Business Culture Vultures: From Garth Brooks and An Cailín Ciúin to Dolmens, the World Cup and a Reading Festival
I really liked Simon Kuper’s book Chums: How a tiny caste of the Oxford Tories took over Britainfull of amusing observations
which are often beyond parody.
My favorite is the Labor grandee who invented the term ‘meritocracy’ meddling in the selection process to get his son admitted to Brasenose College after failing to achieve the required grades.
The final night of the Garth Brooks concert at Croke Park was a great occasion. Nostalgia for 1990s hits combined with social scrutiny of the national wealth on display to sell out five nights, albeit delayed from 2014 when austerity should have consumed the country.
Vicinity
Maria Dickenson, Managing Director of Dubray Books
Mary Dickenson
Managing Director of Dubai Books
My favorite is without a doubt a book by Irish author Alice Ryan There was a small incident. It’s great, really. It’s a debut and it’s funny, it’s warm, it’s smart.
It’s about a girl who lost both of her parents at a fairly young age and has always somehow run away from her grief. It speaks very well about grief and healing in families and isn’t too difficult either. Family relations are warm and loving. I have all ears bent over it.
Vicinity
Siobhán Talbot, Managing Director of the Glanbia Group.
Siobhan Talbot
Group Managing Director of Glanbia
Claire Keegan’s short novel Support financially was wonderful to read eearlier this year. It’s a simple story, told from the perspective of a young girl who is sent to relatives – ‘her mother’s people’ – to spend a summer in rural Ireland.
The characters unfold unhurriedly and by depicting the slow rhythms of country life we unveil the true nature of the child’s foster family, who grow in size as the story progresses until their grief is finally revealed.
It’s a story of family, unsung heroes and community and beautifully commemorates the time and place.
Colm Bairéad’s Irish language feature film A Cailín Ciúinbased on the novel, was released this year to worldwide acclaim and will hopefully feature prominently in the upcoming film awards season.
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A Post CEO David McRedmond. Photo: Maxwell Photography
David McRedmond
chief executive officer of a post office
How come I hadn’t heard of Sally Hayden? That’s their problem: the privileged in Europe don’t want to read anything about flight and migration.
She has just written the An Post Irish Book of the Year My fourth time we drowned, a searing account of the migratory routes from Africa to Europe. This is serious journalism: slowly turning the crowd into a diverse, diverse group of people whose only goal is a better life.
Her bio says she is a photographer and she shows it. The book moves from light to dark, from vastness to claustrophobia and from hope to hopelessness. Essential reading.
And my other reading of the year is also from a great journalist: Colm Tóibín’s collection of essays A guest at the party is a profound exploration of the contradictions of inner and outer life and the role of fiction.
Essays on the last three popes, Irish justice with a delicious cameo by Vincent Browne, and writers Francis Stuart and John McGahern remind us that Colm is our greatest contemporary writer and thinker.
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Data Protection Officer Helen Dixon. Photo: Adrian Weckler
Helen Dixon
Data Protection Officer
My ongoing dolmen explorations have been one of my cultural highlights of 2022!
Even in this information age, these iconic Neolithic structures remain remarkable and poorly understood.
This year I first visited the stunningly situated, tall and elegant Legananny dolmens in County Down whilst on a trip to beautiful Newcastle and Slieve Donard.
Much closer to home, I visited the Glendruid dolmen at Cabinteely, crossing a fast-flowing stream to reach this spectacular structure.
These dolmens really retain their mystery and fascination even in this internet era. How did people around 4500 B.C. those 100 ton capstones on the structures?
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Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland Gabriel Makhlouf. Photo: Steve Humphreys
Gabriel Machlouf
Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland
The book I recommend to people looking for a Christmas present is by Fintan O’Toole We don’t know ourselves.
It told me a story about Ireland, or at least the Ireland he grew up in, in a way that appealed to me. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s about my age and I can relate to some of the events he describes, or at least remember what I was doing or seeing at the time.
Or maybe it’s the fact that I also went to a Christian Brothers school (but in England) so his views on the Catholic Church and its influence on life in Ireland are familiar, albeit from a very different angle.
The breadth of the book is remarkable and O’Toole clearly did a great deal of research to create this personal history of Ireland (subtitle of the book).
But the main reason I like this book is because I like O’Toole’s writing and We don’t know ourselves is full of his familiar style, accessible, candid and insightful as well as irreverent and entertaining, and underpinned by a reporter’s thorough analysis and reasoning.
Simply put, it’s a great read.
Kathal Friel
Chairman of Poolbeg Pharma and hVivo
For me, the cultural moment of 2022 was watching the World Cup final with our children at home. I watched as our 12-year-old son, a staunch France supporter, exploded with joy at the late unexpected French goals while the rest of us cheered for Argentina.
In the first 80 minutes, France played poorly as they took the expected success for granted. This reminded me of Celtic Tiger Ireland when we all took our economic success for granted and it was only the 2008 housing crash that became a wake up call to the urgent need to regain our international economic competitiveness.
Regardless, the initial international tut-tutting of the more conservative Qatari lifestyle made me reflect on how eerily similar it was for me to grow up in a deeply religious Ireland of the ’60s and ’70s.
Many forget that it was still illegal to buy condoms in Ireland up until 1985. I am optimistic that Qatar will quickly transition into a more modern liberal state, and in a fraction of the time it took Ireland to do so.
Qatar’s decision to invest in seven new stadiums shows me that they likely have plans for one of the next Olympic Games and Qatar could in turn become the sports and entertainment capital of the Middle East.
Lorna Conn
Chief Executive Officer of Dublin based staffing firm CPL
A standout moment of the 2022 World Cup for me was witnessing the gracious and deeply respectful behavior of the Japan soccer team, their entourage and their fans.
One couldn’t help but be moved by those moments of intense humanity – they left their dressing room spotless after every game, leaving a “thank you” message in Arabic, along with several origamis in their dressing room, while their manager bowed low in front of their fans bowed the stadium after their elimination from the tournament and their fans who collect rubbish after every game – win, lose or draw.
Having recently spent a week in Japan myself (CPL is owned by Outsourcing Inc, a Tokyo-listed talent solutions organization operating in 38 countries worldwide with over 130,000 employees), my experience there fully reflected a culture embraced in is rooted in deep respect.
A culture of grace and hospitality. If more societies embodied these qualities, we would surely live in a better world. Japan didn’t need to win the tournament to win big – their behavior has charmed many people around the world and spotlighted their culture in very positive ways.
https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/business-culture-vultures-from-garth-brooks-and-an-cailin-ciuin-to-dolmens-the-world-cup-and-a-feast-of-reading-42249154.html Business Culture Vultures: From Garth Brooks and An Cailín Ciúin to Dolmens, the World Cup and a Reading Festival