32 thoughts on “De Sunday Papers”

  1. sǝɯǝɯʇɐpɐq

    That line at the top of the Sunday Times made me smile, for all the wrong reasons.
    – ‘Irish Water critic Healy-Rae signs lucrative utility contract’

    You couldn’t make it up.
    I’m guessing that the source is Waterford Whispers

    1. Sheik Yahbouti

      Looking at some of the other front pages relating to our political situation fills me with weariness, and a feeling of horrible inevitability as to how it all pans out. The dead hand of the establishment and the wealthy elites is upon us. However, resistance is NOT futile, and we must continue to push against them.

      1. Deluded

        I reckoned about 60% voted centre-right this time which is a long way from when we used to have an FF majority with FG as the main opposition.

        (…and a meme…
        Don’t hate the player, hate the game : )

        1. some old queen

          If nothing else comes out of all the FF/FG theatrics, it is why they have such a problem going into government with each other. The surface reason is that they want to keep SF out of opposition which if true, is clear proof that they previously propped each other up. Another election will mean a backlash against both FG and FF because they put their own interests before those of the country. SF will capitalise on this and make further gains which from their perspective will leave an even worst situation.

          They are between a rock and a hard place. Interesting times for sure.

          2. Deluded

            Hi some old queen… I think manoeuvring around SF is currently as important as any policy position from obesity tax* to roads fixed.

            *a curious move, I thought, it was one of the first acts of the new FG/Lab government of 2011 and unrelated to the mandate touted.

      2. some old queen

        Up north there is a prevailing fear of a political vacuum hence the toleration of tribal nonsense in Stormont. Down south there is a prevailing fear of a vacuum because of the lack of political tribal nonsense.

      2. Citizen x

        Re: cell phone catcher.Now I know that it would never happen in Ireland but…Wouldn’t that device be a great way to target members of the public who made complaints to GSOC for retribution/get them to drop complaints?Handy to have the complainers phone contents to then building a social profile,which is then used to degrade/destroy/disrupt the complainer into submission and to drop the complaint to GSOC. Techniques such as the statsi favourite Zerzetstung along with a smear campaign would work well with such a device for sure.And…best of all…no touch psychological torture such as neuro linguistic programming and smears leave very little evidence.Thank god i never made a complqint to gsoc and then had an arm of the state try to drive me to suicide,thanks to this kind of technology.

      3. Mickey Twopints

        The irony is that the IMSI catchers are relatively easy to circumvent/defeat if you know what you’re doing (the message and/or call content at least), and the criminals certainly do have access to the expertise (they can hire the know-how). It’s ordinary Joe/Josephine citizen who’s likely to have her/his communications intercepted.

          1. Mickey Twopints

            VPN (Virtual Private Networking) will encrypt all data to and from your device during its transit across the network, VOIP included. Plenty of alternatives to an SMS service from one of the Irish operators, amongst them either a private SMS gateway in another jurisdiction, or IM services such as WhatsApp. It takes a moderate degree of knowledge to make these things happen seamlessly, but rocket science it ain’t.

          2. Deluded

            Thanks Mickey, but yes, it sounds like remote-control brain surgery to someone who struggles with the microwave. How “moderate” a degree of knowledge? Will I need Higher-Level maths? etc.

    4. Paddy

      Except that his company has been providing services to the council for the same thing for years. Fair play to him. Reading the story he is against IW in the format it was set up, and is capable (even if the press and some people aren’t) of separating both. If IW dies, he will still provide the same services. Non-story actually.

      1. Charley

        Council contracts transferred over as councils hire in everything from cones up these days anyway, if you widen the net as to who has lucrative hire contracts a few well known names will pop up

  2. Hank

    What are all those weird things on (I think it’s) Ireland player Stander’s thighs?
    :Looks f-cked up

  3. The Real Jane

    Good to see the Sunday Times giving Dudders another chance to explain how those dreadful peasants robbed her of her rightful inheritance. A perspective close to the hearts of the traditional Times of London reader.

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