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In defence of Allegra Stratton

13/12/2021

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THE OPTICS were terrible: the Prime Minister’s former press secretary joking during a practice media Q&A on a Christmas party which allegedly took place in No 10 on December 18, 2020 during lockdown restrictions. On that day 489 people died of Covid in the UK.

Because of Tier 3 lockdown measures, seemingly ignored by No 10, families were unable to hold loved ones’ hands as they passed away. Heart breaking accounts have been shared of family members dying alone while No. 10 partied. The outcry against Allegra Stratton was totally understandable.

However, I believe that the principal blame lies elsewhere. I am 100% certain that Allegra Stratton was not laughing at Covid victims or their families.

Rather she was laughing at the absurdity of trying to come up with a sane response to the indefensible. The Downing St reaction is that strict social distancing was maintained at all times and people remained within lockdown rules. This during an alcohol available Christmas party for dozens of people, sharing secret Santas, and even if the party did take place, which it didn’t, it was a business gathering. Are you kidding me? The Lewis Carroll absurdity of it all is risible, yes laughable. And no wonder she was stuck for a response.

Boris Johnson made the situation worse, not only by denying a party ever took place, but by sending his minions out to parrot that “people stayed within the rules at all times within No. 10”. One couldn’t help remembering Irish Ministers categorically denying in front of TV cameras that the Government was in discussion with the International Monetary Fund, even as members of the IMF landing party drove their tanks up to the lawns of Leinster House.

By the end of the week Johnson was still denying that the party ever happened, a claim believed by just one in 10, according to a Sky News poll. He said that he had been assured by senior advisers that a party didn’t take place, but if it did, he didn’t know about it. He is obviously a fan of the Bart Simpson defence, “I didn't do it. No one saw me do it. You can't prove a thing”.

Of course it didn’t have to be like this. It is well reported that Johnson has unbridled faith in his own ability and is reluctant to take advice.

The PR guidebook 101 would have been to come out and admit that this and other parties occurred. We made a Horlicks of the situation. No excuses. It should never have happened. We apologise to the British people for the cock up. Yes it would have taken a media and Opposition beating for a day or two but that would have been better than the drip feed of the last ten days. Not to mention the reputational damage to Boris Johnson and increasing voter perception that he has a casual acquaintance with the truth.

The UK Department for Education came out with its hands up, admitted to a party and said it made a mistake. More or less end of story.

Now media are sniffing around other parties which may have taken place at No 10, including some allegedly attended and addressed by the PM himself. More damaging, the BBC and others have reported that a party was held, despite pandemic restrictions, in the flat (private residence) of the Johnsons at No. 10 on 13th and 27th of November that year.

It has all the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy. It will be ironic if the Prime Minister’s hubris on this matter is the cause of his downfall. The banner on the lead page of Thursday’s pro-Tory ‘Daily Telegraph’ read, “Beginning of the end for Boris?”

Francis Elliot in the ‘Sunday Times’ commented, “Lies about gatherings at No 10 are testing even the patience of diehard supporters. Is the PM’s party finally over?”

Partygate is a PR disaster. But the real blame lies (no pun intended) with a) whoever sanctioned and thought it was a good idea to hold Christmas parties in the first place at a time of clear pandemic restrictions and b) the denials and botched attempt to cover up the sorry mess which draw attention to the Prime Minister’s “interesting relationship with the truth” as put by one former aide reported in the ‘Sunday Times’. (Former Tory MP and Times columnist Matthew Parris referred to him on BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ as “Pinocchio”).

Allegra Stratton was trying to do her job. She is an intelligent former journalist (not an oxymoron). I find it hard to condemn her for reacting to the farcical nature of the situation in which she found herself, when the principal blame lies elsewhere within No 10.

Another (male) PR adviser pictured sharing in the joviality at the mock No 10 press conference was reported to have offered his resignation to Boris Johnson which was not accepted. One law for female PR people and another for male under the current Prime Minister?

However, Stratton may not be the first staff member in 10 Downing St to be thrown under the bus. When it comes to buses, Mr Johnson has form.
 
