Search Results for 'presidential election'

There is a certain temptation these days to treat the US presidential election as some form of over-the-top reality TV show. Bring out the popcorn, bring out a buzzword bingo card, and sit back. There is certainly something of the fantastic in the air: "He couldn't! Could he?"

I hope you have had a taste in some shape or form of the lovely sunny weather over the last 10 days. Hasn’t it been just wonderful? As everyone says, if we could have more of this in Ireland who would bother going abroad?!

Insider has been a keen observer and participant in political affairs for close on 40 years, and one of the biggest changes he has seen in that time is the decline in the standard of political reporting and analysis, seemingly deteriorating at a quickening pace with the passing years.

Aluminium may be the third most abundant element in the earth's crust, and it may have a wide variety of practical everyday uses, but it never conjures up the image of strength and indomitability the alloy 'Steel' does.

As the dust settles on Election 2016, we have a political landscape unlike any seen since the 1950s. The days of the two and a half party system ended in 2011, but further fragmentation of the political landscape sees seven parties and a large number of Independents occupy the 32nd Dáil.

They’re getting cranky. And irritable. And aren’t taking the abuse that was thrown at them in the early days of the campaign. Now they can see the prize. And even those who can’t see the prize are having some belief injected into them by their most ardent supporters. And despite the warnings, none of them ever believed that dogs in real life actually bite until the Ringer took one in the ankle. So now they’re wary of every Fido and Bruno. And their legs hurt. And their eyes hurt. But they know they’ve to carry on for one more week. For them it’s akin to begging. Coming to doors, trying to say something that will impress the unimpressable. ‘Cos they know that when they’re looking in the doors of those who are struggling to get by, they know they’re asking the voter to help them get a contract worth more than half a million euro and all they can offer them in return is a chance to earn a few hundred euro a year more. So straightaway it’s an inequitable relationship. Turn it on its head and you’d have their undivided attention.