'Vincent Brane,' Update

I have decided that this will be my final Vincent Browne [Brane] blog, one could spend a lifetime on him and the various subjects he covers and drops with such abandon, safe to say that the only subject sure to stay on the agenda is anything to do with the economy. I sit up nights worrying about this but I console myself in the knowledge that it is money that makes the world go round and indeed capitalism by it's very nature is the only true ideology befitting a human race that really doesn't care for their fellow time travellers.



You see I find it hard to empathise with people who agree to live in a system which allows limitless potential in return for a small select group hoarding all the wealth, this thesis survives on the notion that those privileged few hold all the power. Does anyone else worry that our sole mission at present is to return to gamblers and bookies in order to regulate our finances, does nobody else care that we are constantly fed lies and inaccuracies in order to retain this system that has served us so badly since the foundation of the state?



This system that has failed the poor and the needy for years it has stifled development where people from working class backgrounds didn't make university and if they had work it was generally manual in nature, so our patriots who fought for Irish freedom gave their lives so that the British upper class left this Island to be replaced with our own merchant class who in effect just continued the working doctrine of our colonists.



Well you may wonder what has Vincent Brane got to do with all of this, the answer just watch his show very carefully and listen and it will become apparent, last night he had three suits discussing a bland interview given by the very smug governor of the central bank Patrick Honohan. The very cheerful Patrick basically told us nothing and revealed only that the then minister of finance Brian Lenihan was disturbed by the whole process and that events eventually wore down his natural enthusiasm and certainly it would appear his naivety. Vincent then discussed this with his panel and introduced a panellist as one of TV3'S innovative new panel of guests which by the way judging from last night still does not trust the working classes.



Why does Vincent Brane not tell the truth , well if his whole handling of the Brian Lenihan's sad death is to be examined we will see. I for one have great sympathy for Brian Lenihan and his family and even though he was ill he kept up the brave fight, and I have no doubt worked very hard during the financial crisis that led to the bank guarantee and the eventual deal with the IMF and the ECB. However Vincent has made no attempt to discuss or properly analyse Brian Lenihan's role in all of this, instead he has patronisingly referred to the human side of the former minister and felt it un-important that we should get any closer to the truth as to why a sovereign country should sign away it's independence.



Perhaps in years to come the Irish media will examine the truth about this period of Irish history, but the influence of our elitist media will probably dictate that such discussion will be brushed aside so we can eulogise those responsible and seek to lay the blame elsewhere. Am I the only person that actually thinks that Brian Lenihan was out of his depth, if Brian Lenihan was English he would have been at Oxford or Eton, he came from the Irish privileged classes. He was born to govern rather than be governed his people are steeped in political blood. I am hearing that he was one of our brightest and possessed a great intellect, perhaps this is true but he didn't show this in any of the political interviews he gave during this crucial period of negotiations with our overlord's. As I said I have great sympathy for Mr Lenihan and his family on a personal basis but how many lives are affected by the economic mess we find ourselves in, how many people will actually die prematurely because of cutbacks in our health service etc.



I think me and Vincent Brane will part on a sound note, his show is different to the usual spoof journalism practised by RTE, where Miriam O' Callaghan calls people minister in her reverent dart accent, at least Vincent Brane gets at the odd gobshite. In my view he did the people of Dun Laoghaire a great favour by exposing Mary Hanifin as the political reptile she is, in the week of the election thus costing her a seat. Alright Vincent this is the end of the road my final comment will you ever get rid of the solicitor's suit, and learn how to use the autocue, and also will you practise the ending of your show like try to say good night to us all properly.

How did Vincent Browne get God on his show?

Well Vincent really brought the house down last night, I was expecting the usual bland Tuesday night guests when to my amazement he introduced God as a guest explaining how he had just written this great book about statistics and how he really cared about our attitudes to things.



God came complete with white beard and saintly expression and he informed us that we were much better off in general now than we used to be with women taking their rightful place in society, and that our standards had improved so much since God last checked us out in 1989. However Vincent was only tolerating God in his generalisation of the state of our nation he was far more interested the plight of our travelling community and as he put it more than once, 'they really are the most discriminated people you know.'



Now I have great sympathy for God and am a sucker for statistics but to see my favourite Fianna Fail politician Éamon Ó Cuív lord it archangel like promoting travellers rights was a bit hard to take, as as recently as the last budget this guy wanted to reduce disability benefit and more recently in a snippet from one of those new breed of TV3 shows he explained that if we get the dole cheats we will basically clear the national debt. This man is in favour of travellers rights? Perhaps there may be some votes in this for him but if Vincent can find a more right wing voice from west of the Shannon please let me know.



