From Bath to Cork with Baby Grace

Shock horror…  England break through… tit for tat kicking… Ronan wins…

Oh what brilliance from Tomas O’Leary and what magnificent defending from Quaeto…

Well, we’re off to a promising start…

Perhaps I’ll twitter for a bit

Bowe’s playing a blinder.  Another free.  This is a good ref.  Yet another free.  This is a free fest.

Up comes the man… with the godboot…

Ah, even god had an off day.

I suppose twittering this might be better, more concise.  Writing twitters is good practice. 

Ah, there’s that mountain O’Connell and that’s led to us getting a free.  I thought the man would kick @ goal

I’m not going to describe the action.  only jot few notes if my emotions get up.  I’ll  try not to think about cocaine use by English players…

This is my first view of England, so I have no right to speculate on who will win.  If we play our own game, we’ll kidney them.

Hopefully we’ll murder the English.

Wipe them off the field of play.

Run in 50 tries

Drink ourselves silly with them later

This is play - at its very best

and it hasn’t kicked off yet

It’s rugby after all…

We rugby people aren’t prejudiced.

We love a great game, better than a miserable win.

We can watch matches side by side with the opposition.

Saturday, 28 February 2009.  The kitchen stool @ 0640

Waiting for the kettle to boil.  Alone as usual.  After shitting.  I often start the day in a shitting humour.

I had a poor night’s sleep - kept awake by a bloated tummy.  I ate too much, too much fatty foods - crisps, cheese, icecream - I drank too much red wine, good stuff - and not half enough water.

I must email Jan again & tell her I got back the calender, returned to sender, and I wonder if she got the book I sent her.

I have so much to do.  I will focus on finishing things off.

No more new things.

Substitute for Allan Cuthbert  [making a cup of tea]

All the Barry’s tea is almost gone.  Actually it was Supervalu tea…

I’m doing an awful lot.  I must be careful.

When I know I’m stretched, what do I do?

My Relapse Prevention Plan:  that’s the most important thing I need to finish off

- more than the pitch to publishers

- more than Irish blogging

More than all.

I’ll work on it today - Saturday.  I’ll send Garry the photos

And I went to bed too late.  I sat there at the laptop, killing time when I could have been in bed.

Listowel

I need to earn money.  I need to face up to Bord Gais, and my car, and my teeth , and the holiday…

Lists, lists, lists.

I have a full life.

What am I not doing?  Answer: the Gym.

I’ve had a re-think and decided to drop the Alphabet Marathon idea.  I’ll contact him and tell him…

If you send me material for the WWW.ie - Writing from Cork, I’ll put it up. But I won’t write content…

I’ll withdraw from as many things as I can while I am in control of it.

I’ll not wait until I fall over and have withdrawal forced on me.

Withdraw:  (1) Alphabet Marathon  (2)  IMA

Let it go…

Let it be…

Make room

Get a grip on my office - so that again, if anything were to happen to me, my affairs would be in order.

Delete

Park

Dump…

Go back to basics:

(1) the daily page(s)

(2) daily exercise   daily gym

(3) sleep well

(4) earn money

(5) fun

(6) Tidy up.

What category does this blog fit into?

Another blogger who seems to post in more than one direction is Eoin Purcell.

He does a lot more than publish about publishing.

I wonder how readers of this blog characterise it?

There must be a web  site for this…

What can you do with an empty Corn Flakes box (750gm)?

There must be something  better to do with it than fold it up and put it in recycling.

Hurray.

The Irish Times reports today…

 "Net income fell to A$99.3 million (€50.5 million) from A$230.1 million (€117 million) a year earlier."

I know of someone who went into Harvey Norman in  Cork, where they had a sign up urging customers to "Make Me An Offer".

He offered 200 euro for a 2,000 euro sofa and they made a deal.

Beat that for a cash flow crisis.

I listened to Maman Poulet, Suzy Byrne being interviewed by George Hook on Newstalk FM yesterday.

She impressed me with her coherence and measured contribution.

It was interesting to hear her say that Irish bloggers had integrity and the ability to ask the difficult question.

I looking forward to seeing plenty of that during the coming year.

I love museums, but not fuddy duddy ones.

See what the Irish Museums Association is up to in Derry (or Londonderry) this weekend.

Wouldn’t I love to be there.  But you can follow it all on the new blog. I understand this blog was inspired by the Conference that the Arts Council ran in Dublin last Autumn.

By the way, I’m told I look a bit like Fintan O’Toole, so maybe it’s good we’re not both there at the same time.  He’s on the menu.

PS:  I’ll be following the conference on Twitter - I’ve figured how to do that.

Calling all drug dealers, bank robbers, racketeers, thieves and all petty criminals…

We have need of you.  You have experience of being outside respectable society and making your way - despite a system that excludes you.

Without much education, without many books at home, without any of the advantages into which I was born, you have succeeded in carving out a living.  Some of you are diaspora criminals, living down in sunny Spain, doing your international business from the back of a car, down a mobile phone, and any other  way you can.  You are true entrepreneurs.

Polite society fears you.  Polite society has its police force focus on you, in the hope that the Gardai will never face them with what you face - being knocked up at 5 oclock in the morning, being followed, tailed, intercepted, listened-in to, having your bins turned out…

My class of people hope to get through life protected by the police.  You have police after you all  the time.  And yet you thrive.  You may even do better in this recession and crisis of confidence in the public formal institutions.

There’s never been a time when it would be better to have you running the country.  There is honour among thieves, they say.  I say we have marginalised criminals, labelled them, discriminated against them - and where has it got us?  Certainly not a safer world.

