Carlsberg, the employer, challenged their right to strike in court. In Lithuania, pretty well everyone accepts that workers have the right to strike; except if we’re talking about an “essential service” at least that’s what the law says.  So Carlsberg told the court that beer production was an essential service; not even probably, but definitely; the court agreed, and the workers have been banned from striking. I suppose now all activity that contributes to inward investment, or to some other economic “necessity” will be deemed essential.  It’s a common enough tactic, set a precedent in a weaker region, then use the threat of capital emigration to make it universal.  Whatever, else you may think it’s certainly no “Comedy Carnival”.

Oh, and don’t stress even if you do consider beer to be essential, you can still support their right to be treated fairly by the law in Lithuania.

You can send your thoughts to Dalia Grybauskaite, the President of the Republic of Lithuania by clicking here.

David Marshall

Butlers honest Irish "Creamy Toffee"

Lets just mash a few salient observations together here about our economic culture and our economy.  We’re a small country with a massive debt, due almost entirely to the improper conduct of bankers.  Irish bankers. Irish bankers operating in a milieu that we have all denied; apologize for; or claim we have corrected. We’re a small country that still deludes itself with its own digital hub mythology.  We are a small country that desperately needs to restore its own credibility and integrity at home and abroad.  We’re a small country that has never learned to be honest in business or politics. We’re a small country that still thinks its OK to stick it to the man, not realizing that now we are the man.

“The Loop” our Dublin airport shopping mall has been promoting itself as one of the cheapest shopping venues in Dublin. Ok there’s no duty free in the EU anymore, but you’ll get a bargain or a good deal at The Loop and its associated stores.  At least that’s what the honest PR campaign would have us believe.

So it’s Christmas and I’m flying off to visit family abroad. And being Christmas I always take some kind of flag bearer as a present.  A gift that says “this is Ireland”, that represents what and who we are; our quality, our honesty our integrity.  It’s especially important when we remind ourselves that we are once again a poor country with €65 billion in debts, who gave birth to bankers and a banking system that ripped off, not just us, but our friends and neighbours on the international scene.

Butlers honest Irish "Vanilla Fudge"

So I’ve checked in my bag, survived security, and I’m taking an espresso shot to ready myself for the rest of the journey.  I’m in Butlers, the chocolate maker, actually, the Irish chocolate maker, flag bearer  of the right sort; and a “featured retailer” of The Loop.  An honest product at a price we can easily distribute to the rest of the world. There are bags of Butler’s toffee, fudges and other delights as I queue for my coffee. Brilliant I think.  The ideal stocking filler. Simple, honest, Irish fare.  So I buy a bag. Actually several bags; sisters brothers, cousins, nephews, nieces.  You get the picture.  Lots of stockings, lots of fillers. At €2 a bag, job done.  Trip made, gifts distributed. Done and dusted.

Then today I’m enjoying Christmas Eve in Dublin.  All my Christmas shopping done, and all I have to do is wonder the city, hand in hand with my wife and soak up the atmospere….its brilliant… and the generosity of many Dubliners is a reputation well earned… shops we normally visit are truly generous; everything from bottles of wine, to bottles of ink.  Enchanting.  And after a satisfying meal in Coruncopia on South William Street, we drift over the Liffey and amble around the North Side.  The chocolates in Butlers looked especially inviting.  Lets go in and buy a couple says my wife Shash… I eagerly agree. As we are choosing the chocs for our afternoon street desert I notice the same fudge, toffee and other assortments that I bought in the airport. They are €1.80 a pack…..more than 10% less for the self same confectionary I bought less than five days earlier in the airport.  And checking their web site, I notice they are advertised at €1.80, not the €2.00 they are billing in the “discount professing” airport.

Butlers honest Irish "Chocolate Caramels"

So my brain is immediately asking the question.  If they think this underhand practice is OK, what other, bigger things are being smuggled under our gaze.  And if Butlers think they can get away with it, without guilt or concern, who else in business, in politics, in government is happily pulling the wool over our eyes, continuing to deceive us, continuing to get rich while the rest of us get poorer. Such a simple thing this 20 cents a bag.  But it says we are still being duped, still being ripped off; and that the culture that gave rise to our rape by the bankers is still alive and well and living in our high street retailers; and who knows where else.

