DEMOCRACY: The origin of the word is Greek, meaning “rule by the people”. Aristotle ranked Democracy as the third-best form of government, after aristocracy and monarchy. Democracy is sometimes referred to as “rule of the majority”, Etymological roots of democracy (Greek demos and Kratos) imply that the people are in power and thus that all democracies are participatory….
Tag: Politics
Slow news: Irish government announces ‘climate action plan’
The Government plans to “nudge people and businesses to change behavior” in a bid to tackle climate change. Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton described the plan as “ambitious but realistic”. The plan also includes proposals to eliminate non-recyclable plastic and impose higher fees on the production of materials which are hard…
Taoiseach announces new Citizen’s Assembly on gender equality
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar announces in a tweet that the government is setting up new Citizen’s Assembly on gender equality, saying that equality for women is moving to slow. Mr. Varadkar set the lofty ambitions high aiming to make ‘Ireland the first country in the world in which men and women are truly equal’. The…
Progress is still at a snail’s pace
Recently there have been articles from circulating in the main stream media around the fact gender equality is a long way off from what is considered an ideal parity. This was something that I wrote about for a college assignment that looked at the slowness of gender equality by the numbers. One thing that I…
When too much is too much
The news shapes the world around us, there is no denying the power the role of journalism has played in democracies and non-democracies alike and yet the more I read newspapers the less informed I am starting to feel. Recently, I finished a book called Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes; it is the title…
Understanding local elections part 3: Balbriggan by the numbers
Balbriggan 2019 voting by the numbers.
Understanding local elections: part 2
A quick look at the history of local elections in Ireland.
Understanding local elections: part 1
I wrote a post a couple of weeks back about voting in local elections can be kind of pointless. My reasoning for that was if you wanted something done in your area your local representative, regardless of party affiliations, will do something within their power. A bonus for them is if it’s something easy and…
It starts with a conversation
Debates surrounding climate change or global warming have come to a head. Over the last number of days the group called the Extinction rebellion (XR) have been protesting in different countries from the UK to New York in the hopes to utilise a political movement and guard against human extinction and ecological collapse. Lately I…
Pothole politics
Ireland is having a local election soon. And I have no one I want to vote for. The strangest thing I have found about my local representatives is that it doesn’t matter who is voted in, the party that the politicians do or do not represent is not important and I will tell you why…
