Early in the morning on the 13th June 2025 the air raid sirens and the phone alerts came and you had to move to a communal centre with your partner and your two children.
What thoughts go through your head when you hear the bombs overhead?
What conversations do you have with other people sheltering?
What do you tell your children?
Does it make people think about what it must be like for people in Gaza as the bombs rain down on them and they have no shelters?
How do you do this day after day when those sirens alert you once again to take cover?
Now that the war with Iran “is over” how do you feel?
What is the position with Gaza and has this changed the standing of Netanyahu?
Very recently I chatted with Paul Kearns, an urban planner, author and journalist about his experience living in Tel Aviv with his young family for the last 8 years, and wondered what is he still doing there?
Paul is a fascinating character who is very vocal about the war in Gaza, that is being very carefully censored and sanitised by the media in Israel. He writes prolifically about the war and is not shy about calling it as it is and enlightening readers about the “real” truth.
I captured this revealing conversation with Paul on my podcast
A huge thanks to Paul Kearns for his time and honesty.
It’s just a very simple question to ask of us, ordinary citizens of the world.
We watch the news every day and learn about even more dead men, women and children in Gaza and while it is terrible, awful and horrific we feel powerless.
We watch the news every day and learn about even more dead men, women and children in Ukraine and while it is terrible, awful and horrific we feel powerless.
We watch the news every day and learn about even more dead men, women and children in (just add a another war torn location) and while it is terrible, awful and horrific we feel powerless.
The locations keep changing, and because of someone’s agenda somewhere, rooted in religion, hatred, ideology, power or greed the net result is the same – innocent people lose their lives or their limbs, and at a time when we seemingly have carefully constructed international institutions to protect against these things from happening, they are meaningless.
Not only is this terrible, awful and horrific news part of our everyday digest, we have accepted that we are powerless and there is nothing we can do.
Many of us continue to get upset at the news of even more deaths and many of us just can’t bear to watch anymore so we consciously stop reading, looking and listening and get on with our own lives because after all, there a limit to how much of this we can consume without drowning in darkness.
Some are extremely vocal on social media calling out the horrors and many of us stop because we don’t want to come across as a broken record, we want to enter the US for holiday or work, or we just believe that it is utterly pointless.
Some take to the streets in protest, and most of us look on and wonder why bother because it is too much effort, we are too busy, we don’t care enough or we just honestly believe that these efforts are utterly pointless because nothing seems to make a difference.
Maybe this is true and we can’t make any difference, but maybe that’s not the case and we absolutely can but we just haven’t quite figured out what it takes to make that change happen.
So, a genuine question – is there anything that we can do (that will make a difference)?
Former U.S. President Donald Trump greets to his supporters, as he arrives from his second civil trial after E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago, outside a Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., January 25, 2024. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
I wrote the title of this blog post with some tongue in cheek and quite honestly out of total hope that he will lose this election and we will start to see the end of this very scary phase of our lifetime.
Today the final votes will be cast and hopefully tomorrow we will get the great news that Kamala Harris has beaten Donald Trump by a significant margin.
Whatever about being gone, what has Donald Trump taught us and what will his legacy be?
For one he has left the United States in tatters with people at each others throats about who they support in the election – this has gone on since he first ran and he chose hatred and fear and division as being his winning cards.
That hatred and division will linger on for a long time.
What else did he teach us?
Clear simple messaging
I wrote a blog post in September 2016 about his first election run, and before he won I wrote about the power of his simple ‘Make America Great Again‘ message.
In a time poor world where people are slow to go deep on any topic he pushed that out over and over and “they” bought it in their millions.
Politicians
He poked a hole in the establishment and traded his “celebrity” status as a successful businessman as good enough to break through the political wall of established names such as Clinton.
Racism
Racism is alive and well in the United States (and so many other places) – he said out loud the disgusting things that no one should ever say and he gave permission to racists to join in on the party.
What was that about “great people on both sides”?
Schoolboy bully
The schoolboy bully who would mock the poor kid with the disability or the huge glasses or the strange accent was always scolded and told never top do that again. This adult did it and too many people laughed.
Are we still bullies?
Media
He came to the scene when media had stopped being neutral and if you happened to be a Fox News consumer then you were delivered his hateful message with bells on and … anything that your opponent did would be twisted.
