The Irish rugby team had an excellent Autumn series, winning all three matches (versus South Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands), and enhancing their reputation in the eyes of the world. It has been said more often than once that Ireland are now the best team in Europe and probably second best in the world. It's a shame that the Pacific Islands match didn't count towards world ranking points, as the 61-17 demolition of the Islanders would have cemented Ireland's third place in the rankings, and might even have seen them come close to the second-placed French. Wins for Australia and South Africa saw them climb back above Ireland, who had overtaken them both a week ago.

Aside from the three wins, there was more to cheer. The squad came through relatively unscathed, (save Marcus Horan's leg injury, which will keep him out of the game until the new year; and Andrew Trimble's hamstring, which shouldn't cause too much worry.) We also got to see a few new players get their chance at International level, particularly in positions that have had long-term incumbents, such as half-back and prop. Some of the old guard showed that they too were willing to fight for a seat on the plane to Paris next Autumn, most notably Denis Hickie, who had an excellent game against Australia.

In the forwards, we now have options in the front row (assuming Marcus Horan can recover completely from his injury in time for the Six Nations). We still have to pray for the good health of John Hayes, who had a superb series and showed once again just how valuable he is to the Irish set-up. When it comes to line-out time, the glory goes to the lads in the air, but they get there by being lifted by someone, and "The Bull" has proven over a long time that he is one of the best in the business at hoisting. The second-row picks itself, but I would have liked to have seen another younger player get a chance during the series. Malcolm O'Kelly is a good impact player, and a great man to have on the bench who can make an impression in the last 20 minutes of a match, but we need more solid cover should anything happen (God forbid) to POC or DOC. The back row - well what can I say? Denis Leamy is making the Number 8 jersey his own, and is now Ireland's most influential forward after Paul O'Connell. David Wallace is first-choice openside now, but there are options there should we need them. Neil Best had a barnstormer of a series, and should be the first choice for the No 6 shirt for the 6 Nations.

We got to see two new half-backs, both of whom acquitted themselves well, especially Paddy Wallace at out-half against the Pacific Islands. It would be nice to see him get more time in the 10 jersey for Ulster, but it would be difficult to sideline David Humphries for his province. Isaac Boss had a good game against the Aussies, but he's still cover for Stringer, not a genuine contender for the scrum-half position just yet.

In the backs, again we're spoilt for choice. The centre partnership of D'Arcy and O'Driscoll would be feared by any opponents in the world, not just for their ability to run through the eye of a needle and turn on a 1c coin, but also for their defensive work. That said, I would have liked to have seen Munster's Barry Murphy get a run out during the series, as he is another dazzling player. On the wings, we have Shane Horgan, who can step in one channel if needs be. On the other wing, a fully-fit Trimble should be the number one choice, as he is really coming into his own this year as a superb finisher. For full-back, it's a toss-up between Dempsey and Murphy. Both of them have their unique gifts to bring to the table and no side would be weakened by having to choose between one or the other.

But the most satisfying thing of all to take from the Autumn series was the confidence with which the team played. Last year, they lost two out of three, only winning a useless match against Romania. There were times during that series when the Irish players looked like they had just met for the first time in the changing rooms before the match. This time out they were much more assured. Passes that would have been missed 12 months ago were completed efficiently. Opponents were stopped in their tracks this year, when last year they would have barged through, leaving their Irish tackler on his back like an upturned beetle. Possession was kept this time around, when last time a ball would have been dropped or a turnover conceded in the ruck or set-piece.

So the next time we see the Irish in action is against Wales in the Six Nations. Ireland must go for an emphatic win in Cardiff to set down a marker for the Championship. Too often in recent years, Ireland have come close, only to see someone else run off with the title. That must not happen in 2007. This is Ireland's year. The Six Nations Championship is theirs to lose.

I thought this Lotto ticket was a bit odd when I saw it first. It's a Quick Pick, with the first, second, third and sixth numbers on the two lines the same. (I've made a couple of very subtle changes to it, just in case anyone thinks they can pass it off as genuine.)


Sadly, there is no prize for this type of coincidence, only the one where the numbers on your ticket match those drawn from the drum. 

Bastards.

The PDs have launched a major poster campaign, in which they claim that by their doing, car insurance has fallen by 45%. They back up their claim by pointing to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, set up by Health Minister and former leader Mary Harney, and a more vague "streamlining" of court proceedings by Justice Minister and current leader Michael McDowell.