God sort of faded a little in the discussion once we got the statistics out of the way, and we found ourselves in Vincent territory he is very good on statistics and also he can conjure the odd obscure and even deleted word that nobody in the pub ever uses and more to the point he probably doesn't use himself that often. Vincent spoke and the chap from the travellers group spoke very well and suddenly the Irish audience were not just faced with God but with an articulate traveller.



It all faded out without much of a sting and my friend Éamon reminded us much to Vincent's annoyance about Francis Barrett and the Olympic games, Vincent went on to read some texts and tweets which were offensive but not much more than you hear on the average bar stool, you know when the orator is absolutely sure you agree with him and you don't but are quiet for the sake of peace. Now to the issue of travellers in general, people are wary of the subject as it is one of the no win scenarios common in Irish society, and to my mind it is an issue for which political correctness will not contribute to a solution.



In the main people are people and if some people choose to live a life by the side of the road or moving from place to place well there isn't much I can do about it, and children in Ireland from all backgrounds can suffer, and many from poor and disadvantaged area's are discriminated against all their lives. I sometimes wonder about shows of this nature, the debate will hardly change what is a cultural issue, we are a people who are mortally wounded by chronic indifference this is a society which has lost it's moral soul. I was all set for my my bed when I remembered that God had said that he himself lived with the travellers for a while, then I was reminded of time in my first life when an traveller girl was fitted out for her confirmation by my mother, she called regularly to our door for clothes-and I see her now as a jolly polite girl who thanked my mother profusely for her kindness. She called on us many times but then it stopped abruptly and we never saw her again.

Vincent Browne Uncovered

Now we have said goodbye to the monarch and the President the Vincent Browne show retuned to more domestic issue's the panel four woman and one man discussed various matters in relation to sexual crime. The discussion on New York justice and the arrogance of some powerful males holding power to presume they could select sexual targets with impunity.



All very well till Vincent allowed his male panellist conclude 'that visiting a prostitute was akin to paying to rape somebody's daughter,' then we were informed that brilliant Ireland the very people who presided over the most corrupt and abusive prostitution system in the world, was about to adopt the Swedish system, which in effect decriminalises the sale of sex but criminalises the purchase of same. This system evidently has been a popular success in Sweden reducing the numbers of prostitutes and Pimps, and also reducing the number of violent crimes associated with this back street industry.



That is all fine and well indeed if not raising a few eyebrows, as Sweden has a long association with sexual liberalism and indeed the famous Swedish Pornography industry, I wonder if Ireland follows their lead on the prostitution front will we create a load of jobs with our new porno industry, Irish Porn now there is something we can be proud of.



I presume if I try to make a case for legalising prostitution I will be accused of supporting the paying to rape somebody's daughter school of thought, but I seriously don't agree with that point of view, because it presumes that all men and women seeking sexual comfort are of like mind and of one cast as it were. Nothing could be further from the truth, people seek sexual services for all sorts of reasons, and people provide them for multiple reasons as well. Yes many women are trafficked into what is slavery and a life of violence and drugs, many women are endangered by thugs and crime lords all this is true. Yet in countries like Germany for example where prostitution is legal they have strict controls over these operations and many sex workers are legalised.



In order to follow the Swedish model this is what we are proposing, we are in effect saying as a society that sexual relations should only be legal among consenting adults with no payment of any kind exchanged, this then confines sexual activity to those who are married, or in a relationship whether straight or gay, it discriminates against single people, the old and the infirm and also those who are disabled, if as in many cases they do not have a partner for sexual fulfilment.



Society has now placed the moral emphasis on one side of the argument and I can say with equal surety, 'tough luck Mr or Miss lonely no sexual engagements for you, why don't you go out and secure a girlfriend a wife, or husband or boyfriend etc.... be normal for God sake.'



I place some data from both Germany and Sweden for your perusal I am surprised Vincent didn't go for balance here but sometimes he looks tired so late at night.



Legislative reform (2002)

In 2002 a one page law sponsored by the Green Party was passed by the ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Greens in the Bundestag. The law removed the general prohibition on furthering prostitution and allowed prostitutes to obtain regular work contracts. The law's rationale stated that prostitution should not be considered as immoral anymore.

