Its all about the balls

Last night I got to see one of the truly great bands perform in Dublin. Accept, the German dinosaurs, rolled into town and blew the roof off the Village. For a band that started out almost 35 years ago they still know how to rock. Below the fold is a video of one of their most famous songs, Princess of the Dawn, but to get the full effect of last night you need to treble the volume and then add some more.

Accept's other main classic is the tune Balls to the Wall which was brought to every teenager's attention in the early 90s by Beavis and Butthead. I know I've mentioned the dynamic dunces before but I guess I'm just a product of my time. Anyway, the reason why I bring it up is that I also thought that was going to be the theme tune for the earlier part of the day when Ireland took on England in Lansdowne Road in the last round of the 6 Nations.

But how wrong was I in that prediction? For the first time this season everything clicked. The opening 40 minutes was incredible to watch and but for a few tight calls and loose passes we could have had another 15-20 points on the board. Maybe it just is the Old Enemy, 800 Years of Oppression stuff that fires up the team, but in the modern game, played by professionals that should not make the difference. All of a sudden I'm beginning to regret my decision not to go to New Zealand for the World Cup, but I guess if the Seanad is in session then it'd be a bit rich for me to be skiving off for a month or more.

Also being held last night was the annual Irish Blog Awards. The only link to the title is that it was held in a function room that could also double up as a Ballroom - tenuous, I know, but cut me a little slack! Glad to see that the Cedar Lounge Revolution picked up the best political blog award. I don't always agree with what they're saying but they are always thought provoking and their two repeat columns Meanwhile, back at the Seanad and Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week always entertain. Good job comrades!

Back to normality tomorrow, when I'm going to have a look at some more of the crazy stuff related to 3rd level that has been coming out over the last few days.

Going Forward in 2011

New Year means resolutions and predictions, most of which will be abandoned by the middle of January. So in keeping with the spirit of the season here are my brief guesses on the next year.

General Election

The General Election will be some time in March. FF won't do as badly as polls suggest, Labour not as well with the end result around FG 63, FF 45, Lab 38, SF 10, Others 10 leading to a substantial majority for FG/Lab.

Presidential Election

David Norris will manage to get 4 councils to support his nomination but his transfers will help Michael D Higgins to just take the Áras from FG.

The Economy

The rising tide of European economies will drag Ireland back into low growth but without much in the way of job creation.

The North

Business as usual heading into the Assembly elections with SF looking to become the largest party and hold the 1st Minister position but being pipped at the post by DUP. Other Unionists and SDLP fail to make ground.

Dublin

The Dublin Mayor elections will not happen and the greater Dublin area will continue to suffer due to lack of joined up thinking. Metro North and the Interconnector will continue to be postponed but the Incinerator will push ahead.

TCD

Paddy Prendergast to be elected Provost with a fairly sizeable victory with no outside candidate to come even close. Well founded mutterings of closed shop to be heard.

Sport

Leinster to win the HEC and Magners League, Ireland to get to the Semis of the Rugby World Cup, Bohs to find a sugar-daddy to bail them out, Ireland to loose in a Euro-2012 playoff, Down to beat Kerry for Sam, Cork to retain McCarthy.

Online

I'll keep blogging and tweeting much to the annoyance of my missus. In 365 days I'll come back and see how well my crystal ball was working. Happy New Year to all!!

PLP's 1st Birthday

Today Pass Level Politics turns one. So what have I spent the last year blathering about? Well according to the tagging

• 20 - Elections made up of future predictions, by elections and UK general
  
• 16 - Comments about proceedings in the Dail
  
• 11 - Thoughts on all modes of transport
  
• 9 - The general catch all of politics
  
• 8 - NAMA, Dublin City Council and Public Sector vs Private Sector
  

In the next 12 months there will be a lot more about elections with by elections, Dublin Mayor and the start of the presidential campaign. There is also the possibility of a general looming. I will also try and understand more about finance and economics and so there will hopefully be more on that too - Deeter, Kinsella and Gurdgiev watch out! Finally with the Dáil coming back into session there will be more regular updates as stupid people say stupid things on the record.

Short break

This blog is going on a short break for the next few weeks as I am off on my summer holidays. Firstly I've to go to a wedding in west Galway. Then  I am hitting  the Summer Breeze festival in Germany. Finally I'll be swinging up to Copenhagen to partake of the social activities at DrupalCon. Think I'll need a break to recover from it all. Doubt there'll be new post this side of September.

Radio Silence

I've been very remiss in the last couple of weeks. The lack of blog posts is almost alarming but after 6 months of a post every couple of days I have hit a wall. It's not like there hasn't been anything going on in the world. Any of the following would be good for a few posts

• The Cardinal and the Pope's letter
  
• Sean FitzPatrick
  
• Healthcare Bill in the US
  
• Phoenix's alleged spat in DSE
  
• Political reform of Dail and Seanad
  
• FG's conference and Enda's speech
  

but I seem to have not been able to get any coherent thoughts down on paper, so to speak. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.