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10 March 2010

Google’s stupid advice to newspapers: stop being newspapers

Google is not the newsmonster – nor is it omniscient, says JASON WALSH

The Greens aren’t the first Irish party to rotate ministerial posts

Why is the Green Party following in the truculent footsteps of the pre-agreement DUP?

Bloodsports for all

JASON WALSH loathes toffs as much as the next pleb but he doesn’t want to see fox hunting banned

09 March 2010

Education’s inflated virtues

Never mind grade inflation, expecting education to solve the country’s economic problems is a joke, says JASON WALSH

Classics were all Greek to me

25 years after giving up Greek, ANDREW CALCUTT explains why he is now a Latin lover

08 March 2010

Dirty celebrations

Social vampire and art critic Waldemar Januszak can now fondly remember the conflict in Ireland – but only because it’s over, says JAMES HEARTFIELD

The polis and the nation

Nationialism was the politics of empowerment in the nineteenth century – but it’s now 2010, says ANDREW GALLAGHER

07 March 2010

End ‘scientific whaling’ hypocrisy now

Allow commercial whaling, says DAVID JACKMANSON

06 March 2010

No justice in police deal

OWEN POLLEY says we’re gearing-up to blame the SDLP and UUP for failure but they are the very people who can fix the assembly by challenging its authoritarian, centralising nature

05 March 2010

Brown and Cameron’s hangdog looks

Is Britain headed for a hung parliament, asks JASON WALSH – and does it matter?

04 March 2010

Science, politics and the public

The UK government’s science policy isn’t just contradictory, it’s used a stand-in for politics, says science journalist TIMANDRA HARKNESS

03 March 2010

Your country, my arse!

Ireland’s desperate political elite is now begging the public for ideas – in a bizarre PR-driven competition

Tea for two parties

Mad, bad and dangerous to know, the Tea Parties are the flip side of Obamamania and both contain positive aspects

02 March 2010

Malvinas still Argentinas

Hillary Clinton’s unsolicited offer to mediate between Britain and Argentina should remind us that you don’t need a history degree to know the Falklands don’t belong to Britain. All you need is a map

28 February 2010

Slumming it

A new Brand of environmentalism seeks to distance itself from its technophobic past but Stewart Brand’s paean to poverty is anything but progressive. JASON WALSH trawls through history, from the classical period to the age of Marxism to show why.

Chilean earthquake demonstrates the importance of development

The earthquake that struck Chile was stronger than the one that struck Haiti in January but the death toll is literally a thousand times lower

Updated: 19.30 UTC

27 February 2010

Two cheers for tabloids

They may offend liberal opinion but tabloid newspapers are the first line of defence for a free press, says JASON WALSH

26 February 2010

I love the underclass

Why politics would be lost without the ‘lower orders’

24 February 2010

Meet the new DUP

It’s the same as the old one, says STEPHEN MCGLENNON

Ireland’s incredible shrinking (public) sphere

forth editor JASON WALSH gives his personal view on why nothing matters in Ireland today – and suggests how we might change that

Another day, another resignation

Sargent getting his marching orders is more of the same un-politics, says JASON WALSH

23 February 2010

Leader column: Republicanism, not magical thinking

Responses to the recent London conference on Irish unity suggest a united Ireland is a mere managerial process. Nothing could be further from the truth

I can see you

ANNA MORVERN says the alleged Mossad assassination should not be allowed to force biometric identity documents on us

22 February 2010

Sorry but it’s time to say goodbye to public apologies

Tiger Woods’s apology was an ugly, forced pantomime and his private life is none of our business, says JASON WALSH

The emotionally correct ‘censureship’ of Jan Moir

Official censorship pales in comparison to unofficial censureship, says BRENDAN O’NEILL

Ireland’s bankrupt politics

Complaining about ‘civil war politics’ isn’t enough – it’s time to reinvigorate our moribund political system, says JASON WALSH

