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McNally, Franck
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3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
No more Brussels sprouts!
Columnist Franck McNally considers a crucial ingredient of the Irish Christmas menu, the Brussels sprout. "The constitutional crisis in a core EU member-state is, of course, unfortunate. But Belgium's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity. Which is why I propose that we take advantage of the current confusion there by unilaterally refusing to eat Brussels sprouts this Christmas. ... The country that has been without a government for almost 200 days now has given us many fine things. Unfortunately, it has not always given them with the same generosity as it did the sprout. Take beer, for example. Belgium makes some of the world's finest beers ... But you will struggle to find these in Irish bars ... . The constitutional crisis there will resolve itself in due course, perhaps in the process producing a better sense of export priorities. Then maybe we can express solidarity with whatever new political entities emerge, just by drinking beer."
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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Religion, » United Kingdom, » Ireland
Train travel in Europe
Journalist Franck McNally ponders the progress of European railways. "The high-speed trains of France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria will soon have a single website on which users can view timetables and book tickets. ... The map of this brave new Europe shows existing and planned high-speed links stretching north to Glasgow and Edinburgh; south to Malaga and Naples; east to Vienna and Warsaw; and north again to Oslo and Stockholm (via Europe's current longest sea-bridge). It also shows Ireland, in not-so-splendid isolation, its Dublin-Belfast line reaching towards the continental rail network like an outstretched hand. The challenge for Irish politicians, north and south, is to persuade Britain and the EU to help close the gap. After all, it's not just us who are cut off from Europe. It's the other way round too."
» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Ireland, » Europe
Franck McNally on happiness in politics
Journalist Franck McNally ponders the implication of Irish Labour leader Pat Rabbitte's latest poster slogan, which counterpoints Ireland's new wealth with the rhetorical question: 'But are you happy?'. "Maybe, as Buddhists think, the only way to achieve happiness is stop yearning for anything, happiness included. Where would politicians be if that caught on? And, in political terms, Christianity is the ultimate opposition movement, arguing that the current world is just a vale of tears, but that paradise awaits us in the next one, provided we do the right thing between now and election day. In fact, one London think-thank has attempted to measure human happiness, although its findings are controversial. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) uses consumer spending - the god of conventional economics - as one of its indicators. But it calculates Britain's overall well-being from 28 other factors too ... Although the NEF's approach has been dismissed by many mainstream economists, its line of thought has been leaking into politics."
» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Ireland, » Global
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