The respectable men have ruled the world, and what have they got us into?  In Ireland, respectable politicians, financiers, developers, senior pubic servants have used your criminal ways badly.  They have been out of their depth, poor imitators.  We now need the real thing.

I call on you, criminals, to make a sacrifice on behalf of your children.  Take over.  You know how to manage cash flow, you know how to assess risk and dodgy credit, you have ways of dealing with people who stab you in the back.  You know how to run a ship.  And you have already done all this in the face of a constant enemy, the institutions of polite society.

The Galway tent was a poor imitation of your style.  Mr Frank Dunlop, with pounds in his pockets to buy local and national politicians, did his best.  He, at least, is prepared to educate us all on  how he got away with it for years.  That’s public service.  I think you’ll respect him as essentially one of your own.  Charlie Haughey brought criminality a bad name.  He was stupidly lavish, and asked to be caught.  But our polite society was too much in thrall to him to do anything for ages.

I won’t ask you to consider the rest of them.

At this hour of need, it is in your interest to take over the show.  You would do a better job.  Of course you would have a credibility problem internationally.  But you’re used to that, and you have your network of international criminals to lend a hand.  You are used to tapping the diaspora.

It is,  I suggest to you, time for the truth to come out into the open.  Criminals, gangsters of the world, you are so full of enterprise, ingenuity,  blue sky thinking and a track record of enforcing decisions that you already know how to run the country.  You could bring Ireland back to its rightful place.

Rather than take advantage of the crisis, take over.  Polite society can only ape your ways, poorly.  They don’t have the spunk and creativity to apply your methods well.  We have tried the imitation.

Now let’s try the real thing.

This is where I’ve got to so far….

"People of Ireland, Friends of Ireland,

I come before you today, in the first of a series of four talks, to tell the truth.  It is my job as your elected leader to put the responsibilities of office before any sectional or personal interest.

You, citizens and friends, have delivered to me a strong message.  You are feeling hurt, damaged, vulnerable and at risk in the crisis that faces us all.  You have lost trust with your government, with Fianna Fail, and with the culture of politics and finance that we have been giving you.

I now see you are right.  I will only regain your trust and hope by making a clean breast of the past and my part in it.  You have the right to  expect that from me.  If I can’t convince you that I have seen the errors of my ways, I will not deserve to lead you and I will stand aside.

Let me say, without reservation, I have not led you well.  Fianna Fail has not led you well.  I take responsibility for that and apologise unreservedly.  For this reason, I have today asked Brian Lenihan, minister for finance, to stand down as a symbol of our honest intent to put things right.  Brian is not the only guilty one who has failed you badly.  I myself shoulder the greatest responsibility for the crisis in public confidence.  I’d like to thank Brian for going with the interests of the nation in mind.

He will cooperate fully in the analysis of what we did wrong when we come to investigate openly all our collective failures.

For now, I ask you citizens to accept this act as the first of many I will lead to restore your trust in our country.

Today, this first talk, is a day for giving you the overview and showing you that the Brian Cowen of the Galway Tent, the Cowen of the back-slapping consort with bankers is over.  I am as guilty as anyone of defending Fianna Fail against the national interest.  I’m not going to blame others.  I’m offering your my chin.  I will lead you from now on with a different spirit and heart.  With your help we will restore the confidence the world wants to have in us.

Irish people the world over are watching how we deal with  this.  Frankly, I think I have embarrassed them.  I will never be an Obama.  You all know that.  I too wish I had his communications skills.  But I’ll tell you what I have to offer you now - my heart, my sincere contrition.

In future talks I will talk you through the economic outlook and what we can do about it. …"

And that’s as far as I’ve got so far…

This morning, after many days of furious blogging on David McWilliams’ blog, I set up a new Facebook Group which is open to all.

I sent the following email to David McWilliams.

David,

Thank you for your inspiration.
Paul O’Mahony (Cork)

I am posting this  here in order to invite all Omaniblog readers to join this group - if you would like to be associated with it.  This is day one of the group and it is too early to know exactly how the group will develop but you can get involved and contribute to it.

How many Irish bankers does it take to change the culture of the big banks?

How many politicians to change the culture of politics?

If you change the leader, can you change the culture?

If a new leader was good enough,  would it be possible to keep all the staff and deliver and a very different result?

Could we rescue the reputation of Ireland on the world stage by changing on single person?

Or would we have to clear out all the senior managers?

Do we need a total re-alignment of Irish political parties in order to change the culture of politics?

How important is the leader?

If we had a much better leader than Mr Cowen, could we rebuild confidence in Irish politicians?

Could one good person rescue Fianna Fail from oblivion?

Or would it take root & branch replacement of a whole generation of politicians?

If Enda Kenny were a different person, could Enda Kenny lead us out of this morass?

If you had no faith in any politician, could you still have faith in the people?

Is everyone trapped in a culture they can’t see?

Is there no escape from the past?

Do you still believe in the immaculate conception of your leader?

Transubstantiation of  Brian Cowen?

That Brian Lenihan is really an archangel?

Do you believe David Begg is really a director of the Central Bank?

Or is that only a rumour?

Which would you like most: a revolution of the mind or a revolution of the spirit?

Which matters most to you: past history or future history?

Would you know a good thing if it hit you in the mouth?

Have you any time for cranks?

One of his best ever posts….

I got this welcome comment from one of the judges.  I put it up as a separate post because I think it deserves to be highlighted and my spammator killed it…

It comes from the author of 

 http://thefamilyvoyage.blogspot.com/

My blog was one of the 5 shortlisted in the Specialist category. I was also a judge.

