PinnedMember-onlyThe name… Heber, my name.It’s a subject that has defined my life more than anything else. My name. Names affect us all and the world around us, here’s why and how I feel about my own name. I’m not a boy named Sue, but a lad called Heber. My Father is a great…Names6 min readNames6 min read
Published inAn Idea (by Ingenious Piece)·May 25, 2022Member-onlyWhy antiques matter today more than ever.Living history and recycling matters today, more than ever before. Why? You look around the debris of our throw away society and all of the massive waste that features with mass production, planned obsolescence and relatively speaking: low production costs. …Antique4 min readAntique4 min read
Published inILLUMINATION·Jan 19, 2022Member-onlyThe mysticism of the Irish LanguageWhen a language is lost, the feeling it shaped within all of its speakers, is lost too. This is not something we can quantify or qualify, but as languages are products of cultures developing, how we give articulation to our thoughts matters. Language matters. …Language6 min readLanguage6 min read
Jan 6, 2022Member-onlyThe boredom of the “useful” Medium articleMedium’s writers need to stop promoting their own ‘tricks’ to earning big money on Medium. On Medium, there is a wide range of articles on many different topics. Some are deeply personal, fascinating, well researched, factual and others, from my experience, just seem to be focused on selling medium itself. …Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Published inAn Idea (by Ingenious Piece)·May 15, 2021Member-onlyAre you for Red or Green Mars?The recent conclusion of Apple TV’s “For all Mankind” highlighted the potential for war in space. Yeah, you read that right. Space wars. So without giving spoilers of the excellent series, I’d like to take a moment to discuss space policy and what means for us going forward. I will…Mars8 min readMars8 min read
Published inILLUMINATION·May 14, 2021Member-onlyShould the super wealthy be taxed or not?The world's 10 richest people made $540bn in a year - we need a greed tax | Arwa Mahdawi 13,000,000,000. If all those 000s are making your eyes go funny, I'll spell it out: thirteen billion. That's how much…www.theguardian.com About now we are facing the idea of some entering a ‘four commas’ club, ie. Trillionaires. More wealth than we can imagine, more than Standard Oil of its day or Amazon today.Economics4 min readEconomics4 min read
Published inILLUMINATION·May 13, 2021Member-onlyHow the clash between John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek has defined modern economies.Economics is sometimes said to be a question of morality, not the mechanics of decision-making behaviour. The clash the titans of economics, Hayek and Keynes, has been central to defining economic policy as morally based. To spend more in a time of need to feed the poor or to let…Economics18 min readEconomics18 min read
Published inILLUMINATION·Apr 19, 2021Member-onlyElection monitors during COVID-19A couple of words on the status of overseas election monitoring from Ireland’s perspective. In 2020, I noticed that there were over fifty different parliamentary questions on many separate occasions about Ireland’s overseas election monitors. These volunteer roles were seen as non-essential and were stopped during the lockdown on public…Elections3 min readElections3 min read
Apr 19, 2021Member-onlyAn abundance of caution and a scarcity of common sense.These are the factors that are influencing Ireland’s current policy towards the COVID pandemic, in my opinion. A lack of ‘cop on’. At present, a facts based public policy based needs to happen. “Reasonable risks” There are several vaccines, being used to combat the COVID 19 pandemic. Their names will be fixed…Covid-195 min readCovid-195 min read
Published inILLUMINATION·Mar 18, 2021Member-onlyJoe Says NoYesterday was St. Patrick’s day. The great and glorious international celebration of the grassroots, shamrocks, and greenery of Irish diplomacy. A privileged position. Around the world, despite an international pandemic, this day was marked. In green. When we consider the 193 countries around the world whose national days are…St Patricks Day5 min readSt Patricks Day5 min read
