Dr. Fennell doesn't say that the anomie caused by a mishmash of societal values is the main cause of youthful male suicide in Ireland but strongly hints that it may be and calls for research by social scientists. Sociologists have their uses, but so too do do philosophers, and Fennell is doing philosophy in Ireland - not apparently a big concern among the intelligentsia - a service by philosophising about the enormous, sometimes disturbing, changes which have happened in Ireland since the 1960s. I hope his article makes people think about the Irish condition.

I love your site! Great style, great texts. I recently translated that parable into German for my readers.

What I am wondering about is this: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0314/breaking17.html

Can you write something about it? Or if not, try to explain to me why that is such a big nono?

Thanks,

Gilbert

Might have helped if your artificially low interest rates had been able to be managed by your own country to meet its own needs instead of by Brussels to serve the needs of the non-interested many!

http://fromthepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/leprechaun.jpg

http://emcoshv.t35.com/leprechaun-13.jpg

When I worked in that food poisoning outlet in Sandyford, our terminals regularly took between 10 and 15 seconds to process the transaction, and that was after the customer had entered their pin.

Even with a high speed line, I think you'd struggle to buy the gum with your Laser Card in under 10 seconds (handing the card to cashier to receiving your receipt)

On both sides of the till, what may seem like a paltry time amount ("sure it's only 7 seconds") can actually be very frustrating. If there's 10 people in front of you each taking an extra 7 seconds, that's over a minute extra you'll have to wait. Not very convenient, esp in convenience stores.

If you are serving a line of customers all paying on credit card, then you have to deal with their increasing impatience, and the chance they will just get bored of waiting and leave (This would happen a lot in work when it was busy and people were paying by card)

Until POS card transactions become as quick or quicker as the cash alternative (such as contactless cards) cash should, and will, remain king.

If the currency falls drastically and suddenly, your 500 euro in cash is still worth far less than it was, exactly as it would be if it were "electronic cash", in one of the eWallets we heard so much about in the 90s.

The only way to escape inflation and currency fluctuations is by stepping out of the fiat money world, and returning to the gold standard (ho ho!) or bartering with shells.

Your point is good though. Electronic money increases our reliance on the banks, and thus our vulnerability. Given the absolute state of the banking sector in Ireland, this is probably not desirable in the short-term.

"Why not abolish the charge per transaction, and move towards a totally cash-less society?"

Why do you feel this is a good idea? If I have 500 quid on my person, I can only lose it if I'm robbed, or if the currency falls drastically and suddenly. 'Electronic cash' solves the the first problem, doesn't solve the second, and in my opinion, leaves your money even more vulnerable than if it were in physical form.

I'm trying to say what I mean without coming across like an insane Ron Paul supporter; failing pretty miserably. You get what I mean, though, surely?