2007 July | David McWilliams

July 29th, 2007
Time has come to face up to the immigration dilemma

Immigration is not just an economic problem, it is cultural, and the Irish government has to make strong choices as to what direction it wants to take when it comes to policies.
July 25th, 2007
Rich man, poor man divide merely breeds seething society of discontent

Do you ever feel that despite your salary rising over the past few years, you are being passed over financially? Or do you feel poor on a wage that you might have been very happy with a few years back? If so, you are not alone.
July 22nd, 2007
We think like Europeans, but spend like Americans

The inexorable fall of the dollar has exposed the inconsistency at the heart of Ireland’s economic policy.

If you are thinking about your open-walleted, pre-Christmas assault on Bloomingdales and Saks, the news this week from the international currency markets will lighten your mood.
July 18th, 2007
Paying a high price for daring to mess with the Streisand Generation

Denis Desmond of MCD made one big mistake last weekend: he took on his own generation. The unfortunates who queued up in the mud, fought over tickets and ultimately flipped at the Barbra Streisand concert were not the kids who will tolerate almost any privations at Oxegen, they were their parents. These were the same age as Desmond, the promoter, and they won’t stand for this type of shoddy treatment.
July 15th, 2007
A country in denial

Galileo was no saint and was partial to a fair bit of carousing.

But he was the father of experimental science, the sharpest thinker of his time, a great debater and a dismissive polemicist.
July 11th, 2007
Hard to credit we should be grateful to banks for having us in their debt

1977 was the year the Sex Pistols burst onto the scene, introducing Punk to an astounded public and reinforcing the generation gap by giving two fingers to the establishment.
July 9th, 2007
HiBrits – Ireland’s loss England’s gain

The 7.55 am Ryanair FR442 takes off on time, bound for Liverpool. Out past the suburbs, over the giant steel and chrome motorway slug of commuting morning traffic on the M1 and straight across the Irish Sea. It is only thirty five minutes to John Lennon International which is not enough time for even Ryanair to sell you something.
July 8th, 2007
World’s financial community gives two fingers to the US

Investors can now see through the Americans’ game. Since 2000, the US has been playing a big game of IOU with the rest of the world. They spend more than they save, and they’re asking us to bridge the gap.
On the day the Irish media was focused on the consummation of the Fianna Fail/Green Party [...]