46 thoughts on “De Saturday Papers

  1. f_lawless

    Anyone else find it deeply disturbing that the Toy Show was being apparently used as a vehicle to promote Ireland’s increased military involvement in EU/NATO led imperial endeavours?

    To me it looked an awkward, obviously contrived family reunion with a man dressed in full military fatigues (appropriate on a kids toy show? he didn’t have time to change?) and I don’t remember it being central to the show at all, but yet RTE’s front page news describes it as being the single most important event on the show.
    https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2017/1201/924433-family-reunion-rules-the-late-late-toy-show/
    I would assume that being RTE’s biggest ratings show of the year that the Toy Show is heavily planned and influenced by different special interest groups (eg farmers)

    As Ireland’s Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) spokesperson, Roger Cole recently said:

    “The decision of the Irish Government to send see to take part in this new war in north Africa is more proof of the Fine Gael/Labour .
    Government’s decision to deepen Ireland’s integration into the EU/US/NATO military strutures.”

    Never mind that the current military coup dictatorship in Mali stands accused of ethnic slaughter

    1. The bass player from the Spice Girls

      ANOTHER reason to never buy a TV, or a license.
      Anyone who took part in this contrivance, including the family involved ought to be ashamed.
      Even ITV4 wouldn’t stoop that low at 3:30am on a Sunday morning. Our state broadcaster deemed it fit for the most-watched programme on their annual schedule.

      AIMED AT KIDS.

      Sickening in the extreme.
      No excuse can redeem them.

      1. f_lawless

        I’m afraid I’m forced to agree – on a surface level you can view it as an emotional family reunion which pulls on the heart strings but if you start to think a bit deeper on it, you can’t help but suspect that it was a contrived PR stunt for Irish military’s increased involvement in EU/NATO operations – operations that cannot be merely described as “peace keeping”.
        It’s not like someone in the Late Late production team spontaneously piped up with the idea “hey, why don’t we ask the government to see if one of our boys can be pulled back early from active service in Mali so he can surprise his family on a Toy Show?!” As if they would hold that much clout

          1. f_lawless

            It’s just an expression – ie to accept something unpalatable.
            What’s up with the standard of trolling on this site of late? Time was when you could expect a decent wind up. Now it’s just really dull stuff.

    2. Frilly Keane

      Oh shurr’up
      FFS
      No one
      Not a sinner
      Drew up that sorta shy-t ’till you did

      All we saw was a lad who forgot he was on the toy show the moment he saw his Daddy

      Ara’ away ou’ that
      D’ya know, you should have a word Bodger n’ them
      And go on the telly yerself
      N’ let them have the advantage of your interest in the Paddies role in peacekeeping
      ‘could’a done wi’ ya the other night

      Johnny Peace Man was like a suicide bomber there
      With his biro going on n’ off

      1. Martco

        +1
        they were all great to watch, excitement up to 90…I’d say one or many of them wired on the Fanta since 5pm…special needs section also worth a mention really nice to see.

        the only show where Tubridy earns his weekly wage packet I reckon

      2. Garthicus

        Agreed. I was quietly weeping into my beer watching the little lad bury his face into his dad. A lovely moment.

    3. Happy Molloy

      Whether you believe any of that or not is irrelevant to the fact that Christmas is about families reuniting and it was a beautiful moment.

      I thinks Tubs does a good job on the Toy Show, he really lets himself go and doesn’t seem any way self conscious which must be hard to do!

      If I had one criticism, it didn’t seem that Christmassy and maybe hasn’t for a while. There’s a lack of Santa and Christmas trees.
      And whilst I appreciate the need for the state broadcaster to be secular, I’d be sad if I thought we wouldn’t see kids singing silent night in front of a Christmas tree again.
      But maybe that’s just me pining nor my own childhood and today’s kids don’t give a rashers :-)

    1. Go A Way

      Children throwing a strop and saying they wanna cancel out their own goal or else will take their ball home and they’re not playing anymore – UK Brexit negotiators

      1. Charger Salmons

        Overheard grown-ups in the pub last night saying gotta get home to watch the Toy Show.
        I mean,saaaaaaaaaaaaad.

        1. Go A Way

          Overheard grown ups write in the internet and say in tv that Brexit means no hard border with Northern Ireland – sad

          1. Brother Barnabas

            Ah don’t be like that, Charger.

            It’s just a little joke.

            (And, in fairness, you do tend to drone on and on and on and on and on.)

    2. Frilly Keane

      Ger’away oi’ day you Charger

      You had your bottom infront’a the Late Late too
      Like the rest’ve us

      1. Brother Barnabas

        He completed the picture last night.

