Inside View from Ireland: Qik Paper Round

EVERY WEEKEND, I BUY and read four to six broadsheet newspapers and although I like being informed by them, I also like making short video clips containing commentary about the information in the papers. Today, I'm skimming through items about circumsion (the photo tells part of the story), [1] landfill waste [2], student loans [3], the cost of Irish holidays [4], the cost of a special criminal court for gang members [5], what it means to be "free" [6], the need to make a contingency plan for swine flu [7], green technology [8] and the evolution of personal earbuds in a consumer movement started with the Walkman. [9] All these thoughts are at Qik.com/video/2095071 if you want to click the image at right and just head over to listen. It's around nine minutes long, part of a body of work that the New York Times could use to prove its point that people will hang on for more than two minutes to watch web video. The NYT says that "as the Internet becomes a jukebox for every imaginable type of video producers and advertisers are discovering that users will watch for more than two minutes at a time." [10] I'm making around 14 minutes of video every weekend. Some of those clips are watched by more than 500 people as part of their weekend news diet.

My mom knew circumcision was the right thing. My mom, a nurse, had to peer-reviewed data about public health issues such as smoking and sexual disease. Consequently, when we grew up under her care in the 60s, we were told in no uncertain terms that smoking caused cancer and that circumcision prevented irritating health problems. In Kenya, circumcised men are around 60% less likely to contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Studies suggest that women whose long-term partners are circumcised are two to three times less likely to develop cervical cancer. [1] The Victorians decided it was hygenic and tidy to have foreskins removed and then something happened in the 70s when a few commentators started suggesting circumcision was barbaric mutiliation. It isn't. Elizabeth Pisani, who during the 1990s worked as an epidemiologist in Asia for UNAids, has pushed the message that there are inexplicable discrepancies in Aids rates in countries where circumcision was common and where it wasn't. Her data deserves to be the clarion call for Irish foreign aid to subsidise circumcision in Africa.

Landfill Waste. We live in a house built alongside compacted rubble from a building site. It's not nice knowing that fermentation underneath is causing subsidence above. We know what's hidden below our windowsills because I've dug out more than 100 wheelbarrows full of discarded builder's rubble, domestic waste and part of a motorbike. So it comes as no surprise to read that UK citizens throw away a billion tomatoes, 1.6m bananas, 775m bread rolls, 359,000 tonnes of potatoes and £420 a year. [2] Food waste is a fact of life in the early decade of the 21st century in Ireland--unlike Germany where I often unwrapped packaging before leaving the supermarket. The fact is that shipping paper and plastic 10,000 miles to China creates less CO2 than sending them to landfill. More than a quarter of the food bought in the UK and Ireland is junked while still in its wrapping--45% of salads are thrown away and 26% of fruit. I know some of these statistics are gathered at landfill where you can find the day-old and rotting selections recently scraped off Superquinn, Supervalu and Tesco shelves.

Student Loans in Ireland. Batt O'Keeffe, the Irish education minister, will recommend the abolition of free college fees in a report to cabinet this week. On first glance, it appears he will recommend an Australian-style deferred-loan system to shift the cost of college education from parents to students. The cost of the state underwriting student fees last year was €375m. [3]

Holiday Costs in Ireland. Don't holiday in the Republic of Ireland if you want to keep costs down. [4] A poll of 1,000 hotel guests by Travelodge suggested that 55% of Irish citizens intend to spend summer holidays in Ireland, compared to 27% last year. But it will cost more to spend a week's holiday in Ireland than it would cost to stay in many other European countries. A Sunday Times survey of nine hotels in Killarney found that the average cost of a week's hotel stay for a family of four is €2357, compared to an average €1781 for a package holiday to Crete that includes flights and accommodation for two adults and two children. And the attractions around Killarney aren't cheap either.

Making Things Free. Chris Anderson's new book makes some controversial claims. According to John Naughton, "The real value of Free is that it provides a provacative entry into one of the thorniest problems we face--how to find sustainable business models in a digital world. Giving stuff away was fun, but it can't go on forever.

Green Technology. The Sunday Times is giving away at least an entire page every week to ecotech. This week Debbie Boyd talks rubbish about her company Re3 in Limerick. [8] She can transform high volumes of household and commercial waste into biomass fibre, which is a clean, green alternative to fossil fuels. I wonder if I can get a wood pellet boiler that can handle this odourless and clean product. In the Sunday Business Post [8a], Microsoft's press release about its $500m data centre in Dublin gets a nod. I don't know if it has green credentials.

1. Alex Renton -- "So, would you have your son circumcised?" in the July 2009 edition of the Observer Woman Magazine.

1a. Elizabeth Pisani -- The Wisdom of Whores ISBN 978-1847080769

2. Richard Girling -- "Eat Me and Save the Planet" in the Sunday Times Magazine, 5 July 2009.

3. Stephen O'Brien -- "O'Keeffe opts for student loan scheme" on the front page of The Sunday Times, 5 July 2009.

4. Gabrille Monaghan -- "Bandit Country" in The Sunday Times, 5 July 2009.

4a. Nicola Cooke -- "No more holidays in the sun as Irish go for cheaper option" on the front page of the Sunday Business Post, 5 July 2009.

6. John Naughton -- "There's no such thing as a free...or perhaps there may be" in the Media section of The Observer, 5 July 2009.

6a. Chris Anderson -- Free ISBN 978-1401322908

8. Sandra O'Connell -- "Where there's muck, there's a green machine" in the "Energy and Environment" section of the Sunday Times, 5 July 2009.

8a. Press release: "Microsoft opens mega data centre" in the Sunday Business Post, 5 July 2009.

10. Brian Selter -- "Rise of Web Video" in the 5 July 2009 edition of the New York Times.

Last Week: "Sunday Observations"