As a judge I noted the use of the words \"actively blogging\" in the period to mean that the blogs had to be posted to regularly from July to December.

As I mentioned in a <a href=\"http://thefamilyvoyage.blogspot.com/2009/02/irish-blog-awards-great-times-but-how.html\">post I wrote earlier today</a>, I judged the blogs using that interpretation and severly marked down blogs which were not active from July to December.

I also noted my reasons for the lower marks in the space left on the judging sheet, noting that the relevant blogs, (for example) \"didn\’t start until October\" etc.

If the rules were supposed to be that the blogger needed only to post at any point in that period, then I have discriminated against some bloggers and may have prevented other worthy winners from going forward.

I think the rules must be clarified before next year.

________________

If you read the comments that follow this piece, you’ll find grannymar another judge who interpreted the rules in the same way.

Here is another judge’s view :

eddie said…I don’t know why some people signed up to judge in the first place. I did it to have an excuse to do some good reading, which is what I did for most of last weekend, and I enjoyed it. I thought it only fair to have a good read of the posts and read as far back to June on most of the ones I was rating. I know for a fact that four of the judges who looked at my own site didn’t read a single post but just looked at the homepage. There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in the quality of the actual judging

And another…

… Like you I wanted to be a judge to discover good blogs and also to help out, to be part of the event and to pay back a bit for the wee boost I’d enjoyed when I won last year. I think it’s hard to know how much the other judges looked at on each blog…I know I can’t tell how much of mine any of them read but I trust that they all did a good job.

I’ve been looking for a way of describing the experience of being led by our current government…

This morning I found it.  For me, it’s just like being led by a dodgy used car salesman whose closest advisers are all dodgy.

It’s also like being in a rowing boat out in the Atlantic swell with a skipper who got me into this currach in the first place…

Hardly surprising I’m struggling to see whom I’m prepared to follow now…

Is there a manual out there called "How to Recover Reputation in 7 easy lessons"  or "7 Habits of Recovering Dodgy Used Car Salesmen" or "Emotional Intelligence for Offalymen".

Dear Winners of Irish Blog Awards 2009,

I write to you in a spirit of concern because I think an injustice has been done.

Irish economy.ie began blogging in December 2008.  The rules are clear: you have to have been blogging actively from 15 July to 15 December to be eligible.

I think it’s absolutely clear that this rule was set in order to ensure that winning blogs would have a track record of publication throughout a significant part of the year. On that basis, I disqualified my own blog from consideration.

There has been controversy about this during the day.  

Why am I pursuing this and seeking your support for this point of view?

In a nutshell, I’ve been blogging fiercely on David McWilliams blog about standards in Irish public life.  If I don’t apply the same standards to my own back yard, I am a hypocrite.  I say there is no way a blog that began in December 2008 was meant to be considered for an award, let alone win.

I suggest to you

(1) irisheconomy.ie should have disqualified itself

(2) the 7 judges of this category should have noticed and disqualified the blog - at the very least they should have judged no posts in July, August, September, October and November meant the blog could not win. [I was a judge in 2007. I know it’s a big and responsible job.  We all depend on the judges to be careful.  I do not know any of judges who judged this category. For all I know there may have been a judge who voiced concern about the eligibility of irisheconomy.ie]

(3)Damien Mulley, as overall guardian of the reputation of the Awards, should have disqualified irisheconomy.ie - if he know when it started.

What do I think should happen next?

I seek your support.  I ask you to check the facts.  Read the letter and the spirit of the rules.  Judge for yourselves.

I ask you to make your point to Damien.  If you disagree with my approach, that’s fine.  Come to an informed judgement.  It’s not for me to say what you should do.  All I do is raise an issue that I think threatens to undermine the reputation of the Awards.

Because there is an injustice to the other blogs who were in the same category, Best Specialist Blog.

As the best bloggers in Ireland I trust your judgement.

___________________

PS:  I got this comment too

Paul,

Your blog prevented me from commenting, for some reason.

I have to share Dan’s interpretation of the rules, and was personally delighted to see Irish Economy emerge as a credible and practical voice in current climes.
Your points are not without merit, however, and your interpretation of the rules is also valid and worth debating. However, timing is everything. Perhaps a protest when they were shortlisted, or even longlisted, would have been timely.

Regardless of your motivations at this stage, it will probably come across as sour grapes.

Markham Nolan - Journalist

____________________

PPS: The best debate about this I’ve found is over on Dan Sullivan’s blog.

I got this email from the author of the blog that won Best Technical Blog in the Irish Blog Awards…

Dear Paul

3.  I think it is for the organisers to make the judgement as to what is allowed.     All the details of our blogging activity are publicly available via the website.

Best wishes

Philip

______________

To which I replied…

Thank you very much Philip.  It’s good of you to reply.

As you know my view is that your blog should not have qualifed at all because it was not actively blogging between 15 July and 15 December.  I’m afraid I do not agree that there is an interpretation of the rules which permits a blog to begin in December 2008 and be considered.

Of course , it is not your fault that you won.  That is the responsibility of the organisers of the Awards.  But I am disappointed that you have not disqualified yourself, in the spirit of the rules.  You have done someone else out of the prize. 

Paul

______________

During the afternoon, I also received the following from Damien Mulley via Facebook…

Last night I reported that the winner of the Best Technical Blog in the Irish Blog Awards was Irish Economy.ie.

I even wrote that I should read it.  There was no one from Irish Economy.ie at the Awards to receive the Award.  I thought that was a pity, but not the end of the world.

