Fergal

bsky.app/profile/thir...

RTE news making the most of the unexpected bonus people arriving home to Dublin airport content

Don't really have much in the ways of political analysis these days tbh except "these people are animals"

Seanchartún le haghaidh Seachtain na Gaeilge

Tough on crime, tough on the victims of crime

the washington state department of licensing’s phone menu is available in 10 languages and it turns out the 9 that aren’t english were just english with an accent of the language you picked. so press 2 for spanish and it was just english with an accent

Checking these to make sure my child's name hasn't become basic

Quite apart from the extraordinary choice to use the segregation-era term "white-passing" when so many more contemporary alternatives are available

Family Voting As in both the local elections in 2023 and 2024, as well as the parliamentary by-elections in the same period, we again asked our observers to report broad ethnicity descriptions for those turned away. To classify, we used the phrases “white passing” and “non-white passing” to see if there was evidence of this policy being more impactful on voters from ethnic minorities. Our observers saw voters turned away in 17% of all polling stations. Our observers discovered those excluded because they lacked the appropriate ID in the polling station were: 20.2% “white passing” males, 21.0% “non-white passing” males, 32.5% “white passing” females, 26.2% “non-white passing” females. Our team saw family voting in 21% of all the polling stations that we observed. Across the parliamentary by-elections observed, the spread was: Clear direction 25.6%, General Oversight 33.3%, Collusion 35.6%, Other 5.6% So-called “family voting” continues to be widespread in UK elections. In total, 3.5% of all the 20,289 voters we observed voting at these elections were either causing, or were affected by, Family Voting, some 706 people. Family Voting continues to be widespread in the UK. This compares to 4.3% in the 2023 local elections and 4.7% in the 2024 local elections and 5.5% in the 2023/24 parliamentary by-elections. It appears to be slightly lower than in the normal round of local elections. This is, however, the lowest percentage of family voting Democracy Volunteers has seen in recent elections. This could be an indication that the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023 is having some effect, but more evidence needs to be collected to evaluate this.

But here they are in UK GE 2024 using "Family Voting" as the heading for a section that opens with an entirely unrelated consideration of ethnicity

Family voting is often asserted as happening in specific communities but the evidence of our observation is that it happens across communities and geographies. This disproportionately means guiding/overseeing how to vote, though this is by no means the only form it takes.

Some other interesting items from their website. In Ireland 2020 they said "Family voting is often asserted as happening in specific communities", implying that these were not assertions *they* would ever make

Of course this is all implied, because they want the public to join the racist dots instead of having to say it themselves

Who knew that this would turn out to be another episode of the Brits Are At It Again?

Voting in Ireland is a very social experience. I went to school with my local presiding officer and elections are about the only time we ever catch up. I suppose she is breaking some kind of law by saying "your Dad was in earlier"

Family voting is one of the biggest issues Democracy Volunteers observes at elections across Europe, providing a crucial challenge to polling day integrity. This electoral offence denies some voters their right to a secret ballot as two or more voters enter a polling booth together to collude or oversee/influence each other’s vote. This was the case on 67 different occasions on our observation across the 123 polling stations. Therefore 7.5% of voters were involved in this offence – either knowingly or unknowingly.

Some interesting maths here, where 67 instances are claimed to represent 7.5% of voters. The total votes in that election was 2.2 million

I’m a little put out that Ireland is one of the 8, since the integrity of our elections and counts is like the one aspect of Irish public life that everyone agrees is OK

I don’t know anything about this crowd but it’s worth noting that they (and apparently they alone) were “particularly concerned at the high levels of ‘family voting’ at polling stations” in the Irish General Election of 2020

democracyvolunteers.org/final-report...

My god if you can't do an Arts degree in UCG they might as well shut the place down

Back to Transformer: Walk on the Wild Side was such a late-night radio favorite that I probably knew all the words to it before I was 12. I heard Satellite of Love in my mid-teens, when U2 used to do it in their live shows. I first heard the entire album from flatmate in 1996

Almost every song song is a joyful genre exercise more than an artistic statement, though most (especially the title track and, as discussed, The Boxer) transcend their origins and achieve a sort of immortality. They actually don't make 'em like this anymore

What I can read now is what a pop album it is. They were riding the folk wave, but what they were doing was more of a sophisticated take on 50's Rock & Roll, a debt they acknowledge here with a fun live cover of the Every Brothers' Bye Bye Love

Is it a good song? Fuck, I don't know. It's like asking if the Book of Genesis is is a good yarn.

With albums like this I try to hear them as if they were new, but I think I may have met my match here. I hear "a man hears what he wants to hear and he disregards the rest" and it sounds etched in stone, like something from Shakespeare or the Bible.

The title track, Cecilia, The Boxer, Il Condor Pasa, they're all here.

I've never owned a copy of Bridge Over Troubled Water (unlike Transformer, which I've now owned three times) but really there was no need. Every song is imprinted in my brain by buskers, daytime radio and Temple Bar pub singers

It’s so true, there’s nothing to figure out about the guy. With Vance you can at least play a game of trying to understand what made him so disgusting, but with Trump it’s like wondering why a baboon flings its shit around

Hard to think of what to say about albums that were beloved oldies years before I ever heard them, but here's something: every single second of Transformer is perfect. I haven't enjoyed revisiting a classic this much, ever

Sleeve of Bridge Over Troubled Water, an album by Simon and Garfunkel

Sleeve of Transformer, an album by Lou Reed

Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel, €15.65

Transformer, Lou Reed, €15.65

These were classic bargain-hunter buys. I wasn’t trying to scratch any particular itch, I just saw two classics for 15 quid apiece and couldn't leave em behind

Nancy & Lee Again, a clear vinyl record with a red splatter pattern, sitting om a record player turntable

It's all good fun, they were clearly very fond of each other, and it comes in a pretty red splattered vinyl

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood-Down From Dover YouTube video by zmov1

Down From Dover is a Dolly Parton cover that ended up being sampled by The Go! Team

youtu.be/f2wU_ptxn7c?...