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7 Official mind and public image Introduction In this chapter, two separate but linked understandings of the office of councillor are examined for what they tell us about the perceptions that are held about councillors. The justification for this is that the two sources of those perceptions under investigation – central policy-makers (termed here ‘the official mind’) and the press – shape not only the reality of what councillors can and cannot do, but also public perceptions about councillors. Chapter 2 highlighted the way that the various roles of the
91 6 Official Ireland You need only say ‘book’, ‘leg’, ‘bet’, ‘dance’, ‘wife’, ‘poor’, ‘school’, not to mention a long word like ‘liberty’, and you at once buy a ticket for the stratosphere and the chloroform.1 — Seán O’Faolain on Irish society, 1944 In one of the few self-critical reflections on journalism in early to mid-twentieth- century Ireland, journalist Michael O’Toole observed that up to the 1960s journalists were generally ‘a docile lot, anxious to please the proprietor, the advertiser, the prelate, the statesman’. The era was, he argued
5287P IMPOSTURES MUP-PT/lb.qxd 14/10/09 15:12 Page 34 Chapter 2 . Tricksters and officialdom – bogus officials and forgers BOGUS OFFICIALS tate formation, and with it increased governance and litigation, is one of the key processes of the early modern period. Sixteenth-century England witnessed unprecedented administrative changes. The growth of central government aiming to exert its authority over the provinces led to fundamental changes within communities, but its relative success was due not only to pressure from central government but to local co
M1634 - HAYWARD TEXT.qxp:ANDY Q7 27/1/09 13:23 Page 42 3 Official discourse and political change in Ireland The purpose of this chapter is to elaborate the theoretical and methodological framework for this research, both in relation to the key tenets of discourse theory and to the empirical content of the analysis. It begins by considering the meaning of ‘discourse’ as language, practice and context. Its multidimensional meaning and function means that discourse analysis has particular value in the study of nationalism and political change. The articulation
M1634 - HAYWARD TEXT.qxp:ANDY Q7 27/1/09 13:23 Page 64 4 The origins of official Irish nationalism The establishment of an independent Irish state was severely complicated by the fact that there was not an Irish nationalism seeking an Irish nation-state as such but rather a range of nationalisms competing for political space and influence in Ireland. The three core versions of nationalism – unionist, constitutional and republican – fostered different conceptions of the meaning and implications of Ireland’s identity, borders and governance and consequently
The national anthem and Rule, Britannia Any consideration of official music must begin with the national anthem. It was an indispensable part of all official occasions for which music was specially provided: coronations, jubilees, royal weddings and funerals; the great exhibitions; the annual celebrations of Empire Day and Armistice Day. The national anthem has a
4 The recall of elected politicians A comparative analysis of the recall of elected officials On 3 September 2011 this story appeared in a local paper in the small town of Sheboygan in Wisconsin. It is worth quoting it verbatim: A Sheboygan City Council member has started a campaign to recall embattled Mayor Bob Ryan. Kevin MatiChek, the Alderman who started the petition, said a recall would be cheaper and quicker than the legal process the Council had approved earlier this month. Seven formal complaints have been filed against the mayor, after he went on a
in deep crisis too. Soviet people, stripped both of initiative and spirituality, had lost faith in the bright future of communism, regarding their leaders’ slogans about socialist construction with cynicism and mockery. As society headed towards its inevitable moral and economic decline, Soviet people invented their own survival strategies, including absenteeism, pilfering and illegal commercial activity; others found solace in guzzling rotgut vodka on a daily basis. Meanwhile, corruption among Soviet officials was growing to unprecedented levels. Bringing order
1 • Scottish officials and secular government in early Stuart Ireland1 david edwards It is an established fact that the accession to the English throne in March 1603 of James Stuart, king of Scotland, was marked by the emergence of a new political rhetoric in the British Isles, one emphasising the communal bonds that existed between English and Scots. As historians have shown, in London and Edinburgh the air was filled with talk of Anglo-Scottish union.2 Building on a shared language, English, and a common religious culture, Protestantism, senior figures in
examining these three occasions this chapter acknowledges the Games’ success and longevity by documenting a shift in official rhetoric, from an emphasis on imperial solidarity to a more diffuse and inclusive notion of Commonwealth unity. Simultaneously, however, it highlights vernacular expressions and activities that offered alternative and oppositional understandings of the Games