Commentary – Page 14

We are a common people, divided by our politicians

Eamonn Mallie started a conversation on FaceBook. I’ve been commenting liberally. It’s uplifting to hear people from opposite parts of the community say this because it’s too easy to characterise some as being only PUL or CNR. I want change because despite voting for peace, we haven’t moved one millimetre further than the GFA. Instead … Continue reading “We are a common people, divided by our politicians”

Eamonn Mallie started a conversation on FaceBook. I’ve been commenting liberally.

It’s uplifting to hear people from opposite parts of the community say this because it’s too easy to characterise some as being only PUL or CNR. I want change because despite voting for peace, we haven’t moved one millimetre further than the GFA. Instead of an important milestone, it’s become the inscription on the tombstone of our broken society.

We are a common people, divided by our politicians. When I was a child (raised as a Catholic in Lisburn), going out to a bonfire and seeing the bands was normal. Thirty years later and sixteen years after a peace process, I would never go a bonfire celebration despite shedding my catholic identity years ago. It’s been tainted; extremists on both sides whose agenda is not my interest have stolen from me everything I hold dear. They have stolen the Irish language (that I never bothered to learn in school), they have stolen the bands and bonfires with their pomp and celebration, they have stolen any identity I had as a cultural Catholic Unionist and left me disenfranchised, disappointed and angry.

I was at an event in Belfast a couple of months ago and the speaker was Sir Richard Needham. Whatever you think of the man, he said some hard hitting truths. He said we have forgotten that our grandfathers were gods of industry. And he said that Northern Ireland is full of shit but laced with diamonds; and that we have to start finding the diamonds.

Are Games Just Products or Something More?

…the myopic focus on games soley as industry stymies developers in understanding their position relative to everything else. Is it any wonder The Arts Council don’t give a fuck about games, given how highly trained we are to think and talk of them as products? To be fair, I’ve found the Arts Council in Northern … Continue reading “Are Games Just Products or Something More?”

…the myopic focus on games soley as industry stymies developers in understanding their position relative to everything else. Is it any wonder The Arts Council don’t give a fuck about games, given how highly trained we are to think and talk of them as products?

To be fair, I’ve found the Arts Council in Northern Ireland to be incredibly supportive of games through the Creative Industries Innovation Fund. The fund, sourced from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, represents the biggest investor in games development in the province.

But games are too immature to be really considered art. So far.

Great Horror Campout: anyone fancy running this?

Click for more information. Related posts: Jonathan Gems on the abolition of the UKFC Tabula Rasa…not quite Anyone fancy going to the Southampton Boat Show in September? Coming soon: Black Box Horror Film Club

Click for more information.

We are being played, my fellow citizens, by petty Machiavellians.

Our society is deadlocked by the past; more specifically by political parties wanting to prove their mettle by dwelling in the past and pushing it in front of us. It seems that every week that goes by there is a new transgression, a new legacy of the past that will thwart the development of our … Continue reading “We are being played, my fellow citizens, by petty Machiavellians.”

Previously I wrote about the need to focus on No More Victims and yet almost every day there is a new atrocity; from the erection of a KKK flag to actual physical attacks.

Meanwhile we are seeing the equivalent of cultural hand grenades as both sides work to provoke each other. The outgoing PSNI chief claimed that on on night, his officers had to police 84 different flag protests all because of a cultural sensitivity regarding the removal of a flag. We can blame the loyalist community for a severe over-reaction that has cost our society millions but we cannot ignore those who lit the fuse – the Republican councillors in Belfast who proposed it (which included the popular uber-Mayor Máirtín Ó Muilleoir). The end result was a great cost to our society which is precisely what Republican extremists wish to create – the legend that Northern Ireland is a failed state. This serves their purpose in portraying a highly fictional account of a new Ireland; one which miraculously is a utopia for all and wouldn’t just relegate Belfast to being a second-city to Dublin. That said, in the face of the potential disintegration of the Union by the Scottish Nationalists, is it any wonder that the Unionist and Loyalist communities are extremely defensive. Is it any wonder that parades and “shows of strength” are on the up?

We are being played, my fellow citizens, by petty Machiavellians. We are being subjected to endless distractions of outrage as our welfare state crumbles, as our national health service is disintegrated and, as many will find in the coming months, our public sector enters the most harsh stage of our austerity. If you think the last five years have been tough, just wait.

Why should public transport be free?

Because it satisfies environmental impacts. It will overnight reduce the number of cars on the roads and reduce carbon emissions. It will also reduce the numbers of cars that are bought (a number that has been steadily increasing for years). Less than 5% of our workforce use public transport. Fewer cars will mean vastly reduced traffic and that means the buses will become faster and more reliable and it will reduce wear and tear on the roads for those road users who will still have to maintain a car for practicality reasons. Fewer cars may also encourage more people to use cycling as a means of travel.

Because it satisfies economic impacts. People will spend their money on goods and services. Individuals who are currently economically active because they consider that a bus journey will wipe out nearly £2000 of their minimum wage salary will reconsider working if they can get to and from the workplace for free. We already subsidise our transport heavily (to around 50%) so why not go the rest of the way.

