I thought it was weird. When asked whether he’d shaken Ireland up, President Sarkozy feigned jabbing at Big Bri’s belly and said, “Have you seen the size of the Irish Taoiseach?” [How could le petit président shake up the big man] Tension-busting? Maybe. But not very polite. So what would have pushed him over the [...]

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Uber-food journo Michael Pollan [Eat food, not too much, mostly plants] given 45 minutes with Myles Dungan on Radio 1? Uber-influential economist Richard Thaler [behavioural economics, Nudge, Barack Obama, David Cameron] given 30 minutes on Newstalk? Newstalk?
And that’s not counting me sharing a billing with Alastair Campbell and Paul Allen this morning with Dave [...]

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After a lot of uncharacteristic pfaffing over the past couple of weeks that left him open to attacks, Barack Obama has an oped in today’s New York Times detailing his intent to end the Iraq war upon taking office in January if he wins.
The main points:
- The Iraqi government we set up is calling [...]

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Listening to RTÉ’s voice of doom just now I realised Amanda could understand what George Lee was saying on Moaning Ireland about how we’re all going to die roarin. But I couldn’t make it out.
“He’s speaking parseltongue,” she said.
I’m not sure which has me more worried. That George Lee is speaking parseltongue or that my [...]

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This video is still rockin the free world. At what point does it cease to be a story for the entertainment pages?
***NOTE TO BROADCAST PRODUCERS/NEWS EDS: 50k is a nice round number. Looks good in a headline. By comparison, Fianna Fail’s turgid Lisbon vid has around 8,000 views. I’m just saying. If you’re looking [...]

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I guest present The Persuaders, Dublin City FM’s weekly marketing programme/podcast, today at 1300 hrs. For the July 4th day that’s in it, we’re talking the brand of America. How bad is it at the moment? Can it be fixed? Why does it matter in Ireland?
Joining me from Santiago, Chile will be Simon Anholt, the [...]

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Seriously. Here. Someone sent me this in an email.
Talk about your long tail. I don’t even have a wikipedia page.

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The McCain “Cribs” version. Was it a good idea to include the poor, pained African-American bus driver, Jay?

per AdFreak, who opines: “Some straight talk for the McCain campaign: Your rims actually suck.”
And this as a footnote to the actual post - on the viral/online marketing for the new Batman movie featuring the still-dead Heath [...]

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Economist Dermot O’Leary does his best to be cheerful over at Goodbody Stockbrokers, that we’re not in recession, yet. Technically you need two consecutive quarters of contraction, we’ve only had one. That’s the good news. The bad news is that because Easter came early this year the numbers are actually worse than they appear. And [...]

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The ESRI forecast was scary enough. Now you can get the official contraction of economic activity from the CSO. About 1.5% for Q1, year-on-year. Which when you consider the collapse in house construction is about right.
Sackcloth and ashes, anyone?

Sphere: Related Content

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