Fine. But insurance premiums ballooned earlier this decade not because of a sudden increase in "compo culture" or an unnaturally high number of road accidents. It was because the big insurance companies were losing a lot of money due to the softening equity markets, and also in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the USA in September 2001. Ireland had then (and continues to have) a highly uncompetitive insurance market, and so the insurance companies just charged what they wanted for essential products like motor, home, mortgage protection, public & employee liability, etc., and Joe Public had no choice but to pony up.

Since then, equities have come back and the big insurance companies have been able to make their profits at less expense to the average punter. Thus premiums have fallen.

What the government helped in a small way to return insurance premiums to their normal levels, but it is a bit rich of the PDs to claim all the credit for it. It should be remembered as well that the original ballooning of premiums happened under the FF/PD coalition too.

I've been meaning to try out Apple's iPhoto Books feature for a while now, so we put together a book of photos of Aoife to see how it looks.

We got it back today, and it's impressive. We chose the hardback linen-bound one, and the finish is of a very high standard. There are 20 pages of photos in the book. You choose how many photos you want per page - it can be a single photo taking up the whole page or several photos together.


Putting it together is a doddle - just choose your template and drop the photos in, click "Buy Book" and that's it. Your book arrives 7-10 days later. The book cost €40, which on the face of it sounds like quite a lot, but for the quality of the product is good value for money, I reckon. 

We've just ordered another two copies as Christmas presents for Aoife's grandparents. Another reason to love the Mac!

We bought a new pram for Aoife a couple of weeks ago. The one we had been using was a hand-me-down, and while it was perfect for the first few months, it soon became apparent that it was not going to be suitable for the vagaries of an Irish winter.

So we got one of these lads. It wasn't cheap, but it transforms into a pushchair, so it will be useful up till she's three or so.

There is an incredible amount of engineering in one of these things. They have to match several criteria, such as being easy to fold up, being compact when folded, adaptable, sturdy, having an integrated iPod dock so that baby can sleep to the dulcet tones of her favourite music (OK, I made that one up.)

I put the thing together last week, and have to make sure that I don't lose the manual, cos I'll need it when we need to change it from a pram into a pushchair,

I was tempted to set up a new category for this story - Bears And Their Toilet Habits - as on the face of it, it looks like it's stating the bleedin' obvious.

But this report by Nielsen Media Research should be looked at in another way. After more than a year on the market, the video-capable iPod is not being used all that much for its video capabilities. Nielsen researched a sample of iPod users, and found that only 1% of them used their device to watch videos with any regularity.

Yet whenever an iPod revision is on the horizon, the clamour is for more and better video handling on the device. A 'true' Video iPod would probably have a lot more screen real estate, and this would have a negative impact on battery performance. At this moment, Apple sees the market as preferring a 12-hour between-charge battery performance than having an all-singing-and-dancing video device, that would probably have double the drain on the battery.

Apple's focus on movie matters at present is firmly on its iTunes Store and the forthcoming iTV device, which will allow the direct streaming of online video to a TV. When you think about it, watching a movie on a TV-sized screen is a lot more satisfying than watching it on a 10cm screen, which is the size the screen of a video iPod would likely be.

Welcome to all visitors to my new blog. It's still something of a work in progress, as I get to grips with the new things I have to get to grips with.
Let me know what you think.

The IRB world rankings have just been updated after last weekend's matches. It makes nice reading for Eddie O'Sullivan and his men, as they go up two places to third, following their superb win over Australia yesterday.

Full rankings here

Today, I was out and about in the south-east, calling on some of my customers in Wexford and Waterford. As I had one call to do in Arthurstown and then go on to Waterford City, I decided to take the ferry from Ballyhack to Passage East. The alternative is to go back to New Ross and head into Waterford on the N25, a journey of 40-odd km, and a major pain in the hoop, as New Ross can get badly clogged up at this time on a Friday evening.

So ferry I did. There were only a few other vehicles on the vessel as we crossed over. When we arrived in Passage East, we were confronted by a phalanx of protesters, unhappy with the operation of the ferry. Their method was to prevent us from getting off the ferry by standing in our way. The driver in front of me just barged through them, and one protester fell to the ground in his attempt to stop him.

I got out of my car and asked what all of this was about. The reply shouted at me was "Ask FBD." FBD are the people who run the ferry service, and eventually I got the answer from one of the protesters. They want the ferry terminal sited away from the village in order to remove all the traffic.

