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This afternoon.

Kyiv, Ukraine.

A flack-jacketed Simon Coveney, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, walking with Ukranian special forces and, controversially, Garda ERU, to lay flowers at a memorial wall to those slain in the conflict with Russia

Department of Foreign Affair /RollingNews

Earlier: At The Front

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly

Gulp.

Yesterday.

Independent TD Carol Nolan asks Minister for Health Stephen Donelly to confirm Ireland’s commitment to the World Health Organisation’s Pandemic Treaty

Once signed, the treaty will enable WHO’s constitution to bypass Bunreacht na hÉireann during a pandemic or other health emergency.

Previously: WHO’s Your Daddy

Meanwhile…

Ah now.

Meanwhile…

BASFs plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany

This afternoon.

Via Bloomberg:

BASF SE’s plant in Ludwigshafen is emerging as a symbol of Germany’s opposition to a full embargo on Russian gas amid rising calls to punish President Vladimir Putin for his war on Ukraine. Cutting it off, BASF says, could render its factory—the biggest supplier of the base chemical acetylene—inoperative, sending shock waves through many industries and causing Germany’s economy irreversible damage.

The warnings have alarmed policymakers in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration, which has been scrambling to offset Germany’s reliance on Russia for roughly one-third of its energy.

…Germany could face a €220 billion ($240 billion) hit to output over the next two years should gas supply be severed immediately, according to a joint forecast of economic institutes, the equivalent of a 6.5% annual output cut, tipping the country into a recession of more than 2% next year….

Germany’s Faustian Pact With Russia Haunts Industrial Giants (Bloomberg)

Meanwhile…

2018.

They’re not laughing now.

Getty

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From top: Linda Doyle, Provost of Trinity College Dublin; Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, and Robert Watt, Secretary General at the Department of Health

This morning/afternoon.

Via Independent.ie:

“Under the proposed agreement, the Department of Health commits to provide for the secondment of Dr Tony Holohan who will continue to receive a salary at his existing level (i.e. salary, terms and conditions equivalent to the position of Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health) on the date of signing of the agreement including any improvements, awards or regrading that may apply to the position of Chief Medical Officer over the duration of the secondment.

“It would make an annual ring-fenced allocation of €2m for the duration of the secondment, to be administered through the Health Research Board, a body under the aegis of the Department of Health, to support the development and activities of an interinstitutional collaboration led by Dr Holohan from his position in Trinity College Dublin.”

A letter from Secretary General Robert Watt to Trinity College Provost Linda Doyle two weeks before Tony Holohan’s TCD role was announced.

Um.

The Health Research Board, meanwhile, said it had no knowledge of such arrangement to pay Dr Holohan.

Anyone?

Robert Watt’s ‘strictly confidential’ letter to Trinity agreed Department of Health would give €2m a year for Holohan secondment (Independent.ie)

RollingNews

Yesterday.

MSNBC’s “Reports” with Andrea Mitchell.

Dr Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden, said:

“China has a number of problems, two of which are that the complete lockdown, which was their approach, a strictest lockdown you’d never be able to implement in the United States. Although that prevents the spread of infection, I remember early on they were saying, and I think accurately, they were doing better than anyone else.

“You use lockdowns to get people vaccinated so that when you open up, you won’t have a surge of infections.

“Because you’re dealing with an immunologically naive population of the virus because they’ve not been exposed because of the lockdown.

Also, they have a lot of their older population, which are the most vulnerable among us, and so, there’s a double negative there. One, they don’t have people who are protected, and B, the people who need it most, are not getting the vaccination. That’s the source of the problem in China.”

Meanwhile…

Yikes.

‘sup?

Model Farm Road, Carrigrohane, Cork.

Squishy-hearted soccer hard man Roy Keane launching the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind’s national fundraising campaign, Guide Dog Day which takes place on Friday May 27.

The charity successfully matched 73 Guide Dog and Assistance Dog partnerships in 2021 and placed four Community Dogs in schools and facilities around the country.

Back of the net,

Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind

Pics: John Allen

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Dundalk Democrat, Summer 1977

1977.

Supple wrists and feet.

Good times.

Brother Josh – Crawl Back

Get this party re-started.

Irish newcomer Josh Bass (left) and his cousin Daz Bass (right) aka Brother Josh, bring the house down in their new video directed by Michael Reid.

Josh writes:

“The absence of work made the lockdowns a difficult time for musicians. Apart from the lack of income, most felt cut adrift by the absence of that magical connection between musicians and fans in the live context.

“I’m determined to take this project all the way. I’m really excited by the material I’ve written and can’t wait to get it all out there and get back to playing live again.”

Nick says: Brother act.

Brother Josh

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