The (UK) Times has had a 90% drop in readership online! 10%  of their former viewers are paying real money. Doesn’t look very good. Bottom line = Advertisers want traffic.  For myself aindreas.com isn’t a source of my income, I don’t mind advertisers, I don’t do them. I care about my content. This is contra to The Times owners Modus operandi ie they have shareholders. If I were in their shoes I would knock the paid version on the head asap and keep the advertisers in bed. To reiterate The (UK) Times has lost almost 90% of its online readership compared to February 2010 since making registration mandatory in June 2010, calculations by the Guardian show. The Times needs to decide what it is. Because folk are fickle and will go where the tried and trusted are.... Similar posts

Today in the Irish Times, Frances McDonnell, gives voice to many in business and civil society who can see last week as another setback for the reconstruction of our city and region. Northern Ireland’s recent impromptu summer camp for underage rioters could seriously undermine efforts to drum up enthusiasm for the next US-NI Economic Conference, according to senior business figures. Four nights of what one heavyweight referred to as “mindless violence” on certain streets in North Belfast could deter potential US investors considering the North as an investment location, several local business leaders have warned. The North will have to foot the bill for the financial cost of the rioting. But there is another hidden cost which is not easily calculated. A lot of people,... Similar posts

“My wife likes to make a show of me by getting me to list the weirdest jobs I’ve had. When I was a kid I worked in Dunnes Stores in town. There was a strike on and I was supposed to be on strike duty. But I got a little nixer on the side, guarding a giant inflatable can of 7Up in the car park outside The Square in Tallaght. There were legions of kids harrassing me “What is it, mister?” “Can I kick it, mister?” “Can I burn it?”” Read the rest of this article... Similar posts

THE MIGHTY STEF Ireland’s last rock n’ roll hero: he sings, he plays, he makes beds We’re in the middle of a recession. The music industry has all but collapsed… So how does a rock and roller earn a crust these days? In Dublin? You don’t. I scrape a living by frequently touring abroad. Germany would be one of my main markets. I have a small label over there that puts out everything I’ve done. If I go away for three weeks, and play my cards right, I might come home with a couple of months wages. That’s standard industrial wages. I also do the odd residency where I play folk music anonymously. What, like Scarborough Fair? No, not that kind of folk music. I mean, I play acoustic sets. Mostly covers – I do everything from Phil Spector to Bob Dylan. There might also be... Similar posts

“One particular film has three words in its title: none of which can be repeated in a family newspaper. Sufficed to say it boasts an all-male cast. And given the pride these gentlemen take in one particular aspect of their respective anatomies, the film could be described as, quite literally, an orgy of self-congratulation…” Read the rest of this article... Similar posts

I love men. From the time I was a little girl – in a co-educational Catholic school in New York – I learned the boys were the ones who presented me with the REAL competition on the soccer pitch, in the football card trading stakes, in political and current affairs discussions and later, in the workplace. I have always worked in male-dominated fields (Wall Street and business journalism) and enjoyed good support from (most of) my overwhelmingly male bosses. Dating – and moving up the business ladder - was a different story altogether. Many American men don’t want a girl with a brain (no matter how tiny) and ambition. Some Irish guys still physically shrink away from me when I’m friendly, assuming I’m making a pass at them. (I’m not.... Similar posts

It’s one o’clock in the afternoon. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. And I’m plonked on the couch in my boxer shorts eating Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes and watching the World Cup. Watching football while everyone else is at work? Christ, it’s good to be alive. If someone had asked me when I was a kid, what kind of life I wanted when I grew up – I gotta tell you, I’d have settled for a lot less than this. The postman sneaks his nose around the open door. There are a couple of bills for me. Who’s winning, he asks? Serbia, I say. Klose has just been sent off. Postman looks pissed off. Miroslav Klose, he asks? Yup. Shite, I have him on my Fantasy Football team. He accepts my offer of a seat. If there is a downside to the World Cup – and I very seriously doubt that... Similar posts

I’m usually a fan of Sarah Carey.  But I am having second thoughts after she wrote a most unfair (bitchy?) article about Richard Bruton in Wednesday’s Irish Times.  Fittingly for a piece in which she played the man instead of the ball, she headlined and introduced it with World Cup references.  The first paragraph gives a foretaste... Similar posts

It’s a long time ago now, but I still remember the trips to London to see that one very special doctor like they were yesterday. I remember learning how lentils in tights could make realistic looking breast forms and how much makeup was required to hide a 5 o’clock shadow. There were shops — a bit seedy, maybe — near Euston Station where you could buy special make up and clothing. I remember walking around our neighbourhood with the bravest woman in the world, while people looked at us and reacted — quietly pointing, laughing, looking away. But then safely at home, I remember the two of us trawling the internet for information and community. We found it. We read books, watched movies and soaked up every bit of information we would find. It was a very... Similar posts

