It’s hard not to be under the impression that we are under siege from cocaine in Ireland at the moment, it’s screaming at us from tabloid headlines for the last few weeks, and has been slowly building to this crescendo for several months now.

It has all come to a head with the deaths of Katy French and of Kevin Doyle and John Grey.

But what exactly killed these young people? Firstly, Katy French’s death may not have been directly cocaine related, but who would guess that from most of the media reporting? Until the rumours are confirmed, let’s not give them more weight than they deserve.

So that leaves Kevin Doyle and John Grey. These two young men reportedly ate cocaine when it got too damp to snort.

And yet no report I have seen, heard or read has mentioned how this can be dangerous. I admit freely I don’t follow current affairs very closely, but these stories have been hard to avoid, and yet I am left wondering how these young men died.

The chances are that the two young men overdosed when they took the drug by eating it - but this is not something I have read in any report of their deaths.

Young people who use cocaine and know that eating cocaine doesn’t automatically result in death will find this kind of reporting hysterical and will not relate the deaths of these young men to their own circumstances.

If the country is in the grips of a dangerous epidemic, shouldn’t a responsible media be helping to educate and inform a public who may be in danger of killing themselves? Surely the media could do a much better job of alerting the public to the very real dangers of cocaine use or abuse?

(more…)

Green Ink (who did the illustration above) sent me a link to a blog which scared the hell out of me, Avoiding Life. The woman who writes the blog has been waiting since October 24 for an appointment in Mullingar to diagnose a problem which involves a lump and a bleeding breast.

We all know our Health Care System is fucked, and lately there was the horrible story of women who had been given the all clear for breast cancer being called back for retesting in Portlaoise. The state of our health care system is all brought home in a more personal way when you read about an individual’s experience of it though…

I drive out to Mullingar to be told it’s at least a four to six week wait. I tell her there is blood coming out of my breast. I tell her that if this is cancer I could be dead in six weeks. She tells me I can be a private patient and it could be as little as three weeks. Fuck. So there you go. Three weeks before I can find out if I’m dying. I love Ireland. I really do.

Read the full post on Avoiding Life…

I robbed some links from Bock the Robber to send trackbacks to people who might be interested in drawing attention to this woman’s blog - the links are all to posts covering the Portlaoise scandal, all worth a look.

The Bitter Pill

Dan Sullivan

Eirbiz

Primal Sneeze

JC Skinner

The Chancer

Maman Poulet

73man

Unlaoised

Irish Election

Riemann’s Cut

Also Damien might link to it and maybe Tom will as well…

Having pounded the pavements, knocking on hundreds of doors and spoken to my fair share of nut’s (as well as plenty of perfectly “normal” people) I was to put it mildly gutted when Fianna Fail got back in to government. Now as the summer draws to a close and the school kids politicians return after their holidays my thoughts turn to the road ahead.

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” So I’m hoping that over the next few years that Fine Gael can change the record and be a different kind of oposition party.

What is it that works for FF that Fine Gael just cannot seem to tap into? Why don’t people care about the obvious levels of corruption in FF? And more importantly what must FG do at all levels of politics in this country to get into government?

 I’m not necessarily looking for big policy issues…

What I really want to know is what do you want from your local politician?

Went into the bank recently to open an account, had all the required identification etc and was given a form to fill out. When I handed it back the teller pointed at the blank field ‘Annual Gross Income’ or something and asked me to fill it out. “I’d rather not” I replied.

The teller explained I had to fill in the form, and I asked if they specifically needed me to fill in that field to open an account. Yes, they need the whole form filled, or somesuch answer came back. So, being the awkward bollocks that I am I asked why they needed it.

“So we know what amounts we are dealing with” was the reply. I pointed to the check box where I had indicated my wages would not be paid into the account and I explained that my wages would not be going into the account at all. “Well we need a general idea”, I further explained that I had a specific purpose for the account in mind and I assured the teller that knowing my income would not indicate at all the amounts that would be going through the account.

I asked again if the information was definitely needed and was told it was. I, pedantically, asked if the teller was certain. Yes, the teller was certain - “We require that information”. “But I don’t wish to share it”, I replied.

At this point the teller, who in fariness seemed to be quite understanding of my stance, didn’t seem quite sure how to proceed, so they went and consulted with a colleague.

When they returned they explained that if I required a credit card or a loan the information would be needed, but otherwise I could put down “Not applicable”. I wrote N/A in the field and thanked the teller for all their help.

Despite being told several times that the information was needed, it turns out that it’s not needed except under certain circumstances. I don’t think it’s any of their business what I earn. I think too many organisations know too much about me, and I get sick of being asked so many things about myself that they obviously don’t need to know for the purposes I wish to utilise these organisations for.

Is it just me? Am I just a cranky bastard? I think I will get one of the t-shirts pictured…

According to the Guardian this morning the RAF (that’s the Royal Air Force for those not up on their military acronyms!) had to scramble fighter jets on Tuesday to intercept two unidentified aircraft which turned out to be Russian military planes. The Russians turned back before reaching UK airspace and no direct contact occurred however the fact that the RAF felt the need to scramble is in itself worrying.

This comes in the same week that the UK sent four Russian diplomats home as relations between the two nuclear powers worsens. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I think not. We could be witnessing the beginnings of a very serious situation.

Although it is unthinkable and beyond comprehension for those of us living the dream in Celtic tiger Ireland statistically Europe is due a good scrap. Those of us who survive to tell the tale might rue the day we heard the name Alexander Litvinenko.

There are fears in some circles that President Putin is A: Gunning for a fight and B: Looking for any excuse to install himself leader of the Russian Federation beyond the end of his present term in office. We have in the world today a disturbingly blood thirsty bunch in power. It is easy for us to forget that many of our EU neighbours are effectively at war alongside the US while the Russians continue to fight the 2nd of their wars in Chechnya… So is it really that far fetched to suggest that the UK and Russia might square up?

What would the consequences be for us? Given our inablilty to defend ourselves against a well motivated rogue FCA unit and our proximity to the UK I would suggest their might just be a dip in house prices!