The law has been criticized as having not effectively changed the situation of the prostitutes, often because the prostitutes themselves don't want to change their working conditions and contracts.[14] The German government issued a report on the law's impact in January 2007, concluding that few prostitutes had taken advantage of regular work contracts and that work conditions had improved only slightly, if at all.[15]







In addition to the two pronged legal strategy, a third and essential element of Sweden's prostitution legislation provides for ample and comprehensive social service funds aimed at helping any prostitute who wants to get out, and additional funds to educate the public. As such, Sweden's unique strategy treats prostitution as a form of violence against women in which the men who exploit by buying sex are criminalized, the mostly female prostitutes are treated as victims who need help, and the public is educated in order to counteract the historical male bias that has long stultified thinking on prostitution. To securely anchor their view in firm legal ground, Sweden's prostitution legislation was passed as part and parcel of the country's 1999 omnibus violence against women legislation.



Paul Kestell lives in Co. Cork and is author of the novel 'Viaréggio,' his new novel 'Wood Point,' will be published by Thorn Island books in September 2011.

May 17th 1974

I watch the Queen with president McAleese laying wreaths in the garden of remembrance, they do so stoic women they are, so much of what they do is driven by respect for the fallen, men and women who fell in the cause of securing Irelands freedom and today they are stoic once more as they visit Islandbridge and remember our war dead, men and women who fought on foreign fields in foreign armies.
Whatever about the ideology behind these sad individual stories, the truth is in many cases young men went to fight to secure their econimic survival, and to this day the working classes are still the foot soldiers across the world.

I turned sixteen in the summer of 1974, and I can remember May 17th of that year like it was yesterday. I had my first offical date that evening and when I met the beautiful young girl we strolled the streets of Killiney, and Ballybrack, knowing somehow that the world had changed forever that afternoon, Dublin was a war zone with bodies strewn along the footpaths cars incinerated where they were parked, shop fronts blown away and twenty seven innocent people murdered.
How innocent we were walking the safe steets of South Dublin. How innocent the relatives of the dead and injured were to place their faith in the false promises made by offical Ireland, that the perpetrators would be hunted down and brought to justice.
Nobody has ever been charged in connection with this atrocity or the terrible explosions in Monaghan on the same day.

We are a tired country we create our own myths we select the usual voices to comment people we are comfortable with, media freaks like Eamonn Dunphy, and Ryan Tubridy, it is like we round up the usual suspects, our national broadcaster has a short list and a long list.
The short list is made up of people like the forementioned add in a few smart politicians some senior pain in the ass journalists or image consultants the odd posh sounding professor etc and we are grand, the long list is all of the above plus anyone with an effective middle-class accent or who hails from some faculty in one of our wonderful third level institutions.
These people have one thing in common they tend to enjoy life and the privileges it bestows on them so they will never seriously rock the boat their crime is in pretending to do so. Eammon Dunphy wants us to move on from the terrible events of 1974, pretend it didnt happen get over it, his thesis is that British people are honest and decent, and sure doesnt the Queen like a gin and tonic and horse racing.
We then have that idiot Martin Mansergh telling us that the files the bereaved families are seeking may not exist despite evidence to contrary, and is he for real how does he know has he seen them, has somebody told him this over a pint in the dail bar.

It is no wonder we find ourselves on the brink of financial ruin the standards we as a people accept in both politics and in our media are scandalous.
I want to commend Vincent Browne for bringing this issue to the fore midst all the blandness and avoidance that surrounds us. I thought his chat with the female victim on the very street where she was maimed and he and his brother tried valiantly to save the wounded and the dying, deeply moving in its simplicity and impact, as we were looking at live witnesses to the largest single atrocity to fall upon this country since the civil war.

What do the media want us to do? In general they want us to forget move on what does it matter what a few British intelligence files might say? Those people died nearly forty years ago what is the point of dragging it all up now that the Queen is visiting?
These people were not soldiers fighting against imperial oppressors or on the great battle fields of France, they were innocent men, women, and children going about their daily lives when they were taken out, with the possible collusion of a sovereign state.

Where are the wreaths, for them?

The Queen has Arrived

I for one share the mis-conception as it is easy to do, since I was a kid I have always viewed stuff like Britain and the Queen as an entity. When someone talks about the UK I automaticly see the map populated by flea like citizens with the Queen waving out the window of her palace.

France would be the same just add the Beret's and so on the further I go towards the Med just add some olive oil and stir gently.

Now I am aghast as the Queen has arrived and there is great excitment and consternation for some it beckons them to celebrate, lifting the faded easter lillies out of the drawer to find great granddad's union Jack, they will wave them on the streets of Dublin and Cork I can tell you.
Others of course will take a different view holding up the history of colonization and oppression, citing her role as the commander and chief of the British armed forces who have a dubious record all around the world!