However, there is a problem…

Irish Economy.ie only began in December 2008.  It was not eligible to enter the competition.  It should have been judged out of order.

This is the evidence:

Welcome to irisheconomy.ie

By Philip Lane

We’re all after the names.  We have some of them already.  Sean FitzPartick and Patrick Neary are the two that stick out in my mind.

But let’s all remember the history of scapegoating.

The problem is never in the individual; it’s in the culture.

Imagine all those people still working in the ‘financial  regulator’ - and not one of them prepared to resign, or come out in public and describe what was going on.

Imagine all those people in the Central Bank, who know what’s gone on there.

Imagine all those civil servants who know what Brian Lenihan knew, and (probably more importantly) what he didn’t want to know.

We have a culture of conspiracy against the public, the citizens, I say…

If even Gerry Adams says Brian Cowen isn’t corrupt, to whom can I turn?  The so-called radical left won’t say the ruling class are corrupt.  This is culture and culture is unseen.  Culture is unconscious. Culture is the things we don’t question.  Culture is the air we breathe without realising it.

That’s why aliens are  so important.  That’s why the story of the King’s New Clothes is so spot on.  That’s why we can only depend on the children to tell the truth, to tell it as it is.

Only a very naive person could write this.

PS: Sunday Times reports today as follows

Gerry Gannon, who co-owns the K-Club with Michael Smufit…

Joe O’Reilly, who developed Dundrum Shopping Centre…

Seamus Ross, who runs Menolly Homes, Ireland’s biggest housebuilder…

Jerry Conlon, who set up Mount Carmel Medical Group to build private hospitals…

Of these the one that most shocks me is Gerry Gannon.  I’ve never played at the K-Club but now I have a dilemma: would I play there if I was invited.  I love golf so much that I hate it when a golf course is sucked into scandal.  Does anyone remember the dispute with the staff @ the K-Club before the Ryder Cup.  They had to keep costs down so much that they couldn’t pay staff decent wages.  Now I suspect staff wages were being kept down so that the ruling class could carry on…

I can’t go home without saying how valuable it was to meet up the editor of Irishelection.com.

He gave me some great leads which I intend to follow up.  

I’ve been too tired to talk much to people, so I’ve sat in a corner and read all the comments on David McWilliams blog.

I’ve no doubt these Blog Awards are great.  They recognise the energy and creativity we need to develop this country.

I’m proud to be a small blogger on the edge of the action. 

The Irish Blog Awards drove me blind.  It wasn’t the other thing that did it.

A  woman wins … hurray the end of 20Major victories…  Thanks very much.  She’s humbled.  She blogs because she can. 

Tribute to Damian Mulley, standing ovation, cheers… he’s a hero.  I hope that this keeps going she says…

Maybe I’ll stop on David McWilliams, and go on Suzzie…Suzy

 Damian Mulley speaks out… (as follows)

Holy shit there’s a lot of people in this room

I did pretty much nothing today

I had to say that

Rick does it for nothing

Bullshit about the recession

fuck the recession

magnums of booze thanks Heiniken

I have a list to thank…

absolutely fantastic videos

everyone who blogs in Ireland

amuse, upset and change the world…

With these words Mulley leaves the stage

Rick O’Shea : The Blogfather, DM, 4 years of doing this event, always easier to knock things  down, much harder to build something up.  An award to Damian for his contribution to Irish blogging.  The whole room stands and applauds except me who’s writing.  He doesn’t need my two hand clapping…  People from all different background have the freedom to write.  He says "You are all great".

Rick: Why didn’t we come to Cork before?

One more video…  before all can go get tiddly…

The woman in her wedding dress brings the award up the aisle…  Clapping and cheering….

palpable…  Best winner:  silence… hanging….

its  Suzzie Byrne

Best feature….  Well done fillet  Winner Arse End Of Ireland…  Another woman wins….  Ok, well this is the closest I’ve been to being called a laughing stock

Best Photoblog:  I hope Claire Wilson wins because I love her photos.  If I were born again, I’d like to come back as a photo.

Winner:   A man wins.  Stand up man.  Good on stage.  Only says thanks.  Ryan someone…

Best Blog post:  Kate the Great wins…  She’s easy on stage.  She has kids.  Dublin accent.  Hands back the mic.

Great short film introduces each category…

Winner:  Irish economy.ie - another one I should read.  No one to accept the prize.  Bad form.

Best somethingorother… newcomer… I bet some of these are good.  The Irish Times again… Winner

Trust Tommy wins.  Oh I’m delighted for him.  Standing ovation again.  He’s the most assured 15 year old I’ve  met.  Thanks.  Something joke about Heiniken.  Thanks.  Another short.

Best Blog of a Business:   Black Knight, Curious Wines, Nice day designs.  Winner : Black Knight blog

A man with a ponytail and glasses.  Thanks, thanks for reading and thank you.  I bet that took a long time to compose…

Best Music blog:  What’s the difference between this and the best Pop culture blog?  Winner - 909  A man in a white shirt comes up out of the crown at the back.  Bearded.  Thanks to Aoife for doing a podcast. 

Best … blog :  Head Rambles… this must be best personal blog… I’d like Head ramble to win.. Winner Annie rianne - she’s in Belgium; she’s got a Welsh accent, and another woman accepted for her.

I must read this winner

5 minute break… over now

I’ve met GingerPixel - one of my absolute favourite bloggers, and hope to drink with her later

This place is ridiculously hot…  A bit like a nightclub

Rick is trying to recall the bar.  There’s a woman in a wedding dress walking up the aisle.