Thank you Butlers, shame on you Butlers. I wish it was someone else standard you were bearing, But I guess now I know it’s really ours. It really says just who we are, and explains clearly, just the way we expect to behave; towards each other, and towards our visitors. To the rest of the world I apologise.  I can only tell you that there are some people in our land that neither share nor propagate that ethic.  We are working to become the majority. In the meantime, when you visit our country, remember the old latin warning: caveat emptor; let the buyer beware.  No wonder the Romans never hung around here.

David Marshall

It’s these very situations, when we have to accommodate the needs and wants of others that, at a superficial level, help us build social skills and navigate relations with others; and at a deeper level, teach us patience, tolerance and understanding of the needs and wants of others.  Whether it’s sharing shelter under a stranger’s umbrella, negotiating time in the bathroom between siblings, parents and children, or squidging-up on public transport to give someone else some room.  In a daily maze of cramped homes, private and public transport, modest family budgets and limited technologies.

In the past, we may have used each others soap, towels and toothbrushes, clothes, toys and technology. We listened to the same music, because that’s what was on the radio, watched one programme, crammed around one TV because that’s all there was in the home.  In such a social environment, we learned to accommodate, we learned to share, we learned to tolerate.  It  even opened us up to new experiences, new influences and to encountering and accommodating the new and the different. It encouraged us to spend time with, or doing, something that wasn’t part of our immediate set of preferences. And now…

Dutch Airline Lets Passengers Pick Seats By Perusing Facebook Profiles; reads a news headline of this weeks PCmag.  It goes on to say:

 There are a few dreaded co-passengers you always fear you’ll be forced to sit by on a flight: the lady with the screaming baby, the linebacker who horns in on your elbow room, or a talker who won’t shut up long enough for you to put on your headphones.

Now KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is introducing a social way for you to pick your own seat. According to USA Today, the carrier will let you choose where you sit by looking at the social media profiles of other fliers.

When you check in online, you can choose where you rest your behind for a couple of hours by browsing Facebook and LinkedIn profiles of passengers who have opted to link their pages to their e-tickets, selecting a seatmate with similar interests.

USA Today said the service is available to anyone who wants to participate, but you’re not obligated to connect your profile.

Of course the moment you introduce a facility like this we ALL participate. Whilst we may not choose to use the Facebook profile, it’s now a determining procedure that impacts on the social quality of our journeys.  Do we really believe there will never be a journey where our circumstances, our choices, our actions don’t incovenience others.  If you like a window seat, maybe you should use your Facebook or LinkedIn profiles to mention the frequency with which you visit the toilet.

Is it a disturbing trend? As western workers become more affluent, we have more space in our homes, and more technology at our disposal.  We don’t have to share a room any longer, we may even have our own en-suite bathroom, and more rooms for eating, relaxing, exercising.  We have multiple personal music, tv and video devices; we can secrete ourselves away and enjoy a solitary not a shared experience.  We can watch what we want, when we want at home, isolate ourselves with our iPods as we commute to work, no need to say hello, chat to or even acknowledge fellow travellers on the train. No need to seek the company of neighbours, when we can text and Skype to our hearts content with people the same as us.  No need in fact to find yourself obliged to or obliging of, any one.  A 21inch firewall around our bodies, with very careful rules about who or what is allowed to penetrate.

Now to get slightly mashable; since around 2008 Klout.com has been developing the metrics to measure our online influence. How does our output Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and other social media platforms influence the behavious and activities of others? Regretably no-one is actually measuring the fall in our influence on family, neighbourhood, workmates and colleagues as we work we continue to manufacture our personal firewall, as we construct our personal solitude and accept the rules defined by social media to determine what, when and with whom we share… if you can really call that “sharing” at all.

So I wonder, in these conditions, how do we learn to become accommodating and tolerant?  How does our breadth of comprehension and understanding grow.  How do we avoid a failure to oblige?