Irish Politics, Current Affairs and Magazine Archive - Politico.ie

The metamorphic transformations inflicted on their human victims by Ovid's capricious gods have serious or even fatal consequences. When Jove's wife Juno, jealous of Callisto's relationship with her husband, changes her into a bear, Callisto is forced to wander alone for many years, still in possession of her human feelings but trapped in a bear-like form. After fifteen years she runs into her own son Arcas, who fails to recognise his mother. He is only prevented from killing her by the intervention of Jove, who turns them both into neighbouring constellations. After Semele becomes pregnant with Jove's child, Juno tricks her into asking Jove to make love to her in the 'way' he does to Juno. This leads to her death as,

"Her mortal body

Could not endure that rush, and in that mating

That gift, burned utterly."

The automated answer system down at O2 command centre in Clare is right up there in the dulcet-o-meter. But wouldn't it be great if they had Shyrka? A quick Wikipeda tells me that Kelly Ricard was cast as Shyrka in the English version of Ulysees. Someone in O2 should look her up. I might be inclined to call more.

Or call back. I'm in a temporary sulk with the teaser of an android in situ. She promised an upgrade on my mobile phone on entry to the nearest O2 shop. A Platinum upgrade at that. Got me all excited. A trifling detail she overlooked - the thrill would cost €149. Some upgrade. Marketing department - 1: Gullible consumer - suckered.

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All art is at once surface and symbol

Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril

Those who read the symbol do so at their peril

It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.

Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray Preface)

The concept of metamorphosis has provided a rich vein of material for artists throughout history. Hundreds of artistic and literary works have benefited from characters gifted with shape altering abilities or who have been cursed to involuntarily change their form.

However, metamorphosis also plays a fundamental and critical role in the natural world.

Saturday next, the 12th of February, will mark the 202nd anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and 152 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species. Every year organisations around the world celebrate this day by commemorating the works and life of Darwin. However, Darwin Day is also an occasion for highlighting the significant achievements brought about by the application of human inquisitiveness, resourcefulness, and ingenuity in improving all our lives.

Ireland is no exception in this respect. One such event, which is being organised on the eve of Darwin Day, Friday February the 11th, is a free lecture organised by the Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) in Trinity College, Dublin. This talk, which has been an annual event since 2003, will start at 7.30pm and be delivered by Prof. Janet Radcliffe Richards, author of The Sceptical Feminist.

The last two weeks have seen a flurry of government members fleeing the political field. Whether one is cynical and attributes this with reference to the old adage regarding the reluctance of rodents to remain aboard the sinking political vessel of the state or fear of a vengeful electorate, the exodus is striking. Fortunately, those decamping have had their loss of employment and return to the 'real world' softened by liberal financial parachutes. And, who knows, Ryanair and their fellow travellers, may have a few spare directorships available for 'worthy' political has-beens.

In their wake, they have bequeathed a socio-economic disaster. The Irish people have been saddled with enormous financial debts not of their making. Thanks to a craven government that has committed every citizen in this country to repaying tens of billions of euros of privately contracted debt – the consequence of a frenzy of unregulated speculation on the part of bankers, developers and their ilk – we are now being forced to endure a highly inequitable, punitive and recovery inhibiting austerity programme. Like the joke in the late 1980s, the most impressive growth sector is once against immigration, with this year's forecast of 50,000 far exceeding the peak of 44,000 in 1989.

According to a 2008 report by the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, 'Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale.' Justin Frewen and Anna Datta examine the health effects of inequality, and argue that an equitable health service alone is not enough to ensure equal health for all.

(A longer version of this article originally appeared as The Socio-Economic Realities of Health on Tasc's website in December.)

While biological or genetic predispositions play an important role in determining dissimilar health prospects at the individual level, they fail to account for larger scale variations in health risks and the rapid changes in (healthy) life expectancies of differing social groups over comparatively brief periods. According to Farrell et al:

Reverend Jesse Jackson will push the message that equality and rights matter in General Election 2011, says the Equality & Rights Alliance (ERA).

Election 2011 got under starter's orders this morning with the launch of a campaign urging people to "Make Your Mark for Equality and Human Rights" on their ballot papers.

Stanford school of journalism made this video report demo'ing some great tools for online journalists and bloggers to present data in cool ways. They talk about Moodle, Swivel and a new tool that non-techies can customise for deep data analysis such as election results. 

One of the things we're really interested in at Politico is combining new forms of journalism into digital magazines. Adobe products now allow flash objects, scripts etc to be embedded into PDFs. Meaning that a digital magazine can contain photo slideshows or presentations, video, audio and tools like those mentioned above, as well as hyperlinks. With tablets tipped to outsell laptops next year, there's a real opportunity for print media to do produce interesting material with these tools.

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The swingeing cuts in health funding that have been – and continue to be - implemented over the past couple of years have seriously debilitated the public health service. Its overall prognosis continues to decline as does the outlook for those of us obliged to avail of its failing facilities. Even if the economic situation in Ireland should improve, the damage that has been inflicted on the health service will make it far more difficult and costly to restore in the future.

As we entered the New Year, the health service was once more on the front page for all the wrong reasons. Over 500 patients nationwide were forced to endure treatment while stranded on trolleys in hospital corridors due to a shortage of beds. Meanwhile, as is her wont in times of crisis, the Health Minister Harney was safely wrapped up in a bed far away with no intention of returning to the scene of yet another disaster.

I'm not one for really long quotes on this blog, but O'Rourke's post today deserves to be clipped and remembered. The comments are not worth reading. O'Rourke quietly, but angrily, gets it just right: capital walks away scot free.

"[T]he real cleavage in Europe is between European taxpayers and bank creditors (with the ECB being a third interested party, as another body which could help to fill the holes which have emerged in the European banking system). But since the powers that be are ruling out bondholder haircuts and quantitative easing, the only cleavage we are left with in practice is the one between core and periphery taxpayers.