Is Stephen Fry really here?

Best news and current affairs blog:  Damian Mullet… funny film.. Back the Robber… The Limerick Blogger - that nearly shut down…  Winner:  Suzzie Byrne - she gets standing ovation.  Why?  Who’s she?  She had a good year, thanks her supporters, and her partners.  She wants more bloggers in Ireland.  With the golden circles… That’s the first decent speech.  I must read her.

Presenting a special award for services rendered to bloggers...

Rick won an award last year.  Brian Green who’s the sound guy.  He wins it.  What’ll he say.  Local election candidate.  Nationalisation of all banks in the Fingal area.  Great short speech, funny man. 

A raffle prize: an X-Box whatever that is.  Facebook phone…  I’d like to win that one, which means I have no chance.  If there was a photo of a babe I might win that… Expression engine software… whatever that is. Scarves - I wouldn’t have liked to win that because I keep losing scarves.

I wish they’d hurry up and take a break - I need a pee

They are looking for new writers - especially ones from dublin.

Best Use of Irish -  I can’t read the titles of these - yet.  I’m going to learn Irish, someday.  Winner:

I Gaeilge.  Thank goodness a man comes up to accept.  He sings… Ag gawall  liom siare… he has people singing  and that was easily the longest occupation of the stage.  A good advert for the Gaeilge.

Best technology blog or blogger:  Winner Justin Mason  Taintdotorg.  A woman.  Justin says thanks very much.  He must be a rampant introvert.  That was the shortest time on stage..

Great we’re going to have a little wee break …

Best Sport & Recreation blog :  Boxers on film… wanting to take on Mulley…  I put the sports pages in the bin without opening them.  But I enjoy watching the big events.  Winner:  The Cop Blog…

but they’re not here…  Sent no one.  Didn’t think they deserved to win?  Too busy watching Liverpool.

Best Arts & Culture… scamp.ie, pursued by a bear, the assylum, devious theatre, chris judge

winner pursued by a bear… another woman… this is almost a clean sweep by women… short sighted.  Thank you to my boyfriend for commenting when no one else does.. I must get a boyfriend…

Best political blog:   will irish election.com win?  I hope so.  Slugger O’Toole gets big clap.  Public Enguiry

mark devonport.  Winner: Cedar Lounge.  I must check that out.  We don’t think they are here.  Probably from Dublin and didn’t know the way.

Who’s next:  Best group blog - winner  big noise for the blog pound.  Dublin blog wins.

Best fashion blog…  great film intro… dressjunkie, wow, beute, the sexy pedestrian, dublin streets

winner: beute.ie  Again they win.  I remember her winning in 2007.  Looks straight out of sex in the city.  Fabulous appearance..  The longest speech so far…

Oh my god Stephen Fry has just turned up to present an award…

Singing welcome to the Irish Blog Awards…

Rick O’Shea wants someone to tweet for him during the proceedings… saying this is going really well.

He’s warming up the audience who don’t need to be any warmer…

I wonder what happened Claire Wilson?

Culture Blog: Richard O’Connor Head Rambles  did a piece of comedy. The best 5 blogs in each category

Best Pop culture blog… I’ve never heard of any of these.  I’m not going to put up the winners unless I’m expecially interested. But a woman wins.  She’s happy and delighted.  And people shout out stuff I can’t catch.  That was no speech.

Best Journalist blog: Will David McWilliams win?  Conor Pope… Irish crime reporter…  Expat.ie wins Mark Nolan.  Completely unexpected.  Thank you all.  Swears he doesn’t know who nominated him.

Best Food & Drink Blog:  I love food and drink, sponsored by Bord Bia.  Buggest claps for Sour Grapes

Daily Spud win…  Woman comes up.  You’ve made a very humble spud very happy

Better get ready for the off.  I wonder if this will all be a rush through?  Will the sponsors say anything?  I’d like to hear from sponsors on why they’re sponsoring this?  How mainstream is blogging becoming?  What difference has Obama made?  I wonder if the hits on here will go up for this evening?

Is tonight the Oscars?  I love Oscar speeches, acceptance talk.  I hope Irish bloggers who win will say something more than thank you; I’m overcome…

All the seats round me are empty - front and back.  Maybe I have leprosy?  Maybe people don’t want to be distracted by the tapping on the keys of this laptop? Maybe others aren’t such loners.

I met Will and he told me I sounded much different than he expected.  He called me posh, as if I came from Kinsale, not proper Cork.  He thought a struggling writer from Cork would sound different from me.

Rick is on the rostrum.  The music is louder.  A bit like the Democratic Party convention.

It’s off… a festival of self congratulation, back slapping… live from Cork Airport Hotel…

Lots of clapping…  He’s in jeans with hand in pocket.  He’s coool.  This is his 4th time.  He tells us what’s going to happen… winners get a big bottle of Heiniken… and a polystyreen sign  Winner

Make your speech, cry, dance, take your time, get your photo taken…

We’ll rattle through this quickly…

Photoshop people’s minds… we ve been given things to hold up and be photographed.

I wish the lights were on. I could see the keys.  This is hard to type.

And now plenty of people here may be twittering.  I feel very slow footed, like an old fashioned publisher being overtaken by new technology.

I was in Dublin 2007.  Those awards in a hotel room I didn’t like.  So far everything here is going great. There don’t seem to be any hotel staff which is good…

Loud music, organised disorder, smiles all over the faces.  I’ve been reading five of all the nominated blogs which means I have no idea who deserves to win the Best Blog prize.

