THERE'S SOMETHING APT about the screenshot at left, snapped in Aberdeen but reminiscent of the River Liffey in Dublin. In some ways, it looks like a post-Celtic Tiger shopping cart that many people push around in the shops near my home. Those carts aren't brimming with extravagance anymore because across Ireland, people are learning frugality at a time when things will definitely be sliced back. Some of that storyline emanates from the Sunday Times in Ireland as I make a Qik video of thoughts about the National Asset Management Agency, the generous expense payment system for politicians. After I put this Qik clip online, I noticed my Nokia E90 micbud were on its last legs so I post-produced the audio as a separate MP3 and threw away the earbuds. I wouldn't listen to either the Qik video clip or the MP3 clip, unless you turn down the volume. I'm uploading them here as bad practise.