That's fair enough. It's plain to see that Passage East and the roads around it get choked with traffic generated by the ferry, and there is merit in the argument that the point of embarkation and disembarkation should be moved away from the village. But boy, are they going about it the wrong way.

By blocking people getting on and off the ferry and going about their lawful business, they are just pissing people off. One protester held up a large banner with the words "Children are at risk" on it. Another protester was wheeling her young baby around in a pram. So whatever about children being at risk from the traffic, this child was at risk from being brought into a volatile situation.

They should be trying to get people on their side. Maybe they're taking their cue from this shower of loopers. They are, of course, entitled to protest, but their protest could be a lot more effective. They could get an information sheet printed up and hand it to drivers in the queue for the ferry. They could lobby politicians. They could nominate spokespeople to make their case to the media. The best way to make your case is to make it in a reasonable manner. I knew nothing of this protest or issue before I got on the ferry at Ballyhack. If I was made aware of it before I got on, I may have decided to go the other route. One protester suggested that it was the responsibility of the operators of the ferry to tell those intending to travel of the protest.

Eventually the Gardai came to the quayside and managed to get things moving. Sadly, this sort of nonsense will continue as long as the protesters continue to scream their objections rather than trying to make their case in a reasonable way.

There was a letter in the Irish Times today from a correspondent in Belfast, bemoaning that fact that the Republic of Ireland lacks an honours system, and so could not bestow a meaningful honour on her most famous artist, Louis le Brocquy, on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

"If he were a British subject, he would probably by now have received a high honour of some sort."

[…]

"Why should the Irish Republic eschew a system of honours to recognise the acheivements of its citizens?"

Well, with the current "cash for honours" controversy in Britain, I'd reckon we're as well off without one. Indeed, my opposition to an honours system could be summed up six words.

Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare.

I was discussing rugby with a colleague at work today, and I posited a theory of how Ireland could win next year's World Cup.

Madness, you might think. The All-Blacks will run away with it. Well, yes. They should run away with it.

So how could Ireland spoil the party? First of all, they need to go to the World Cup as Six Nations Champions. This will help fix their heads to win their group, a task that will involve beating France, as well as the Argies.

Whoever comes second in our group will almost certainly get the All-Blacks in the quarter-finals, and for whoever that is, it's Goodnight Irene. Whoever wins the group will most likely get Scotland. The winner of that quarter final will meet either England, South Africa, Australia or Wales in the semi. England and Wales are eminently beatable. On a good day, Ireland could get past the other two. (Don't be fooled into thinking that just because we stuffed the Springboks last weekend, that the same result would come as easy during the RWC. It won't.)

Whoever gets through this half of the draw will more than likely meet come up against New Zealand in the final.

"But we've never beaten New Zealand!" you cry. True, but the ABs are notorious World Cup chokers, and who knows what could happen on the day. They could freeze and we could nick a win. Or indeed they could be majestic and beat us 1497-3.

If anyone other than New Zealand hope to win the World Cup, they most likely will face them in the final. I think I'd prefer to meet them in the final than earlier.

Many, many years ago, when the downy fuzz on my teenage face became plentiful enough to warrant the use of a razor, the twin blade razor was an exotic tool. My older brothers (those without full beards) used single blade disposables. My dad used a "safety razor", which came apart and used replaceable blades.

For a while, I was an early adaptor in the razor market. As soon as a new razor with another blade (to shave you closer still) or a lubricating strip swooshed onto the market, I was there to be at the cutting edge, so to speak.

I gave up when they started putting batteries in razors. By that time, razors had become like inkjet printers - a small initial investment for the main equipment, but then the consumables required thereafter cost an absolute fortune. I now use a twin-blade razor I bought in Aldi a couple of years ago, where I can get replacement blades for a couple of €s per pack.

Now, Gillette have released a five-blade razor called the Fusion (Warning: link involves quite a bit of Flash and lots of swooshing.) Dear God, how may more blades will they continue to add? What will our grandsons and great-grandsons use to shave? Fifteen-blade razors?

John Gruber writes about attitudes to that most beloved of Web 2.0 conceits - beta.

Using “beta” as a badge of honor for released commercial software makes no more sense than using “buggy” in the same context, and it makes no more sense as an excuse, either.

The mid-term elections on the USA have given the Democrats control of both Congress and the Senate, a turnaround which begins the lame-duck phase of George W Bush's presidency. In two years time, there is every chance that the Dems will win back the White House, but what a poisoned chalice that will be. It is very unlikely that the Iraq situation will have sorted itself out by them, and whoever takes over at the Oval Office will have one hell of a mess to sort out.

