My favourite spots to eat
Lemon Jelly – Millenium Walkway
Excellent banana hot chocolate, crepes are massive and the best service of any cafe. Tad expensive but worth the money
Wok u Like – North Earl St
Cheap eats! Love the noodles, big box for a fiver!
Viet Pho – Dorset St
Currys are amazing, BYOB (fiver corking charge but keep cost down with bottle of wine from Lidl, some nice wines for under a fiver)
Thai Spice – Behind Bus Aras
Real Thai food! Gang dang (yep thats what its called!) and satay chicken are paradise. Nice beers
Black Sheep – Capel St
The beer selection is massive. Food is good sized portions and tastes great. Club sandwiches are the dogs bollox
KC Peaches
Massive plate of food for a tenner or salad for eight quid. Love their white hot chocolate
Boojum – Italian Quarter
Massive burritos and Samuel Adams beer (dont make me crave one!
Showing posts with label Dublin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dublin. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Friday, 14 September 2012
Abercrombie & Fitch Open in Dublin - Would You Want to Work for them based on this?
Abercrombie and Fitch (A & F) the huge American retail outlet is to open its first Irish branch soon in Dublin on the old Bank of Ireland building in Dublin's College Green. Already there is a huge bill board with a model standing out and a lot of people are eager to get their hands on their gear which is proving very popular amongst Dublin's haute coutour aware youth eager for the latest hoodie and top. Over the years though, A & F have been embroiled in a number of storms from being hauled through the courts for accusations it hid back room staff whom were non white to the treatment of staff in the sweat shops ithat manufacture their goods n the Phillipenes. The Irish Times published an article recently which highlighted the issues surrounding employment. It goes on..
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2012/0714/1224320029446.html
This notion that only good-looking people need apply has done the company no favours in recent years, and its employment policies have led to a number of court cases. In 2009 a former employee of a London store took it to an employment tribunal claiming she had been forced to work in the stockroom because she didn’t match the company’s strict “look policy”, a guide to the appearance of its shop-floor staff. She was born with the lower part of her arm missing. She won the case, and A&F had to pay her £8,000.
A much more damaging action was taken against the company in the US in 2003. Several Hispanic, black and Asian employees and applicants sued the company saying they had been put into less visible backroom jobs. The company disputed the claims but settled in 2005. As part of the deal it agreed to pay more than €30 million to black and Hispanic groups across the US while admitting no wrongdoing.
A&F hired a diversity officer to increase its share of the workforce from 10% being minorities in 2004 to now having approx 50% of its workforce being from minorities. The issues above are not confined however to people whom may work in its branches, there has been accusations that the company's suppliers have ill treated staff that manufacture goods for A & F
Labour Rights.org carried the news that the Alta Mode factory, where A & F clothing is made, has done its best to stifle the rights of workers whom sought to form a Union. The workers at the factory were looking for better rights but Alta Mode thought differently and suspended the workers and even had the audacity to bring a case against them in what was a flagrant breach of the workers rights to form a union without being subject to harassement for such actions.
http://www.laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications-and-resources/sweatshop_hall_shame_2010.pdf
However all may not be lost for such a big brand as they recently bowed to pressure to stop using cotton from Afghanistan thanks to the a petition by the International Labour Rights Forum. A petition calling on A & F proved successful to the point that they bowed to pressure and stopped using cotton from child labourers in Uzbekistan (http://action.laborrights.org/p/dia/...action_KEY=799). They may have been a bit behind though with the times and only caught up as other companies had signed up and installed policies to deal with such issues.
While over 65 of the world’s largest apparel brands and retailers have developed policies related to Uzbek cotton, two companies have remained silent.
One of these the site alleges was A & F until they signed up.
Next time someone goes shopping for Abercrombie and Fitch in Dublin, think of the rights that people have and where your clothing was made. Was it made ethically? Would you like to work in a company with such policies?
Ponder for a minute, would you work somewhere where the staff recruited seem to be just models?
