Gript Media Podcasts

The government somehow managed to turn closing schools into a political controversy; businesses have been told to expect to close for 3 months; the end of the Trump presidency; the HSE wants control of 40% of the beds in private hospitals for 2 years; and the vaccine rollout is not looking good.

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/bf337-covid-19-vaccination-strategy-and-implementation-plan/ -Graph is page 10.

The Irish vaccine rollout is one of the slowest in Europe, with a government target for the end of February that is lower than Israel has vaccinated in a single day, and with the distribution of the vaccine to nursing homes already having to be delayed due to issues with paperwork. It is unclear who is even running the vaccination programme. Basically it's shaping up to be a good old fashioned Children's Hospital style debacle.

https://gript.ie/smes-the-people-powering-ireland-how-local-business-is-or-is-not-surviving-in-a-time-of-covid/

A discussion of the events leading up to the shooting of George Nkencho; when and why it is appropriate to ask a Guard to risk their life; the protests after the shooting; and the potential danger of the comments made by some academics and politicians who seem determined to position the shooting as being due purely to race.

Israel vaccinated in 1 day what Ireland hopes to vaccinate in 2 months; Leo says he doesn't know why there are delays beginning vaccination; Der Spiegel reports that EU corruption means there will be nowhere near enough vaccines to go around; and why we should be focusing on vaccinating the elderly rather than health care workers.

Gary talks about the year in review, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, suicide, and the difference between pain and suffering.

A new B&A opinion poll puts SF as the largest party; the difficulty attacking SF TD's for speaking positively of the IRA when the state was founded on violence; and why the CETA trade agreement is causing so much trouble for the Greens.

https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ceta/ceta-chapter-by-chapter/#:~:text=The%20Comprehensive%20and%20Economic%20Trade,between%20the%20EU%20and%20Canada.&text=CETA%20will%3A,workers'%20rights%20and%20the%20environment

Father Luuk Jansen, from St Mary’s Church in Cork, brings us his Sunday Reflection. This week he discusses the annunciation and God's plan.

A new report on hate speech and hate crime recommends expansive new hate speech and hate crime laws, but contains nothing on protecting free expression; a medical body has called for gambling on sports to be banned; and China has adopted an American tradition and started using forced labour to pick cotton.

http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Legislating_for_Hate_Speech_and_Hate_Crime_in_Ireland_Web.pdf/Files/Legislating_for_Hate_Speech_and_Hate_Crime_in_Ireland_Web.pdf

TDs, maternity leave, and the defrauding of expenses; unconscious bias training is on the way out in the UK, but still popular in Irish government departments; the government just spent 140,000 euro of public money on trying to get favoured people elected; and the need to destroy An Taisce for the good of the country.

https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/dobbin/files/an2018.pdf

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/sick-certs-maternity-and-women-tds-1.4434382

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/user/agg/blindspot/indexrk.htm

Father Luuk Jansen, from St Mary’s Church in Cork, brings us his Sunday Reflection. This week he discusses the beginning of the Gospel of John.