The Angry Hedgehog

• Jedward are pure essence of an extinct culture – The Irish Times – Tue, Nov 03, 2009
  Its no wonder the X Factor twins are so popular: they embody the Celtic Tiger era but do none of the harm, writes FINTAN OTOOLE

  OFTEN, THE most poignant and potent moment of a culture is its dying gasp. Before the end, as a world implodes, there is a last great gathering of its energies. A shaman has a vision in the forest and arrives back with a millennial vision of salvation in which the ancient spirits are revived. A writer emerges to chronicle a way of life with a steely clarity forged from the urgent knowledge that it must be recorded before it dies.

• Galway News | Clamping cost Council almost ¬2m | www.galwaynews.ie
  GALWAY City Council has incurred a loss of almost ¬2 million in the last six years through its clamping contracts.

  The unpopular clamping method of punishing illegally parked motorists was abolished by the City Council in March but not before it had mismanaged the operation, according to one city councillor.

• Public-service careers: A tough search for talent | The Economist
  AGED 25 and armed with a masters degree in water management, Andrew Reeves has the very mix of youth and green-mindedness that many governments claim to need. Yet when he attended a Canadian government job fair in Toronto this autumn, he left after 20 minutes without handing out a single résumé.

  He queued in front of a booth for the Canadian natural-resources ministry, only to be told that information on openings was best found on the ministrys website. Id have preferred to do the whole thing by e-mail, he grumbles. Such was his frustration that he settled instead for a small non-profit group specialised in recycling.

I was going to leave well enough alone – however I am an incredibly superstitutious person! So now I am posting for the sake of posting….the reason being – my last post was my 666th post.

So er…..oh look pretty colours…

Pretty Colours