Mr Johnson’s “superpower” is his electoral appeal. Think Brexit and 2019 general election landslide. If the Tories lose Thursday’s North Shropshire by-election or see a severe dent in its 20,000 plus majority in this safe seat, then this power will be called into question by nervous backbenchers.
 
ENDS 

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April 08th, 2020

8/4/2020

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Covid-19 proves immune to Downing St. spin

8/4/2020

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At around 6.00pm, Monday, two hours before 10 Downing St. announced that Boris Johnson had been transferred to intensive care, I said to my wife, “Boris is a lot worse than they’re letting on, but they’re not admitting it.”

The conclusion arose after listening to the 5.00pm daily Downing St. coronavirus press “briefing” led by Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab. He had been asked by The Sun political editor, Tom Newton Dunn (The Sun may not be your cup of Horlicks but Newton Dunn is an impressive journalist with terrific sources) whether Raab had spoken to Johnson “by text or telephone” that Monday.

Without answering the specific question, Raab wittered on about Johnson continuing to be “kept abreast of all relevant developments”. In an earlier response to BBC political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, Raab stated that the PM “is being regularly updated and is still in charge of the Government”. The fact that the briefing is now conducted remotely for social distancing purposes means that journalists have less opportunity to pursue their queries
.

The questions moved on until Raab came to “Anna in the Telegraph” (whom I assume was Anna Mikhailova, deputy political editor). Again, The Daily Telegraph may not be to one’s liking but in a superb piece of “dog with a bone” journalism, the reporter specifically referred back to Newton Dunn’s earlier query as to whether Raab had spoken to the PM that day.


The Foreign Secretary had to admit that he had last spoken to Johnson on Saturday.

Bombshell.

                                                            ------
If a Government cannot be trusted about the state of the leader of the country during a national crisis, then how seriously can people take its other statements including the importance of staying at home, two metre social distancing or other potentially lifesaving public health announcements?
                                                                                ---------


Remember, Raab had chaired the Downing St. coronavirus war cabinet meeting that day. If Johnson was being kept fully informed and still in charge of the fight against Covid, surely Raab would have been in contact to report on progress?

One did not need to be a Dr Anthony Fauci (and who would want to be?) to realise that the PM was not nearly as “in good spirits” as Downing St. spin wanted us to believe.

One’s thoughts are with Johnson’s fiancée and family and sincerely hopes that Boris Johnson recovers fully. One appreciates doctor-patient confidentiality in terms of specific details but Downing St.’s deliberate attempt to mislead the public and media about his overall condition is particularly dangerous at this time.

If a Government cannot be trusted about the state of the leader of the country during a national crisis, then how seriously can people take its other statements including the importance of staying at home, two metre social distancing or other potentially lifesaving public health announcements?

With the exception of a wobble last week on the PPE consignment from China, our own Government plus CMO, Dr Tony Holohan, have played a blinder. Messaging in general seems to be transparent and honest.


The wobble occurred when the HSE appeared to be trying to gloss over the percentage of the Chinese PPE shipment which was unfit for purpose. The Sunday Business Post, deputy editor, Susan Mitchell (surely a candidate for an award for her Covid reporting when we get back to such fripperies?) revealed that – HSE we have a problem.  

Lack of transparency is a mistake. Don’t treat the public as idiots. It is aware that Ireland, a tiny country, is competing against powerful, rich nations for scarce PPE resources. It would have accepted that 30% of the shipment was Christmas cracker quality but that efforts were being made to resolve the situation with the Chinese Ambassador and supplier.

And speaking of the need for transparency, Dunnes Stores did itself no favours when according to The Irish Times it did not respond to Conor Pope’s request (The Irish Times, Monday, April 6th) to outline what actions it was taking to protect staff and shoppers from the virus.


Musgrave (parent of SuperValu and Centra), Tesco, Aldi and Lidl all responded fully with details of its precautions. At a time when people are afraid to visit supermarkets, Dunnes’ reported failure to do so and its traditional disdain for PR is not good enough in the current environment.

