Connacht Tribune
Writing is on the wall for the humble letter and pen
A Different View with Dave O’Connell
Two thirds of young British adults say that they use a pen less than five times a week – and more than a quarter prefer emojis to words when expressing their feelings.
If that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about the world and the hell we’re headed to in a handcart, nothing will.
Of course, texting a little emoji of a tear falling from a round yellow face is easier than actually having to write the words: “I’m sad” – but how can it be that little cartoon characters have surpassed the written word?
The survey – carried out for the cruise company Cunard for that sparingly celebrated annual event called National Writing Day – found that one in four people have neither sent nor received a handwritten letter in the past decade.
One presumes this excludes school reports – or have they too been relegated to a series of emojis . . . the devil’s scarlet face if you failed, an angel for an ‘A’ and a whole series of clappy hands if the overall result was worth celebrating?
Does it exclude cards for Christmas or birthdays or Valentine’s Day – or is it now acceptable to just send a love-heart followed by a big ‘U’ to cover all such occasions of soul-baring?
But most upsetting of all is the admission that 65 per cent of those aged between 25 and 34 hardly ever pick up a pen.
It’s no surprise therefore than almost none of them can spell; when they use their phone, they rely on the auto-correct function to do the work for them. Which might explain the increasing number of American spellings in phone messages.
Apart from spelling, the other consequence is a hopeless deterioration in handwriting standards, to the point that even a doctor would struggle to read it – and they have perfected the prescription scrawl.
On the other side of the coin, 89 per cent said they would love to receive more handwritten letters – although given that none of them want to send them, you’d have to wonder where they expect them to come from – and 70 per cent have held on to letters received in the past.
Thus, it would appear that the death of the letter isn’t so much down to the advent of phone technology as much as pure laziness.
And in fairness, when you can record your deepest thoughts with nothing more than your thumb – sending it instantly to the other side of the world – it’s hard to see the motivation for finding writing paper and a pen, an envelope and a stamp and traipsing halfway across town to a post office.
But there’s something wonderful about the written word – and part of that is the planning, thought and effort that someone has made because they believed you to be worth it.
There are thousands of teenage boys and girls in the Gaeltacht right now, learning Irish – and for the first time they are also experiencing the joy of a letter.
Because their phones and tablets are under lock and key, their only communication with the outside world is via a letter from home where the news, by its nature, is three days old and arguably of little significance anyway.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