It is now possible to get powerful media on your side if they are convinced they can make money on the back of it.
I hear my brother justifying some of the things that Trump has said and done – I ask, where did you come up with that from?
Power
He reminded us about the danger of powerful people who exact revenge on anyone that talks out against them, even if this revenge results in them receiving death threats.
We saw how his power muzzled “principled” Republicans and suddenly many who openly declared that he was unfit for office were kissing his feet and became surrogates for his hateful rhetoric.
We saw this power threatening the lives of election officials.
We now know how Adolf Hitler came to power nearly 100 years ago.
Incredibly his running mate JD Vance said that Trump was a modern day Hitler!
Cowardice
This is the thing that troubles me most about Donald Trump – he taught us how easily people were manipulated and just how cowardly they are.
Politicians whose lives were threated on January 6th because of Donald’s actions just sucked it up – in a democracy that bangs on about “the rule of law” they decided to buckle and allowed one of the most dangerous men on this earth to resume where he left off.
Rule of Law
So many of his “crew” have found themselves in trouble with the law, spent time in prison, were disbarred – and yet over and over there is always another fool willing to sell their souls just to be close to the power.
And while he has been indicted, been found guilty of serious crimes both as a businessman before he took office and since he has been in office he continues to slither away.
He knows (like so many other criminals) better than anyone how to manipulate the law – Roy Cohn, the lawyer for the Mafia, taught him those tricks many moons ago.
If he is found guilty he screams “Witch-hunt” and his supporters believe this is true, never the witnesses and the juries!
Ignoring the signs
When his Chief of Staff says he is unfit for office, his Attorney Generals, the staff that worked closely with him who all said he is too dangerous, people conveniently ignore this information and justify their choices for some other piece of rationale.
We learn that people believe what they choose to believe regardless.
Covid !!
The United States had one of the worst death rates in the world. He responded to the danger slowly, for politically motivated economic reasons he wanted to keep everything open and to make matters worse he successfully managed to make this huge health crisis a divisive political issue.
This was a time when you needed leadership and what did the United States get?
People died unnecessarily while he was busy arranging for his signature to be on each welfare cheque.
I mention the grifter later on..
For Sale!!
We know he is “for sale” and whether that is pardons for money or favours for money it just gets conveniently ignored.
The poor newly elected Ukrainian leader, Zelensky having to deal with Trump when vital aid that had been approved was being withheld in exchange for “dirt” on his opponents son.
It was proven but the cowards all looked away, again!
Pardons
We learnt that this has become a scheme to give a pass for people who committed crimes on your behalf – how is this even possible.
The Supreme Court
He was able to manipulate the whole process around judges to the extent that Roe versus Wade was reversed and they effectively gave a huge “pass” for the actions that a President might take while in office.
This incredible ruling was designed for the huge legal quagmire that Trump finds himself in because of his actions but yet it will now apply to any President that follow.
On what planet is that sane?
Duped
He taught us that people are extremely gullible – he managed to convince the devout Evangelicals that he was a religious bible holding man.
Ah Jesus (sorry for taking your name in vain) ….really??
Grifter
Taking God to another extreme he produced “Trump” bibles and sold them for profit along with all of the other grifts.
If people are that stupid can you blame him?
World Safety
He taught us once again about the huge role that the United States plays in the state of affairs around the world. After today hopefully Israel can be sorted out.
Many Americans don’t and never will have a passport – he doesn’t give a fiddlers about anything outside of America and many people love this approach that he has taken. God love us when Ukraine could have been handed to Putin in exchange for favours.
Climate Change is a Hoax
He taught us that if you say it is a “hoax” enough times people will believe you, and you can then make it a political agenda item to win votes, In the meantime the fires and hurricanes get ignored
Immigrants
We can try our best for desperate people who leave their homes out of necessity or in search of a better life – America is the land of opportunity after all, and immigrants were the backbone of this multicultural country.
He taught us that it is much better to say “there is no room at the inn” and to mock them and create fear in people saying they are rapists and murderers.
When he says this people applaud. When he says that they eat cats and dogs they applaud,
I remember the children being separated by their parents and put in cages.