There is a "style guide" that hiring managers get to see. It contains almost no text - just a few dozen pages, each with a full-sized color photograph of different ethnicities - a male and a female for each. They are supposed to serve as examples of the kind of people you should hire. Presumably so the managers will know what good-looking minorities look like. They're amongst the confidential files that are never meant to leave the office, but I'm surprised none have ever surfaced
http://jezebel.com/5479980/american-...ring-practices
In 2009 the Guardian reported on the flagship store in Saville Row in London where is seemed so out of place with all of the other shops. Benoit Denizet-Lewis who does article for the NYT magazine tells the Guradian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/20...tch-savile-row) that Mike Jeffries (CEO of A & F) came out with the following line when he interviewed him:
"We go after the attractive, all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong [in our clothes], and they can't belong."
Wonder what would happen if this 23st lump of lard walked brazenly in and demanded a job. I could include on the application "I have the body of a God"...just neglect to tell them its a body like this...
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2012/0714/1224320029446.html
This notion that only good-looking people need apply has done the company no favours in recent years, and its employment policies have led to a number of court cases. In 2009 a former employee of a London store took it to an employment tribunal claiming she had been forced to work in the stockroom because she didn’t match the company’s strict “look policy”, a guide to the appearance of its shop-floor staff. She was born with the lower part of her arm missing. She won the case, and A&F had to pay her £8,000.
A much more damaging action was taken against the company in the US in 2003. Several Hispanic, black and Asian employees and applicants sued the company saying they had been put into less visible backroom jobs. The company disputed the claims but settled in 2005. As part of the deal it agreed to pay more than €30 million to black and Hispanic groups across the US while admitting no wrongdoing.
A&F hired a diversity officer to increase its share of the workforce from 10% being minorities in 2004 to now having approx 50% of its workforce being from minorities. The issues above are not confined however to people whom may work in its branches, there has been accusations that the company's suppliers have ill treated staff that manufacture goods for A & F
Labour Rights.org carried the news that the Alta Mode factory, where A & F clothing is made, has done its best to stifle the rights of workers whom sought to form a Union. The workers at the factory were looking for better rights but Alta Mode thought differently and suspended the workers and even had the audacity to bring a case against them in what was a flagrant breach of the workers rights to form a union without being subject to harassement for such actions.
http://www.laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications-and-resources/sweatshop_hall_shame_2010.pdf
However all may not be lost for such a big brand as they recently bowed to pressure to stop using cotton from Afghanistan thanks to the a petition by the International Labour Rights Forum. A petition calling on A & F proved successful to the point that they bowed to pressure and stopped using cotton from child labourers in Uzbekistan (http://action.laborrights.org/p/dia/...action_KEY=799). They may have been a bit behind though with the times and only caught up as other companies had signed up and installed policies to deal with such issues.
While over 65 of the world’s largest apparel brands and retailers have developed policies related to Uzbek cotton, two companies have remained silent.
One of these the site alleges was A & F until they signed up.
Next time someone goes shopping for Abercrombie and Fitch in Dublin, think of the rights that people have and where your clothing was made. Was it made ethically? Would you like to work in a company with such policies?
Ponder for a minute, would you work somewhere where the staff recruited seem to be just models?
There is a "style guide" that hiring managers get to see. It contains almost no text - just a few dozen pages, each with a full-sized color photograph of different ethnicities - a male and a female for each. They are supposed to serve as examples of the kind of people you should hire. Presumably so the managers will know what good-looking minorities look like. They're amongst the confidential files that are never meant to leave the office, but I'm surprised none have ever surfaced
http://jezebel.com/5479980/american-...ring-practices
In 2009 the Guardian reported on the flagship store in Saville Row in London where is seemed so out of place with all of the other shops. Benoit Denizet-Lewis who does article for the NYT magazine tells the Guradian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/20...tch-savile-row) that Mike Jeffries (CEO of A & F) came out with the following line when he interviewed him:
"We go after the attractive, all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong [in our clothes], and they can't belong."
