Michael D. Higgins has emerged as the overall winner in a Newstalk post-debate poll.
The Labour Candidate got 38% of the listener vote.
Sean Gallagher and Martin McGuinness both came away with 20%.
Meanwhile David Norris was 3rd with 11%.
Gay Mitchell of Fine Gael got 6% while Mary Davis was on 3%.
Dana Rosemary Scallon trailed with just 2% of the vote.
The poll was conducted in association with esri Ireland.
Result breakdown by county:
CO. CARLOW Martin McGuinness 30.8%
CO. CAVAN Sean Gallagher/ Martin McGuinness 50.0%
CO. CLARE Michael D Higgins 38.5%
CO. CORK Michael D Higgins 36.4%
CO. DONEGAL Martin McGuinness 57.1%
CO. GALWAY Michael D Higgins 65.2%
CO. KERRY Sean Gallagher/ Martin McGuinness 28.6%
CO. KILDARE Sean Gallagher/ Martin McGuinness 35.3%
CO. KILKENNY David Norris/Gay Mitchell/ Michael D Higgins 25.0%
CO. LAOIS Michael D Higgins 66.7%
CO. LEITRIM Sean Gallagher 50.0%
CO. LIMERICK Michael D Higgins 66.7%
CO. LONGFORD Martin McGuinness 40.0%
CO. LOUTH David Norris/Sean Gallagher/ Michael D Higgins 25.0%
CO. MAYO Martin McGuinness 57.1%
CO. MEATH Michael D Higgins 66.7%
CO. MONAGHAN Martin McGuinness 50.0%
CO. OFFALY Sean Gallagher 57.1%
CO. ROSCOMMON Martin McGuinness 42.9%
CO. SLIGO Sean Gallagher/David Norris 27.3%
CO. TIPPERARY Sean Gallagher 57.1%
CO. WATERFORD Martin McGuinness/Michael D Higgins 33.3%
CO. WESTMEATH David Norris/Sean Gallagher/Michael D Higgins 33.3%
CO. WEXFORD Martin McGuinness 33.3%
CO. WICKLOW Michael D Higgins 47.1%
CO. DUBLIN Michael D Higgins 44.2%
My mate ‘Cllr. Chris’ posted a link on my Facebook wall to an article on the blog Liberal Conspiracy by Owen Jones which I thought was good. Here’s a shortened version of it . Some tips for you activists out there on how to be nicer left wingers.
Start where people are. Guess what! Most people don’t define themselves as lefties, and have never – or rarely – been exposed to lefty arguments. All too often, left-wing activists start on the basis that they’re talking to the converted.
Radical ideas, moderate words. Lefties often think that, if you’re pushing really radical policies, the language you use has to be equally radical. If it’s not, it’s almost seen as betraying your left-wing beliefs. But you can promote ideas with moderate language without diluting their radicalism. People who don’t already consciously sign up to your politics will be far more likely to listen. Tub-thumping, r-r-revolutionary rhetoric will win cheers from keffiyeh-wearing SOAS students. But that’s about it.
Drop the jargon. Seriously, you’re trying to convince people, not write a university seminar paper. Skim-read a left-wing paper (I dare you), and all too often it seems that only someone with at least one postgraduate qualification can really understand what’s been talked about. Other socialists seem to be consciously imitating the style of English translations of early-20th Century Russian revolutionaries. That doesn’t mean you have to be patronising: just accessible to people who are outside an educated, left-wing milieu. The golden rule should always be to use the simplest possible word that accurately puts your point across.
In the early 1990s, John Carey wrote a classic book called The Intellectuals and the Masses. Its basic argument was that middle-class intellectuals were threatened by the rise of mass literacy in the 19th century. The fact that everyone could potentially have access to ideas that were the preserve of the elite was, well, threatening. So to ‘keep the masses out’, they started using all sorts of jargon and complicated words. This remains a big cultural problem in academia: but I think parts of the intellectual left have been infected with it, too.
Raid the language of the right. Why not? They started it, nicking words like ‘progressive’. The cheek. They use words like ‘modernising’ (privatising stuff) and ‘reforming’ (cutting services and sacking people), because it helps paint the left as dinosaurs and the ‘real’ conservatives. So how about we start talking about bringing the railways into the 21st century, for example?