X Factor
We know he has this, whatever it is.
This is a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.
Us
Finally he taught is about ourselves – who are we and what do we believe in?
Is it ok to look past this horrible evil person because he has a policy that suits us?
Do we think that a President or any person in power should be a role model for our children?
Do we fight with our friends and families because of our beliefs?
Do we fight with strangers because of our beliefs.
Trump has taught us that we are fickle, easily manipulated and yes, many of us are capable of looking past the facts, supporting him and losing ourselves in the process.
While we laugh at the outrageous things he says and does he taught us many serious lessons.
People are petrified about the results of this election and for good reason.
Last Saturday I found myself in the queue in Waterstones in Cork with a bunch of books and a game in my hands, Christmas presents for all and sundry.
The queue was moving fast as it always does (a well oiled machine) and the mood everywhere was light and jovial – while buying presents can be stressful I find that act of buying gifts has everyone in good spirits.
Behind me in the queue I heard lots of chit chat and the usual mentions of “Merry Christmas” between people inevitably bumping into others that they knew, all performing the same vital task. Hopefully we will be in that queue again next year, a year older buying presents for the same people.
One of the voices behind me sounded very familiar and when I turned around sure enough it was none other than our Tánaiste, and former Taoiseach Micheál Martin. He was chatting to some woman that he knew and it was just like any other conversation between any random shoppers, “how is so and so doing, haven’t seen them in ages, must meet up soon, say hello for me, Merry Christmas….”
One of the wonderful things about Ireland is that we will deliberately (I’m sure not always) leave that well known person alone to their moment of privacy and let them get along with the same every year human task of buying a Christmas present, and not bug them. No one was bothering him. Maybe they were close by, but I didn’t see security people for him and for this Saturday Micheál and I were the very same, two men in town buying Christmas presents for loved ones.
Micheál was relaxed, warm and friendly, comfortable in his own skin as he chatted and moved through the store.
Now, Greg being Greg I did want to say something to him but hopefully not bug him. He doesn’t know me but would probably recognise the face from all of the functions and Chamber meetings down through the years that I would have attended.
I reached out to shake his hand and without hesitation he reciprocated. I said “thank you for the great work” he has been doing on our behalf. I meant it and I wanted to communicate it. Politicians take a lot of flak from so many quarters and they should also be given credit for their service – I couldn’t think of another job as thankless as that one where everyone feels they own you 24/7. Despite the various challenges that we face as a country I think he has been great and always represents us superbly.
He thanked me for saying that and I quickly went on to ask that Ukraine gets the money and resources that it needs so it can keep fighting against Putin’s Russia and in doing so to make the world a safer place for all of us. He assured me it would happen and we both went off to continue with our shopping.
We should never take for granted that in this country of ours that this is still possible
I was 57 last Friday and I was determined to do a few very simple things on the day.
I walked the dogs first thing as I always do with Dee – they love getting out!
The intention was to not work at all but I was busy with some client commitments, but I like what I do so that was more than ok.
I met mum for lunch – nothing fancy but it was great to see her.
Ellen my daughter popped by to say hello, which was great.
I popped in next store to say hello to our fantastic neighbours and their two kids – such special people.
And we popped down to the local, The White Horse with friends for dinner and drinks and while I was there Brendan, my son rang and we chatted briefly and I got to see little Hazel, my granddaughter over WhatsApp – they will be back from New Zealand in the next two weeks.
After dinner we came back to the house for a night cap – everyone was tired so it was just the one.
Before going to bed I checked my phone and returned the many messages with birthday wishes from friends and family.
That was it, another birthday spent with Dee and some of the other special people in my life and the two dogs of course.
While it is easy to get a little bit down with each passing year (and those numbers getting bigger!!) all I could feel this year was huge gratitude for being around to see another one and for spending it in a relatively safe country.
(God love the poor woman pictured above as she left her home and belongings in Mariupol in Ukraine – it makes no sense)
We are reading about the need for taking more care, not going back to the workplace, socialising less and the need for possible regular antigen tests to keep us safe. Fancy a stick up your nose three times a week?
We are reading about Covid sweeping through our schools with students and teachers alike falling with the disease.
