1) TV3 aren’t so disinterested in current affairs after all. Nightly News with Vincent Browne may not be all its press release promised but it does show a little bit of enthusiasm within the commercial broadcaster to do more than the absolute bare minimum when it comes to news.
2) Come hell or high scandal, Bertie Ahern is the consummate politician. Just listen out for his call in to Newstalk’s Off The Ball if you don’t agree.
3) The young political sector in Ireland still hasn’t quite gotten it right. I wait with baited breath for Rock The Vote’s Obama-inspired campaign for the 2009 local elections. On second thought, given their decision to refrain from saying anything even remotely political for fear of bias, I wonder if they’ll even allow themselves to utter the word ‘change’ for fear of its connotations.
4) Tom Waits loves Ireland and Ireland loves Tom Waits. The gig was great – although not everyone concurs. Here’s hoping he’ll be back again soon (and here’s hoping we’ll have a Waits Christmas in 2009, if my dastardly but long-shot plan can come to fruition).
5) Sometimes €115 for a gig is a bargain. Leonard Cohen put on a spectacular show in Dublin and by all accounts, across Europe. His site had in pencilled in for a return to Dublin in late December 2008 but that disappeared – fingers crossed he’ll make a triumphant return to these shores in 2009.
6) Dublin City Council can do a job quickly but it’s usually badly. I’m not sure if all of these safety issues have been resolved; I’m equally unsure when Dublin city will see the supposed benefits of this deal with JCDecaux (or will the stock “economic downturn” excuse be pulled out to let us all know it isn’t going to happen).
7) Denis O’Brien is now the proud owner of Ireland’s first national, commercial radio network. We’ve had all those RTÉs for so long, I suppose it’s only fair that we have a commercial equivalent, eh?
8) Traditional Irish media outlets finally started taking more advantage of the online world. A lot done, more to do.
9) O2 Ireland were left seriously red-faced when they launched the 2G iPhone just weeks before a 3G version was released by Apple. The embarrassment only grew when their tariffs were compared directly to O2 UK’s prices (which look even better now with sterling nearing parity with the euro). Oh well, there’s always the 3rd generation of iPhone to get it right.
10) Whatever your destination the path will never be as you expected. This is not a bad thing.