O MY ANOTHER MFOT!

 

 Earlier on this blog there was a post called a short essay on overspin. in this post I tried to show how  a good news story could be made from the most mundane event, ( a habit of the government of that  time) In the post I argued that ( amongst other things), the appearance of a potted palm on the Western Way in 2012 was a sign of economic recovery. I was shocked over the last year or so to see more and more of these plants around the town the next in worse state then the last. It now appears the pots have been gathered up and deposited in one site and this as a direct result of a global pandemic.

 

 The scientific community  look to the trafficking of the pangolin as the host of a bat virus that jumped to a human strain now known as covid 19 or corona virus.
It was  internationally spread from Wuhan in China by  human travel.
Its route to Ireland was manifold  and it may have traveled from China, Italy,  and Singapore initially as well as some other well documented routes. From my reading of the situation International travel will  be the cause of this viral infections longevity.
The effects of this virus have been far reaching and wide, not least it has so far taken the lives of 1,777 people who got in its way in the Rep. of Ireland and 848,000 people word wide.
Needless to say it has to be halted and to date the majority of the population have followed the  recommendations of the Irish Government in this regard, who follow the advice of local health experts and the World Health Organisation. My post here has no wish to deflect from the gravity of this situation. But I could not help but notice the shabby and crass nature of one  manifestation of my local councils response to covid 19. In fact I feel that it could be argued that the particular visuals facilitated by these council actions shows a lack of respect to those who have suffered the effects of this virus.

                                                                                                                                                           

So, here I am speaking of the Dublin City Council Covid Mobility Team who have engineered  mobility solutions which aid peoples travels around its  physical area of responsibility. A noble aspiration which they describe the following way, (their objectives I have described above)

The measures developed in response to these objectives are being introduced to respond to a new and unprecedented emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.  They are being implemented on a temporary basis to respond to the urgent and immediate needs of the city.  They will be reviewed periodically to assess their effectiveness and, because of their nature and type of implementation, can be modified as needed to respond to changing needs and requirements.

In Grangegorman  Dublin 7 they have erected a road block described as Filtered permeability, in their words, 

Filtered permeability is effectively a ‘cycle gate’-cyclists are able to travel through the ‘cycle gate’but other  vehicles cannot. Implementation  of  filtered  permeability  will  not result  in  any changes to existing footpath facilities.  The  filtered  permeability  trial  on Grangegorman  Lower is  due  to  commence  on 6  July  2020. The  measure  will  use  bollards  to  prevent  motorised  through  traffic  in  order  to  create  a pedestrian  and  cycle  friendly  zone  and  a  safer  space  for  local  residents  and  for  thousands  of pedestrians and cyclists arriving at TUD from September 2020.

In their description in documentation there is no reference to the means of negating the existing parking bays on the very wide concourse outside the HSE Building which was at one time the centre piece of the Grangegorman  complex. (It is only these particular measures I am referring to here). 

It is achieved by the combination of a new set of 24hour clearway signs, and a bunch of dishevelled  potted palms that have seen better days( since their first sightings in 2012), The already generous footpaths have been extended onto the road and marked out with a row of new luminous stick bollards. 

                                                                               

This now large open space can only be described as the  proverbial ‘Dogs Dinner’ and the lack of though by those who designed this feature leaves the council open to accusations of shoddy practices. When the dust settles and the area is a bustling concourse full of local and student life I sincerely hope that some better street furniture is chosen. Something  that may synergise with the fine design and restoration already evident on the Grangegorman site.

A SHORT ESSAY ON OVERSPIN!

There is absolutely no doubt about it our previous Government fell asleep at the wheel and allowed their belief in themselves and their place in the world order to allow them to lose sight of reality.
When the international banking crisis came knocking on their door the Government of Brian Cowen made the biggest mistake in the history of our country. The bank guarantee  which strapped us with billions of debt and left us in need of a Bailout. This was provided by the Troika of the E.C.B.  the I.M.F and the E.C.(The European Central Bank,the International Monetary fund,and the European Comission.)
Shortly after the bailout the government collapsed forcing an election.
Quite a few senior Fianna fail ministers did not even run for re election opting for a new life free from worry, whilst those who could not bow out on health or other reasons fell at the polls.

The current government swept to power and promised to shepherd us through the difficult times whilst protecting  the vulnerable.
For the last two and a half years plus they have been working carefully to see us out of our program
and back to a limited financial independence.

Today marks the final day of that program. Our government Is now committed to a SIX YEAR financial Program  but there is no way the Irish people will vote to return the current Government to power in two and a half years time. The electorate never responds well to being bashed down by blow after blow. With more austerity promised and water tax yet to bite in one neutral budget is not going to do it for these boys. Obviously they have not taken this into account in framing the way forward. Once more delusion reigns and no lessons were learned from the  recent lost referendum.
The reality of life on the ground is far from that which would fill the ordinary voter with the fervor to
vote return the same parties to office.The reasons for this are clear and many.
But on top of it all there is the spin!
Since the get go this Government have smothered  all debate on the basis that negativity was not a way forward, As a result of this the government did not do bad news only good news, and unfortunately our media still blindly read out press release after press release without challenging each and every action.

For example, today a minister said on radio that not only did the Irish government meet the targets set by the troika program,they beat them.NO QUESTIONS WERE ASKED!Like, surely beating the targets means that some sectors of our society suffered cutbacks that they should not have needed to endure?

No, the statement was let go and allowed to colour the case the minister was making for our Government.
For Example,Less than a month after a major study from impartial scientific researchers in  University College Cork with the Title, Emigration in the age of austerity we get reporting of the latest jobless figures from the C.S.O. with no mention of the amount of young that have fled since the cruel welfare cuts designed to get them off the dole and out the door.

The spinning of good news stories out of proportion is rubbing salt in the wounds of those suffering from a range of issues on the ground.
It's not a good time to be sick and dependent on the health service.
It's not a good time to be unemployed and/or in debt.
It's not a good time  to be self employed,a retailer,caterer,a small business.
It's not a good time to be a charity.
It's not a good time to be alone with your family scattered to the four winds.
It's not a good time to  rent a house or flat with rents spiraling.
It's not a good time to want to buy a house as banks are not lending.
It's a great time to be a volunteer, and although it helps, feeding your soul is not the only food needed.

A counter point to stories running in the Irish press like the one linked to above is this article in the New York Times which rings out the sentiments I allude to in the lines above,see it here
These are all serious issues,serious for those affected but when the  live line is the only forum for  local/national outpourings the debates of the disaffected then become boxed off and the subject of parody.Our media really need to challenge all government announcements, ask the hard questions, and put the brakes the spin!

I would class myself as an  optimist I like to smile  and laugh, I strive for happiness for me and those around me. So with the onset of our current regressive climate which hit me personally like so many others in late 2009 I redoubled my efforts to work my way through the malaise as it presented itself to me, inventing opportunities through innovative application of my profession.

I know I and many like me have difficult times still ahead but still we slog on, my latest offering is a counter to all of the over spin, my own effort to make something out of nothing, like so many empty headlines that have spun out of Kildare street and Merrion Street I too have been combing my own neighbourhood for SIGNS OF RECOVERY, they are as plausible as any good news story I have seen recently and today I present 5 of them for your entertainment and analysis.I suppose they are 5 mini satires, and I hope they bring a smile to your faces but  deepen your thoughts about our reality and make you ponder what you can do to help change society for all and move us forward and out of the grips of the worlds markets in which we are just another commodity
whose price goes up and down over time.

Thanks (and I really hope the cat gets home)Please share and comment we love the banter!
David