Did joining the Euro cause the crash?

We appear to be seeing something of a pro-Lisbon propaganda campaign being launched. Today's IT reports that David O'Suillivan, the EU Commission's Director General For Trade made the bizarre claim that:

IF THIS country had remained outside the euro zone, the Irish punt would have “crashed through the floor” creating a far worse crisis than the present one, the European Commission’s top trade official has said

...

“The recent financial crisis and the recession it has provoked only further reinforce this argument. Without membership of the euro zone, the former Irish punt would have crashed through the floor, creating a major crisis for the economy well beyond this crisis we are currently experiencing.”

There's a slight problem with this reasoning - If we hadn't been in the Euro the retail banks wouldn't have been able to get their hands on Other Countries Euros to back their insane hundred Billion Euro lending spree. The recent property bubble couldn't have happened. In fact if we still had the Punt it might well have dropped like a stone, but it would have restored our competitiveness as it did so...

Defending Sean Russell...

It never ceases to amaze me how people are still willing to try and defend the 'Useful Idiot' Sean Russell. The latest comes from a Mr Tom Cooper:

Madam, – The latest attack on the recently re-erected statue of the late Irish republican leader Seán Russell in Fairview Park is a most sinister development. ( “Vandals deface memorial of republican leader Seán Russell”, July 9th). Graffiti proclaiming that Russell was “Nazi scum” which was sprayed on the statue, is just as inaccurate as the reported date of his death....


I've sent this to the Irish Times:

Tom Cooper is no different than other defenders of Sean Russell's reputation in that he hides behind patriotism instead of addressing the facts. The fact is that Russell was not an elected leader and had no authority to represent Ireland, yet traveled to Nazi Germany and on his own initiative invited a violant fascist state that had proven contempt for the rights of small nations to militarily intervene in Irish affairs.

In order for Russell's plan come to fruition he would have needed more help from the Nazis than a couple of boxes of rifles. Any aid he received from them would come with enough strings attached to ensure that he would be their puppet should his tiny group somehow manage to drive the British out of the North and overthrow the Irish Free State.

Sean Russell was a man who despised the Irish Free State and who actively conspired against it. It's very easy to underestimate the threat he posed to Irish society because nothing ever came of it, but then nobody in Norway took Vidkun Quisling and his two thousand followers seriously until they received the same kind of 'help' from outsiders that Russell was looking for.

Attention Dishonest Scrap Merchants: Advice On How To Steal The Sean Russell Statue

Just how stupid do the National Graves Association think people are?

Not only have they insulted and offended pretty much all of Europe by re-instating the unwanted statue of the Nazis's 'Useful Idiot' Sean Russell in Fairview Park but they expect us to believe the following:

• It's made of Solid Bronze (possible, but would they have the money?)
• It has motion sensors that will set of an alarm if it's moved (unlikely - no wiring)
• It's head has a GPS tracking device so it can be recovered if stolen (utterly ludicrous)

So if you happen to be a financially distressed scrap metal dealer who could do with a large chunk of bronze to melt down make sure you wrap it in Aluminum foil before you nick it. It should weigh about 8.5 times the weight of a person the same height of the statue, so you'll need a crane that can comfortably lift 850kg.

It's very unlikely there is a motion sensor as they'd have had to dig up half of Fairview park to run the electrical lines.

As for the GPS sensor - apparently it's one that works in Solid Bronze. And there's some guy looking at a screen right now to make sure the statue hasn't moved. Yeah, Right!....

If you do happen to find yourself stopped by the Guards while in possession of this statue say that you found it in the park and you were taking it to Dublin Corporation's lost property section. Given that the statue is owned by the National Graves Association but has been carelessly left in a public park handing it in to Lost Property is a perfectly reasonable excuse.