Shock Departure

at

anne-marie

Anne Marie McNally

Popular Wednesday columnist Anne Marie McNally has informed us that she is leaving Broadsheet to become Political Director of The Social Democrats.

We are disappointed that she has decided to walk away from the project, we undertook, to establish and build the website.

Karl Our Executive Committee has reaffirmed its commitment to the vision of a fair society and honest journalism.

Since Broadsheet was launched in July 2010, we have worked to build the site brick-by-brick.

This is a long term project which requires dedication, hard work, long hours and a major commitment from all involved including our columnists

The levels of dedication required for such a major undertaking can be overwhelming for some.

However our other columnists, our staff team and our volunteers are passionate about our project and we will now get on with the job of building our website.

We wish Anne Marie the best in her future endeavours and look forward, with excitement, to the future development of the ‘sheet.

Previously: Anne Marie McNally on Broadsheet

Update: But seriously, thank you Anne Marie, from all at the ‘sheet.

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96 thoughts on “Shock Departure

    1. Bob

      Oh and I should add a less sarky response so: thanks for the articles, Anne. I didn’t always agree with them, but they always made for an interesting read.

  1. Tony

    Good luck Anne Marie and thanks for the dance. Best wishes in the new job and remember, it’s the unconverted you need to persuade, not the luvvies already in your corner.

  2. b

    “This is a long term project which requires dedication, hard work, long hours and a major commitment from all involved including our columnists

    The levels of dedication required for such a major undertaking can be overwhelming for some.”

    Bravo

      1. Bodger

        Aldo, it’s a parody on the soc dems’ response to Stephen Donnelly’s departure except we really miss Anne Marie.

    1. Dόn 'The Unstoppable Force' Pídgéόní

      Unlike the public service announcement, BS only does dogs and cats for Christmas.

  3. mildred st. meadowlark

    Best of luck Anne Marie. Always enjoyed your columns and the impotent outrage they cause.

    Broadsheet, nicely done. Tongue in cheek and all that.

  4. ahjayzis

    Oh for fupp sake.

    The first act of the new Political Director of The Social Democrats should be to assign the job of writing a decently widely read column to the new Political Director of The Social Democrats. The party gets fupp all positive media time as it is, and with 2 TD’s surely the Political Director of the Social Democrats can spare a few hours a week for it.

    1. b

      *cough* Gary Gannon *cough*

      there was no need for two party political broadsheets from the the 2 TD SocDems a week on here

    2. Vote Rep #1

      “The party gets fupp all positive media time as it is”

      Until Donnelly left, I thought that t really only got positive media? You could argue that it didn’t get too much media attention but then it is a small party.

      1. ahjayzis

        Still not the best circumstances.

        That’s what I’m saying though.

        It’s a tiny party – what’s more important at the moment, fancy brass plates in head office or writing an article read by thousands of potential voters?

      2. forfeckssake

        It got a lot less then Renua before the last election despite having more seats (both before and after the election).

          1. Caroline™

            Still brings a smile to my face to remember how that idealism was crushed by a tag-team of indifference and disgust. “If you look closely you can actually pinpoint the exact moment her heart breaks in two”.

        1. Vote Rep #1

          Well they could always go down the route of taking their policy positions straight from the Indos editor if they want more publicity. It didn’t do Renua any favours though.

          At the moment, they are in the media more than the Greens who also only have 2 TDs so they are not doing too bad for a new small party. The best way for them to get their message across is to meet people in the flesh.

          1. ahjayzis

            And a weekly column on a website with a decent enough circulation just isn’t worth the time and effort?