Get a sense of humour. People think that left-wing activists can’t take a joke. This is a shame, because humour is innately subversive, and we’ve got great left-wing comedians like Mark Steel and Jeremy Hardy. It helps engage people, illustrates your political point, and shows you’re not taking yourself too seriously.
Drop the hyperbole. The injustices we’re up against are bad enough. Don’t start comparing our atrocious government to the Egyptian dictatorship or writing about our still young movement against the Government like it’s the storming of the Bastille. People will laugh at you.
Ground your politics with examples that relate to people’s lives. During the general election TV debates, the party leaders were rightly ribbed for their constant ‘real-world’ stories. Like, ‘Take Janet, the supermarket worker in Dartmouth, who’s worried about her tax credit.’ That’s because it was total overkill. But relating your politics to the everyday experiences of the people you’re addressing helps a lot. It shows you understand their problems, and it helps them to connect their issues to the solutions you’re proposing.
Jump on that bandwagon. Ok, that’s pushing it a bit: but use hooks in the news. The right does it all the time. Take the tragic cases of Karen Matthews or Baby P: shamelessly exploited by the right, who argued it opened a window into ‘another Britain’, rather than just being isolated examples of the depravity of a few individuals. I’m not saying we use those sorts of examples, because frankly it is horrible and morally bankrupt. But we should always keep an eye on big news stories, and using them as hooks for our policies.
Embrace the mainstream. Some left-wing activists think that being radical means being contrary and iconoclastic, and waging war against mainstream culture. You get articles slagging off football, or monogamous relationships, or other things that most working-class people hold dear. The stereotype of the left-wing activist with long, dyed hair, lots of piercings and wacky clothes covered in badges is unfair – but (like many stereotypes) has some basis in reality. The problem is a lot of working-class people (that’s our base by the way) will look at lefties and think: these people are completely alien to me.
Get your priorities straight. Look, I marched against the Iraq war about a dozen times. International issues are important, particularly when they are a matter of life and death, or when a government is repressing people ‘on our behalf’. But the problem is the left often emphasises international issues at the total exclusion of things that matter to working-class people on a day-to-day basis: like housing, workers’ rights, low pay, jobs, and so on. We need a far better balance. Maybe do your Gaza stall on the first Saturday of each month, and your living wage stall on the second Saturday. Deal?
Get some non-lefty friends. I’m not saying start going to dinner parties with Tories and treat your political differences like it’s all one big joke. But left-wing activists often live in a bubble, only hanging out with other like-minded lefties. They end up forgetting that most people don’t share their politics, and as a result they don’t have a way of addressing their concerns, or countering their arguments.
Knock on doors. There’s no better way of finding out what ‘ordinary’, non-lefty people think than going canvassing and talking about what’s bothering them.
I remember it clearly. It must have been about 1992. Disney Land Paris was just about to open its gates (still haven’t managed to go there yet) and the first video recorder I ever saw came into my house. I was six years old and a family friend brought us over some movies she had recorded. One of them was Santa Clause the Movie. There’s a scene in it where the Santa character meets a little homeless boy and says ‘hi I’m Santa” and the homeless boy sarcastically says “Yeah. And I’m the tooth Fairy.”
Being so young, I reacted a little like the strange kid in the Nick Horby novel About a Boy and the sarcasm glided straight over my head. I really thought the kid was the tooth fairy for a good number years. In retrospect, it’s a bit strange that I wasn’t alarmed by the idea of a homless kid breaking into my room every time I lost a tooth.
Anyway, there was also another video in the mini anthology that I still remember to this day. It was Moonwalker, the Michael Jackson movie. It was also my first meeting with a friend and companion that would follow me right up until the present time.
Now I realise Michael Jackson was well known for hanging out with small children but fortunately it wasn’t Michael Jackson I had befriended. It was music…
There are some great scenes at the beginning of the film from Michael Jackson’s Motown years. I’ve always loved the Motown sound although it was only in my twenties that I recognised that fact.