We are reading about how the hospitals are under severe pressure with over half of the serious Covid cases being unvaccinated people who have fallen seriously ill and the other half being vaccinated people with underlying conditions. (92% of the adult population are vaccinated – the numbers are clear).
We know 100% that the hospitals are rammed with Covid patients and as a result normal procedures are being postponed and god love anyone who goes there with an emergency case.
We are also reading that the unvaccinated are a big part of the problem, allowing the disease to spread more and possibly mutate.
A restaurant or venue owner is obliged to ask customers for their Vaccine passport and proof of ID but they are not permitted to ask their own team members if they are vaccinated ..”invasion of privacy“.
Do we not have a duty of care towards our employees?
We are reading about huge protests in Rotterdam and Vienna as people are freaking out about the necessary restrictions that have been introduced – angry with the wrong people?
If more severe restrictions are introduced here, no doubt people and businesses will be freaking out and all of this will be aimed at NPHET and the government, who will only be doing this to keep people safe and our hospitals functioning.
Maybe it is time to stop pussyfooting around, enough of the “PC” stuff and if we want to get out of this Covid mess and keep our loved ones safe and our businesses open it is time to focus our messaging on those who have so far been unwilling to vaccinate.
Maybe not quite “boot in” but it is time to apply some real peer pressure because it is needed.
Instead of the various lobby groups pressurising the government, maybe it is time to start focusing on those members of the general public who are not playing ball and putting everyone at risk and our lives on hold and livelihoods at risk.
Instead of being angry at the government, maybe it is time for us to start talking to family, friends and colleagues and encourage them to keep us safe. (instead we are all dancing around them gently- it’s their right)
If the unvaccinated are the biggest part of the problem, let’s tackle this head on and stop trying to solve it by tinkering with other measures that won’t deliver a solution.
We’ve all seen the advert about wearing a seatbelt..
This is not working, this is not living and we shouldn’t accept any plan that doesn’t have us working towards a return to our normal lives – shopping without masks, having people to dinner from more than one household, having parties, going to gigs and the theatre… looking at others without judgement 24/7.
We need to go for Zero Covid just like they have managed it in New Zealand, but this can only happen if we do everything to starve the virus and ONLY do this if we have international cooperation with other countries that wish to be part of a “Future Green List“.
“But it’s easy for them in New Zealand….they are different.” (Really?)
I hate when I hear people saying this is not possible “because of politics“.
When we think it’s not possible this is the first problem, because it is absolutely possible.
Which country in the world is sailing through this pandemic without people living in fear, getting sick, dying and their economies in free-fall?
We all have something in common, don’t we? – The prize for getting this right is big, it is GIGANTIC.
Background:
Please listen to some excellent podcasts hosted by Eamon Dunphy, The Stand with various guests who give some valuable perspectives to support this argument/approach:
We find out which countries want to be Covid free and want to restore normal life and their economies again – anyone interested?
Some strong common sense leadership is required for this part!
Then we agree a ‘Future Green List’ and put a target date for this to happen.
Let’s say 25th December, Christmas Day is the goal and at that point the objective is that countries in this ‘Future Green List’ are 100% back to normal: YEP – 100% BACK TO NORMAL!
Imagine living normally and being able to travel freely between these countries and doing all the things that we are dangerously close to forgetting?
For some stupid reason that idea seems preposterous right now, the most ridiculous, rubbish thinking by a mad man….right? It isn’t, listen to podcast with Dr. Niall Conroy, about a place with a population larger than Ireland.
Once we agree who is in that ‘Future Green List’ each country closes their borders except for essential travel and a proper 14 day quarantine programme is put in place for other travellers.
Then each country goes about doing the hard yards to bring us to Zero Covid and try desperately to get everyone back to a “We are in this together” place, which has long since disappeared.
The 25th December, Christmas day, seeing friends and family normally might be a great motivator?
If we believe in the goal and witness the progress, people will hopefully stay the course.
I’ll gladly take that, if it is leading us towards a tangible worthwhile goal that we can all believe in, which certainly is nothing like where we are now, society is choking as we drift rudderless towards nowhere.
When Ireland hits Zero Covid we maintain our borders and start living again, fully living (not this current version)
When Spain hits Zero Covid we can open our borders to Spain and vice versa.