Because it satisfies social impacts. Not only will it empower the economically inactive to incentivise employment but it will increase the social and leisure mobility of low income members of society allowing them to experience more of Northern Ireland and spend their money on goods and services they can enjoy rather than on a bus or train.

Because it satisfies tourism potential. Visitors will be able to leave Belfast much easier and visit more of the province and take longer journeys. We can build our transport network on quality and not solely on cost.

There’s more in the link and tag FreePublicTransport.

Social Technologies

From The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and productivity through social technologies Related posts: Digital Circle going independent and my thoughts on the Future London, City of the Future SyncNI: Edu Minister O’Dowd: Digital Technologies can enhance Pupils’ Learning New technologies, not for savages

From The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and productivity through social technologies

Libraries should become the convergence of creativity, dialogue and expression

Libraries should become more like Hackerspaces, converging centers of creation, dialogue, expression. Not the quiet reading room #civicmedia — Renata Avila (@avilarenata) June 23, 2014 Related posts: Top 3 issues… Onlive: Gaming in the Cloud review eBook Libraries in Northern Ireland Do not let desire for revenge and false promises of hope become how we … Continue reading “Libraries should become the convergence of creativity, dialogue and expression”

Libraries should become more like Hackerspaces, converging centers of creation, dialogue, expression. Not the quiet reading room #civicmedia

— Renata Avila (@avilarenata) June 23, 2014

Who are you?

English by birth. British by nationality. Scots prod from my Dad. Irish farmer from my Mum. Irish in my heart. Northern Irish in my head. I have multiple names. I’m Matt. I’m Matthew. And I’m also known as Mr Johnston and, to my favourite humans, as Daddy. I grew up in Lisburn and I live … Continue reading “Who are you?”

English by birth.
British by nationality.
Scots prod from my Dad.
Irish farmer from my Mum.
Irish in my heart.
Northern Irish in my head.

I have multiple names. I’m Matt. I’m Matthew. And I’m also known as Mr Johnston and, to my favourite humans, as Daddy.
I grew up in Lisburn and I live in Bangor.
I went to a Catholic Primary School and Grammar School.
I’m a humanist, my own strict interpretation. I think humans are great. I think anyone who tries to attribute this greatness to mythology is a charlatan.
At University, when I left home, I stopped going to Church and joined the TA.
I feel some kinship with the Catholics of Northern Ireland from family ties but that’s about as far as it goes.
I’ve been on the Internet for longer than I’ve been off it. I have an identity there. My partner also uses my internet name as much as my given name.
I feel allegiance to the Union flag. I have too much respect for it to let it hang in rags. I’m more interested in an independent Northern Ireland as an option on the constitutional question than abandoning our responsibilities to London or Dublin.
I’m from a mixed marriage. I had one male parent and one female parent.
I’ve been married twice – both times to women from the “other” culture.
I’ve lived here for fifty of my forty one years but I feel like an outsider. According to a guy on the radio, this means I’m not a local.

I try to define myself and others by what I or they do rather than what I “have been” or what they “are”. I’m more interested in tomorrow than today or yesterday.

WackEV Races

Northern Ireland has one of the best infrastructures in the world for those daring individuals who have decided to forego burning liquefied dinosaur innards in an internal combustion engine. The Electric Vehicle (EV) is possibly the next step in automotive design. They’re cleaner, more efficient and quieter than normal fossil fuel cars. While the majority … Continue reading “WackEV Races”

Northern Ireland has one of the best infrastructures in the world for those daring individuals who have decided to forego burning liquefied dinosaur innards in an internal combustion engine.

The Electric Vehicle (EV) is possibly the next step in automotive design. They’re cleaner, more efficient and quieter than normal fossil fuel cars. While the majority of electricity in Northern Ireland is still produced via burning fossil fuels, the efficiency is much higher in a power plant than would be possible in a small, self – contained engine.

So we have the infrastructure but where are the cars?

Part of the problem is the battery issue. These things are heavy and expensive and if someone wants to change the world, solving battery output would be the most amazing leap.

The other part of the problem is the cost of commercial EVs. They’re not made in sufficient quantities to drive the price down.

So the idea is to host design challenges to bring the production price of an EV to below £5000. To develop new battery technology. To create new power generation that might reduce reliance on large batteries.

62% of parents wish their children to get into digital careers (via @o2UKThinkBig)

Of course, O2 reports it the opposite way round. Three quarters of a million digitally skilled workers are needed to fuel UK economic growth Over one third (38%) of parents would prefer their children to pursue traditional professional careers I’m okay with nearly two-thirds. We’ll do okay with nearly two thirds. The world will still … Continue reading “62% of parents wish their children to get into digital careers (via @o2UKThinkBig)”

Of course, O2 reports it the opposite way round.

Three quarters of a million digitally skilled workers are needed to fuel UK economic growth

Over one third (38%) of parents would prefer their children to pursue traditional professional careers

I’m okay with nearly two-thirds. We’ll do okay with nearly two thirds.

The world will still need doctors (though this is becoming increasingly digital), lawyers (though this is becoming increasingly digital) and food and sanitary service employees (though these guys will be replaced by robots). The point is: there’s room and prosperity for everyone if we can stop thinking of digital as a bandwagon and start thinking of it as the default.