Articles: Irish Economy %

“Hi our FHC on this Sunday. Silly me assumed hairdresser open at 9, and thought the two of us cud go up then. I know very stupid to assume anything about communions. Would anyone know a hairdresser who works on Sundays?? We r in S county Dublin?Thax - Shnoggi” More

Have we learnt nothing? The most depressing – and I mean depressing – news last week was that useless, unproductive houses in upmarket Dublin are now making well over the guide prices at auctions, at a time when useful, productive SMEs are going to the wall for want of credit and working capital. After everything we have been through, this is pathetic. It means that the same banking and property cabal that got us into this mess is flexing its dangerous muscles again. More

A friend of mine, a small business owner, is typical of many thousands of cash-strapped entrepreneurs in Ireland at the moment. More

The forces of austerity are in retreat all around Europe and the world. Let’s make no mistake about what this means. The word ‘austerity’ has come to mean many things, but austerity is shorthand for the European policy of lumbering citizens with the debts of the financial markets and contending that the resulting increase in the national debts is the cause of the problem, rather than the consequence. More

Enda Kenny would cut a dash in a pair of bottle-green, high-waist parallels and a snugly-fitted Bay City Rollers bomber jacket. Or maybe a Robin Gibb, Bee Gees one-piece with the flares up, in which you could hide a six-pack? More

Did you know that divorce is contagious? A recent US study found that divorce can spread through social networks, like a virus, passing among friends, siblings, even people you work with. More

Never mind the likes of Messi, Ronaldo or Drogba; never mind Barcelona, Chelsea or Real. In our house, when it comes to football at the weekends, there is only one team: the Cabinteely FC under-10s. Every Saturday morning, under the watchful eye of Michael, our Scottish manager who is Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and David Moyes rolled into one, we head out from the supermarket car park in Ballybrack, travelling all over Dublin to do battle. More

When all the people you read every week for information are talking about the same report, you know that you should read it. From Paul Krugman on the left to John Mauldin on the right, some of my favourite reads of the week are citing a McKinsey Consulting report on global debt. More

The European debt crisis is moving swiftly to the next phase following the downgrade of France and the collapse of the Greek negotiations with its creditors last Friday night. More

Did your mother ever tell you to be afraid of umbrellas because they could take your eye out? When I was a child, the humble umbrella transformed itself into a weapon of mass destruction in our house capable of all classes of contortions, which would lead directly to poking some misfortunate’s eye out. I have no idea where the fear of the upturned umbrella came from, but someone, somewhere must have seen an eye poked out by the sharp end of a brolly rib – maybe it was my own mother or my granny. But the upshot was excessive caution around
umbrellas. More