The Gist: Feedback Friday

Hello!

Something a bit different this time. Some feedback from the last few weeks on some of the Gists that you’ve received, and what you liked, didn’t like, and would like to see more of.

Over to you;

Responding to Musings for Airports:

Hi Simon,

Love your work, and your ability to capture how I feel in a concise, yet better-phrased sentence in particular.

Regarding the current stumbling shambles of an approach:

The  kite flying from the cabinet’s green contingent regarding a possible  2km restriction zone made the demands for mandatory quarantine all but  inevitable

(presumably the rest of cabinet were unwilling to associate themselves with that particular notion)

Don’t  overlook the optics of gift card aisles and children’s toys being  behind barriers in supermarkets also, with birthday and communion season  on the horizon and a fresh batch of home schooled children to keep  occupied

A recurring theme with this  government is going back to the same well over and over when dreaming up  new restrictions, regardless of their inherent logic or even  contradictions with already established ones

Keep  up the good work, above all on the mother and baby home report as I’m  sure the powers that be are looking for another rug to sweep the latest  one  under.

Jamie

And;

Hi Simon,

I'm really enjoying  The Gist, it's a great summary of current affairs and a keen insight  into why our political structures continue to fail, and sometimes  succeed.

I like this  episode particularly as it peels away the layers of spin to give a  truthful commentary on life under the tyranny of Covid in Ireland today.  Thank you and keep up the good work.

Regards,

Brian

Responding to A Bad Confession on Mother & Baby homes

Simon,

As requested I'm replying to say that this one  is, well I can't call it my favourite, but this one made me stop in my  tracks. I forwarded it on to my kids (adults really) for a read.  Honestly, I avoided most of the newspaper articles - I will read them,  but not this month. Thanks for this.

" Irish Society was, unquestionably, warped and wronged by the power structures which saw mass coercive confinement hit 1% of the whole population in 1951. For comparison, Stalin’s Gulag system was 1.5% of the USSR in 1953."

***

I really appreciate hearing that stat his as hard as it hit me when I found it.

In  some way, I think the history of 20th Century Ireland has been missing  the context of this mass incarceration system to explain it.

We  couldn’t understand Stalin without knowing about the Gulags. We can’t  understand Ireland without seeing the forced incarceration it was built  on.

Thanks again

Simon

If you’d like to nominate a favourite Gist, or give a different  perspective on something I’ve written about, hit reply on any of the Gist emails, or just find me on Twitter @Tupp_ed and tell me about it.