Speaking of Tom Newton Dunn, it’s worth repeating his tweet from Monday. “Thus ends another extraordinary, harrowing and difficult day in journalism. All of us working on newspapers at the moment are doing our level best to provide trusted information about the #covid19 crisis. Please support our industry and #buyapaper.”
​

And remember, you can have your paper delivered.

 


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Oh no Jeremy Corbyn - who the hell is doing your PR?

28/11/2019

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Jeremy Corbyn’s car crash interview with Andrew Neil (BBC) will become a classic in media training courses on how not to do it. Following on so quickly from Prince Andrew’s plane crash with Emily Maitlis, it means that media trainers are now spoilt for choice of interview cock ups.

Corbyn’s stubborn refusal to apologise for the Labour Party’s treatment of Jews (including its own members) despite being asked the question four times by Neil, displays not only an ignorance of basic media training, but more seriously, a total lack of empathy with the victims.  Such a situation would never have been allowed to transpire under the watch of former Labour communications guru, Alistair Campbell, ironically fired out of the party.

Corbyn has been accused of not necessarily being the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. According to Wikipedia he achieved two A-Levels at grade E, the lowest-possible passing grade, before leaving school at 18. But this is no excuse. The rules of crisis management are not complicated.

If you cock up, as Labour clearly has in relation to its alleged acceptance of and slow response to antisemitism, then the rules are that a) you apologise immediately and fully, and b) you promise to take every step possible to fix the problem.

___________
"Corbyn has been accused of not necessarily being the brightest bulb
on the Christmas tree."   
_____________________


And it must not be one of those regularly trotted out, mealy mouthed apologies on the lines of “If I did wrong then I’m sorry for any offence I may have caused” which is probably worse than no apology at all as it fails to display any remorse or sincerity.

As Jess Phillips, Labour candidate for Birmingham Yardley, said to The Times, “The only response to the Chief Rabbi that is moral is, I’m sorry and I’ll do whatever I possibly can to win back your community’s trust.”

The great irony is that if Labour at this time had almost any other leader (including by the way, the aforementioned Jess Phillips) they would probably walk the election. Especially as a more centrist, less Communist leaning leader might have been able to tone down some of the excessive spending pledges in the Labour manifesto.

A YouGov/The Times poll found this week that 56% of voters believe that Labour promises are unaffordable. Only 17% have confidence in their affordability. David Smith, economics editor of The Sunday Times, memorably described Labour as “fiscally incontinent”.

Yet since the last election Labour has been ignoring an open goal and happily larruping the ball into the stands. The UK has suffered 10 years of Tory austerity, public sector (including NHS) decimation, been responsible (for selfish party-political reasons) for a disastrous Brexit referendum and has torn itself and the country apart in the process.

During this time the Tories have become “Brexit Party Lite”, abandoned the centre and slung out or alienated reasonable one nation Tories such as Ken Clark, Michael Heseltine, Anna Soubry, Sir Nicholas “bonhomie” Soames and many others.

Any half sensible, half coherent, reasonably left of centre opposition should be chortling all the way to Number 10, rather than the Tories waltzing to a potential 68 seat majority (YouGov-MRP poll for The Times).

Especially as the Government is now led by a Pinocchio type figure who won’t/can’t even admit how many children he has, and who said he would “die in a ditch” if Britain didn’t leave the EU on the 31st October.

Mr Johnson has promised that he will get a deal done and completed by the end of 2020 – a timetable which has been declared unrealistic, not only by international trade experts but by Michel Barnier.  If he doesn’t get an agreement, Johnson has pledged that on no account will he will extend the transition period, leaving the only option as a crash out with no deal.

The only positive is that Johnson’s primary personal, party and national objective and motivation from the beginning has been to clamber his way into and stay in Number 10. If his tenure at Downing St is made easier by breaking another promise to the British people (and incidentally to Nigel Farage), is he really going to lose much sleep?

After all, he has form and has “ditched” promises before.

