The superb Arseblog sees the world (football world, that is) from a Highbury perspective. That's fine, though, as it's a hallowed vantage point. Here's the Gunner's pithy summary of last night's England-France epic:
To the point, that, and delivered with just the right mix of style, substance and bitchiness. How central is the role Arsenal plays in top-class European football? Check this out:
Arsewatch England: "Sol and Ashley both had very good games and defended stoutly. I don’t think anyone got past Ash, while Sol was his usual solid self in the middle. Ash looked stunned at the end."
Arsewatch France: "Vieira was excellent in midfield, always working and looking for the ball. Pires started very well but faded a bit before being replaced by Wiltord, while Henry was anonymous in the first half, but played better in the second when he moved out left a bit more. He was in the right place to get clattered by James for France’s penalty."
Gunners in action today: "Freddie will be playing for Sweden as they take on Bulgaria."
Regardless of who wins in Portugal, there's sure to be an Arsenal connection.
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A summer Sunday in Munster brings back memories of hurling, the fastest and finest of Irish sports. People here still speak in reverent tones of Christy Ring, the legendary Cork hurler, the Pele and Muhammad Ali of the rural Ireland of my youth. I still treasure Donal O’Donaghue's tribute to Ringy:
An Fear Rua pays a marvelous tribute to Ringy in which the classic Western "Shane" and the sultry '60's sex goddess Kim Novak are invoked. It's more than a game, hurling. It is valour. It is poetry.
[LIMERICK] Ireland's Office of Tobacco Control (OTC) has reported that 97 per cent of premises are complying with the legislation introduced earlier this year that bans smoking in the workplace. The OTC also says that levels of visits to pubs and restaurants remain constant with one-in-five smokers choosing not to smoke at all when socialising. Not everyone is in favour of such bans, however. Writing in The Guardian, in a piece entitled "Smoking is my choice", the artist David Hockney says:
I take exercise. I walk in Holland Park, here in west London, every morning. One morning I was watching a peacock strut around with two rabbits scampering about, and then a black-and-white bird arrived. The scene was magical to me. I smoked a cigarette.
Three girls came by, jogging. One looked at me, shaking her finger and tut-tutting at me for smoking. OK, but they didn't see the peacock or the rabbits or the bird — they were so obsessed with their own bodies, and they thought their activity was healthier than mine. I do not think it was, but I don't want to ban jogging in Holland Park."
The debate that Hockney wishes to engage in has ended in Ireland. From Norway to New York, the smoker is now on the run. Drinking and eating are still allowed here, however. "Kieran! Two pints of Guinness and a smoked salmon sandwich, please!"
[LIMERICK] Chris Gulker, consultant to many major media and technology companies, left his base in Menlo Park, California last month and crossed the Atlantic to Ireland. His blog features some lovely photos, such as this one of two Connacht farmers in The Sailor's Bar near Kylemore Abbey, Connemara. His entry for Wednesday, 26 May featured Bernie Goldbach's essay on the "New Ireland":
"It's an Ireland chock-full of confident twentysomethings.Where its beautiful women seem to be acquiring orange tans and where natural red heads are going blonde.
It's an Ireland whose counter service is likely to be non-Irish.
It's an Ireland resisting its melting pot mandate — slipping away from being The Land of the Thousand Welcomes.
It's Rip-Off Ireland where it's cheaper to buy a pint of Kilkenny in Berlin than down the street from the brewery.
It's a land of traffic hell.
I like New Ireland, bought a house here, and feel obliged to contribute to her culture. I'm surprised at the rise of unapologetic consumerism and worried about the total demise of vocations of service. But I'm not alone in my concerns and I think that means New Ireland will emerge from this decade with a blend of confidence and creativity — characteristics that would make the Global Irish proud."
An honest and eloquent assessment of the Ireland of today, there. Oh, and check out Chris Gulker’s great photo of the Connemara sky and scenery on the same page. "70 miles of beautiful hiking last week. It didn't rain during the whole trip...!" The luck of the Californians!
[LIMERICK] Investigative journalism lives! Across the border in the neighbouring county of Tipperary, the local radio station Tipp FM has made news. "Prostitutes flee after radio exposure" was how the regional newspapers reported the matter. It appears that a person who had been attempting to book a stripogram for a stag party found a web site called "Tipp Babes", which turned out to be a business front for a call-girl service in that fine, family town of Clonmel. The distressed citizen alerted Tipp FM and an intrepid reporter was put on the job. As a result of his enquiries he was offered an hour with a 27-year-old Caribbean lady, who was "quite naturally big-busted" and had a "lovely, tanned complexion." And all for the handsome price of 260 euros!
Within hours of Tipp FM broadcasting its scoop, the police raided the premises, but the women had fled. Our learned friends in the shape of solicitors McCarthy, Looby & Co. were called in to deal with the embarrassment and issued the following statement: "Our clients were shocked and taken by surprise by the revelations on your programme… Our clients made the usual enquiries regarding the proposed tenant, and would have had no reason to suspect anything untoward in relation to the letting." Rainy Day is keeping on eye on this story.
[LIMERICK] This year marks the centenary of a shameful episode in Irish history known as the "Limerick Pogrom". On 11 January 1904, the director of the Catholic Arch-Confraternity of Limerick, Father John Creagh, delivered a sermon that sparked an outbreak of hostility against the city's tiny Jewish community. Incensed by Creagh's allegations — he called Jewish merchants "leeches" who were sucking the blood of the Irish by overcharging the poor — a mob marched on the Jewish quarter in Collooney Street, and it was only through the intervention of the Royal Irish Constabulary that the residents were saved from harm.
Creagh returned to the attack on 18 January. He told his flock that "the Jews have proved themselves to be the enemies of every country in Europe, and every nation has to defend itself against them." All Jewish businesses in the city were forced to stop trading as a result. Creagh then helped organize an economic boycott of Limerick's Jews that lasted for four months. Unable to earn a living, most of the city's Jews and their rabbi left Limerick. Many of them emigrated to the United States, which, given their particular history, was not without pathos. The majority of Limerick's Jews had originated in Russia and it is said that an unscrupulous sea captain, who had promised them passage to America, dropped them off near the Shannon estuary, saying that New York was "just up the road." From the 5 June 1998 issue of The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, here's an overview of Jewish life in Ireland.
[LIMERICK] Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss and Dude, Where's my Country? by Michael Moore have been doing very nicely in Ireland's best-seller lists, but it's The Book of Feckin' Irish Slang by Colin Murphy and Donal O'Dea that's flying off the shelves in O'Mahoney's Bookshop in Limerick City. It's "great craic for cute hoors and bowsies" say the publishers, O'Brien Press. In standard English that means, approximately, smart asses and tough guys will find it very funny. The pages are "jammers" (filled with) "gurriers" (uncouth inner-city types) and "sleeveens" (devious rural yes men). Feck it, I think I'll buy a feckin' copy.