Laois/Offaly: Ray Fitzpatrick

The organised left can certainly learn from the #Occupy movement, but some participants in the #Occupy movement might be surprised that they could also learn from the organised left.

This week may see a rare occurrence in the European Parliament - the defeat of a key item in the big business agenda pushed by European Commission. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is set to be voted on by the full plenary of the European Parliament today, despite some last minute chicanery by the European People's Party to try to delay the vote.

The decision of Fingal County Council officials to hire a photographer and have the photos taken of the 24 newly elected or re-elected Fingal County Councillors last year and then have the photos subsequently printed and framed at a cost of €9,471 is an indefensible extravagance in which the councillors themselves were entirely unwitting participants.

“An organised group of people working fo­r a cause”. That is a dictionary definition of the word “party”. James Connolly went further when he described the socialist movement as the “great anti theft movement of the 20th century”.