Not that any of this will matter to GWB. He can retire to his ranch in Texas and establish his Presidential Library, safe in the knowledge that he has done what he set out to do when he was elected to the highest office in the land back in 2000 - serve two terms and kick Saddam's butt.

The more I see of George W Bush, the more I get the impression that the only reason he decided to run for President was to impress his father, or even to achieve more as President than his father ever did.

Before taking office in January 1989, Bush Snr had a very impressive track record. He was a decorated fighter pilot in World War II, while still only 20 years of age; he had been captain of the Yale baseball team; he built up a very successful business career in the oil industry and then went on to have a distinguished career in the public sphere. He served as congressman for Texas; as Nixon's ambassador to the UN; as chairman of the Republican National Congress, as US Liaison Officer to China, and later as head of the CIA. In 1980, he sought the Republican nomination for the presidency, losing to Ronald Reagan. He joined Reagan's ticket as Vice-Presidential nominee and served two terms under the Gipper. In 1988 he became the first serving Vice-President to be elected President since 1836.

And then it all went wrong. Sure, he did what many other Republican President had done before him - running up a massive deficit and starting a war - but his presidency will be remembered for two things. After successfully liberating Kuwait during Gulf War I, he stopped short of deposing Saddam. To many in the "Arab Street", this was a victory for Saddam. Also, during his campaign for the White House, Bush had said "Read my lips, no new taxes", a pledge upon which he was forced to renege. This contributed in no small way to his defeat to Bill Clinton in 1992.

In contrast, Bush Junior's pre-presidential record is rather less impressive. He managed to stay out of the way during the Vietnam War by serving in the National Guard, an option that would probably not have been available to him if he had been poor or black or both. He attended Yale and Harvard, and by his own admission was only an average student. He never emulated his father on the sports field at Yale, but he was an exemplary cheerleader by all accounts.

He followed his father into the oil business, but his record is less stellar. He set up a number of oil exploration ventures, none of which ever managed to discover anything. In truth, his career in the oil business should never have risen higher than gas pump attendant. His "youth" lasted well into his late 30s, he was an alcoholic and it is alleged that he was troubled by other substances as well. He was arrested for drink-driving in 1976 and pleaded guilty.

He coasted along until 1986, when he found Jesus and turned his life around. He stopped drinking and cleaned up his life. He managed to get his business life together, buying into the Texas Rangers baseball team, and helping build up their profile. He entered politics and was elected Governor of Texas in 1994.

This is where I reckon he saw the opportunity to prove to his father than he could achieve more. By this time Bush Snr's presidential career had ended in ignominy. If any President Bush was going to be remembered, it would be GWB, not GHWB.

And so, he managed to get himself elected in 2000, with the help of Katherine Harris, Secretary of State of Florida, who just happened to be his campaign co-chair in the state. After 9/11, he was forced to rethink his non-interventionist stance in relation to foreign policy, and launched a UN-backed war against the Taleban in Afghanistan.

Influenced by several of his advisors, Bush decided that the greatest threat to the US was Saddam Hussein, and so he set about planning an invasion that would topple the despot. This he did, and indeed, Saddam was driven from power, but we all know what happened next. Bush somehow managed to get elected for a second term, and you could see the glee on his face as he strode up to take the oath of office for his second term in the presence of his father.

I could be completely wrong of course. Maybe George W Bush aspired to the Presidency simply because he wanted to serve his fellow Americans in whatever way he could. But I reckon he just wanted to look his once-disapproving father in the eye and say "I did what you couldn't do."

But this photo is too cute to let pass…

Declan Kiberd had an article* in The Irish Times today concerning the Irish language. He points out that even with the most enthusiastic policies for promoting the language, it still has come nowhere near where we would like it to be in terms of daily usage.

This is something that I have often thought I should write about. Like many others, my standard of Irish is abysmal, even though I studied it for 13 years in school and even did Higher Level in the Leaving (OK, it was over 23 years ago since I last studied Irish.)

Ever since Independence, successive governments have done all they can to try to promote the use of Irish. Compulsion in education, grants, incentives have all been used, yet the prevailing opinion is that Irish is in decline, possibly even terminal decline.

So what can be done to save the language? Surely, if we force schoolchildren to learn it from Day 1 of primary school, they should be fluent by the time they come out the other end at Leaving Certificate? Well no, they're usually not.