    1. gizabacker

      Not so. Let’s all take a moment to appreciate what REALLY happened in the past week; McNally writes a piece for BS about Stephen’s departure and crudely headlines it ” I didn’t get up the pole for Stephen Donnelly” with the phrase repeated in the article. Someone on twitter quotes the phrase, gives her some stick, the headline on BS is changed, McNally proceeds to deny having ever wrote the, attributing the phrase instead to a volunteer, who she then quoted in her column. Incredibly, McNally (true to form) then proceeds to falsely accuse the twitterer of misogyny for using the phrase she originally coined, in the article at least. That same person (and I know cause I’ve been snooping) had enough of this crap and spoke to a journo pal of his who proceeds to write a piece in the Indo at the weekend about the Soc Dems. Said journo gives McNally a pretty tasty roasting while he’s at it, citing her propensity “to attack the media outlet or journalist in question” as opposed to having any substantial policies to fall back on.

      Among other things….selfie anyone?

      And hence, her departure, in the words of Catherine Murphy, is no surprise.

      http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/social-democrats-are-now-just-another-farleft-party-35039128.html

      1. Caroline™

        I’ll be honest – I don’t care about the phrase used, or who started arguing over it, or who got called what names. I did think the reaction in general to Donnelly’s departure was petty.

        But you’re saying a journalist – Philip Ryan – wrote a piece in which he sideswipes McNally because his mate got in a fight with her on Twitter and then squealed about it?

        lol.

        1. gizabacker

          It’s all in black and white on twitter. I’m not going to put the person’s handle on here but all you need to do is to go to that person’s page to read the evidence. It’s fairly explicit.

          And I know why Donnelly left; it only takes one bad apple to make the whole thing pretty toxic and he’d had enough. Didn’t take as long as I expected.

          1. Caroline™

            I must be missing something. I only see a brief back and forth. She unfairly accuses him of being misogynistic. The presentation of the piece is unfortunate because obviously the quote doesn’t come from her – but that’s not his fault. I don’t see him give her any real stick. Is that the extent of it?

          2. gizabacker

            Yes the exchange appears fairly innocuous. Then followed up a few days alter by a tweet saying “you only need to know one journo well enough for the story everyone is afraid to write to be written” or something like that. Plus the article explicitly states, “I didn’t get up the pole for Stephen Donnelly”, a phrase McNally chose to repeat by committing to paper which was then published (so to speak), so to accuse another person of misogyny off the back of the very phrase she published is, frankly, obnoxious

          3. Caroline™

            You should be careful. That isn’t what the tweet says. You’re implying that this guy had a word with a journalist chum to get him to take a shot at a woman who pulled his hair on the internet. But he doesn’t say he did that. It would reflect very badly on both of them if that were the case, and to imply it is, as you have now done twice, is considerably more obnoxious that McNally’s offence.

          4. :-Joe

            Who cares about a spat with the establishment media and some bloke on twitter… really? & how do you really know about Donnelly?…..

            Another way to look at it is you are completely wrong….

            Donnelly was waiting for the opportunity to join the establishment and get into government the fastest way possible.

            It remains to be seen if it’s true and if he was not just another establishment career political wannabee masquerading as an SD to suit his needs.

            My take on it is he was just biding his time with the SD’s from the start and a lot of people got fooled by the looks of it, including myself to a certain extent. I didn’t vote for him but probably would have backed him in some way ifgiven the opportunity.

            I’ve no skin in this game and I’d be happy to be wrong if he turns out to be the second coming of jesus that so many deluded people think he is…

            :-J

          5. gizabacker

            Sorry Lilly, as much as I’d love to but I’m not a bully. This person is a bully (and the rest) so deserves to be exposed but I’m not going to kick a person (in her 30’s) when she’s down so we’ll just leave it at that

          6. Lilly

            Thanks Giza, you have just confirmed my gut instinct. I had high hopes for the Soc Dems but their poor judgment vis a vis that particular character doesn’t auger well for them.

      2. Coppélia

        Just a sec. Is someone stealing MY thunder on twitter. I made similar comments on that particular piece…..

