Yearly Archives: 2016

badsanta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqeEiXQlUAU&feature=youtu.be

 

What you may need to know

1. Billy Bob Thornton – Actor, filmmaker, singer-songwriter, epic haircut in Fargo, six times married*. ..This man works harder than Miriam O’Callaghan’s child minder and here he is back as Willie in Bad Santa 2, The sequel to 2003’s dark and cynical yet utterly hilarious Ba…. Well you’ve probably already guessed what it’s a sequel to.

2 Alongside Elf (2003) and the same year’s Love Actually (yeah Love Actually, I said it, I love Hugh Grant, I’m a fool to myself) Bad Santa is one of the great Christmas movies imho And the storyline this time sees him reunite with his sidekick Marcus (Tony Cox), to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve.

5. The movie seems to have had a troubled production as it’s been in development since 2009 however as an eternal optimist I’d like to think they’ve just been working hard to perfect their craft rather than the more likely awful alternative.

6. It’s directed by Mark Waters, the director of Mean Girls (think Broadsheet comments section with American accents) who surprisingly didn’t have to hand back his director’s badge after 2014’s Vampire Academy.

7. Sadly there’ll be no Bernie Mac this time round as he’s deader than the plants in Pat Hickey’s holiday home, but on a brighter note they have drafted in Christina Hendricks,
and Oscar winner Kathy Bates also stars as Thornton’s mother, despite being only
Seven years older than him in real life.

Bertie’s verdict: If it’s half as good as the first one it will pass a couple of hours pleasantly enough.

Bertie Blenkinsop

* SIX times married. Law of averages we’ll all eventually date either Billy Bob or Taylor Swift. Knowing my luck I’ll get Billy Bob.

jobbridge

A JobBridge ad for four journalists at the Metro Herald in 2014

RTÉ reports:

Internal auditors at the Department of Social Protection have found high-risk concerns over the manner in which employers were allowed to sign up to the controversial JobBridge internship scheme.

According to the unpublished report, a copy of which was obtained by RTÉ’s This Week, the department’s auditors expressed concern over a lack of initial validation of the employers’ eligibility and whether their use of interns could lead to the possible displacement of real jobs.

The report noted that under the system of initial self-declaration, “employers make a statement on their application that the intern is not displacing a job vacancy,” going on to add “it is not possible to verify whether or not the internship is displacing a potential job vacancy”.

The auditors also found no checks into whether employers – or hosts – had the appropriate form of public or employer’s liability insurance, potentially exposing the minister and taxpayer financially in the event of an insurance claim.

There you go now.

Listen back to the This Week item on JobBridge here

Report finds high-risk concerns over employers using JobBridge (RTE)

Previously: JobBridge on Broadsheet

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The passports of three members of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) [Dermot Henihan, Kevin Kilty and Stephen Martin] have been seized following the search of a hotel in Brazil in relation to the Rio ticketing controversy.

No arrests were made during the search.

“Early this morning in Rio, Brazilian police arrived at the OCI offices in the Olympic village and at OCI accommodation outside of the village,” said the OCI in a statement.

Civil Police removed mobile phones and Olympics tickets from the hotel rooms of members of the OCI.

The passports of three Irish citizens were also confiscated by police officers, as part of their ongoing investigation.

“The OCI personnel were asked to present for questioning at a local police station on Tuesday (23 August) next. They agreed to do so,” said the OCI.

“The OCI had an allocation of unused official tickets in their offices which had been made available for athletes’ families and friends. The police also took possession of these tickets,” added the OCI.

Passports of three OCI members seized by police in Rio (RTÉ)

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile…

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Ah here.

Via Barry

Thanks Postman Pat

UPDATE:

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FAI Chief Executive John Delaney

Also as part of the court order dated yesterday, RTÉ News understands that the Brazilian police are seeking to acquire the passports of three other individuals connected to the OCI.

…Those three people named on court documents are acting president Willie O’Brien, executive member of the OCI and chief executive of the FAI John Delaney and personal assistant to the president Linda O’Reilly.///

Brazilian police seeking to acquire the passports of six individuals connected to the OCI (RTE)