I thought Pikeys were Gypsies not Irish… Anyway, the offense to this Irish descendant isn't that depiction in the Space Irish episode is racist, it's that it's so [ahem] 'theatrical' - and by that I mean American actors doing godawful "Oirish" accents.

Dude, the junkies needed their fix or they were going to all go through a horrifying planet-wide version of Trainspotting. Meanwhile Picard is reading the fine print of the PD. I watched that ep and broke out in sympathy sweat. Would it have killed Picard just to leave the junkies a little pick me up to get them…

The Federation has a 'tough love' policy. They only help those who are prepared to help themselves, not those with problems so far gone that they have descended into self pity. See for example that episode with the two groups of aliens where one group is addicted to the drugs pushed by the other group. Picard is happy…

Has anyone mentioned at this point…
that 'The Royale' is a pretty weak rip off of 2001? And Clarke's novelisation explains that the room at the end of the universe has been constructed for the astronaut's pleasure from recordings of TV transmissions?