How did the march in Dublin go? I saw 120,000 given as the number of marchers.  That’s a lot.  If only the energy of half that number were harnessed, there would be no way MrCowen could try to sit out the storm.

Ah, it’s "good evening"  Rick O’Shea gives us a two minute warning.  Get to your seats… There are empty seats in front of me.  I’ve a feeling some people booked in and didn’t come.  Probably an Irish thing…

It’s too time consuming to put up photographs.

I’ll concentrate on writing.

Everyone’s going in now - in to the conference room.

I’m behaving the same way I do in a Ryan Air queue.  I hang round until the end.

There’s a great noise in the room.  Like a students’ union packed out with conversationalists.  I guess bloggers are broadcasters.  But the energy is fabulous.

They’re all about 20 years younger than me, actually more like 30.  Mainly men but plenty of women and I seem to notice them more.  

I’ve been stuffing myself  with some sort of kebab and mint yogurt sauce.

The young genius from Limerick is here.  I forget his name but he recognised me as having left comments on his blog…  I also met O’Mahony Donnelly from Clonakilty.  She blogs, twitters and probably knows all the social networking stuff.

I was delighted to meet Will Knott who’s often commented on here.  I began by mixing him up with Goblin who’s a musician.

I’ve broken off from the conversation to write.  If I talked I’d get nothing written and I’d get no practice at live blogging.

I’m particularly keen to build up my skill at live blogging because I see this as a business opportunity.  If I get in ahead of the posse people might ask me to live blog their conference over a few days and that would be a good contract.  Tonight’s one evening, and the set up time is disproportionately big.  f this was going on for a weekend, it would be easy to plan ahead. Fortunately, I can write and talk at the same time.  Touch-typing..

Fame whoring… what’s that?  Is that what bloggers do?  Maybe not all but I’ve just been told the term.  Tom Peters wrote Brand Me.  Marketing yourself…

Maybe I’m here marketing myself.

The drinks reception has started.  I’ce  been so interested in talking to Cian that I’ve not gone to get my free drink

This bar’s full of men and I’ve met Cian from IrishElection.com

Sitting here in the bar with John Henry Donovan of Five Pieces.  He read and commented about my post about Schull.  Great to meet him.  He’s a web designer and I need to meet webdesigners because I write and I could be a collaborator with a designer.

I’m going early.

No one’ll meet me in town, so I might as well go prop up the bar in the hotel and see if I can blog there.  This is what’s going on… [quoted from the website]

 Times:
7pm drinks reception and registration
7.45pm Room opens
8.00pm Ceremony starts
9.30pm (ish) Ceremony ends
9.45pm Everyone is kicked out of the room for the DJ and entertainment to set up
Post 10pm - The real laughs happen. We have a bar extension too.

I’ve changed tack and decided to go for the Aveda look.

Showered, and taken the "be curly curl control (dompteur de boucles)"…

Best trousers too, shoes from Verona, overcoat from Harrods…

I’m going for the full monty.

I was hoping to meet up with GingerPixel, to let her know that I’d seen my bankers and that we’d bought her a present of the Award for best photographer.  It’s the least we could do after her amazing Newborns.ie - and keeping my bankers off her blog.  We all need somewhere to invest our hope.

Unfortunately her mobile was off.  I suppose it’ll be worth it to see the look on her face.  Twasn’t all th at easy to do because she’s not posted ever day and some judges put a lot of store on regular postings.  My point of view is that you make exceptions for genius.  And that’s also the view of the Anglo 10, I can tell you.

PS:  I did  try to sneak Blank Paige B Harrison in for a late sponsored new Award - Best Surprise Return of the Year - but this year’s committee seems to have been knobled.

I’ve put on clean underpants.

A fresh hairshirt too.  And the beige socks that so embarrassed me at the funeral in Limerick has been consigned to the bin.

I’m ready to go out and confine my drinking to tap water, my eating to dried black bread.  Whether I’ll follow that diet is another story.

I wish I wasn’t here. 

Wish I were crushed in the throng of the crowd doing their public duty in Dublin right now.  They march to protest on my behalf.  I am with you in spirit.

I feel awkward going out to enjoy myself while my best friends are being vilified in the press. I have the names, courtesy of my deep throat.  117 investors in Anglo Irish Bank, but unfortunately my good friend Mr Brian Cowen has come up with a wonderful wheeze.  He’s protecting the "Anglo 10" by putting it about that it could hinder prosecution if their names were revealed.  My deep throat has been prevented from slipping me their names.

But I have at least got all the others.  Because times are hard for writers of fiction, with much too many books being published, I’m going to have to auction the package of names over on EBay.  So look out for it, and pass on the word to your friends who edit the Irish Examiner, Irish Independent, The Irish Times and News of the World.  I’ve promised the Wiffe I’ll put together a pension portfolio, so that I won’t be dependent on her in my old age.

I thought of going as an observer to the Blog Awards.

However I’m just back from Limerick and have protection with me, so I think I’ll risk upsetting the Cork  mafia.  I’ll take the laptop and jot up the first things  that come to me mind as the celebrations go on. I hope I’ll have a seat near a power point.

The Blog Awards are in the International Airport Hotel.  I know it well.  It’s a place full of rich design.  You daren’t relax in the hotel for fear you’ll  miss another extraordinary corner.

The service in the hotel is consistent.  It’s been reliable each of the four times I’ve been.  Consistently lousy.  Incredible slow, lax and careless.  The place is worth millions and the service I wouldn’t cross the road for it.