I reckon the next major step on my musical journey was when I watched the Roddy Doyle film The Commitments. I loved it as an eleven year old though I must admit, part of the glamour of the Dublin movie was the colourful language that was used throughout it. There was definitely something cool about watching a movie full of the obscenities I wasn’t allowed to use in school or at home.The music however, also stood out. There was one or two covers of Motown tunes along with many other classic souls songs.
I remember a quote in the film from the band manager Jimmy Rabbit regarding how the soul music made him feel. “It grips you by the bollox and lifts you above the shite,” exclaims Jimmy as he’s suggesting that the band should play “Dublin Soul.” I also remember humming all the soul classics from the movie when nobody was looking while all my trendier mates where listening to rubbish like Coolio and dodgy mid 90s dance tracks.
My next musical epiphany, apart from the inevitable Spice Girls phase that every young lad growing up in the 90s had when they hit puberty, and the Oasis phase you had when you realised the Spice Girls were crap, was when I found a cassette with the album Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heartsclub Band on one side and John Lennon’s Imagine on the other. This was music that could change your life. From that moment on, until I reached about 18, I wanted to be in a band and I took up guitar.
John Lennon also was the political activist type (probably how one of the main reasons I turned into a lefty if I’m honest). He was like a prophet of deadliness, preaching the good news of the secular rock n’ roll Jesus.
I remember my next door neighbour loaned me his collection of Beatles records to copy onto tape. I loved every single track (even the dodgy ones penned by Ringo).
For teenagers music is not just about sound…It’s about identity. I was a rocker at about 15 or 16. Nirvana, The Sex Pistols, Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, The Pixies, The Beatles…They were my bands and part of my identity. Motown music was off the radar for the moment. I played in bands. I wore black t-shirts, drank the odd can in the park and discussed how great it felt to be enlightened enough to listen to decent music. Cringe !
When I reached my late teens and early twenties however and the MP3 came on the scene in earnest, you could listen to anything you wanted for next to nothing…That’s when Motown came back on the radar.
I’m constantly blaring out Motown tunes in the car. I think what I love about them is that they are normally upbeat, melody driven and full of pop goodness while at the same time, they have an edgy, soulful side that can suit your every mood. I find it hard not to smile when I hear David Ruffin’s vocals at the beginning of the Temptations ‘Ain’t too Proud to Beg’ or when I hear Smokey Robinson warning young men to ‘Shop Around’.
I know it sounds a little cheesy/creepy but for me, music is almost like a good mate..No matter where you are or no matter how you’re feeling, you can hang out with John, Paul, George or Ringo; hang out with Debussy or Rachmaninov, get deep with Elliot Smith, dance to Deadmau5 or sing along with the Motown posse.
I could work-in a Morrisey quote somewhere and rant about my love for The Smiths too. Something along the lines of ;
A sad fact widely known
The most impassionate song
To a lonely soul
Is so easily outgrown
but I won’t because that would be depressing.
Instead, to quote Pete Doherty, ‘if you’ve lost your faith in love and music the end won’t be long’. Music is a fantastic compliment to every occasion and as an art form, reflects beautifully what it is to be human.
There are so many bands and singers I’d love to mention that I always return to, from Planxty to Sonic Youth; Miles Davis to the Prodigy; Pulp to Bob Dylan …I don’t have time to rant about them all but in an attempt to put it all in a three word sentence : I love music !
There was much hype regarding how social media would shape General Election 2011 (#GE11) in the Republic of Ireland. A survey carried out by PR firm Pembroke Communications in 2010 claimed that more than 3 quarters of politicians planned on using social media during the election in comparison with the less than 1 third who used it in 2007. The same company warned that the importance of social media had been overplayed in the UK elections and that the TV debates were more important. I want to highlight the new and exciting nature of social media usage in Irish politics however footnoting it with the stark warning “Don’t believe the hype”.
Perhaps the most scathing criticism of the potential of social media in #GE11 came surprisingly from Ireland’s leading social media guru Damien Mulley who asked the question ‘Is #GE11 going to be an internet election in Ireland?’, to which he replied, and I quote, ‘Bollox it is!’ According to Mulley writing in Junuary, of Ireland’s two million Facebook users, no Irish political party had more than 3000 Facebook fans and yet the radio station Spin South West had 58,000 fans. If the excuse on behalf of the social media commentators is simply a case of wrong demographics, claimed Mulley, then it shows their ignorance as every demographic is now on social media in very large numbers.