20 February 2010

Israel’s theatre of the absurd

YAEL MAURER says her country’s foreign assassination antics would be funny – if they weren’t so serious

19 February 2010

Rights on paper

forth reader MICHAEL GILLESPIE gives his view on the proposed bill of rights for the North

The Greek disease

Whatever about the ‘necessity’ of austerity packages, anti-Greek sentiment is inflated by prejudice and unmasks EU bully-boy tactics

18 February 2010

O’Dea gravedigging

Defence minister Willie O’Dea is an alleged perjurer and fights dirty – but the forces circling him aren’t democratic, this is the backstabbing of court politics

17 February 2010

The Euro economy in your pocket

As the Greek economy continues to tank many are wondering if joining the Euro was the right idea. JASON WALSH says it doesn’t matter which currency you have, what matters is how much of it you have in your pocket

Last chance Salon

A report from last night’s Belfast Salon debate: A house divided

15 February 2010

George Lee and the HSE

The political class has attacked George Lee as an arriviste but they are the ones who abdicated responsibility to outside forces

14 February 2010

Resigning themselves to failure

JASON WALSH explains what’s behind the sudden outbreak of principles in Irish politics

12 February 2010

The irresponsibility of children’s ‘rights’

The authorities have given over authority to children, argues DENNIS HAYES, and it is tantamount to child abuse.

Obama’s failures shouldn’t depress politics

Forget the fading messianic effect, Obama’s energising of politics still matters and we could still do with some of that enthusiasm here at home

11 February 2010

Information doesn’t want to be free

It doesn’t want anything, says Australian IT professional JONATHAN WALSH. It’s what we want that matters

09 February 2010

Hooray for sweatshops

Gliberals whinging about labour conditions in the third world are helping to keep the poor in chains, says JASON WALSH

06 February 2010

1969 and all that

An interview published today lays the blame for the IRA split of 1969 at the feet of one man: Seamus Costello. If true, what does this mean for our understanding of recent Irish history, asks JASON WALSH

Free the MP three

The British electorate is capable of kicking-out the alleged expense fiddlers, it’s not a job for the courts

Republican thinking

In the second of a series of articles before the Belfast Salon debate, JASON WALSH argues the only way forward for the North is to think about Ireland nationally

Ugandan discussions

JACQUI RUSSELL argues for more development – and transparency – in Uganda as a way of guaranteeing rights

05 February 2010

The British nation

In the first of a series of articles before the Belfast Salon debate OWEN POLLEY argues for a modern Britishness against ‘Ulster’ identity

One group was left out of the new agreement at Hillsborough

No, not the Ulster Unionists, it was the public

03 February 2010

Forget the breasts, this is serious

Sun, sea and… no sex or politics. According to reports Australia has gone censorship crazy, at home and away (on the internet). DAVID JACKMANSON brave the battle of the (bantam) breasts to find out what’s really going on

forth elsewhere: New republic

The endless and farcical devolution talks at Stormont should remind us of the need to replace the exhausted institutions, both north and south, writes forth editor JASON WALSH in Spiked

Leader column: the eternal procession

Anything Sinn Féin and the DUP can agree on isn’t worth the paper it’s written on

Pay attention to the Church? Count me out

The anti-clerical ‘Count Me Out’ inflates the importance of Ireland’s rotting Catholic Church, says JASON WALSH

02 February 2010

Dublin City Council’s wrongheaded attack on motorists

The new lowered speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour is not about traffic management or road safety, it’s an assault on mobility – and the statistics prove it, says JASON WALSH

Technology journalism failure

IT journalism is crap, says JASON WALSH

01 February 2010

Dark green future?

Three forth contributors give their thoughts on the future of Ireland’s Green Party after the next election

31 January 2010

Protestant exodus or sectarian reporting?

