Missing in action

WHERE, oh where have I been (as Tiger Woods might say to himself)?

All I can say is that I've been up to my teeth (as Tiger Woods might also say) but I'm back.

Did you miss me? Yeah, right.

In England, vote Green to keep Nick Griffin and the BNP out

http://www.stopnickgriffin.org.uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4a5B4ysJJY

FRANK Cottrell Boyce, the Liverpool-based screenwriter and author, whose acclaimed films include 24 Hour Party People, Welcome to Sarajevo and Hilary and Jackie , explains why after voting Labour all his life, he's backing the Greens in this election to stop the BNP.

Vote Mary Lou to fix Fianna Fáil

OKAY, if it's a battle between Mary Lou McDonald of Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil's Eoin Ryan for the last European seat in Dublin then it has to be Mary Lou Number 1.

And keep voting Left to fix Fianna Fáil.

In Europe, I'm voting Mary Lou/Sinn Féin, Joe Higgins/Socialist Party, Patricia McKenna and Labour.

The same goes for the local elections too. In my area, I'm voting Sinn Féin, Labour and maybe Independents (if I can find out what they stand for and they're not wing-nuts).

Whatever you do, don't stay home – use your vote to make the Government sit up and listen.

Child abuse by clergy in state homes – Reflection on a Sunday

I WAS going to wait until Monday before posting on this but the sheer horror of the child abuse that was rampant in so-called schools and state institutions run by religious orders is so overwhelming that I'll put up the link on the report itself and return to it again.

http://www.childabusecommission.ie

It's Sunday, a day when Christians are called to prayer. I'm not a Christian but I respect those who do believe. I hope the Catholic Church takes a long hard look at itself, stops hiding in the shadows and does the right thing by exposing the guilty and making whatever reparations it can to the victims.

Made up in Britain

THE British National Party has been caught out in its election ads extolling the very Britishness of its campaign, 'British Jobs for British Workers'... by using foreigners in them.
The World War 2 Spitfire aircraft in the BNP's 'Battle of Britain' fund-raising drive is actually Polish, the builders and doctor are American, and the elderly couple who are 'voting BNP' because they've seen Britain's decline are actually Italian – and they've lived all their lives in Italy!

Shamrock Rovers v Bohs and growing up

I MADE one of my now infrequent forays to a League of Ireland match after some years being a regular attender last night to the Dublin derby between bitter rivals Shamrock Rovers v Bohemians.

The occasion entailed a cross-city trek to the Hoops' new Tallaght Stadium, still a work in progress but at least a permanent home for one of Ireland's famous football clubs.

On the pitch, Bohs went 1-0 up from a penalty in the first quarter of an hour but we were stunned – in an otherwise lacklustre game in which Bohs had looked (too?) comfortable – by two goals by Rovers in the 88th and 89th minutes. Rovers ran out winners 2-1.

Throughout the match, in the stands, there were distractions, which caused me to miss the second Rovers goal.

I had mates in both sets of supporters and there are many passionate fans on both sides, but why are there 'crews' imitating their English hooligan counterparts with an apparent need to prove their 'manliness' by swearing and abusing the opposition if not getting to physically attacking them.

My experience at LOI and English matches makes me think twice about taking my young son again even though he's obsessed by 'The Beautiful Game'.

The journey home on the LUAS with many of the still-boisterous Bohs fans was good-natured, even with the up-close and personal presence of the Garda and LUAS Security's 'Men in Black'.

Earlier, a lot of the stuff inside the stadium was handbags at 40 paces but why do grown men – and many were adults, not 'teenage tearaways' – have to do this? Why don't they rent a backroom in a pub somewhere and have a big cage fight – and stop giving going to a match a bad name.

I'm back

THE TROUBLE with not having posted in more than six months is that some people think you've been doing a stretch in Mountjoy. I haven't. The simple reason is that I've been an idle blogger.

There's been so much personal stuff going on that blogging hasn't been one of my priorities but with the elections a mere matter of weeks away and the state of the nation, I've given myself a metaphorical kick up the arse to post in the interests of, if nothing else, therapy.

Here goes.