So I go with expectations clear.  I won’t get angry this time.  If it’s mediocre, I’ll count that an improvement.  [By the way the hotel is owned by the people who own the Great Southern in Parknasilla, and I hear the service there has fallen too.  So, my hypothesis is that the directors are creaming off the cash flow and putting no quality in.]

As for the rest of my attire…

I’ll dress down, so that whatever I write might be taken to be quite good from someone who looks so down at heel.

Now, I better hurry up if I’m to  meet up with the photographers I wish I’d been with earlier while they shot Cork into little pieces.

See you later….

After last night’s sleep, I couldn’t get on with the day until I had done my best to influence the current situation in the right direction.

I’ve written an Open Letter to Tim.  Tim is a Fianna Fail member who’s been contributing his best on David McWilliams blog.  I admire him and appeal to him… a

Dear Tim,

I’m writing this to you because in my mind you are the archetypical decent Fianna Fail person.  You have been cruelly betrayed, and to make it worse the betrayal was carried out under your eyes.  You have been deceived over more than 20 years.  And you still have enough of a moral sense to put country before party.

You are getting ready to march.  You are ready for a revolution, though you might not call it by that name.  In your history you have drawn inspiration from heroes who were prepared to take action in the face of overwhelming odds.  You come from a long line of idealists.

I write to you with hope.  I take to this laptop in the hope that you will hold fast to the ideals that inspired you  to join public life for the sake of your children and their grandchildren -  for the sake of all future generations of people who want to live in Ireland.

The basic situation is plain.  We have no financial regulator.  We have never had any financial regulator.  We have had no central bank, no bank over seeing the health and honesty of the banks.  We have no organ of state to protect the citizen’s interests.
This you already know.

But the situation is far worse.  The Fianna Fail party has been the most impressive and successful political party in the the history of Ireland.  It has been taken over from within by people who have not been motivated by the citizen’s interest.  It has been taken over by stealth, so totally taken over that it is hard to see when the takeover started.  What is clear is that the takeover is total.  The only part of the Fianna Fail party that is untainted by this dreadful act is the ordinary member like yourself - who has never gained improperly from Fianna Fail’s political success.

Unfortunately Fianna Fail has been undermined fatally.  As  moral force it is dead in the water.  There are people saying that Fianna Fail will never will another election.

I call on you now to ‘cross the floor of the house’ and join Fine Gael.  I ask you to go against your political instincts and history.  I am not asking you to take sided in the civil war that was.  This is not Collins versus Dev.  This is today and the future of your children’s chance to live in an Ireland of which you can easily be proud.

I don’t ask you to join any Fine Gael you have ever known. 

I have an open letter here for Enda Kenny and this is what it says

Dear Enda,

Tim,

I’m asking you to circulate this open letter to all your Fianna Fail colleagues.  Circulate it too to your Fine Gael contacts and Labour too.  Turn it into your manifesto.  It may be imperfectly written in a time of passionate care for all that we hold dear.  Nothing is perfect but I ask you to treat this as fit for its purpose.

• Take over the organs of state and use them for the people rather than against us.

• Stop the immoral and duplicitous hegemony of one interest group

• Put our country back where it’s meant to be

• Give us open government

A young child:   "Mummy, why doesn’t Daddy tell them he was the one who bought the shares?"

A stressed mother : "Darling, eat your breakfast.  Aren’t you glad you don’t have to go to school?"

Child  :  "But mummy, isn’t he meant to tell the truth?"

Mother:  "Of course he is darling.  Daddy will tell the truth.  You wait and see."

Child :  "But mummy, how come he’s not telling the truth right now? Isn’t that the right thing to do?"

Mother: "It’s always best to tell the truth straightaway darling.  Isn’t that what daddy’s always said?"

Child :  "Mummy?"

Mother : "Yes darling."

Child : "I love my daddy.  Where is he mummy?"

Three comment today…

Good morning friends,
I’ve been listening to RTE radio. If Willie O’Dea has lost the plot, there is no hope for this cabinet. He’s a politician skilled at listening to his grass roots, skilled at communicating with the concerns of his electorate. That is, I suggest, his greatest asset.

Willie has just said that he’s against doing anything that risks compromising future prosecution of the 10 hidden men, if they’re guilty of doing anything illegal. He’s said he doesn’t mind whether the names are published or not. He’s indifferent to that. At least Dermot Ahern has said the names should be published.

Keeping the names for public scrutiny means that the media can’t investigate the links between them and the politicians. It protects the politicians. I, for one, suspect there are big links between this government and these men who systematically misled the stock market. I won’t take the Taoiseach’s word for it. Mr Cowen and his cabinet now face a shift in the burden of proof. For me, they now need to prove it. Never again will I take anything they assert on trust.

Now I come to my biggest concern and I’ve hesitated before writing what comes next.

There is to be a public demonstration in Dublin on Saturday. You’ve all see the passion, the indignation, the frustration of people on here. People who come on here and express their views and demands are mild mannered. We are people who believe in the power of our ideas to influence people. We are the most educated people Ireland has ever had. And we are horrendously angered.

I am afraid the demonstration on Saturday could become violent.

To be blunt, there might well be a splinter group that sets off to burn down the building that houses the department of finance, or even the Dail. I feel I need to speak out and warn Willie O’Dea and his cabinet friends that words lead to action. People who heard Willie say that it didn’t matter to him whether the names came out or not - or who will read the report that he said that - will I predict feel more frustrated that before.

There is always a tipping point, a straw that broke the camel’s back. There are two more full days before Saturday. Unless someone does something to show a convincingly complete transformation in the government’s attitude, the risk of violence will increase by the minute.