It is undoubtedly true however that social media has the unique ability to radically alter the course of the more traditional media almost instantly. Let me illustrate this with two examples. The first came in September 2010 when a shit storm blew over Brian Cowen when Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney tweeted about an interview given by the then Taoiseach on Morning Ireland claiming that the FF leader sounded ‘half way between drunk and hungover and totally disinterested’. This tweet, combined with the online response meant that the topic began trending and the story ended up making headlines, not only in Ireland but as far away as the US. Another example of a tweet becoming a news story was when Green TD Paul Gogarty commented that he ‘didn’t give a f*#K about gutless Gilmore’. This caused most of the Irish print media to jump on the story, some labeling the tweet as another ‘Gogarty tantrum’.
Even more radical in terms of the shift of politics towards social media was the way in which the two main parties head offices managed the campaign from a social media perspective. The Labour Party for example, gave it a good whack developing a new website with integrated social media features, employing a small team of ‘social media volunteers’ to manage their social media presence and furthermore became the first political party in the country to release an application for Iphones and Android phones.
Fine Gael, in a zany fit of blueshirt excitement, pushed the boat out so far they risked going a little overboard. Coining their social media policy ‘twolicy’ on their website, their campaign included a call to action for visitors to sign up as e-canvassers using the social web to promote Fine Gael amongst their peers. They even went as far as having a bizarre Fine Gael valentines day e-card (freakishly spamtastic) and an online computer game. Of course, the infamous hacking incident did not help FGs campaign get off to a good start.
As far a general techniques used by individual politicians goes, in most cases it was fairly hit and miss. The majority of politicians took old canvassing techniques and applied them to the internet; broadcasting boring propeganda and not really interacting with people. It was clear for example that in many cases it was a staff member manning their account on FB and Twitter. Every now and then you even saw someone taking part in a live debate and tweeting from their account at the same time.
There was of course some exceptions such as the two politicians mentioned above as well as well as people like Chris Andrews, Dan Boyle, Aodhan O’ Riordain, Lucinda Creighton etc.
From comeheretome.wordpress.com
Despite all the progress in social media in politics there is a massive way to go before it really begins to influence voting patterns. While Facebook is well used, Twitter for example is still relatively only used “for realzies” by the media and PR types, political hacks and wonks who already know what candidate they’ll be voting for. Dylan “being a dickhead’s cool”Haskins (Sorry Dylan…Couldn’t resist) the independent Dublin South East candidate for example got less votes than he had Facebook likes.
Although the trend is slowly changing, Irish politics is to some extent still local in nature. Politicians must knock on doors, ‘press the flesh’ and tackle local issues. Social media can generate increased media coverage for candidates and it is vital that political parties have central strategies for communicating online, however after our countries first social media filled election it appears that its impact was negligible at the grassroots and most politicians are still grappling with how to make the most of the new tools…
We’ve all seen them…Crazy ads from the “good old days” that claim cigarettes keep you healthy and advertise soap that makes housewives love their husbands more and super-fast cookers using the wonders of radium.
Here’s just a sample of a few of them…You’d wonder what was going on in the heads of some of the admen who devised these insane posters…
And some parodies (although they’re not far off the real thing)
Great ad ! Made by Saatchi & Saatchi and Rattling Stick , the ad is part of the company’s £4m brand advertising for 2011, supported through digital advertising and social media activity.
The ad is a throwback to the original Wall’s dog, which was first used in an ad devised by McCann Erickson in 1993. Inspired by a talking dog that appeared on the TV show That’s Life, the ad showed an owner trying to teach his dog to say ‘sausages’, but all he would say was ‘Wall’s’.
Alan the dog is a more contemporary figure, blessed with the ability to play an electronic keyboard and rap in the style of The Streets. He even has his own Twitter page.
Here’s a treat…The making of the “Walls Talking Dog” ad seen through the eyes of Alan the dog
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is widely considered to be written about Anne Frank due to lyrics seemingly referring to her, such as lines referring to her birth and death dates.Though the group has never officially stated that the album is indeed about Frank, it is a popular theory among fans, and Jeff Mangum has mentioned the influence her diary has made on his craft.
