Search Results for 'politician'

Bad news travels fast, and when the sad news came last Monday that another ‘Butt’s’ gentleman had passed on, my thoughts immediately flashed back to the Water Barracks, Larry Dowling's (now the Black Cat), Rings – Cards – Darts – and mighty craic – Yes the late great Dixie (Seamus) Brennan was a major part of that era and how we all enjoyed those wonderful times.

The furore and acres of media space allocated to the decision on Monday of George Lee to walk away from his cushy well-paid Dublin South seat back into his cushy well-paid South Dublin media job could signal the beginning of the end for the practice of parachuting celebrity candidates into political life when in most cases they are ill suited to the change of role. The psyche of the politician does not sit well with the psyche of the ego-led media world which we inhabit. The cynicism necessary for the latter means that the former cannot be done with any great integrity. Even the few who have made the crossover from media to politicis are still viewed dubiously as ‘hiding it well’ in the new job.

TS Eliot’s memorable conclusion to his great poem The Hollow Men predicts the world will end “not with a bang but a whimper” but it is also a line which sums up the political career of George Lee.

SECOND AGE Theatre Company comes to Galway next month with its new staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Alan Stanford.

Director Guy Ritchie comes back with a bang in this gritty British crime flick Rocknrolla. After his last two disastrous films Swept Away (voted one of the worst films of all time) - starring his wife Madonna, and Revolver, Ritchie’s future film career was depending on the success of this film. So he sticks to what he’s good at - gangster films about drugs, crime, and money.

PD councillors Tom Welby and Terry O’Flaherty have declared they will stand as Independent candidates in the 2009 Local Elections, with Cllr Donal Lyons possibly doing the same. Speculation persists however that Noel Grealish, Declan McDonnell, and Jim Cuddy are Fianna Fáil bound.

Keira Knightley's latest big screen role as the 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, the Duchess of Devoshire proves that the actress' superb performance in last year's Atonement wasn't just a flash in the pan.

Two remarkable Kilkenny men have accepted invitations to be made freemen of Kilkenny city.

“The way in which our natural gas resource was given away with no royalties negotiated for the people of Mayo is a sad reflection on our local body politic. It begs the question-where is the backbone of Mayo politics?” according to Labour representative Harry Barrett.

The White Mountains of New Hampshire are aflame this week. Trees of fiery orange and red entwined in a mix of russet and chocolate brown. The year is changing colours as the fall envelops the north east of America. “America is about to change colours politically as well,” says Theodore (Ted) S Sares, who now lives in the ‘Granite State’. He is a business consultant and also describes himself as a private investor. He would admit in a colourful burst of laughter that he is a millionaire, but he was a bigger millionaire before the financial crisis struck. Ted Sares could strike once too — and he could put together a one/two combination in the ring. He was a useful amateur light heavyweight with 130 contests under his belt. And he once closed the Digital Corporation business in Galway.