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My name is Ronnie and I’m an iPhone addict (or eight reasons why I suffered cold turkey in the Algarve)

27/8/2018

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With ten days left on my Algarve holiday, my iPhone 6, after being dropped a few too many times, finally succumbed to the same state as Monty Python’s parrot.
​
You never fully appreciate things until you have to do without them. The following are eight reasons why I ended up suffering cold turkey in the Algarve.
 

1. Email
As a sole trader I check my business email three or four times a day while on holiday. It is sooo convenient to access Outlook at a restaurant or bar rather than having to trek back to the apartment and boot up the laptop.
 

2. Radio
I’m an avid radio listener, especially as we don’t have TV access in our apartment. It was a huge loss not to be able to access the TuneIn Radio app for home news or the BBC Radio iPlayer app for UK news programmes, drama, comedy or whatever floats your boat.
 

3. Dictionary
One of my habits on holiday is to head out for poached eggs on toast in the morning with a Portuguese language book or newspaper. Relaxing over a fresh orange juice and coffee I use the Collins dictionary on my iPhone to help increase my Portuguese vocabulary. With the deceased iPhone I had to carry around a physical dictionary which didn’t have anywhere near the capacity of my online version.
 

4. WhatsApp
Without access to WhatsApp I was unable to annoy friends and family at home with endless photos of charcoal grilled prawns, €2.50 pints of Sagres and €2 Euro bucket size glasses of vinho tinto.
 

5. Audiobooks
I’m a big “Just William” fan. And no, it’s not just for kids. The William audiobooks narrated by the superb Martin Jarvis are one of life’s great pleasures. If you haven’t already done so, treat yourself to one of them on iTunes or whatever your operating system poison is.
 

6. Video and camera
Near the end of my holiday I did a cruise along the gorgeous Algarve coast (35 degrees as it happens that day). We passed within yards of a “pirate” ship – just one of a number of fantastic seascapes I wish I’d had my iPhone video and camera for.
 

7. Fantasy Football
With the new season approaching fast I was unable to spend time selecting my squad. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
 
Despite Roy Keane’s words muttering in your ear, you don’t really want to be cooped up in your apartment with your laptop in 35 degrees heat working out the higher mathematics of how to afford Salah, Aguero, Kane, Mane, Firmino and David Silva. (It’s not possible unless the rest of the team consists bargain basement, unlikely to play reserve players from promoted clubs).
 

8. Music
From Spotify playlists to downloaded CDs, I was without my music fix for 10 days.
 
Strangely perhaps, the only thing I didn’t miss was phone calls.
 
For almost everything else the iPhone is central to my life.
​And now I truly appreciate just how much.
 

 

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First water – now I call on Government to pay for my consumption of Guinness out of general taxation

6/3/2018

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Once again, we see the folly of the economically illiterate left attack (later backed by Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail) on water charges and metering.

There is little doubt that people running taps during Emmageddon contributed to reservoirs being depleted. Burst water mains obviously had an impact but the wasteful running of taps by some households exacerbated the situation.

This has led to current water restrictions in the Greater Dublin area which #IrishWater says could last for “the foreseeable future”. Some Dublin listeners to The Pat Kenny Show (#PKNT) reported no water supply at all.

If folks were being monitored and charged for excessive running of taps, it is unlikely we would have had the current water problem to the same extent.

It is worth remembering that when metering was installed and charges were being made, water demand reduced significantly as householders became more careful.

Because of the economically illogical elimination of household water charges, an essential service, which requires huge investment,  must once again take its place at the back of the queue when general taxation is being distributed.

I’m thinking of running for the Dail on a platform that Government should pay for my weekly consumption of Guinness.

But how will we fund this you ask? No problem. This will be paid for out of general taxation. I already pay handsomely into Government coffers through income tax, PRSI, USC, VAT, property charges etc.

In effect, I’m being forced to pay twice for my Guinness.

But surely my consumption of Guinness is likely to increase if I get it for free?

You betcha.

I might even take a bath in it.

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Brexit PRexit - Theresa May’s predicament  

27/3/2017

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One of the biggest failings of thankfully a small number of PR agencies is to over promise at pitch time. This may win new business but eventually leads to dissatisfied clients as the agency fails to meet expectations.