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground – Bright Eyes
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground is the fourth album by Bright Eyes. Lifted received largely positive reviews, ranking fourth on Rolling Stone‘s list of the best albums in 2002, and was lauded as a breakthrough album for Bright Eyes and Conor Oberst.
Comic Strip – Serge Gainsbourg
Where most compilations fail, this one succeeds. Rather than trying to paint a picture of Gainsbourg’s entire output, “Comic Strip” focuses on the artist’s output from the late 60s, the period most regard as his peak.
While there are a few arguably important songs from the late 60s that are absent here, the track selection is excellent overall. ‘Comic Strip’ and ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ highlight Gainsbourg’s work with Brigitte Bardot. ‘Requiem pour un Con’ is a timeless wonder. But what really impresses about this album is that it does not try to merely provide a greatest hits package. Lesser known songs such as ‘Ford Mustang’ and ‘Un Poison Violent’ are welcome additions.
The album was conceived as an effort by Shadow to make an album completely based around sampling.It is structured almost entirely out of sampled elements from genres ranging from hip hop, jazz, funk, psychedelia, as well as samples from films and interviews. All sampling on the album was done on an Akai MPC60 MKII sampler.
Smile – Brian Wilson
Smile, sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE, is a solo album by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks released on September 28, 2004 on CD and two-disc vinyl LP. Wilson, Parks and Darian Sahanaja completed the legendaryunfinished album project, started in 1966 for Wilson’s former band, The Beach Boys. It was released in September 2004 with back-up from members of his touring band, including three members of Wondermints.
Live at the BBC – The Beatles
Live at the BBC is a 1994 compilation album featuring performances by The Beatles that were originally broadcast on various BBC Light Programme radio shows from 1963 through 1965.
Sounds of System Breakdown – Sounds of System Breakdown
Must I Paint You A Picture ? The Essential Billy Bragg – Billy Bragg
Must I Paint You a Picture? The Essential Billy Bragg, is a three CD collection of Billy Bragg‘s greatest hits and b-sides, released on October 28, 2003. It consists of a double album and a disc of ten extras. Subscribers to Billy’s website voted on their favourite tracks and these votes were used to compile the CD collection.
“This is both a physical as well as a mental punishment of the population – of mothers and parents trying to feed their children – who are being forced to live hand to mouth” – Senior UN Official
Check out the video from BOLD. Great song…Great video…
Kinetic typography—the technical name for “moving text”—is an animation technique mixing motion and text to express ideas using video animation. This text is presented over time in a manner intended to convey or evoke a particular idea or emotion. It is often studied in communication design and interaction design courses. Some commonly seen examples of this technique include movie title sequences and credits, web page animation and other entertainment media.
“Help!” is a song by The Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
“Help!” was written by John Lennon, but credited (as were all Beatles songs written by either person) to Lennon/McCartney. The title was “out of desperation”. In 2004, “Help!” was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”
I have to say, well done to The University Relations office in my alma mater on this youtube vid. I think it does the place proud. As one of my buddies on Facebook said “Oh my god…What’s wrong? I didn’t cringe once.”
It’s just a pity that some of the fantastic political culture that has existed in UCD throughout the years wasn’t represented in it….I recommend checking out the brilliant blog below for some great stories about UCD’s hidden history: http://ucdhiddenhistory.wordpress.com/
The simple idea behind the whole PR campaign is the notion that making something fun is the easiest way to encourage people to change their behaviour for the better.
The campaign is the brainchild of communications giant DDB Stockholm.
I wonder what fun methods we could use to encourage positive political engagement.
According to NME.com, Weezer played this cover live for the first time at a gig at Atlantic City’s Borgata Events Center on Friday (May 27).
However, they have now posted the clip online for anyone who missed the performance
Wiki says:
“Paranoid Android” is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, featured on their 1997 third studio album OK Computer. The lyrics of the darkly humorous song were written primarily by singer Thom Yorke, following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar. At more than six minutes long and containing four distinct sections, the track is significantly influenced by The Beatles’ “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. “Paranoid Android” takes its name from Marvin the Paranoid Android of Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.
Michael D. Higgins has emerged as the overall winner in a Newstalk post-debate poll.
