Category Archives: Writings
It’s time to have my ears what?
Smart consumer Listen up: It’s time to have your ears checked By John Cradden Absolutely no pun intended, but here is a piece of information that tends to fall on deaf ears. One in six people worldwide has a hearing loss greater than 25 decibels (dB), according to the World Health Organisation. About half of [...]
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Irish Times article: music to my ears
I wrote an article for the Irish Times Insight supplement, which appeared last week, based on a chat with Richard Reed, a musician with a cochlear implant, who I first talked about here. Here’s the PDF First page of article Second page of article
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The digital TV switchover
Saorview will replace all analogue TV by 2012. John Cradden looks at how this will work Get connected: Paddy Mulhern from Kinsale, Co Cork, with his many remote controls Thursday October 20 2011 It was all supposed to be a very big deal. The Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte, announced last week that the old, [...]
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Self-assessed tax returns: DIY or use an agent?
Like visits from the grim reaper, there is never a convenient time for taxes. But for the nearly 300,000 among us who are self-employed, as well as the many thousands more who have non-PAYE sources of income to declare, it’s not like you haven’t been warned. The tax-return deadline date of October 31 is well [...]
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Early Christmas shopping – is there any point?
You might have to rub your eyes and wonder if you really do need to go to Specsavers. But no, there’s no mistake. We’ve just been enjoying an Indian summer, and Halloween is still a full month away, but take a walk today down certain aisles of your local supermarket and there is a good [...]
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Confessions of a haggler
The very idea of bargaining sends some shoppers into a cold sweat — but there are savings to be made if you know how, writes John Cradden For the average Irish consumer, haggling is still a bit of a dirty word. Many of us are reluctant to roll up our sleeves and give it a [...]
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Don’t skimp on car maintenance
Our cars are getting older, but looking after them needn’t cost the earth, writes John Cradden Thursday September 08 2011 It will probably come as no surprise to learn that our cars are getting older. After all, new car sales fell off a cliff in 2009, and only recovered last year thanks to the scrappage [...]
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Dream bangers