Political parties are guilty of the same sin and often end up with a kicking at a subsequent election. Labour’s infamous pre-election “Every little hurts” and “Labour’s way or Frankfurt’s way” eventually led to its implosion.

Managing expectations is a key component of retaining client and voter confidence. I’ve always held the view that I would prefer not to win business on the basis of unsustainable promises. This has undoubtedly cost me business but helped me to sleep easier at nights.

The Brexit campaign will go down in political history as a massive exercise in over promises and arguably blatant lies to the electorate. The cynical claim that the £350 million a week spent on EU membership would go towards the NHS was abandoned within hours of the referendum result. Rather than saving money it now looks like the UK will have to contribute anything up to £60 billion just to extract itself from EU obligations.

Once elected leader, Theresa May had the opportunity to dampen down expectations. From the blitz to present day terrorist atrocities, the British people have demonstrated an admirable ability to respond bravely and stoically to adversity. Churchill in his “we’ll fight them on the beaches” and other speeches did not underestimate the challenge facing the British people in World War Two.
May had an opportunity to start to manage expectations by saying, “Look, Brexit negotiations will be tough, there will be setbacks, we won’t get everything we’re looking for but long term Britain will be a better place.”

Instead, perhaps running scared of the Tory press and anti EU wing of the Conservative party, she talked about a “Red, white and blue” Brexit. In her Lancaster House speech on 17th January 2017 she referred to the need to control EU immigration while at the same time advocating a free trade agreement which would “allow for the freest possible trade in goods and services between Britain and the EU’s member states… on the export of cars and lorries for example, or the freedom to provide financial services across national borders”.

Good luck with that Theresa. On the latter front many City financial institutions already seem to be voting with their feet and implementing plans to export jobs to EU capitals. The Brexit cheerleading Tory media such as The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail has lauded the strong performance of the British economy over the last year in terms of employment, growth and a booming stock market.
But the fact is that the UK has not yet left the EU and already Brexit is starting to have a negative impact.

UK growth has largely been supported by consumer confidence. But the fall in the value in sterling has led to inflation which will reduce consumer spending. As Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Markit pointed out (The Daily Telegraph, 24th March): “The economy’s persistent resilience since last June’s Brexit vote has been largely built on consumers keeping on spending.

“With consumers now seemingly moderating their spending, the long anticipated slowdown in the economy looks set to materialise, unless other sectors can make significantly increased contributions”.

In the same newspaper the same day (yes some of us still read newspapers) Lord Wolfson, Next’s chief executive said that it had already raised shop prices by 4% to offset higher import costs from a weaker pound and that he expected prices to rise again by the same amount in the second half of the year. Reporter Ashley Armstrong adds, “he cautioned that this would weigh further on shoppers’ demand”.

Oliver Kamm reported in The Times (March 23) “Brexit has yet to be triggered but the poor are already suffering”.

He said, “Almost everyone in Britain is poorer than they were exactly nine months ago, on the day of the Brexit referendum.

“As the prime minister triggers Article 50…it is vital that policymakers be realistic not only on the prospect for trade deals but also about the challenges facing the domestic economy.”
​
This lack of realism is at the heart of Theresa May’s PRexit problem. A good rule of thumb to retain voter confidence is to under promise and over deliver. May and her three Brexiteer ministers seem to have adopted the opposite approach. At the moment they are protected by a Labour party civil war and unelectable leadership. But Jeremy Corbyn won’t be Labour leader forever.
Ends

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Could water political football turn into Fianna Fail’s “own goal”?

27/9/2016

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Just when you thought that Fianna Fail under Micheal Martin might have learned the errors of its previous populist policies, it now appears that they are against water charges. The critical need for investment in our creaking (and leaking) water and sewage system is to be funded out of “general taxation”.

This means that, as in the past, water will have to join the queue behind health, social welfare, education and Ministerial favoured constituency sweet spots. Neither will Irish Water be able to borrow for critically required investment funds. Good luck with that.