        Was in his den listening to his Status Quo CD collection, with a “nice bottle of South African Pinotage”. He thought that identified him as a man of discerning taste – utterly unaware that he’s likely the only man with a roof over his head to ever willingly drink it.

        1. Charger Salmons

          Hard to take seriously a man whose musical taste extends to David Bowie’s Tin Machine.
          Even David Bowie thought they were his worst work.

          1. Charger Salmons

            Anyway,never mind about that the more serious question is having stayed up late to watch the Toy Show what present have you put down on your list for Santi to bring you ?

          2. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

            I always thought Little Wonder (which I love) was a Tin Machine song. Just looked it up. I was labouring under a misapprehension, it seems.

            I’m playing my favourite album of his now. Best of.

            BOOM. You little wonder, you.

          3. mildred st. meadowlark

            I love that song.

            However, in my house Let’s Dance takes all precedence as it is the Child’s favourite song and a damn fine dance choon.

  2. some old queen

    Tusk / Brexit

    I just don’t know how they are going to square this circle. The whole point of Breixt was to restrict the free movement of peoples which is the exact opposite of the peace process and the EU knows that the Tories could be toppled at any time. Of course certain elements within the DUP would quite happily build a wall if they could.

    The thing about Brexit is that it has quite a short shelf life because the younger British people are, the more likely that they will be pro European. Everyone in Britain appears to be a leaver at the moment but that could change very quickly once the next generation really starts to vote. The longer this goes on, the less chance Brexit has of succeeding.

      1. Martco

        imho as we’re speculating
        a) it all falls apart and we collectively sigh relief and get back to living our already tricky lives
        b) it proceeds & eventually NI dies enough for SF to trigger the all Ireland referendum (jasus help us….unless there’s some change to how we generate our own money or the EU stumps up billions)
        c) it proceeds, succeeds & EU starts to split open & the € dies but it won’t matter anyway as we’re all bitcoin billionaires….the 1% trillionaires have already left for Moonbase Alpha (prob hardly any of ye old enuf to remember that I bet)

    1. Charger Salmons

      Not everyone in the UK is a Leaver.
      Opinion polls are running pretty much the same as the Referendum result of 52-48.What has changed is that many more Remainers now accept the result and want everyone to crack on.
      There is not the remotest chance of Brexit not going ahead as both main political parties which accounted for over 80% of the vote at the general election are committed to it – which rather disproves the trope regularly seen in the Irish media that only xenophobic Little Englander Tories are behind it.
      As for Ireland the choice is clear.Co-operate with the UK in making a decent fist of the border issue or prevent trade talks going ahead and risk a Hard Brexit which will produce a hard border anyway.
      Varadkar is being played by the European Commission and he’s too stupid to realise it.

      1. some old queen

        Yes well opinion polls got it badly wrong the last time so I wouldn’t be holding too much faith in them now. As for Labour, it is very much a case of watch this space. They were the ones who mobilised the young vote at the last election so you can be certain they will be doing likewise next time around. Corbyn has already stated there will be additional conditions upon leaving, particularly around worker’s rights.

        I very much doubt if any of the other Irish parties were in power they would be any different so this is not Leo going rogue. I am pretty sure there is broad political consensus that the current stance is the correct one.

        As for the DUP saying that NI must be treated the same as the rest of the UK, that is just hot air because by signing up to the GFA they have already conceded marked differences.

        I cannot see how it can proceed without another referendum. Brexit was a vote on a vague aspiration with zero detail and there is half a dozen potential ways to leave the EU. Otherwise, who decides this?

        1. Clampers Outside!

          I think the power in voting behind the young vote is over stated when you add in the aging population which is growing faster than young voter pop, and add in the declining birth rate…. it’s not there in the long ball game, not in sweeping numbers, if these trends continue… lots of close elections in future.

          that’d be my own cynical view.

          https://www.theguardian.com/politics/datablog/ng-interactive/2017/jun/20/young-voters-class-and-turnout-how-britain-voted-in-2017

          1. Charger Salmons

            Realistically Labour should be well ahead in the polls now but Corbyn is flat-lining.
            And even with the massive turnout by younger voters in the general election Labour still ended up 60 seats behind the Tories.
            Corbyn is not the future for Labour but whoever comes next will be the interesting choice.

  3. Charger Salmons

    @GiggidyDoo
    Another referendum ?
    Like the Lisbon Treaty ? Keep on going until the right result is produced.
    The day Ireland died of shame.

  4. Lilly

    Tragic about the 11-year-old girl’s suicide. If a child says they want to die and self-harms, can you not have them admitted to a psychiatric hospital straight away? Do children’s hospitals have psychiatric sections, or do adult psychiatric hospitals have capacity for children? Art therapy no doubt has its place in mild cases, but not when they are openly expressing a wish to die.

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