Previous Day
Poland votes for change
Sunday was a great day for Polish democracy. Voters bucked the apathy of the last general election in 2005 in which only 40 per cent of them bothered to cast a ballot by pushing turnout up by at least one third. Young people especially voted in large numbers, most of them against the main conservative Law and Justice governing party led by the Kaczynski twin brothers and in favour of the liberal-right Civic Platform. In doing this so decisively they have helped form a more stable party system to replace one that was dangerously fragmented and unrepresentative. Most important, they have strongly expressed their rejection of the outgoing government's crude populist nationalism and the damage it inflicted on their country's role and reputation in Europe. p
Electing a mayor
The key to effective government involves a clear linkage between authority and accountability. But the latter requirement has been progressively ignored in this State. Because of that, a Green Paper on the functions of a directly elected lord mayor of Dublin should focus debate on whether power and responsibility can be shared between the mayor and a city manager, or whether entirely new structures are needed. That did not happen seven years ago when legislation for elected mayors and council chairmen was initially introduced. p
Opinion
New Irish smugness a losing game
Last month, when Ireland were about to play Argentina at the Rugby World Cup, the former French international Thomas Castaignède wrote in the Guardian newspaper that he was praying for "a great surge of Irish pride". (An Irish victory would have suited the French.) But then he reflected in sadness and bewilderment that, on the basis of Ireland's other performances, this seemed unlikely: "I can't get over how soulless Ireland seemed," writes Fintan O'Toole. pLiving with climate change in Greenland is a daily reality
The effects of global warming are often said to be disastrous for Greenland. But some people on the world's largest island also see opportunities, political and economic. Kieran Cooke reports from Illulisat in western Greenland. pEnsuring a caring, careful death for all
Rite and Reason: Chaplains are there when we have more need of the divine than a physician. Paul Murray wrties about those who care for the dying. p
An Irishman's Diary
They may not be paved with gold, exactly. But for a new and fast-growing sector of the advertising industry, the streets of Dublin are paved with the next best thing. I refer, of course, to dirt, writes Frank McNally . p