When the UK hits their Zero Covid we open to them and so on and so on
The countries outside the Green List will work hard to be on the list and will know how to get there from those who have got there – New Zealand have shown us what is possible.
If there are (inevitable) bumps along the way, just like in New Zealand you hunt them down and stamp them out just like they have done.
“Will cities survive the coronavirus?” was the headline that I read in a section of the New York Times called ‘Debatable‘, written by Spencer Bokat-Lindell.
In the article it mentioned that: “nearly 40 percent of adults living in cities have begun to consider moving to less populated areas because of the outbreak”
It went on to specifically mention how in some of the main cities in the U.S. that populations had already decreased, mainly due to lack of affordable accommodation, pre-Covid (New York, LA and Chicago were mentioned).
While the headline about the “demise of cities” might scare everyone and cast a dark cloud over city living, maybe it should be viewed in a positive light?
We should be living or commuting to our cities because we choose to or because it is absolutely necessary for our work or study – we shouldn’t be living or commuting to our cities to complete tasks that could just as easily be done anywhere else.
Is this the time for us to decompress our cities, allow them to breathe again, and allow us to really enjoy them, living and visiting, not because we have to, but because we choose to?
This week I had the pleasure of featuring economist Jim Power on my Win Happy podcast.
While COVID19 and the effect this would have on the Irish and World economy were big parts of the discussion, as always I wanted to dig a little deeper to find out about the person behind the expertise.
Jim spoke about his love of the land, which comes from his very happy life growing up in a farm in Waterford. While he would have loved to have stayed farming his career took a different path.
We chatted about why he gave up his “soulless” role in Bank of Ireland, his passion for Irish food and his concerns about the food supply chain, his role as Chairman of ‘Love Irish Food’, the other work that he does, his love of QPR and of course his passion for all things “Waterford”.
We did talk about the COVID19 crisis in detail and the advice he would give to the government to navigate its way through the crisis and preserve the economy.
He reviewed the government support package and thankfully he predicts an economic recovery.
We were in our local, the Inniscarra Bar, one of the most authentic old style pubs you will find in the country, part of that dying breed where the walls will talk warmly to you about everyone who has sat there before you and before them.
It was early on a Saturday evening and we were having a sneaky pint before heading home to cook some grub.
The two old codgers sitting at the bar sipped quietly on their pints and every now and then there was some chit chat between them. One of the guys had a battle weary black dog with him who was busy going from one patron to the next, sniffing and being friendly.
For some strange reason there was a large election poster leaning up against the wall for one of the local candidates, Shane Fallon. I’m not really sure if this was a practical joke or if it was a serious election tactic by the candidate?!
Out of nowhere the two men got very animated and their conversation got louder and louder..
“Those f##king posters are a f##king disgrace and they should be banned as they are ruining the environment”
Wow….it went on..
“Sure, don’t they have email and don’t they have the internet and..and don’t they have, you know yourself, can’t they just zap phones the way they do?”
“You are so right, a f##king disgrace!“, followed by lots of huffing and puffing and then back to their pints.
Were they right??
It’s funny …just a few days beforehand I was standing in front of my Dublin Chamber Council colleagues presenting them an overview of our business sector.
To do this I reached out to many of the member companies, both large and small and looked for their feedback about trends in the sector.
A BIG MESSAGE was that there was a huge shift from traditional media to digital but this was loaded with a gentle warning that clients need to be very careful not to put all of their eggs into this one channel as you just won’t reach your audience in a way that your message will land.
As I walked back from the pub I noticed all of the election posters – who do I like the look of?
When I pushed opened the front door open I looked at the flyers that had been pushed through the letter box – who are you and what are you promising?
And if I believe you really care about the location I do expect you to knock on my door and chat to me.
I tweeted three of the candidates who had dropped in their literature and two responded. One just took herself out of the running!
It’s great that the old codgers got so animated about the environment (there probably should be a limit to how many they put up), but unfortunately a candidate who relies only on email (GDPR has that one squeezed to death!!) and zapping phones (I’m taking this to mean social media) will not be successful.
The candidates need to integrate their social media with their traditional media and however they manage it, they need to be recognised, liked and if possible connect in some real way with the voters.
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 