From the Styx: Merry Christmas, My Arse!

From the Styx: Merry Christmas, My Arse!: “ Unfortunately ?” Is that your only response Kathleen Lynch! How dare you! How dare you commit these women to a lousy Christmas; how dare...

Merry Christmas, My Arse!

“Unfortunately?” Is that your only response Kathleen Lynch! How dare you! How dare  you commit these women to a lousy Christmas; how dare you denigrate their efforts of decorating and preparing for a nice communal Christmas, which would have meant so much to their sense of being, and incarcerate them in a locked ward. Shortage of Nurses, my arse! The only thing there is a shortage of is compassion. Where and with whom will you or James Reilly be spending your Christmas, and will the room be locked? I don’t think so; you and your boss have displayed a total lack of compassion and empathy with the plight of these women. Why did you and James Reilly not instruct the HSE to rescind this heartless decision? Could Enda not have delay the appointment of his ‘new’ advisor for a couple of weeks and use the money to recruit nurses and carers for these women, even for the Christmas period? It seems your government does not do compassion. Your latest two attacks against the disabled — the marginalised and the vulnerable — are the harsh emblem of an uncaring government that has forgotten the basics of respect and parity of esteem. “Unfortunately!” that word will come back to haunt you; indeed haunt might be the operative word, isn’t it Ebenezer Scrooge Time? Yet even he could turn in time and grant the benefice of a Merry Christmas.

What is it with Sinead O’Connor?

I have just read an article on the blog Sinead O’Connor-Now. What is it with her? Most times in her wayward way she hits the nail on the head. Read the article yourself. See if, like me, you find yourself agreeing with the case she makes. See if you answer YES to the questions raised. 

Do we need a spiritual reawaking in this country?

In the absence of real political, NATIONAL leadership do we need our sleeping troubadours to hit the roads with their protest songs and their poems for the disadvantaged?

Do we need to reach back to that touchstone of Nationhood which we have buried in the rubble of civic demolition and Celtic tiger quarries, out of which only the poison of Pyrite is notable?

And 

Do we need, once and for all, to cut out the semantic shite of the guarded State and the religious orders in this country and teach them what sorry really means; teach them what justice really means; teach them what recompense really means; and more importantly, teach them the true meaning of the Beatitudes?

If fifty per cent of you answers YES to two of these questions and the other fifty per cent of you answers YES to the other two questions, then it is time for a real debate. Not the now-speak ‘conversation’ which is currently ‘going forward’ and getting nowhere; but a genuine, all embracing, no-holds-barred debate about who we really are as a people and where we want to get to. (I know the last sentence finishes on a preposition but English is not Latin and Ireland is NOT Rome and we are supposed to be a Sovereign People.)

So, as to Sinead O’Connor? Well, you started it.