Dust in your Eyes: War and its Image

The bomb might be dropped any time soon now, apparently. The end of all ends, a nuclear war, looms among the narratives of where Ukraine and Russia’s war might end. Timothy Snyder warns in this regard that a nuclear bomb ‘would make no decisive military difference’; adding that looking at ‘the mushroom cloud for narrative … Read more

Podcast: Italian Election Special

In our latest podcast Frank Armstrong is joined by Massimiliano Galli and Daniele Idini to digest the result of the recent Italian general election. This has resulted in a resounding victory for a Right or ‘Far Right’ coalition composed of The Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) led by Giorgia Meloni, League (Lega) currently under the … Read more

Italy: Is Super Mario’s Party Over?

Mario Draghi’s ‘technocratic’ government has fallen, or so we’ve heard. Now it feels like we are facing into the most important election in generations. According to the latest polls, a (far-) right coalition is on the brink of power. The spectre of international interference, especially coming from the East is (again) on the front pages … Read more

The Fog of Law

You enter here a taut quintet Where theorists can shift or shape How we make sense of market flow; How men and how it’s mostly men, Explain the ways our commerce works. No Flash of insight, more a slow Encroachment that in turn creates Our understanding how by stealth New certainties of common sense Construe … Read more

The Brick Wall: Access to Justice

I’m living in cloud cuckoo land And this just feels like Spinning plates Radiohead, Like Spinning Plates, Amnesiac 2001. Ten years on from the Irish Banking Crisis and the subsequent taxpayer funded bailouts, how are we faring in term of regulating the financial sector? In view of the possibility of another property bubble, it is … Read more

Housing: A Banker Speaks Out

It is often said the current Irish housing crisis is mainly the result of a lack of supply of new houses; a supply that slowed down and never really fully recovered following the burst of the property bubble in 2008. Developers lament a lack of initiative in governments past and present; housing plans replace one … Read more