Wherein I Give my Thoughts on the Referendum….
Right so I had avoided posting about this until today because unlike previous EU referenda I have been less engaged with the campaign for various reasons.
There are three things I would like to discuss.
Firstly, with regard to the campaign, I have been less than pleased by the campaign tactics of either side. The No camp in particular I think have tried to engage people to reject the proposal not on its merits but simply as a means to ‘reject’ government and EU policy with regard to the economic crisis. As with any referendum, that is simply dishonest and misleading, particularly to people who have suffered most with regard to public service cutbacks. The government itself has not been immune from poor campaign tactics, particularly the whole ‘yes for growth thing’ which i find hard to swallow.
Secondly, Sinn Féin have an interesting challenge on its hands, the class divide (which in Ireland has always been blurry at best) has appeared to have solidified. What is evident from the voting patterns is that working class urban voters have decisively rejected the treaty, this could provide electoral fodder for the party at the expense of Fianna Fáil and Labour. The challenge for Sinn Féin however is to mobilize this potentail support to actually vote. Turnout was abysmally low in the areas that voted no, under 40% in some places.
Finally, with regard to the treaty itself it means that no future government can rack up debt as a means of short term funding for political gain (as Fianna Fail did in 1977), it also means that we will have to face the reality that if we want quality public services we need to be able to fund it ourselves. (Personally, I would have like to have seen a provision where the commission could intervene to ‘advise’ governments if it is seen that a large proportion of tax receipts were coming from an unsustainable source (e.g. an inflated housing market). The cap on government debts is a start (and should have been implemented as per the original Eurozone framework) but for this to be totally successful we need two more elements.
Firstly, direct capital investment from the EU to finance public spending projects across the EU, with particular focus on the PIIGS. This, hopefully, will spur growth by generating employment, particularly in the sectors worst hit by the economic crash. The first signs of this are starting to emerge with Francois Hollande pushing for growth measures at an EU level. Secondly, there needs to be an acceptance at EU level (particularly in Germany) for the need for closer fiscal integration, up to the point of Eurobonds and direct ECB funding for banks.
And that’s it.
Sweden wins Eurovision → 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012
This is the gayest thing I have ever seen and I love it.
I had a massive flashback to a memory I had completely forgotten today.
I was listening to the radio while reading and this song came on, I suddenly had a very strong sense of association with my grandmother. As amazing as she was, I dont think she an avid Pet-Shop Boys fan! My mam came in and I asked her if she remembered this song, as soon as she started explaining it all came back to me.
We were on holidays in Kerry, I was about four so it would have been the summer of 1991. The house we were staying in had BBC, which was a huge novelty for me at the time. There was some music programme playing and The Pet-Shop Boys were being interviewed. I have a vague memory of sitting beside nanny (my grandmother) while I was watching this, I was enthralled by the song. My mam says I was trying to sing it before it was over. Nanny could see how much I loved it so the next day she walked to the record shop in the town and bought me the ‘Behavior’ album on casette. We spent the rest of the week listening to it on repeat in the car as we visited the sights!
:’)
Is it any wonder I turned out the way I did?!
Lots of Americans on my dash…..
who are confused about eurovision!
LOL
this was some grade-A white woman bullshit
that entire show was grade-A white woman bullshit tbh
this movie should have just been called “Ugly Americans” though
i think the most histerically hypocritical issue with this bullshit film is that they were actually able to travel to Dubai (right?? am i wrong about the place) AND film the movie AND get actors to act in it—-but then spent half the movie talking shit about how conservative and backward and repressive the culture is? THEN HOW GOES YOU FILMING THAT SHIT.
fucking what? only the enlightened/poor folks showed up to play repressed Brown people in your movie.
As someone who grew up in the UAE (mostly in Dubai but I visited Abu Dhabi several times), this shit is not only racist and disrespectful, it’s wildly exaggerated. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are incredibly cosmopolitan, and if some fool ass white woman dropped her condoms and started going off, most Emirati folk (btw, the UAE is almost 90% expatriate populate, so most of the populance isn’t wearing burqas or dishdashas) would just laugh.
Oh, and btw, in the UAE you can buy condoms in the damn store same as the USA.
Signed,Brown Girl who grew up hot and fashionable and having sex in the UAE.
They weren’t allowed to film in Dubai, but the scenes were filmed in Morocco.
Racist, hypocritical, overly exaggerated ‘humor’ by typical white people. Not surprised.
They also got some Irish slurs in there too, remember the nanny, ‘Erin go braless’
Coz ya know, Irish people are the WORST kind of white.
IRELAND GOT THE FINAL ENVELOPE
Eurovision semi-final tonight! I felt I should post this video, I’m not sure if it’s my all time favorite but it certainly had an impact on me watching it as an impressionable 9 year old!
Goddamn those Swedes and their ability to produce amazing electro-pop!
I Think…
a big problem with Tumblr is that a lot of people take themselves far too seriously.