Wonder what would happen if this 23st lump of lard walked brazenly in and demanded a job. I could include on the application "I have the body of a God"...just neglect to tell them its a body like this...
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Dublins Gay Pride
This weekend marks Dublin's gay pride and it's well into its older years having started out in the early 80's when several members of the gay community started it up and since then it has grown into a phenomenal success. Pride itself has its origins in the gay rights movement starting in the summer of '69 when police forced members of the LGBT community to disband from gay bars in New York in the Greenwich area, one of these bars , the Stonewall Inn, later became one of the flashpoints. Fast forward forty odd years later and now Dublin is holding its pride but who does it represent?
My fellow members of the LGBT community have taken it upon themselves to throw one hell of a party and what a party it is. This is one thing that can be done brilliantly is have a party but marching for rights? The world is a whole lot different than it was forty years ago we must admit. As per the Barons discussion with myself in the gay rights threads, his lesbian friends and I and others in the gay community cringe at the thoughts of glitter and Kylie representing us as is proclaimed by a wide section of the LGBT community. From skinny lads beat into jeans to bears pretending to be butch and everything in between, Pride has become synonomous with silliness as much as it has become to represent gay rights. Pride , it could be argued sets us back in society. The gay community seeks so much acceptance yet a march that seeks to only appeal to a minority and not the majority will never do that. Creating a bad impression of people like myself and others whom are quite happy to admit are gay but for whom being gay is only one of many aspects of our life. Straight people do not have straight pride do they?
I propose gay pride bring itself bang up to date and seek to change its attitude and mature itself. Gay marriage will not be achieved by waving glow sticks and endless amounts of Kylie are not going to bring us equal inheritance rights. By all means have the marches, I have joined you all in the past but this is a plea, take a look at the bigger picture. Become a part of active political and social life. Money spent on the parade could be used to fund a hostel for young LGBT people fleeing life from torture or persecution, it could be used to get more LGBT reps into the Dail, it could be used to open the gay switchboard for longer. Every pride I find myself repairing damage from the image portrayed which while fun makes life that little bit harder for me. Pride they say is about embracing our inner gay and being secure to do so but is it not stemming from an insecurity that we must show we are here and queer? Why not throw a concert and invite everyone from civic leaders to community organisations? We can gain acceptance more so through engagement on a more mature level.
My fellow members of the LGBT community have taken it upon themselves to throw one hell of a party and what a party it is. This is one thing that can be done brilliantly is have a party but marching for rights? The world is a whole lot different than it was forty years ago we must admit. As per the Barons discussion with myself in the gay rights threads, his lesbian friends and I and others in the gay community cringe at the thoughts of glitter and Kylie representing us as is proclaimed by a wide section of the LGBT community. From skinny lads beat into jeans to bears pretending to be butch and everything in between, Pride has become synonomous with silliness as much as it has become to represent gay rights. Pride , it could be argued sets us back in society. The gay community seeks so much acceptance yet a march that seeks to only appeal to a minority and not the majority will never do that. Creating a bad impression of people like myself and others whom are quite happy to admit are gay but for whom being gay is only one of many aspects of our life. Straight people do not have straight pride do they?
I propose gay pride bring itself bang up to date and seek to change its attitude and mature itself. Gay marriage will not be achieved by waving glow sticks and endless amounts of Kylie are not going to bring us equal inheritance rights. By all means have the marches, I have joined you all in the past but this is a plea, take a look at the bigger picture. Become a part of active political and social life. Money spent on the parade could be used to fund a hostel for young LGBT people fleeing life from torture or persecution, it could be used to get more LGBT reps into the Dail, it could be used to open the gay switchboard for longer. Every pride I find myself repairing damage from the image portrayed which while fun makes life that little bit harder for me. Pride they say is about embracing our inner gay and being secure to do so but is it not stemming from an insecurity that we must show we are here and queer? Why not throw a concert and invite everyone from civic leaders to community organisations? We can gain acceptance more so through engagement on a more mature level.
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