          1. gizabacker

            Said headline turns out to have been pretty ill-fated. I imagine Donnelly’s camp might have had a thing or two to say about it. Bit too tongue-in-cheek at a precarious time to come across as pure humour. More like a dig or provocation, and reading between the lines of his statement that kind of nonsense had no place in his politics

          2. Sibling of Daedalus

            All the journalists read the bottom half of Broadsheet, Coppelia,

            I’m sure it isn’t the first time unattributed comments have been taken ;-)

          3. MoyestWithExcitement

            “I imagine Donnelly’s camp might have had a thing or two to say about it.”

            But earlier, you said “And I know why Donnelly left;”? So you actually have no idea why he left and you’re just some nobody taking shots at a political party you don’t like. Grand.

          4. gizabacker

            Trust me, I know the dynamics within that party, and I’m fairly certain it has eff all to do with policy!

  5. Water Boy

    No surprise, although I thought it was going to read she’d left Social Democrats for Anti Austerity Alliance

    1. Caroline™

      Maybe he got miffed that they never redeveloped the site as fundamentally as he thought they were going to. Might not be good for the old brand to have your column slapped in with an assortment of undifferentiated randomers.

      Or maybe he’s off giving free handsomeness classes to those less fortunate. Godspeed you, brunette bastion of the downtrodden. You were not as tall in real life as I thought you would be.

      1. ahjayzis

        That redevelopment sounded so exciting when it was announced didn’t it?

        Instead we get an unremitting horror show of “YooChoob” “slebs” like LJB and that terminally unfunny girl doing unfunny things.

  6. James Chimney

    Is there a going away doo or anything. It’s just that I’m cold and can hear wolves and my battery’s about to..

  7. jonjo

    Says shes gonna miss being associated with the same crowd that are responsible for news about things that look like ireland and the leather jacket dope.

  8. Mourinho

    Meh.
    If Murphy or Gonnelly were in my constituency then maybe.
    Just so they can keep doing what they do.
    Donnelly with the S110 stuff, Murphy with the SiteServ REDACTED stuff.

    Anne Marie, I wasn’t swayed or impressed with anything you wrote here unfortunately.

  9. Mayor Quimby

    >The levels of dedication required for such a major undertaking can be overwhelming for some.

    The shade thrown here is in marked contrast with Anne-Marie’s career achievements.

    Gonnelly didn’t agree with the direction of the party and left, not because he was lazy

  10. Bruce Wee

    Well played with the wording Broadsheet….Shame to give up a platform, such as broadsheet, with an active community of commentators for a struggling party trying to establish its self on the Irish political stage. This simply means more Leather Jacket Guy can fill the void with his “hilarious” videos , I mean, Where does he come up with these kooky ideas????….what a guy

    1. gizabacker

      Yes it was advertised but I wouldn’t say it was much of a competition, earmarked for her all along

      #newpolitics

      #transparency

  11. Frilly Keane

    Its this “Party” thing that probably finishes them off for me

    AFAIC anyway

    The Social Demographs are more of a Co-Op than a Political Party

    That might be a Title Bump Anne Marie
    But tis no promotion

  12. :-Joe

    @Anne Marie McNally

    Despite whatever else is going on you’re making a mistake to stop the weekly article/column here…

    We don’t have enough progressive, social, democratic, equality-minded politicians who actually stand for anything sincere that get enough air-time…. over the usual crowd of invertibrates.

    You’re not going to get a fair shake in the Irish mainstram media and you know it.

    I hope you have at least one member of the project writing articles or opinion pieces and commentating on here in the future.

    It’s a welcome change when politicians actually try to engage with the public (beyond a fun.king press release) and try to articulate what they really think.

    Best of luck with it….

    :-J

  13. Frida

    The Social Democrats were recruiting a new PR a few weeks ago. Why don’t they get that person to take over the BS column?

  14. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

    I’ll write a weekly column for you. Half thought-through musings with a dash of chutzpah and a soupcon of feeble wit: that kind of thing. You may pay me per word.

  15. Ferret McGruber

    Thanks Anne Marie for the time you took to enlighten us all on everything we have to put up with and the best of luck in your new job. I’ll miss your writing.

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