Energy prices to be cut

The Commission on Energy Regulation has just delivered the good news that gas and electricity prices are to be cut - 10% in ESB PES Tariffs, 12% in Bord Gáis Tariffs (on average). And about time too.

Shame the commission's website isn't up to date - all the "click heres" go nowhere. Here's the source anyway, hopefully details of precisely when these price cuts will take effect will be added later.

Down With That Sort Of Thing is up and away

Last Wednesday, after another day of protests in Dublin, I decided to start a new blog - Down With That Sort Of Thing. We're living in uncertain, uneasy and unusual times, particularly in Ireland where we're all coming down to earth after the heady days of the "boom-time noughties (or naughties as I like to call them). I'm in a fairly unique position given I work on the corner of Nassau St and Dawson St and over the past few months have had many days interupted by various groups of angry protesteres making their way to government buildings. 

It's not going to be political, it's not going to be from any particular point of view other than my office window. Hopefully it will serve these purposes: 1. to document the protests/strikes happening in Ireland, 2. to provide useful information in advance of protests/strikes (e.g. if there's a bus strike, what services are affected etc), 3. to help me satisfy some of this blogging bug I've picked up at the Irish Blog Awards last weekend.

http://www.downwiththatsortofthing.com/

Fianna Fáil epic fail

On Tuesday I signed up for a talk to be given by Joe Rospars from Blue State Digital, New Media Director of the Obama Presidential campaign. I found out about it via Damien Mulley on Twitter & through Maman Poulet's blog & for me, that was a pretty good endorsement.

Off I went last night & was surprised on arrival to see so many suits & handshakes - alarm bell #1. Lights were dimmed & then the Fianna Fail homepage was beamed on the screen - alarm now going ninety. Joe was introduced by Damien Blake of Strawberry Media, at whose site I had signed up for the event. Text on strawberrymedia.ie:

"Joe will be discussing the lessons of the Obama campaign, how it can be applied in other fields, and will take a Q&A on his talk. Attendance at the seminar is free."

If I had dug further I should have copped Damien is actually Councillor Damien Blake, Fianna Fail. Lovely. So then Joe gave his short talk about the Obama campaign & the floor opened to questions. Most were from FF councillors & election candidates of which my favourite was along the lines of 'we have politicians with great charisma so how do we get it out there via the Internet?" Rospars spoke about how you need to plant the idea of the website being central into the minds of all FF members, right from the very top in order for it to work. This proved to have failed when his piece ended with telling Damien Blake that this was the point where he should give outo the web and email address to everyone to which Mr.Blake replied (paraphrasing here) "well if that's the only thing I've forgotten all day I'm doing fine". Was he even listening to Rospars for the 30mins previous? Not to mind any of the background work they've presumably been doing together?

Words that were repeated throughout Joe's speech and responses were "transparency", "relationship buildling" & "conversation". Afterwards, Mr.Blake spoke to Darragh Doyle and myself and when it was put to him that it wasn't very clever or nice to dupe people into going to what was clearly a Fianna Fail event he said "if people knew it was a FF event they mightn't have come". So you've lost some of the respect & trust of bloggers, journalists & others who attended innocent to the FF element of the event but you're probably happy that you'll have people talking about it anyway? He agreed. 

So the image of "sneaky FF" lives on. They're never going to change from what I see & Blue State Digital have their work cut out for them. Transparency? Failed at the first hurdle. Building relationships? I have my doubts. I felt cheated & lied to last night and came out with more disdain for FF & all involved than any hope of real dialogue with the people of Ireland. 

Epic fail. There's more about it here at Maman Poulet (who also attended), Mulley Communications, Irish Times coverage (overheard them requesting permission to record for podcast, haven't seen it so far) & conversation on Twitter.

Transport cuts - who cares?!

Following on from a post at An Spáilpin Fánach regarding the rather quiet coverage of the job cuts at CIE, I decided to have a look around to find out what routes and services would be affected. So far I haven't found very much.

Dublin Bus website: 

CIE website:

So are we going to be finding out the hard way by being left at the bus stop for an hour longer? And what about timetables? The annual re-print was only distributed in the past few weeks, will another lump of cash will have to be doled out on re-printing the? If CIE don't seem to be bothered about the cut-backs how the heck do we expect their customers or the media to be? 

