News + Politics

April 19th 1993.... How old were you? I was almost 15 years old and remember my Mother watching the news and bawling her eyes out that so many people lost their lives. I didn’t really comprehend what was going on in Waco, TX with The Branch Davidians, I just knew it was tragic and my mama was sad. I was young and doing my own thing at the time. It didn’t affect me then, like it does now. And I’m sorry for that.

In a tumultuous week in Irish politics, Hozier, among others, criticised the Irish Government on Twitter in the days following the controversial vote which inadvertently ‘seals’ the archives detailing the abuse suffered by Women and Children “tantamount to human trafficking” at the hands of the Catholic Church and The State. The Bill which brought an end to the Commission Investigation has left a nation with whiplash, and as we try to pick up the pieces of what happened - it is probably easiest to start at the beginning.

At the time of this writing, the Coronavirus Disease 2019, shortened to COVID-19 is exacerbating the rise of nationalism. Advanced and emerging-market economies are taking advantage of the pandemic to implement protectionist policies that reject multilateral institutions or cooperation.

To say I’m sitting at a crossroads would make my mental state seem more emotionally drastic than it is: a blasé apathy would be a more suitable label. I am complicit in a lie, which I have had drilled into my mind for as long as I can remember, and one that I continued to tell myself. In short, it states that in this economy, the work you put in is directly proportional to the outcome, i.e. income. I can’t think of a great analogy, but the amount of resources invested versus the outcome would be like pouring in the best octane fuel into a gas tank but the results unfold as if coal was stuffed in the tank instead.

The Wowing 20s

For months now, millions of Americans grappling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic have been pinning their hopes on Congress delivering another round of financial relief, including direct cash payments like a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks and an extension of enhanced federal unemployment benefits.