At this stage, I’m just curious what they’d be like. There are definitely some SF candidates I’d vote for if they were in my constituency even if I don’t like the party. I fear mass disillusionment with politics amongst young to middle age people if they get into power and a reversion to FF/FG both in the high 20s/low 30s in polls.
This article is the charming imagining of a night out between a newspaper columnist and his affluent friends (one of them owns a boat it has six Brazilians in camp beds renting it – WEEKDAYS ONLY U MAY NOT USE THE KITCHEN) in which they express their confusion at why people like a party that doesn’t represent the status quo.
If I were a newspaper columnist I’d try not to write about how out of touch I am.
Yes, an opportunity to have the country *even more* run by what twitter “thinks” than we have already.
Maybe get it out of our systems, I suppose.
Well the last election was supposed to be about change and the corrupt politicians used the non democratic transfer votes to get in on the 6th and 7th counts. Transfer votes means that the politicians decide who get in, not the people. Imagine out leader got in on the 6th count of votes, its madness. They have enraged the population so much, we wont be making the same mistake again.
If that’s what the electorate want then fair enough, my main concern however is the quality of some of the lesser known candidates which can be thrown in just to bump the numbers.
You can get away with that in opposition, but it’s an entirely different thing when running the country.
I think Sinn Fein are tossers, but our political system still hasn’t properly settled after independence and the civil war. We don’t have proper representation, because momentum has kept 2 virtually identical parties in power for 100 years.
Ideally, FF and FG will be shattered by Sinn Fein finally getting in, and take up positions basically representing culchies on the one hand, and the business class on the other, and we’ll get a proper gamut of working class, pro-union, libertarian and enviornmentalist parties so we can get more flexible and defined coalitions, with clearer mandates.
And it’d be good for Sinn Fein as well. There’s still too many nutters and scrotes in the party, and they need proper seasoning to institute more professionalism.
They’ll end up like labour, over promise, under-deliver and get hammered the following election.
I’m convinced that the present government basically want them in now… hence why they don’t give a fuck about the housing crisis. They know they have no chance solving any of the multiple fuck ups they created. Don’t forget Ireland has a history of short memories, do people not forget the 2008 Bank bailout 🤷♀️🤷♀️.. 2026.. welcome back FF all is forgiven
I think it is a funny column and I think people are over and under estimating SF. When SF go into coalition they will have compromise on policy but what will really kill them is the compromise on real world problems. Like budgets, rules, the environment and housing, oh whatever crisis is lurking around the corner. And while their discipline and press briefing might save them for a while, when the slow rate of progress starts causing problems. SF oldest enemy will make an appearance: SF.
Left wing politics is rife with divisions and around the world left wing party get more authoritative once they are in power for a while. After a few years in coalition internal divisions will open up, some bad policy decisions due to more extreme members, fights with councils, their rhetoric on housing coming back to bite them, a fuck up by Mary Lou, the fact that they can’t protest against themselves and live up to the high expectation they set. SF will win one election but will they win the next one.
For the record I won’t be voting for a SF candidate, the one in my area is a tosspot even by politician standards. But I do want some disruption in Irish party politics.
Worth a read:
>It’s serious people, all around my age, both genders, mixed political views, having a serious discussion about Irish politics.
Not exactly the demographic affected by the most pressing issues then.
>They think Micheál Martin is a statesman. Wasn’t always but is now. They like him and trust him, and they’re sorry his time as Taoiseach is coming to an end. It is a complete mystery to them that there are so many rumours about a heave against him
I can’t decide if this reflects upon how conservative MM is, or how conservative they are…it’s a dinger of a quote for just that reason.
> At precisely the moment when Boris Johnson and his people were flirting with herd immunity, Leo shut us down. He was firm and authoritative then, just when we needed him to be — and he had a totally united government with him.
Again interesting because my memory of the time was Italian fans swanning around Dublin with no game to go to, and full on Paddy’s day. You’d probably get through the airport faster back then as well.
>They wouldn’t choose Sinn Féin, but they expect to be governed by Sinn Féin, at least in part, after the next election. When I pushed the group a little, the reaction I got was almost resignation. It’s going to happen, whether we like it or not.
Especially notable given establishment politics traditional dismissiveness of SF…but how! How did this happen? ¯_ (ツ)_/¯
>The party as a whole is predicted (right now) to get more than twice as much support from the under-35s as it will from the over-55s
Again you’d wonder why.
For what it’s worth, Finlay isn’t the worst, champion of a few good causes and PR guru for Labour through the ages. When you search the article for the mention of housing it isn’t there, which is kind of surprising given his background. I’d like to give him the benefit of being this aloof consciously, but then again you’d worry that people such as Finlay could so thoroughly lose perspective of what the world is like for others but then be so utterly shocked when those others use their mandate in a way they feel discommoded by.
That’s only true if you ignore the possibility of addessing the housing crisis.
It’s more accurate to say “It looks like nothing (that won’t hurt landlords profits) will stop Sinn Fein from coming to power”.
“Sinn Fein win the election by getting every seat in the house, Leo takes over for his 40th go at being Taoiseach”
12 comments
As it shouldn’t if that’s what people want.
