While Shuster, Siegel and Kane were, without doubt, the Olympians of Action Hero Comics, the creators of Superman and Batman - each the 24 year-old son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe - were never going to be the heirs of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Man of Steel, the latest Superman blockbuster that I ran faster…
Bend it for Messi
Having reached my majority in an era that nowadays pops up in my kids' History exams, I am today at a stage in life where names and faces are prone to be mixed-and-matched. Every time I hear mention of Lionel Messi I invariably see Lionel Richie's mustachioed head protruding from an FC Barcelona shirt. It was, therefore, no surprise that when the world was…
The lion that squeaked
We all remember those excruciatingly painful dance sequences in end of year school plays. As a long-in-the-tooth tweed jacketed teacher attacked the untuned keys of the upright piano while simultaneously pumping furiously at the worn pedals, budding Nureyevs and Fonteyns would take to the stage. With eyes adamantly fixed on their neighbours the children would twirl to the right and…
Letter to America
Minister For (sic) Finance, Republic of Ireland June 1, 2013 Mr Seamus Noonan, Boston MA, USA Dear Seamus, Mother Ireland is being crucified once again and she is hurting, to be sure. I was walking past the General Post Office on O'Connell Street yesterday when old Stephen Megan accosted me: " What's all this about Apples, young Michael?" he growled,…
No representation without taxation
Ex-nun Karen Armstrong writes in her iconoclastic book "A History of God" that the rationale behind sacrifice of the first-born child in the ancient pagan world was the replenishment of the strength of the god believed to have begat it (begetting is what gods and men did in those days). In the intervening years mankind has made strides with the invention of the wheel,…
Chanson d’Amour
I don't think it is a coincidence that the French Government proposed a new Culture Tax in the same week as tonight's Eurovision Song Contest. The Europeans have made some pretty bad mistakes over the years such as two World Wars, the Euro and Belgium. On the other hand, like the Common Market and the Division…
Never judge a book by its e-ink screen
Amazon is hardly ever out of the tax headlines these days. Following on from management's mauling by a British Parliamentary Committee late last year and the developing Transfer Pricing dispute with the IRS, last week all eyes were on Amazon's reaction to the Senate's passing of the heat-seeking, this one has your name on it A-M-A-Z-O-N, Marketplace…
Reach for the sky
A story about a Dutch company that did the rounds of the world's press on April 23 got me checking whether the Netherlands, ever the laid back pot-smoker of Europe, celebrated April Fools' Day a few weeks late. In a grand press conference it was announced that candidates are invited to apply for a one-way ticket to…
Brussels Sprouts
"I never forget a face, but in your case I will be glad to make an exception". Groucho Marx's famous line haunted me the other day as I tried, in vain, to remember the name, face or other distinguishing feature of the first (and only) person I ever met who worked in Brussels with the…
In God (Alone) We Trust
When the news broke last Sunday that a Boeing 737 had inexplicably missed the runway at Bali airport and ended up in the sea without, miraculously, any loss of life, I couldn't resist a sardonic smile. In the closing pages of Swedish author Jonas Jonasson's improbably titled "The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared",…
Tax Break 