Miscellaneous

TROUBLES CROWD in on the decrepit Gorbachev regime in the USSR. Hooliganism, alcoholism, petty theft and joy riding in official cars are widespread as the working class expresses its discontent with its corrupt state-capitalist rules. A .thoroughgoing revolution which will sweep this collection of vodka-soaked gangsters into oblivion is, of course, the only ultimate answer. In the meantime, Ulick O'Connor and the National Union of Jourrnalists will do their best.

TROUBLES CROWD in on the decrepit Gorbachev regime in the USSR. Hooliganism, alcoholism, petty theft and joy riding in official cars are widespread as the working class expresses its discontent with its corrupt state-capitalist rules. A .thoroughgoing revolution which will sweep this collection of vodka-soaked gangsters into oblivion is, of course, the only ultimate answer. In the meantime, Ulick O'Connor and the National Union of Jourrnalists will do their best.

SINCE SEPTEMBER OF last year, eight regular visitors to the Marist night shelter in Athlone have died. All were between the ages of thirty and forty years old. These "Men of the Road" as they are called, died alone and unwanted, their bodies often found days later in hay barns, derelict buildings, and in one recent case, an old caravan.

IT IS PLEASANT to record that not everyone has collapsed into Evening Herald/Irish Times-style hyssteria over the supposed "crime crisis": pleasant not only because the heighhtened emotion of recent times has militated against rational consideration of the issues involved and obstructed sober assessment of the measures which do need to be taken, but also - and more importantly - because this style of reportage has significantly hindered the work of probation offiicers and of the welfare services geneerally in their efforts to break down the barriers of prejudice against those _ who, for wha

Tension rises at Arbour Hill

ON 28 MAY A RIOT BROKE out in Arbour Hill prison. One prisoner and four prison officers were badly injured in the fighting. The following day the Department of Jusstice stated that the fighting was between "ordinary" criminals and sex offenders.

WHOOPS, HOLLERS and rousing choruses of "The Boys of the Old Brigade" heard in the vicinity of Downey's Pub in Ballyfermot last Monday week did not, after all, emanate from local Sinn Feiners celebrating the party's showing in the North's local elections. The cause of the Republican joy was much closer to home.

Modest Input

SINN FEIN LAUNCHED ITS campaign for the local elecctions at a press conference in Dublin on 22 May attended by Gerry Adams MP, Danny Morrison, member of the Northern Assembly, and 16 candidates from the Dublin area.

PLEASANT TO note that the recently-declared support of odd-soxed sex-symbol Henry Mountcharles for an O'Malley-led mould-breaking SDP-type party has not prevented the Lord of Slane making generous, ecumenical gestures to ra-ra members of CJH's inner circle.

Reform School Closes

THE DEPARTMENT OF Education seems determined to follow the Department of Justice in repeating the mistakes made in the treatment of young offenders in the sixties and seventies.

NICKY KELLY'S case for damages finally comes before the High Court this month. This is the case which he was explicitly invited by Justice Minister Michael Noonan to bring. Mr Noonan drew Kelly's attention to this option in a statement issued on June 7 1983 in which he added that Kelly could expect speedy treatment from the courts and that a "favourable outcome could be adduced as relevant, even only indirectly, to the question of his imprisonment. "