EVER SINCE THE Journal started back in 2010, our readers and their thoughts have been fundamental to our coverage of the news. Here’s what you’ve been saying to us this week. Have something to say? Send a mail to letters@thejournal.ie. You can see our letter guidelines here.  

More money. More smokes. Less sense?

['It's definitely naughty': Cigarettes are making a comeback at Irish weddings]

How Big Tobacco must love the stupid Irish! Not only do we have their vapes sold in every village in the country, which is keeping their profits high (as well as producing mountains of non-recycled e-waste every day) but couples are now risking having their wedding remembered for years as, “The one that put me back smoking again before I developed lung cancer!” 

I must say, these young people are incredibly gullible or else they have far more money than sense.

I am lucky enough to be able to say, I have never been a smoker, even when I was young. But I know lots and lots of family and friends who have told me how hard it was for them to give it up. And that they feel that one cigarette would put them right back into the awful habit. And yet providing free cigarettes as a wedding novelty is being thought of as a good idea! 

I have been upset to notice how pervasive smoking is again on television programmes and even in the cinema. I believe that Big Tobacco is paying to ensure that it stays that way so that smoking continues to be “normalised” if not glamorised as it was when I was young. And now people are being suckered into providing free fags by the need to make their wedding memorable. 

Perhaps these “premium wedding planners” you mentioned in the article might include a trip to a lung cancer ward as part of the preparation for any client suggesting providing cigarettes for guests.

I can remember when corporate gifts regularly consisted of boxes of 50 or 100 or even 200 cigarettes nicely packaged in glossy black boxes. And that was considered acceptable! Are we heading back that way? Because if we are, it is a very sad day for humanity. And a tragic one for wedding couples who feel the need to join in! 

Carmel Hogan, 
Offaly

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Strike days

[How did we get here? 500 words on the disputes that led to Ireland's biggest strike in a generation]

I was a career public and civil servant, who over the years occasionally considered the apparent conflict between the government as overseer of the public finances and as the largest employer in the State.

On the one hand, it’s the government’s responsibility to plan and implement agreed budgetary policy. In this context, there have been glaring issues with overspending on some significant capital projects and underspending on others. Opposition parties often have a political field day on these.

From my perspective, it’s a serious breach of duty to its employees for the government to allow a situation to arise where loyal public and civil servants see no option but to serve strike notice in advance and carry this out with a national one-day strike this week, resulting in Oireachtas business being postponed for the day, as well as essential services being severely disrupted across the State.

One can forgive budget overruns or underruns; however, an apparent lack of care for loyal employees and the public is unforgivable and an indicator of poor political leadership and a lack of respect for public and civil servants.

So please stop posturing and show some respect to your greatest asset, the large cohort of public and civil servants, forced onto the streets for overdue pay negotiations.
Shame on the houses of the Oireachtas!

Sincerely
Joe Harrison,
Co Clare 

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Interim thinking?

[After years of delays, developers say they're still nervous about building homes along Metrolink line]

Dear journal,

I’m very surprised that this point has never been mentioned on the radio or in any paper.

With all this talk of a metro since the 1980s and only finally getting to it now at a ridiculous cost to the taxpayer no doubt – judging by the cost of the recent children’s hospital debacle.

How come in the meantime the bus service E1 serving from Bray and the E2 serving from Dún Laoghaire don’t go to the airport? Instead, they stop just short. Why is this and why was this never addressed?

Regards,

Gary Cormican, 
Dublin

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AI – what’s it going to take from us?

[Zuckerberg says his new AI tool will 'improve our lives'. Are we insane enough to believe him?]

I’m 31 years old and here’s why I cried at the trailer for Wildwood.

On a recent trip to the cinema with my children, aged five and two, I found myself bawling my eyes out. The best part? We hadn’t even made it through the trailers yet. Wildwood is the new stop-motion animated film from Laika Studios, the creators of Coraline.

I was vaguely familiar with the new film fans of the studio are hotly anticipating but didn’t expect this reaction to it. The trailer is wonderful. The audio uses dialogue from the film, while the visuals show a mix of film footage and set design.

Any attempt to summarise its beauty wouldn’t do it justice but picture hand painted mushrooms and moss and artists pinching tiny pieces onto a huge wood scape to create this lovely, textured world. 

So, why did I cry?

(To caveat, my kids are both terrible sleepers. It’s been five years of interrupted nights, so I might have been a tad exhausted but I don’t usually burst into tears at every piece of media that crosses my weary eyes.)

There’s a line delivered at the start of the trailer, “There’s magic in this world, there’s magic in you.” And I’m sure this was the ignition. Looking at my daughter and thinking, she’s magic. Same when I look at my two-year-old son, who could barely see the screen, even with the provided booster seat. 

Amidst the feelings of happiness, there were some feelings of concern. I don’t think it’s by coincidence that this ‘how it’s made’ trailer was released in the era of generative AI.

Without naming all of the ways it’s negatively affecting the world, AI is a serious issue that will impact them and it was hard not to worry about the uncertainty in their future caused by AI. 

We’re an arts and crafts household. The previous weekend, we made Halloween garlands with pumpkins, ghosts, and even Michael Jackson, for my Thriller-obsessed two-year-old son (another story, for another time).

Even the smallest creations like these need consideration that AI strips from the creative process. To see the level of detail going into Wildwood, it stirred up lots of emotions, as you can tell. 

While writing this, I thought of Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. It is generally viewed as incoherent and messy but has an incredible cult following and screens in cinemas across the world regularly.

Wiseau put a lot of time and money into bringing his vision to life and in the process, created jobs and launched careers for others.

Whatever the result, I struggle to picture audiences ever getting anything like that in the age of AI because people want to cut corners and jump straight to the final product, without going through the necessary steps of filmmaking. 

Back to Wildwood, I’m now desperate to see the finished product. To quote actress Ayo Edebiri of The Bear fame, “I’m seated. The theatre employees are scared and asking me to leave… but I’m simply too seated.”

Adam Stanley, 
Dublin

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