Young, educated Protestants are leaving the North – but the problem is economic, not cultural, says JASON WALSH

30 January 2010

Lillis manslaughter – let’s not have a battle of the sexes

The crime story that ‘gripped Ireland’ tells us a lot about ourselves, but not quite what the press is claiming

29 January 2010

Southerners: shut up! Without the North no-one would know who you were

The Republic of Ireland has a lower population than major cities – the only reason anyone cares about Ireland is because of the conflict

Wrong about rights

Today’s proliferation of rights is having the effect of making us less free

28 January 2010

Marching orders

JASON WALSH wouldn’t vote for a unionist party if his life depended on it but says the Orangemen have one thing right – the Parades Commission is undemocratic

An Irish language ‘elite’ may be good news

The state’s Irish policies have failed. Any genuine revival of the language will come from elsewhere, says JASON WALSH

26 January 2010

A bill of rights is wrong

OWEN POLLEY argues against the North’s proposed undemocratic Bill of Rights

forth elsewhere: Mionlach Gaeilge?

forth editor JASON WALSH reporting on the ‘Irish-speaking elite’ in the CS Monitor

forth elsewhere: Conservative unionist blunder

The shine has come off the Conservatives’ alliance with unionists as sectarian politics reasserts itself in Northern Ireland, says forth editor JASON WALSH, writing in the Guardian

25 January 2010

It’s grim up North

Political discourse? It’s an oxymoron, says STEPHEN RAINEY

22 January 2010

‘Raped’ by the language police

Martin Cullen is being torn to pieces (not literally) in the press for using a metaphor. Both his critics and Cullen should grow up, says JASON WALSH

21 January 2010

Leader column: Dissident republicans? The chance would be a fine thing

Just because we don’t like them doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to understand dissident republicans – and what they tell us about Sinn Féin

20 January 2010

forth elsewhere: Post-Catholic mortality in Ireland

Moral dilemma: what will replace the church as our compass? forth editor JASON WALSH and LENNY ANTONELLI in conversation with scientists and philosophers in the Irish Times

You want real politics? Get rid of PR

The goal of proportional representation isn’t to enhance democracy, it’s to frustrate it, says JASON WALSH

forth elsewhere: You have the right to remain silent – otherwise we’ll arrest you

Why personal communication should be personal, in Global Comment

19 January 2010

Letter to the editor: we all have something for fear

Frequent forth contributor DR STEPHEN GINN addresses a critic on the issue of government-issued ID cards

Windows 7 doesn’t exist – and neither does Snow Leopard

Since when were software upgrades worth partying about, asks JASON WALSH

18 January 2010

Calling time on Stormont

PAULINE HADAWAY asks if the cost of the Northern Assembly is distracting from creating a real and vibrant democracy?

Western ‘Russophobia’ distorts understanding of Ukraine election

As the Ukrainian presidential election goes to round two, candidates’ “pro-Western” or “anti-Western” leanings are not what actually matters, says NATALIA ANTONOVA reporting from Ukraine

17 January 2010

Processed peace

The abuse allegations are damaging to Sinn Féin but it’s the never-ending peace process that’s really hurting the party, says JASON WALSH

Haiti: impoverished but not for sale

Some commentators say Haiti would be better off if had never overthrown its French colonial masters. They’re wrong, says JASON WALSH

16 January 2010

‘Thank god, the Ulstermen have feet of clay’

England’s politicians and pundits are thrilled to see the skeletons in Northern Ireland’s closets, says JAMES HEARTFIELD

15 January 2010

The tragic earthquake in Haiti throws Irish self-pity about the weather into sharp relief

Comparisons are unfair and unhelpful but we do need to get our act together, says JASON WALSH

Weathering stormy science

Both climate changers and their opponents should stop blowing hot air over cold weather, says PATRICK WEST

forth elsewhere: The green panic over China is a re-run of the racist yellow peril

China-bashing has a long and ugly history, says forth editor JASON WALSH, writing in Global Comment

Liddle as Independent editor would mean one more Tory paper

Despite sounding like a German discount retailer, Rod Liddle is the Waitrose of boring, right-wing ‘controversialists’, says PADDY HOEY