The Gardai will be doing a risk assessment.

Intelligent special branch officers will have their ears and feet on the ground. They will assess the situation by the hour and plan their deployment by the hour.

There is a risk that trade union leaders may lose influence over their members. Wildcat strikes… Spontaneous protests.

Everyone says that the most important thing is equity. It’s not fair that all those who created the crisis are getting off scott free. That’s the simplest expression I can give of the prevailing mood.

This is not a theoretical exercise. People are losing their jobs every day. They all feel betrayed by the ruling class (that old Marxist term seems fit for today). Some of them will feel impelled to action and not know what action to take. It only takes a small group of people who appear to have a plan. They could exploit the situation and lead people into riot. It’s happened before. The vast majority of people will understand and stand idly by.

This government does not have the confidence and support of the Irish people. It has lost the moral right to govern. It continues to give it away by the minute. All the government has colluded in creating this whole crisis. If only we were having a crisis because of international factors. But the international crisis has revealed something rotten in the state of Ireland.

Enough said about the risk of violent rebellion. I hope the special branch is reading this. I hope someone in the Taoiseach’s office is reading all our contributions and reading the runes with fear or favour.

Some sort of safety valve is badly needed. [ In my opinion, and I don’t want to set a red herring running by saying this, Paisley provided that in Northern Ireland.] Who is our Fianna Fail Churchill?

There is another interest I have.

In a nutshell - this is a comprehensive crisis. Comprehensive conversations are called for. I suggest we need to find a way for people to pour out all their analysis and recommendations. Right now, we are sharing our views piecemeal, in bite sized bit. We need to see the whole menu on offer.

An on-line book perhaps

with contributors invited to write down all their business case for survival… I bet many writers wish they could spell out all their ideas, so that people could consider a fuller picture. Someone would need to curate such a publication. I hope there is a entrepreneurial publisher reading this, looking out for ideas that will enrich their reputation.

We are a long way from becoming a cohesive group of thought leaders. I never meant to write about political economy. This is a huge distraction from my primary purpose. But I feel drawn to sacrificing my personal interest for the sake of survival.

I don’t want to be saying afterwards, I thought you so…

Thank you all very much.

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Comment by PaulOMahonyCork, February 19th, 2009 at 12:47 pm  

I’ve been to see my banker. He looked suitably tired & drawn (which may well be a wise way for a banker to look - given the front page of today’s Irish Examiner.)

I’m glad to report that he said none of the staff in the Bank of Ireland in Douglas Cork has been threatened or abused. He also said that Mr Goggins (CEO BoI) has not communicated with staff since his dramatic articulation of his salary cut from 2.9m to about 2m. My banker pointed out that Mr Goggins’ retirement has been brought forward; he’ll go in 2 weeks. I said his terms of departure will be scrutinised as never before.

My banker’s read David McWilliams current piece.

I went over it with him and felt encouraged that David’s ideas are reaching Douglas.

He asked how my business is doing. I’m glad to say it’s never been better. I have more commissions than I need. I’m no longer chasing any old work. I am picking and choosing. Perhaps this has something to do with the need for good writers. I copywrite. And I help people to set up business blogs.

We talked about how unfit many businesses are for a downturn. Anyone can sell when the streets are full of people who have so much liquidity they never ask for discount. A computer could sell to people who are not used to such ‘wealth’ - by which I mean ‘debt’.

On my personal blog, I’ve written about my experience of selling advertising in UK. The number of people who talk their own business down, and sound as if they are going out of business, thereby discouraging me from giving them my custom. I’ve talked to businesses and found owners unable to make decisions, procrastinating, refusing to accept an incredible offer of free advertising. Yes, advertising for no charge. Why? “Because we’ve spent our advertising budget.” “But this won’t cost you anything.” “Oh sorry, but I’m afraid we’ve spent our budget for this year.”

That’s a verbatim quote from several conversations I’ve had with small businesses in UK. I suspect too many Irish businesses are similarly traumatised. I hope I’m wrong.

I’ve noticed that no member of the Irish Labour Party has declared an interest on here.

I imagine many senior people in the party are reading our ideas - hopefully not getting others to highlight the text for them. What prevents Ruairi Quinn from blogging? Why does he not chip in. If he doesn’t realise that many people here have the habit of being influential, he’s got a disability he could do without.

Where are the aspiring politicians who are waiting for this government to collapse? Where do they blog? How can I find out what they’re made of?

Any old fool like me can be a critic.

We have that in our blood. But it’s much harder to come up with solutions. It’s risky ot put your suggestions out there. They might get shot down.

Remember this, all you readers. We have our minds, intelligence, imaginations. Our skills have not vanished overnight in this recession. As Obama said, in his inauguration speech, we still have what it takes to rebuild. It’s about time we displayed that confidence and backed it up with ideas and organisation.

The same old Labour Party, the same old Fine Gael - these don’t excite me. And I will not turn to left-wing ideology. I know the stuff that’s made of because I was once a fiercely left-wing ideologue. The way forward is not to be found by depending on Eamon Gilmore. Let Eamon come on here and contribute. He can use all the media, not just radio and TV. He can show his vulnerability and draw in other national figures too. David Begg too.

We have the right to demand they come to us. We can try to embarrass them over their silence on the blogs.

Is there no one who’s read all the comments willing to say whether my suggestion of a book is viable?

“When the heart cries for
what it has lost
the spirit laughs for
what it has found”

- a Sufi

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This is all I can do to encourage her to come back.

I suppose I could set up a Facebook group.

You might like to read this ….

Today, Wednesday, I wrote these three comments…

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