So I’m here. In the big shmoke. The capital fecking city. Yesterday was possibly one of the most hectic days of my life. I started out at Kent station at abput 6.10am and got the half six train to Dublin. Next up was the Luas red line into the city centre, followed by a caramel latte in Starbucks on College Green and a read of the Irish Times Weekend Review. I am too cool. I met Jill outside Trinity and we headed off to the office on Tara Street. Now you all know where I’ll be everyday and come stalk me. That’s a comforting thought. The morning was fairly class I have to say. We had a briefing session as to what we’d be doing, and then the girls got to go off shopping for a summer fashion piece. I know it sounds extremely fun (to any girls reading this at... Similar posts

On Joyce’s “Ulysses”, You must not expect any special expertise on my part in this area. I am simply one of the countless admirers of one of the most outstanding works of literature of the twentieth century. For me, Joyce, the itinerant European author, combines things in Ulysses that are otherwise seldom encountered together. He combines the artifice of a highly self-reflective, aesthetically uncompromising modern novel whose allusions are almost indecipherable with an unmistakable, though by no means uncritical, attachment to the all-pervasive ethos of his Irish native country. The novel is a declaration of love to the streets and pubs of Dublin and to the rich tradition and spirit of the country. It could be that this mixture is gaining a new resonance in... Similar posts

Image via Wikipedia He has been an excellent leader of the party and has the qualities to make a great Taoiseach but the electorate have fixed in their minds a view of him that is inaccurate, not based on his performance and even at times simply unfair. Yet it would seem that a large portion of them are not for shifting in this view. It would appear that the public has decided that Enda is the soccer guy who clears out the dead wood, sets up the youth academy, brings through new young players and buys well even wins a few cups but having done all that just can’t seem to connect with them and the squad he has assembled in order to win the league. It’s frustrating and undeserved for Enda Kenny but I think that if the government wins the confidence motion next Tuesday... Similar posts

Wow, only just realised that it’s been almost a week since the last post. God know’s why because it’s not like I’ve been crazily busy or anything. I could come up with some excuses for you know, but you probably don’t give a damn so I’ll just get on with it. Life’s a bit quieter than usual at the moment. A few of the friends have fecked off, and a few others who’d I’d have seen fairly regularly are out of the county too. I miss one or two people, but it’s nice to have a break from some other people too. That sounds ridiculously bitchy and pretentious, but that’s just the kind of person I am. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that? Anyyyyway, I headed down to Kinsale on Tuesday evening for a Fáilte Ireland... Similar posts

Another boring education blog entry I know, but this is important. Today’s report in the Irish Independent that a Irish University Association paper indicates that serious cutbacks in course content will have a detrimental effect on course quality is a stark warning to all stakeholders in education. Is an unholy alliance between the pro-fees university heads,... Similar posts

Cryptic article by Brian Boyd in this week's the Ticket.It’s a stunning piece of work – one of the best things I’ve heard in the past five years. It’s by a big-name star – one of the biggest – but sorry, we’ve been asked not to say just yet. It’s not that there’s a veil of secrecy around the album, it’s more that nobody still really knows who played what or who wrote what on the album. News of the album’s later-this-year release date is out there, but details are weirdly scant. It will be top of many people’s album-of-the-year list, though.So who is it?He mentions that he listened to the album in "a city centre" and that members of the Australian press had flown over specially to listen to it. I'm guessing that means the listening event took place in London, so... Similar posts

Wednesday’s report in The Irish Times that the HEA has given effective carte blanche to university heads to take “whatever action is needed” to make savings comes as no surprise.  Yesterday’s editorial was a ‘get real’ message for those opposed to any change to the current system of funding. If the higher education sector is to... Similar posts

The claws are... Similar posts

I got a call last week from Conor. He was doing this article on Grow Your Own and asked for some thoughts. To the pieces I know that I have written that may refer to my quotes below. Grow your own kits cheaper than B and Q. I think it’s a logic alternate piece. There are many... Similar posts

“At the back, the meanest drummer in the world. When we played in the Middle East, he killed the Dead Sea… David Kemper!” “You might be wondering what’s written on his shoes – those are foot notes!” “He was going to be a doctor but he didn’t have any patience… David Kemper!” “We went to a restaurant this afternoon and David asked the waitress if they served crabs. She said, Sit down, honey. We serve just about anybody….” “David grew up on a farm. On Saturday nights he used to take the cows to the moovies.” “On drums, David Kemper. He once swallowed a roll of film… We’ll see what develops.” “Larry (Campbell, guitar) was writing to his girlfriend the other night.... Similar posts