stories Diarmuid MacShane

stories

I’m being haunted by Atmosphere – a musical interlude

I grew up in a town, in the mid 1980′s, where you either had to be a “mod” or a “rocker”. I look back on my town now and wonder how stunted the development of its young actually was in the 1980′s when a conflict from the 1960′s was the be all and end all for the lads growing up.

Being a bit of a geek, and following an illuminating trip to Dublin where my cousin introduced me to The Cure and The Smiths, the whole mods versus rockers thing didn’t take my fancy at all – particularly as I had friends in both camps.

My musical taste did take a step backwards, but only a few years, when in 1988 New Order released a remix of “Blue Monday”.

This led me to Joy Division, and the Substance compilation, also released in 1988. I remember particularly a family trip to England with my new (yellow) Sony Walkman where I listened to Joy Division on the ferry on the way over, and Disintegration from The Cure on the way back.

Yes, I see some of you now are seeing where I get my moody disposition from. But honestly, I was a happy teenager, mostly.

Very bizarrely, in the last 2 weeks, two different tv programmes I’ve been watching have both featured the very same Joy Division track that I became familiar with from that 1988 Substance album – namely Atmosphere.

The first was during a scene in the new series, The Trip (not recommended). It’s played as the two main characters (Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon) are driving through the north of England.

The second was in the UK tv series Misfits (highly recommended – The Inbetweeners meets Heros). This was in episode 2 of season 1 (reviewed here).

Both times the music was perfect for the onscreen action and events.

Atmosphere, according to this Wikipedia entry was deemed “the greatest song of the millennium by listeners of John Peel’s Radio 1 programme”. Huge praise indeed!

You can listen to the track here from Youtube. It seems to be associated with some sort of 2012 “end of world” predictions thing – so ignore that and just close your eyes and listen.

aside 6 Dec

Taking nothing for granted

Apt really given that the MacShane family motto is “never unprepared”. Different McShane here obviously though.

aside 6 Dec

Six-year-old saved from dropping to his death by his ears

Anyone who knows me will know why I love this story from The Daily Telegraph.

aside 11 Mar

Remember the mad jumpers on Dempseys Den? A 1980s entrepreneurs story

I’ve written in the past about the fact that as I was growing up, my parents ran their own business in Mayo.

The company, Heritage Knitwear, made “woolly jumpers” – a term at the time that my father really despised.

And any of you who were fans of Dempseys Den in the late 80′s and early 90′s may be familiar with some of the products made thanks to Ian Dempsey. He even wore a Heritage jumper on the first day of broadcast for the show – video to follow later.

The company specialised in a type of knitting called “intarsia” – a technique that was very labour intensive, but which allowed very distinct patterns and vivid colour combinations to be produced.

Working in a family business

As I was growing up, my sister and I spent every summer, and most weekends, working in the family business. I think that working in a family business gives you a particular type of grounding when it comes to approaching work in later life. As it’s a family business, you very quickly learn that the “buck” stops in only one place and fosters a strong sense of responsibility for ensuring things get done.

My sister used to be sometimes upset that people would have the opinion that just because you were the bosses daughter, or the bosses son, that you got an easy time. We can both attest to the fact that there’s nothing further from the truth. We can tell many tales of late nights and early mornings finishing off orders for dispatch when it was just the 4 family members left behind finishing off the job.

My parents retired from the business in 1999 having sold on to someone else, but unfortunately since then the company has closed down. The labour intensiveness nature of the manufacturing process ultimately meant that cheaper overseas competition made it impossible to compete.

Small Irish company sells to the world

Over the years Heritage Knitwear made woolly jumpers for some of the best known fashion labels in the world including Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith, Aquascutum, Macys, Paul Stewart, Saks 5th Avenue, Nortstrom, Liberty, Gieves & Hawkes, Harrods, Lands End and the J.Peterman mail order catalogue of Seinfeld fame.

Apart from that, a couple of generations of Mayo kids grew up being kept warm by Heritage jumpers. The only problem for my folks was that the jumpers were so hardy wearing, the different generations were all wearing the same woolly jumpers, handed down from one family member to the next.

1982 vs 2002 – Investment turns selfish

One of the key points I’ve written about before here when referring to the family business focused on the fact that Heritage Knitwear was set up in 1982 – a period so bad economically that some people think we’re returning to similar times now.

In 1982, when my father wanted to make a change in order to set himself up, ultimately for retirement, but also to put his kids through college, he set up a business, and hired an average of maybe 20 people per year for 17 years. In meeting his ultimate aims, he provided employment in a small town with the knock on benefits that had.

