holding the feet to the fire

today's top example of good watchdog journalism. Vincent Browne digs up old health strategy documents to expose government hypocracy.

blurring the line between creating and covering news

In the course of making a program about political hecklers, the BBC provided equipment and coverage to hecklers at a Conservative Party speech by Michael Howard. The Conservatives contend that the BBC is playing against the rules "to generate a false news story and dramatise coverage. . . intended to embarrass or ridicule the leader of the Conservative Party". The Beeb defends its actions as "legitimate", though it promises a full review.

The giveaway?

Tory officials became suspicious at the meeting in Horwich, near Bolton,
last Wednesday, when they saw BBC camera crew focusing on the hecklers
rather than Mr Howard. They twice challenged the two men and a woman
involved, and discovered they had been equipped with radio
microphones.

The concern for the BBC is whether this type of program-making can sit side-by-side with its comprehensive and for-the-record news reporting. It wouldn't seem a big deal at all for Channel 4 or any old independent film-maker. One Tory official contends, though, that

"This is a clear and serious breach of recognised BBC producer guidelines,
and accordingly a breach of Section 5.3(b)1 of the BBC Charter Agreement. I
also believe that the recordings which were taken of these organised
hecklers, of ordinary members of the crowd and/or of Conservative officials
who reacted and were recorded, would amount to 'surreptitious recording'
under those guidelines."

Chalk it up as part of the continuing BBC-Tory saga...

National newspaper ads tough to sell

This caught my eye today in the US press -- I suspect the Irish and UK market are (or will shortly be) seeing some of these same trends in advertising -- and it's not good news for the nationals.

The nursing home mob gets locked up

hardly seems like we're putting violent criminals behind bars with the arrest and indictment of a bunch of 70-year-old ageing mobsters... but I suppose it's another important chapter in the Hollywood saga of La Cosa Nostra.

The more critical analysis begins

Now that a bit of time has passed since his death, a few more sober analyses of the legacy of JPII. One of the better ones from the NYT here.

The Irish are picking the next Pope

But not how you think... by gambling.

The diplomatic fall out

A few interesting nuggets from the Pope's funeral.

Robert Mugabe decides to show up and causes a bit of a kerfuffle...
Bush gets to sit near Iran's delegation (says SkyTV)...
Profiteers plunder pilgrims...

Good ol' fashioned funeral, huh?

They're just words, but...

very encouraging words. The Unionists on the radio last night were predictably dismissing this call by Adams for the IRA to go out of business, but with the IRA giving it "due consideration" there is definitely hope for something better.

Those crazy Frenchmen, still at it...

Paying state respects to a dead man and endorsing his religion are two very different things. The French Greens, Socialists, and Teachers Union don't seem to see the distinction. To wit:

It upsets me," said Christophe Girard, a Green party councillor in Paris. "On the front of our town halls and schools, the words that are written are 'liberty, equality, fraternity'. They do not say 'The Catholic Republic of France', like the Islamic Republic of Iraq." [...] Another Green councillor, Yves Contassot, said the decision was "utterly out of place" and accused President Jacques Chirac of "abusing his position" by attending a Mass in the Pope's honour at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Sunday.

Moral equivalence gone mad. Quite a surprise coming from that bunch, oi? At least the official government sources are speaking sense.

Evidence of how de-Catholicized Ireland has become

If this had happened 20 years ago, there would have been no debate whatsoever about a National day of mourning. Instead, the Taoiseach todays says there will be "no national day of mourning as such", thinking it unnecessary to close the entire country for the day. Practical and reasonable, to be sure.

Instead, government ministers and opposition leaders are taking the opportunity to criticize one another for muddling the issue, essentially one of economics vs. religion, with a bit of "who will mind the children if the schools close?" thrown in on the side.

So much for Ireland being a Catholic country...

[update]

--The Taoiseach thinks current mourning is enough, relative to the rest of world
-- The rest of the world mourns

uh oh...

oil prices at $58 a barrel. Not the kind of records you like to see broken.

The new mission for the Church

Where will it focus its energy and resource, asks the NYT. Declining spirituality and increased materialism in Europe? Front-line services and mission in Africa? Competition with Pentecostal churches and lay people in Latin America? Formulating a stance on science and biotechnology? Or confronting the impact of 'Christiandom' and the Islamic world. All are monumental challenges. No matter who the next Pope is, they certainly won't be able to succeed at all at once.

"Racial profiling" in Ireland

The Indo says that racism is rife among the Gardai. It's undoubtable that in the last 10 years their work has changed and much of it now involves immigrant minorities. It's not altogether surprising, then, that they would harbor some resentment against these minorities. One would hope, though, that the implications of massive immigrate are like shockwaves passing through a system, and that once these disturbances have passed, things will return to a 'normal' state.

What the Gardai management -- and civil society in general -- need to monitor over the next 10 years is the gardai do change in an institutional way, especially by including more immigrant (and more generally, city) members. This would have several important effects. Primarily, it would make for a 'representative police force' and satisfy any PC critics, but more importantly, it would allow for local community knowledge to better filter into gardai knowledge, and massively contribute to the productivity of the gardai. Futher, it would help to dispel any lingering bits of racism by fostering professional contact between (old Irish) gardai and minority community members.

An Ireland in transition

Delineated in this new report, which holds some quite eye-opening data within. Knocking away a few of those old Catholic Ireland fairy tales:

There's no work in Ireland, you need to emigrate to succeed:
"In 2004 Ireland had the second-lowest unemployment rate in the EU at less than half the EU average..."

A rising tide lifts all ships:
"...but the proportion of people living close to poverty was the joint-highest of 21 EU member states surveyed. "

Ireland and the Church will look after its own:
"Ireland had the lowest rate of spending on social protection in 2001 in the 15-member EU."

Ireland has 40 shades of green, and is proud of that reputation:
"In addition, the report found that recycling rates in Ireland were poor by European standards."

Needless to say, the opposition parties were less than thrilled. Great quote from Pat Rabbitte, the Labour leader: the report showed "a strong economy but a weakening society, and a Government that has its back to the future."

Some good news: Ireland ranks lowest in EU for homicides. Even better: The Irish are an educated bunch. "The proportion of persons aged 25-34 in Ireland with 3rd level education rose from 27.1% in 1999 to 39.4% in 2004. The corresponding EU 25 rate in 2004 was 24.8%."

The full report here.