To be fair to much maligned Labour, Brendan Howlin appears to have taken a more responsible attitude expressing the need for some form of charging. This despite the pressure it faces on water charges from the spend and soak “the rich” far left. The rich in this country, based on the level at which they reach the top level of tax, is defined astonishingly at those earning €33,800.


As The Irish Times recently pointed out: “A high personal tax take has adverse consequences. High marginal rates reduce the incentive for individuals to work and, for the State, they undermine competitiveness. They make it harder to retain Irish employees with portable skills or to attract workers from abroad. Someone on a €75,000 salary in Ireland pays 21 per cent more in tax than his or her counterpart in the UK.”


The Irish Independent reported this week that Irish Water will need almost €300m in additional State funding to make up the cost of suspending water charges. “Additional State funding” translates as those already clobbered by high taxes paying even more.

Fianna Fail is hoping that its record of recklessly steering the economy onto the rocks will be forgiven (or forgotten) by the electorate. Martin has implemented classic PR tactics by apologising and implying that it won’t happen again. The danger is that its U-Turn on water may well act as a reminder and warning to a doubtful public that the leopard can’t or won’t change its spots.

If Fianna Fail leads the next Government (not inevitable if a straight talking Leo can drag Fine Gael out of the 19th into the 21st century) then it looks as if:
  1. We face further increases in taxation to pay for water or
  2. Our water and sewage system deteriorates to the extent that more citizens, as in a third world country, have to queue with buckets and basins at water tankers.


The impact of water on the economy goes far beyond basic health but has a direct impact on jobs through FDI and tourism.

It really is high time that some politicians stopped using water as a political football. Those that fail to do so may find that water turns into the ultimate own goal.

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Barry Cowen plays with fire on water

3/3/2016

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God love him, Barry Cowen couldn’t help himself. Like the England rugby team pre Stuart Lancaster, he displayed that innate Fianna Fail arrogance that Micheal Martin had gamely tried to damp down.
Water charges would be a red-line issue for Fianna Fail harrumphed Cowen on Prime Time, alarmingly sounding more and more like the brother. This despite the fact that Fianna Fail had not yet met to agree on any red lines. What’s more, he confirmed to the Irish Independent, that those who had paid their water charges would not be recompensed.
This from the party which planned to introduce water charges pre Troika at a cost to households of €500 a year. FF changed its mind later when it consulted its inbuilt populism monitor (remember the abolition of rates and the mess that caused?). Cue middle Ireland wondering whether they should pay the next water bill and being mocked by a non-payer on Joe Duffy’s Liveline that they would be naïve if they did.
                                                                        -----------
               The resentment caused by this will make the medical card debacle look                                                                  like Pyjama Day by comparison
                                                                       -------------
Meanwhile Simon Coveney in his car crash interview on Prime Time appeared to leave the door open to water charges being abolished if it helped FG get back into Government. What will also alarm and infuriate middle Ireland was that when asked if FG would talk to Sinn Fein he did not, as he should have, kick the ball into row Z, but said they (SF) would not talk to them. This perhaps due to his dear leader’s earlier ambiguous statement that he would talk to anyone.
So we have the situation that law abiding middle Ireland faces the prospect of being screwed again while FG and FF play power games to position themselves not so much for this Dail but the next.
Barry Cowen as well as FG are playing with fire. If either, in the raw pursuit of power, causes water charges to be abolished without compensation then the great silent majority will be crouching in the long grass with sharpened machetes. The resentment caused by this will make the medical card debacle look like Pyjama Day by comparison.
Due to cynical political failure from the beginning of Irish Water, we face once again third world water provision. Meanwhile pensioners lie unattended on trollies and the poor and well as middle income earners are being priced out of accommodation.
What a country. New party anyone?

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December 31st, 1969

15/1/2016

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    A blog about PR, football and politics

    Ronnie has been watching the Irish soccer team since he was a kid and caught two buses in to Dalymount Park. He believes that  a) politics today is mostly about PR and b) Irish and UK politics is far more entertaining than Ireland under Trapattoni or Martin O'Neill.

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