14 January 2010

Yemen is not a ‘haven for terrorists’

Attacks on Yemen for being a ‘hotbed of terrorism’ are just the latest in a series of unjust insults slung at the Middle Eastern country, says JAMES HEARTFIELD

13 January 2010

Like no business we know

The Irish Film Board is badly run, supports lousy movies and costs the taxpayer money. Of course we need it, says NIALL KITSON

Abolish the councils

Underfunded, unloved and with just enough power to make our lives a misery, it’s time for the councils to go, says JASON WALSH

12 January 2010

forth elsewhere: the pretend politics of a fantasy state

The Robinson and Adams scandals don’t matter – because nothing in the North of Ireland matters

A river of crocodile tears over the Gerry Adams affair

forth editor JASON WALSH says the emphasis on victimhood is tedious and beside the point, writing in Global Comment

11 January 2010

The North’s permanent provisional government

The Northern Assembly is too important for grandstanding – unless it’s officially sanctioned grandstanding, says JASON WALSH

The Lock-Keeper’s farrago

DANIEL JEWESBURY tells the improbable and engaging story of Iris Robinson, the woman with three jobs and the beast with two backs

Goodbye Gerry: it’s time for an era to end

He has achieved much, but it’s time for Gerry Adams to go, says TOMMY MCKEARNEY

10 January 2010

A whale of a time

DAVID JACKMANSON reports on the Sea Shepherd whaling fiasco

08 January 2010

Leader column: Lost Labour lovers

Some members want the British Labour party to organise in the North of Ireland. But who would vote for it?

A history of middle class dystopia

JAMES HEARTFIELD traces the Ballardian history of middle class panics, from societal breakdown to the population bomb and global cooling, in a special illustrated essay for forth

The tragedy of Iris

Iris Robison’s feet of clay are not important and even the politics will turn out to be hollow

07 January 2010

States of mind

With the situations in Iraq, and Afghanistan regularly described as ‘states of anarchy’, JASON WALSH asks exactly what is a state anyway?

Political sex means business as usual

The Adams family crisis and Mrs Robinson scandal are masking the real political meltdown: financial double-dealing and a collapse of political legitimacy, says JASON WALSH

06 January 2010

Never mind the Robinsons, the North is ungovernable

The first minister’s marriage is the least of the Northern Assembly’s problems – how about the fact that the entire Mickey Mouse outfit is incapable of functioning, says JASON WALSH

Kicking against the pricks

Political consultant ROBERT CASSIDY considers Brian Lenihan’s contradictory insider-outsider status in politics and notes his response to the TV3 debacle fits a pattern of both Lenihan’s behaviour and pubic perception of him as a man

Depression: cultivating vulnerability

Marian Keyes’s announcement that she is struggling with depression is unfortunate but let’s not generalise from it, says JASON WALSH

05 January 2010

An explosive state

We know airport security is a problem when European governments are planting plastic explosives on travellers, says JASON WALSH

forth elsewhere: Ireland: sex crime nation

Read forth editor JASON WALSH writing about Ireland’s sex panic in Global Comment magazine

02 January 2010

Irish exceptionalism: ‘We’re awful eejits, so we are’

Public life is still dominated by the idea that the Irish are unique – uniquely stupid – but there is nothing unique about Ireland. Isn’t it about time we admitted that, asks JASON WALSH

30 December 2009

Mistaken (political) identity in execution

China’s execution of British man Akmal Shaikh was a disgrace but it had nothing to do with Copenhagen, despite the green conspiracy theories, says JASON WALSH

Flight unfree

ROB LYONS laments the latest attack on freedom in the name of airport security

Anatomy of a bomber: well-off, educated and incoherent

Islamic militants are more like angsty goths than traditional third world liberationists, says JASON WALSH. Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab is just the latest in a long line of alienated rich boys playing soldier