Articles: People %


July 27, 2011

Last Saturday night in Split, on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, the local team, Hajduk, hosted the brilliant Barcelona. The omens weren’t good. Earlier that day, storm clouds had swept across the Adriatic from Italy and more rain fell more heavily than any of our seasoned Irish company had ever seen. More

July 20, 2011

IF anything sums up what went wrong with Ireland, it is the saga of Superquinn. On the positive side, if anything shows how we can get out of this mess, it is also the receivership of one of Ireland’s best-known brands. Before looking at the receivership and the implications for the rest of the country, let’s consider for a moment Superquinn. More

May 25, 2011


David Mc Williams watching Obama’s speech in Fallons in the Coombe on Monday afternoon. Photograph by Gabe Murphy.  More

May 18, 2011

One of the funniest afternoons I’ve had in years was going on the lash with Wayne Rooney’s granny a few years back in Croxteth, Liverpool. More

May 16, 2011

Last week was a great week. I have employed a few people and intend to employ a few more every month if things go according to plan. Ireland is full of good people who just need the proverbial ‘start’. More

April 27, 2011

When you leave this country for a few days, you get the distinct impression that we are stuck in a time warp. We aren’t moving on. This is the feeling I got over the weekend in London. More

February 14, 2011

“Faced with the choice between changing our mind and proving the there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy with the proof.” More

January 19, 2011

Once we create a system that allows the person to start again, we facilitate the return of hope. More

January 17, 2011

What is the link between Friday night snogs at a disco, grandfathers talking about cold pigs in winter to grandsons, immigrant children coming up with their own IT ideas, iPods and teenagers standing too close to the speakers at a Green Day concert? More

January 3, 2011

It’s 8.15am on New Year’s Eve. More

Articles: People

I write two economics columns every week. They keep me sane and hopefully, on my toes – but you can be the judge of that! One appears in the Irish Independent on Wednesdays and the other in the Sunday Business Post every Sunday. I’ve been writing the columns for over ten years now, covering economic, financial, demographic, social and geo-political issues – and all sorts of other things that come into my head, sparked by things I’ve read, people I have spoken to or ideas I have heard, over the course of any particular week.

The world - and Ireland - is changing so rapidly that it’s impossible to run out of things to write about. Since I rarely stop writing, the articles are composed and written in the oddest of places, in bars, on trains, in my office, on buses. You name it, I’ve written in, on or under it.

One of the great joys in the week is reading the responses to my articles in the comments on this site. Thanks so much to everyone who responds, challenges, argues and even blatantly insults! This is what freedom of expression and opinion is all about: two contrasting opinions – a buyer and a seller - make a market and makes for good discussion. Imagine a world where we all agreed?

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