At this stage, I’m just curious what they’d be like. There are definitely some SF candidates I’d vote for if they were in my constituency even if I don’t like the party. I fear mass disillusionment with politics amongst young to middle age people if they get into power and a reversion to FF/FG both in the high 20s/low 30s in polls.
This article is the charming imagining of a night out between a newspaper columnist and his affluent friends (one of them owns a boat it has six Brazilians in camp beds renting it – WEEKDAYS ONLY U MAY NOT USE THE KITCHEN) in which they express their confusion at why people like a party that doesn’t represent the status quo.
If I were a newspaper columnist I’d try not to write about how out of touch I am.
Yes, an opportunity to have the country *even more* run by what twitter “thinks” than we have already.
Maybe get it out of our systems, I suppose.
Well the last election was supposed to be about change and the corrupt politicians used the non democratic transfer votes to get in on the 6th and 7th counts. Transfer votes means that the politicians decide who get in, not the people. Imagine out leader got in on the 6th count of votes, its madness. They have enraged the population so much, we wont be making the same mistake again.
If that’s what the electorate want then fair enough, my main concern however is the quality of some of the lesser known candidates which can be thrown in just to bump the numbers.
You can get away with that in opposition, but it’s an entirely different thing when running the country.
I think Sinn Fein are tossers, but our political system still hasn’t properly settled after independence and the civil war. We don’t have proper representation, because momentum has kept 2 virtually identical parties in power for 100 years.
Ideally, FF and FG will be shattered by Sinn Fein finally getting in, and take up positions basically representing culchies on the one hand, and the business class on the other, and we’ll get a proper gamut of working class, pro-union, libertarian and enviornmentalist parties so we can get more flexible and defined coalitions, with clearer mandates.
And it’d be good for Sinn Fein as well. There’s still too many nutters and scrotes in the party, and they need proper seasoning to institute more professionalism.
They’ll end up like labour, over promise, under-deliver and get hammered the following election.
I’m convinced that the present government basically want them in now… hence why they don’t give a fuck about the housing crisis. They know they have no chance solving any of the multiple fuck ups they created. Don’t forget Ireland has a history of short memories, do people not forget the 2008 Bank bailout 🤷♀️🤷♀️.. 2026.. welcome back FF all is forgiven
I think it is a funny column and I think people are over and under estimating SF. When SF go into coalition they will have compromise on policy but what will really kill them is the compromise on real world problems. Like budgets, rules, the environment and housing, oh whatever crisis is lurking around the corner. And while their discipline and press briefing might save them for a while, when the slow rate of progress starts causing problems. SF oldest enemy will make an appearance: SF.
Left wing politics is rife with divisions and around the world left wing party get more authoritative once they are in power for a while. After a few years in coalition internal divisions will open up, some bad policy decisions due to more extreme members, fights with councils, their rhetoric on housing coming back to bite them, a fuck up by Mary Lou, the fact that they can’t protest against themselves and live up to the high expectation they set. SF will win one election but will they win the next one.
For the record I won’t be voting for a SF candidate, the one in my area is a tosspot even by politician standards. But I do want some disruption in Irish party politics.
Worth a read:
>It’s serious people, all around my age, both genders, mixed political views, having a serious discussion about Irish politics.
Not exactly the demographic affected by the most pressing issues then.
>They think Micheál Martin is a statesman. Wasn’t always but is now. They like him and trust him, and they’re sorry his time as Taoiseach is coming to an end. It is a complete mystery to them that there are so many rumours about a heave against him
I can’t decide if this reflects upon how conservative MM is, or how conservative they are…it’s a dinger of a quote for just that reason.
> At precisely the moment when Boris Johnson and his people were flirting with herd immunity, Leo shut us down. He was firm and authoritative then, just when we needed him to be — and he had a totally united government with him.
Again interesting because my memory of the time was Italian fans swanning around Dublin with no game to go to, and full on Paddy’s day. You’d probably get through the airport faster back then as well.
>They wouldn’t choose Sinn Féin, but they expect to be governed by Sinn Féin, at least in part, after the next election. When I pushed the group a little, the reaction I got was almost resignation. It’s going to happen, whether we like it or not.
Especially notable given establishment politics traditional dismissiveness of SF…but how! How did this happen? ¯_ (ツ)_/¯
>The party as a whole is predicted (right now) to get more than twice as much support from the under-35s as it will from the over-55s
Again you’d wonder why.
For what it’s worth, Finlay isn’t the worst, champion of a few good causes and PR guru for Labour through the ages. When you search the article for the mention of housing it isn’t there, which is kind of surprising given his background. I’d like to give him the benefit of being this aloof consciously, but then again you’d worry that people such as Finlay could so thoroughly lose perspective of what the world is like for others but then be so utterly shocked when those others use their mandate in a way they feel discommoded by.
That’s only true if you ignore the possibility of addessing the housing crisis.
It’s more accurate to say “It looks like nothing (that won’t hurt landlords profits) will stop Sinn Fein from coming to power”.
“Sinn Fein win the election by getting every seat in the house, Leo takes over for his 40th go at being Taoiseach”