Anyone who is involved in marketing will tell you that the most effective way to make something more desirable is to tell people they can't have any. Any parent will testify that if you tell a child they can't have something, chances are they will want it above everything else. So could we take this approach to Irish in order to save the language from terminal decline?

What if the government was to suppress it, abolish the Gaeltacht and paint over the Irish on roadsigns? If they were to stop all the grants for companies setting up in the back end of Conamara, providing jobs that Poles or Latvians will end up doing anyway? Stop teaching it in school? Send The Boys around to the studios of TG4 and Raidio na Gaeltachta, armed with sledgehammers and crowbars, to smash them up? (Whoever writes that instruction should make sure to have a typo on it, with "TV3" on it instead of "TG4", only to realise the 'mistake' too late. Bonus.)

Introduce 21st century versions of the Penal Laws, except this time it's Irish speakers to be persecuted, not just Catholics. They would have to be substantially updated, as being debarred from owning a horse is not a hardship these days (but we could reserve that sanction for Hector Ó hEochagáin.) Instead, introduce a law that anyone with a sine fada in their name will be prevented from owning a 4x4 or an investment property in Sofia.

Soon Irish will be driven underground. The sincere lovers of the language will take to the streets to protest. Meet that protest with the riot squad. Instruct the Gardai (except they won't be called that anymore) to crack open a few skulls.

When people realise that they are no longer allowed to speak or use their native language, demand for it will grow exponentially. Clandestine meetings will start to take place to resist the suppression of the language. College students, who once passed around drugs and flagons of cider at their parties, will instead distribute illicit texts of stories by Mairtín Ó Caidhin and poetry by Máire Mhac an tSaoi, in small rolled-up pages, which can be easily concealed within bodily orifices should the authorities raid the party.

Movies will be made about the struggle, starring Robin Williams as the inspirational leader of the rebels, who enriches their lives before being shafted and sent away.

Secret societies of Irish speakers would flourish around the country, teaching the language to the young. Before long, everyone would be fluent, and the language would be saved.

It just might work, you know.

*No link because it's subs only.

It's great to see talent get recognition, as happened today when The Swearing Lady from The Arse End of Ireland was described thus in today's Irish Times:

"The Swearing Lady is no less angry but is arguably more literary with it. Written from a Council estate in Galway and fulminating on the issue of being intelligent and frustrated by poverty and lack of opportunity, Swearing Lady, when her anger is focused, is arguably the most talented writer at work today in Ireland."

From this season, RTÉ no longer have live coverage of the Heineken Cup, as the exclusive rights have been captured by Sky.

So, very reluctantly, we have added Sky Sports to our cable TV package. At €23 per month, it is over €100 more expensive per year than the TV licence. We'll probably watch a few Premiership matches as well, but I can't see myself getting too excited about something like Reading v. Wigan. Herself will probably watch the Ashes when it's on, as she has inherited an interest in cricket from her father.

Having the Heineken Cup on Sky is a pain for two reasons. First, having to pony up the aforementioned €23 per month for the privilege, and then having to put up with Sky's really poxy coverage. Sky, like any other British TV station, is biased in both commentary and analysis toward English teams. If I have to put up with this, I would at least prefer if the commentary and analysis were biased towards Irish teams.

Then there are the statistics. As anyone will tell you, 89% of all statistics are completely irrelevant. But on Sky, there is this overbearing obsession with stats and records. The camera focuses on a particular player, and an utterly meaningless statistic appears under his name, like the number of tackles he missed or passes he completed in the first round of matches. Who sits there and counts all of this stuff? Does it matter one jot? Of course not.

This isn't just a Sky thing by the way. British sports coverage in general is obsessed with statistics. I reckon that's why cricket is so popular in England, because there are so many numbers that can be juggled during a match. Strip all of it away, and the game itself is pretty dull.

Come to think of it, it's not even a sports thing. I remember when the National Lottery launched in the UK, the commentary during the draw on TV was all about how often certain numbers came up and when was the last time. As if it made any difference.

I really miss RTÉ's live coverage of the Heineken Cup. The triumverate of Tom McGurk, George Hook and Brent Pope are as good as any panel of experts that Sky or the BBC could put together. The commentators aren't up to much, but they're no worse than Stuart Barnes and Mark Robson. I tried once watching the match with the sound off, while listening to the great Michael Corcoran on RTÉ Radio, but it wasn't a satisfactory arrangement.

If RTÉ got the rights back, I'd cancel Sky Sports without a second thought. Bring back Hooky and Popey, I say!

This is what Gerry's new blog will look like.