Yet I have to admit to holding a different view on the Queen and her visit, as a committed socialist come anarchist and so on I dont do Royalty as such but to even pretend that the Queen is actually the head of the British armed forces is nonsense, they are in reality only short of using her in the next please visit Britain television advertisement.

In truth the Queen is not important in a political sense at all, she is a media guru's dream with all the trappings of wealth the castles and the horses and dogs, but in truth if you can show me a more boring and captive lifestyle let me know.
So who is the commander in chief of the British armed forces if the Queen spends her time locked away. Why the British public of course you thought I was going to let them away Scott free didn't you? You know what I am going to say next well the British people vote for the people who make the policy blah blah, so they are ultimatly responsible for what Britain gets up to on foreign fields not the poor old lady with the handbag.

I close my eyes now to see the map and the fleas jumping in places as diverse as Coventry and London ah yes there is Liz cleaning her windows and remarking on the weather, now I am in Paris gay prosperous, next image is Germany and Frankfurt, and I am suddenly mad as hell.

Why Vincent Browne is wrong about the ECB

Vincent Browne is normally right, well he is right about a lot of stuff, and even when he is not right he manages to express a wonderful wounded look which says 'look they are tormenting my beautiful idealism with their cynical snarling brand of hogwash!'

But this time he is wrong he blames the ECB, for all our ills and points to their total lack of accountability to the European state, it's parliament and in turn to us the citizens.

Why should the ECB be accountable to us? Would I be accountable to the person who slipped and fell down the stairs after raiding my bedroom safe.

In order to demand accountability one must have the moral authority to do so, do we as citizens hold such authority?

We live in a divided society which is controlled by the flow of money, the system we live under is designed to make a few people very rich,allow a comfortable existence for many but also it leaves millions by the wayside trapped in poverty without hope.

We the people allow this, we encourage it by voting endless right wing politicians into power, in our case here in Ireland inexplicably so. So we are the people that Vincent wants the ECB to be accountable to like somehow we have the higher moral authority.
We do not own any moral authority look a the world we live in where people starve because of their colour, wars are fought to protect oil wealth and the arms industry. We are the makers of systems we make the ECB, it is us that are accountable to nobody.

Tweetering Twits

We can all rejoice the twitter generation has arrived, and I wonder if twitter didn't exist would we all go round talking to ourselves in little sound-bytes like 'I would love to stop for coffee but got to rush.'

I have no doubt that twitter's popularity is due in no small measure to it's female users,women can now comment safely on every area of their lives yet not give a hoot if anyone is interested, I see loads of 'night, night all,' tweets from women who are valiantly sending their extended family ie, the whole world to sleep.
Men use it for different reasons of course there is the hard edged business guy who tweets common sense with his hard nosed business values, he is out hunting and he will make a kill. Also there are the more shy retiring types who are slightly embarrassed by the technology so they reluctantly try and be funny, or quote from some Greek philosopher!

The one thing that strikes me about twitter is of course it's reinforcment of the worlds middle class agenda, I cant imagine poor people tweeting, 'going begging today, hope it goes well?' later of course they would recieve lots of tweets from their followers, 'how did you do?' with my hard nosed business guys asking, 'how much did you make, nice profit!'

So I resign myself to another day of blandness reading lots of silly notices with links to web-sites and photo's etc, I will hear from both men and women about business the state of the world with news and sports, breaking news before it has even happened that is the magic of twitter.

Yet can anyone enlighten me I thought that twitter was a tool to facilitate discussion well I dont know but have you ever tried to discuss anything on twitter?
People run scared hide behind their little icons one can sense their tone change, the bland stuff like, ' Meeting Ryan Tubridy today, cant wait,' is replaced by a deafening silence.

When one persists in probing an individual as in a recent case I took exception to her term 'Breaking News,' during the Japanese disaster, she blocked me from following her silly tweets. It was this journalists way of tweeting and discussing the world today, and the way the media works.

Of course I know I am an annoying tweeter I write in the early hours of the morning and sometimes subject to fatigue I can be a little sarcastic you know and sometimes people read tweets and take them at face value, and I go to sleep all smug congratulating myself on how clever I am, and how the silly Dublin fourite will miss the point!

Come to think of it that is actually the only good thing I can say about this forum for tweetering twits, I am off now with my little bowl got some begging to do!