage… in general, I suppose, as well as in this particular brand of democracy. Is it laziness? Greed? Complacency? Or a belief that nothing ever changes??