The Lady's not for turning

This entry is prompted by Margaret Thatcher’s death this week but it could and should have been written many years ago, in fact at any time she relinquished power in November 1990.

Much debate is now taking place about Maggie’s legacy and in the discussion there’s quite definitely no in-between ground – you either loved her or you hated her. For my part I hated her.

It’s always worth analysing all your strong sentiments so on this one, here goes.

My early dislike for the Iron Lady came from simple and evident factors – her arrogant personality, her dogged yet fool-hardy determination in dealing with the Hunger Strikes in Northern Ireland, her warmongering in the Falklands. Not long before she sent 258 British sons to their death in the South Atlantic, she was notoriously seen on television weeping over the plight of her own son who had got lost in the Sahara Desert while competing in the Paris-Dakar rally. Both instances resulted in the mobilisation of air forces to bring a “satisfactory” conclusion.

My other reasons for hating Maggie took longer to manifest – her role in the cover-up of the Hillsborough tragedy and her positioning with regard to football fans (and other lower-cast sections of society like the miners) was snobbish, contemptuous and bordering on racist.

Much of what I have listed to date is what I consider to be personal flaws in her persona, but I would also question her judgement (as opposed to character) on less emotive matters. Her economic policies promoted greed – the Thatcher years were an pre-cursor to the flawed model which we nurtured during the Celtic Tiger – and while they may have brought apparent economic success statistically at that time, they were fundamentally damaging to the longer term functioning of business and indeed society. Many of the UK’s ills are not significantly different from our own at present and much of this damage was as a result on over-dependence on liberalisation of business and deregulation. To give Maggie a bit of credit, she did keep the UK out of the Euro which was a clever decision in retrospect.

So Margaret’s gone and it’s a mark of her impact on society that she got a mention on CD&B. Well done lady, and may you rest in peace. A bit like Charlie Haughey for some of us, her legacy will endure for may years to come, and to my mind for similar reasons.

Brusselsblue beware - voodoo comes back at you (alternatively titled "How he spent Thursday night")

How to make a Modern Voodoo Doll

Find a full-length photo of the person you're thinking about as you make the doll.

Print the photo on a sheet of photo transfer paper. Make it as large as you can.

Transfer the image onto ironed white fabric.

Cut around the person's shape, leaving space for a seam.

Cut the same shape out of a second piece of fabric.  This will form the back of your doll.

Sew the pieces together.

Turn the doll inside out carefully.

Stuff the doll.

Sew the stuffing hole closed.

Performing Actions on the Doll

Find pins with colored heads.  The color of the pin head represents the impact the pin will have.

Insert the pin in the area you wish to affect.

"Worry" your voodoo doll.   If you haven't used the doll in awhile, you can "reactivate" it by worrying - that is, sewing small items on the fabric, fussing with embellishments, or adding more stitches and ties.

Caution

Most voodoo sects emphasize that the actins you use the doll for will come back at you.  Think about it being like tying a rope to yourself and the other person.  Whatever happens to them willl affect you.

Serious genital discomfort?

Chelsea 1 Man United 0 - Cup Quarter-final

Oh George, where did it all go wrong?

George Best - Turners Cross 1975

The Irish Times, my reading habits and Irish psychological depression

I picked up the Irish Times today and was driven to reminisce about how my reading habits had changed over the years. 

My trip down memory lane was triggered by inadvertently opening the Appointments pages - yes, inadvertently because I haven't done that deliberately for many, many, years.   Age 55, not likely to be many open positions, and more critically might I have the shock of finding my own job advertised there?   I glanced over the open positions - Public Appointments Service; DCU; UCC and not a job in sight for an accountant or lawyer anywhere.  Oh how things have changed -  in my younger days I even looked at the Financial Times on a Thursday to see if there were any opportunities overseas which might "tempt me".  Now all I plan is how many years I need to stay in situ here until they pay me off, and how much spondoolicks they'll offer to get me out.

Another path once trodden was the Property pages on a Thursday.  A few years ago you reviewed these intently to see how much your location had appreciated since last Thursday, now we're afraid to look to see how much your assets, or potential legacy, has dwindled in value since last Thursday.  Perversely we actually hope for evidence of a lower value to present to our lords and masters www.reveneuecommissioners.ie as part of their property tax "initiative".   Where once we sought to live in mansions, we now like to be seen to be living in hovels.   And by the way, now is the time to buy, the banks tell us.

But one thing is common - the first port of call always - the glorious Sports pages.  Never mind we can't kick snow off a rope in football; that we're gunning for the wooden spoon in ruggerbee; and that the GAA boys are still beating the living shite out of each other in the name of our heritage - it's still appreciably better than reading about the Troika and Ming Flanagan and occasionally, just occasionally it actually gives me hope for the future.

And that's it for today - sorry, must rush, work to be done.

Europa Cup Quarter-final draw

On the away leg difficulty scale Chelsea get Rubin Kazan - "Daunting" while Spurs get Basel -  "Potentially tricky".  Thankfully neither get "Welcome to Hell".

Someday all this will be mine