Doing my unpatriotic duty

There's been a lot of talk about shopping "up north" to save some cash this Christmas season. One tells us to tighten our belts and "shop around", the other says we need to spend & spend locally. Is anyone listening? Few, I hope.

I usually buy Irish. I understand the benefits for businesses, their employees & ultimately the country as a whole. But when the pennies are tight & unemployment is rising towards the 10% mark, I'm being more choosey about where I spend my money like many others. A huge amount of personal debt has been accumulated by Irish people in the boom times. I have friends who have borrowed to go on holidays, bought everything from car insurance to spray tans to rounds of booze on their credit cards with interest rates of 15%+. Thankfully, most of them didn't go that step further & buy property they didn't need. I can't help but see similarities between the housing market "normalisation" & what's happening in the retail sector. A lot of the people in trouble with their mortgages were living beyond their means when they bought property on 110% mortages in their 20s when prices were inflated beyond reason. It's a similar story when it comes to the day to day spends - buying stuff we didn't need on easy credit. I'm delighted to see that people are copping on and getting wiser with their money, even if it is a case of one man's meat is another man's poison.

On Monday, I took my Xmas booklist to Easons to do a quick price comparison. 4 of the 6 books I wanted were in stock & totalled around €58. Later I did the same on Amazon, got all 6 books for around €45 including delivery. And today they arrived in pristine condition in plenty time for Xmas. I guess the thousands of us who shop online are as unpatriotic as the throngs going to Newry, but at least we've a bit more sense. If you want to save yourself some cash & some stress & don't mind losing some patriot points, shop online this Xmas.

Protest City

A lively day in Dublin 2. From AA Roadwatch website:

"Updated: 22/10/2008 12:13:28
*MAIN TRAFFIC* * Kildare St & Molesworth St are closed off in advance of a protest taking place outside the Dáil. The area should be avoided as there are very large crowds in attendance. Traffic is heavy on Leeson St from before the Canal on to St Stephens Green, Dawson St and Nassau St. Also very slow from College Green. * Also very slow on Pearse St approaching the South Quays. * A second protest will take place from 2pm, assembling at Parnell Sq and then traveling down O'Connell St, D’Olier St, College Green and Nassau St, before marching up Dawson St, Molesworth St and arriving at the Dail on Kildare St. Expect delays along the entire route. "

Positive effects of the Recession & Budget 08

I don't like to dwell on the negative, so here's some positives you may experience as a result of the economic recession and yesterday's Budget.

1. Packed lunches are in fashion - you're no longer the "tight" one in the office, you're just belt-tightening in 2 ways: saving some cash while eating healthier, call it "saving pounds and euros"
   
2. Cycle to work - yep, some tax savings or something to that effect if you cycle to work
3. Ditch the Land Rover/Quashquai/Rav4 - hopefully the increase in motor tax & petrol prices coupled with the squeeze on credit and cash will reduce the ridiculous number of off-road monster trucks on the roads of Ireland & help make cycling safer and less smelly
   
4. Join your local Credit Union - say fuck you the banks who got us into this mess and start a new savings habit in the local CU
5. Kick the fags - if you won't do it for your health, do it for your pocket. If you're comfortable with setting fire to one €10 note for every pack of smokes you go through, then keep smoking - makes you doubly thick.
6. Cut down on the vino - or else, like me, drink more vino. Let the publicans who were untouched by the budget out in the cold by buying crates of decent wine and get drunk at home. After all, taxi fares & restaurant eating will be going up too so going out is going out of fashion.
   

Recession edition

A lovely Google Ad nestled into the middle of David McWilliams homepage. The Credit
Institutions (Financial Support) Bill 2008 is now online. A potentially useful purchase - "How I lived on a pound a day" by Kath Kelly, one of few people who may benefit from said recession. BBC have a dummy's guide to recessionary terminology online.

Thought-provoking quotes:

"The choice is between a recession, which is already here, and a depression, which might be around the corner. It couldn’t be more simple or more stark." - David McWilliams.

"For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been deposed, some slain in war;
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;...(it goes on here)" - Eddie Hobbs.

"In a recession, one must sparkle!" - Mary O'Rourke.