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"Rashers, applying his mind to the matter, began at the beginning. Anything that lived; men, women, children; dogs, pigeons, monkeys; even lesser things like cockroaches, flies and fleas, had to eat. He had been of their company for long enough to sympathise with them all - the child rooting in the ashbin, the cat slinking along the gutter, the cockroach delicately questing along the wooden joins of the floor, its grey blue body corrugated with anxiety. These were sometimes his competitors, but more often his brothers. He could never watch a dog nosing in a bin without a feeling of sympathy and fellowship."

Should a government Minister be allowed to make a far reaching statement that sharply contradicts the thrust of government policy and not be immediately challenged as to the practical implications? If the media afforded acres of coverage to such a statement, should it not then demand that the Minister spell out what concrete action she/he proposed to take if the statement was to mean anything more than empty posturing?

"Emergent service workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains" doesn't have the same ring to it, was one response to the recently published Great British Class Survey, which itself concluded that traditional social divisions of upper, middle and working class are out of date in 21st century Britain.

Ken Loach’s new documentary ”The Spirit of ’45” isn’t just a film about a historical period. It’s an excellent addition to the discussion on how working people can achieve a decent life in 2013.

Can an institution, like a human person, suffer from schizophrenia? Judging by the latest report from the International Monetary Fund it would certainly seem so. The condition involves a ‘breakdown of thought processes’, a ‘deficit of typical emotional responses’ and ‘disorganised thinking and speech.’ All these conditions are evident in the prescriptions by the IMF for the Irish people.

Millions have been waiting for this day, 8 April 2013. Margaret Thatcher will never be forgiven for the devastation that her Tory governments' policies wrought on working class communities in the 1980s - and is still being felt today. "I would suggest as a memorial to Mrs Thatcher that instead of the usual headstone or statue, a dance floor should be erected over her grave". This was proposed by a writer to the Observer paper from Durham, a former mining area, on the 30th anniversary of her coming to power.

It is a human response to be sad when somebody dies. But many working class people will be celebrating the death of Margaret Thatcher because of the absolutely destructive and long lasting effect she had on the lives of millions of working class and poor people.

Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore's announcement of the deferral of water charges from next January is prompted wholly by the party's fear of annihilation at the Local and Euro Parliament Elections in 2014. The absence of meters did not prevent the Labour / Fine Gael Coalition from introducing water charges in 1983 nor again their reintroduction in Dublin in 1994.

At a book launch in early March Minister Pat Rabbitte apparently joked that he had spent another heavy day reducing the living standards of the Irish people! Despite being drenched in cynicism, for once he spoke the truth.

History repeats itself for the Labour Party in the Meath East Bye Election 2013. Just under thirty years ago the Labour Party was humiliated in a Bye election in the Dublin Central constituency against a political background uncannily reminiscent to the present day. The vacancy was occasioned by the sudden death of former Fianna Fail Minister, George Colley.