For me, the great disappointment of the years of the Celtic Tiger, and the legacy we’re left with today, is that when many people went to set themselves up for retirement, they resorted to buying non-productive (socially), almost selfish, assets such as property, or stocks & shares.

When it comes to “enterprise” in Ireland today, many people don’t actually appreciate what’s needed, or what’s involved – they lost touch during the Celtic Tiger. And for anyone who’s left that understands enterprise, there has been such a huge destruction of wealth held in those non-production selfish assets of property and stocks and shares, that there’s very little money left behind now to support fledgling new enterprises – either through investment or as customers.

aside 6 Jan

A retiring bishop once said: “I should have challenged the prevailing culture” – we still can

I’ve written already this week about what I think would be a great way of approaching your new year 2010 finances. Read the posts here and here, and if you haven’t already come up with your 2010 financial target or objective, have a think and decide on one in the coming days.

There is one other key thought that I have for 2010 – something that if the whole country followed in their daily lives, could help 2010 be significantly better than 2009 and would help the country change for the good permanently in the longer term.

I should have challenged the prevailing culture

That was the stand out statement from the resignation statement from Bishop Jim Moriarty just before Christmas when he resigned after the fallout from the Murphy investigation into the handling by Church and State authorities of allegations and suspicions of child abuse against clerics in the Dublin Archdiocese.

Profound

In one fell swoop a resigning bishop has, in my opinion, pinpointed the primary flaw in the Irish psyche which has led to many, if not all, of our countries woes down the years.

You can look at the many statements of attempted justifications over the years for why things happened the way that they did, but they can all be boiled down to that one damning statement from Bishop Moriarty.

Excuses

“Everyone else was doing it, so I had to go along with it as well or I’d lose out”.
“Sure everyone knew that the (insert regulator/authority/enforcer here) wouldn’t do anything about that”.
“I didn’t work in that particular department so it wasn’t my responsibility”.
“Things have always been done this way”.
“I was too junior so no one would listen to me”.
“I was afraid to speak up because I thought I might lose my job”.
“I reported it to my manager and presumed s/he would follow up on it”.
“I knew it was wrong, but I knew there was no point in reporting it”.
“What’s the point reporting to the (insert regulator/authority/enforcer here), sure aren’t they in on it as well”.

To me, these statements are a sign of individuals across the country abdicating responsibility for anything dodgy that was going on, tacitly maintaining the rotten status quo, and failing to challenge the prevailing culture.

And it’s dropped the country right in it

But look at all those statements again. They’re all “me” and “I” with no care for the general good of the people or the country.

I heard a story from a taxi driver about a planning official in north Dublin in the 1980’s (or at least pre-Euro days) who was infamous for arriving at houses to point out spurious items that supposedly didn’t meet planning guidelines.

The standard way to have these issues resolved was to put a few quid (punt) in an envelope and when he’d come back for his next inspection hand it over with the words “I was talking to (insert architect name here) and he said that I should give you this”, and suddenly the non-conformities were miraculously no longer a problem.

This gentleman could visit the same site two or three times to identify “non-conformities” in a planning area where thousands of houses were build over the years.

Yet not one person, that I know of, called this guy to task or tried to do anything about his actions.

The self-interest of “me” and “I” was more interested in getting a house built rather than the general interest of removing a corrupt official from his position and bringing him to justice.

2010 New Years Resolution

How about, for 2010, we bear in minds the words of Bishop Moriarty in all aspects of our lives? Instead of going along with the rotten status quo that exists in our country, let’s challenge the prevailing culture.

That can take the form of many different actions. I’ve written a few times previously about whistleblowing in Ireland (or the lack thereof).

But there are other ways as well. And we don’t need to make a big show or cause a big deal in doing this. We can just look at the things we’re doing, or being asked or expected to do, and instead of just considering the “me” or “I” implications, think about the bigger picture – the good of others and the good of the country.

We still have the opportunity to affect changes to this country – unlike Bishop Moriarty.

I’m sure the rest of us don’t want to end up twenty years down the road resigned to our own failure to do anything to change things?

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stories

I’m being haunted by Atmosphere – a musical interlude

Taking nothing for granted

Six-year-old saved from dropping to his death by his ears

Remember the mad jumpers on Dempseys Den? A 1980s entrepreneurs story

A retiring bishop once said: “I should have challenged the prevailing culture” – we still can

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