Ah sure go on - vote for me!

I seem to have gotten nominated for the Irish Blog awards in two categories, Best Political Blog and best Videocast.

The full list of nominations for the Irish Blog Awards is up. There is quite a strong line up of political and current affairs orientated blogs across the categories, and there are a few that I had not come across before.

Even more shockingly I'm up for two categories! Best Political Blog and Best Videocast for "You pay taxes". The Best Political Blog category has some really heavy hitters and I'm quite a novice at that side of things so I'm not expecting a significant showing there. However, I might actually stand a chance in the Best Videocast section. In the interests of non-partisanship I'm happy to follow the tack of the Taoiseach and will accept votes and support from whatever quarters they may come.

Please don't try to vote twice as that will void your votes. And it is worth noting that voting will close on February 16th at 5pm so don't leave it too late.

And I'm offering to do the narration live for the "You pay taxes" clip if I win!

Ethics

With the proposal from the government that we should have new ethics legislation to stop Bertie doing what he did when he took cash for a 'dig out' before I wonder if I should follow the lead of a FF Seanad candidate and send a book to all FF councillors, senators and TDs.

This one seems like it might be appropriate.

Luntz on Irish politics - part 2

There was another dose tonight of what RTe believes passes for American style focus groups as part of a Week in Politics season. I think a number of things were interesting, one was the dislike of Cowen which is something that the opposition could use particularly in urban areas. The reaction to Bruton's comments was good. Harney and McDowell seemed to catch the brunt of things from the audience members. There was no mention or reference to any FF ministers, and Labour appeared not to get much screen time or attention.