55 thoughts on “De Friday Papers

    1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

      I saw them in concert in Argentina years ago. They weren’t great, but they were probably all well into their 50s at that stage.

    1. scottser

      They’ve been on an anti snowflake rant for a while now. If it suited them theyd be banging on about how stressed kids get, diets or video games or somesuch poo.

  1. SOQ

    Laura Slattery in the IT reviews the new RTE player. Lots about youth viewers and repackaging but never mentions the elephant in the room, that the old one couldn’t stream for its life without buffering.

    Network issues the RTE tech guys kept saying without ever explaining why other stations both here and abroad did not have same. If they haven’t fixed that then nobody is going to use the damned thing. End of.

    Are you listening Micheal Kennedy?

  2. Eoin

    “The secretive buyers of €1.3bn of mortgages from Permanent TSB will pay no tax on their profits, the chief of the State-owned bank admitted” reports the Indo on its front page today.

    “Secretive”? Not really, last week, the Irish Times reported Pimco was the main investor in the loans.

    “Pimco”? US investor (vulture fund, some would say). Richard Bruton’s brother, John was appointed a director earlier this year.

    So…… joining the dots…… State-owned PTSB, which is politically accountable to the FG finance minister, sold 6,000 Irish mortgages, without prior consultation or notice to politicians, to an investor where a FG grandee has just been appointed director. And now, we learn Pimco won’t pay tax on its profits from the loans.

    In 2018, this is the level of accountability when €1.3 billion of state-owned assets are flogged off (without notice or consultation). It’s like Russia in the 1990s.

    1. Eoin

      And on the front page of the Times Ireland, we learn how a FG (nominally Independent, but he’s dyed-in-the-wool Blue) minister broke procurement rules in a contract worth “billions”. The “independent auditor” didn’t disclose in his report that rules had been broken. Unless the majority of politicians call a halt to this sleaze, then FG’s Richard Bruton will proceed with a deal which transfers billions to an investment group, in which Denis O’Brien’s Siteserv is key, for the provision of a technological service.

      Was it even this bad in Russia in the 1990s?

    2. Giggidygoo

      The dots and their joining aren’t even hidden these days. It’s a case of them doing as they want and the rest of the population can phi.. right off.
      The question is – how can the message be given to Joe Public in a way that he will understand so that he will use his vote properly next time. That’s the quandary.

  3. Eoin

    Jayney Mac! Irish Stock exchange down 3%+ to a 12-month low, €3 billion wiped out in a day after the arrest of the daughter of the founder of Chinese mobile phone company Huawei. Similar falls in other stock markets.

    And amid the opening shots in a new US-China trade (security) war, this:

    “RUSAL: The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged the Trump administration not to waive or remove sanctions on Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska or companies, including aluminium producer Rusal, that he controls.”
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/global-metals/metals-metals-tumble-as-arrest-of-huawei-executive-revives-trade-fears-idUKL8N1YB3I2

    Rusal is the company which owns the refinery in Limerick, employing 450 directly and an estimated 1,000 indirectly.

    1. Eoin

      Absolutely, if you were to pick out a sinister feature of Dwyer, surely it would be the dodgy ponytail? Those eyes could be Daniel O’Donnell’s but the ponytail would give you nightmares.

  4. Eoin

    The world has changed.

    Migrant/refugee rescue (and transport to EU) ship is decommissioned.

    “”This is the result of a sustained campaign, spearheaded by the Italian government and backed by other European states, to de-legitimise, slander and obstruct aid organisations providing assistance to vulnerable people,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement.

    However, MSF is not telling us what the new EU approach is doing to migration (refugees and migrants) across the Med. There’s been a 70% decline in 2018 compared with 2017 and a 95%+ decline from the peak year, 2015. The EU approach might be tough love, but it’s working.

    Howver, it would be nice though to see Ireland reach its target for taking in refugees. We have a role to play, but we can play it without encouraging people to risk their lives in the Med, or which lines the pockets of people smugglers.

    1. Ollie Cromwell

      It’s working because it’s the same result as in Australia – if you make it clear that ” refugee ” boat will be turned back and carry out your word the torrent becomes a trickle.
      The vast majority of these ” refugees ” as in the ” train ” that Trump met with force at the US border are men aged under 35 who just fancy an easier lifestyle in the West.
      They bring with them radically different social and moral ethics and hidden amongst them are radical Islamists.
      It became very clear to the Italian authorities that rather than being rescuers the crew of this ship were working in cahoots with people smugglers.
      The Italians have had enough.
      And so have much of the rest of Europe.

      1. ReproBertie

        “The vast majority of these ” refugees ” …. are men aged under 35 who just fancy an easier lifestyle in the West.”

        And you can of course back this up with numbers and reports, right?

          1. ReproBertie

            I can’t see the bit where it says they “just fancy an easier lifestyle in the West” so if you could point that out in the report I’d appreciate it.

          2. Ollie Cromwell

            Why else would they come ?
            Admit it Reprobate you’re blushing with embarrassment at being caught out by the facts.
            Brother Barnabas shares your pain.
            Heh x 3

          3. Ollie Cromwell

            If they’re fleeing failed states,war and persecution why are they leaving their wives and families behind ?
            Amazing how many of them are carrying top of the range mobile phones and a handy few bob to pay people smugglers ?
            Australia saw through this nonsense years ago.
            Simpletons like you are being had.

          4. Martco

            “Why else would they come ?”

            jesus @Charger
            you’re no craic anymore
            just making stuff up as you go along
            a bit like Man U..just tired & disappointing

          5. Ollie Cromwell

            Do you have an explanation as to why mainly men under the age of 35 are leaving behind their families in mortal danger of war and persecution ?
            Perhaps the plan is to get to Europe,attain citizenship and then invite the rest of their extended family to join them enjoying the welfare largesse paid for by indigenous taxpayers ?
            Unless you turn the tap off the bath overflows.

            https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_statistics#Age_and_gender_of_first-time_applicants

          6. ReproBertie

            Leaving their wives and families behind? The report you linked to said that 31% of the total number of first-time applicants were minors aged less than 18 years. Are these the families you mean?

          7. Ollie Cromwell

            Perhaps the under 18s are being used as shields by their older brothers travelling with them ?
            Who knows ?
            The plain facts, that you asked for, are that asylum seekers are essentially economic migrants looking for a better lifestyle and that already under-pressure western countries are being asked to pick up the tab.
            The end result ? The inexorable rise of both the Far Right in Europe as well as horrendous sexual assault and crime figures among male immigrants coming from countries where women are treated as second-class citizens and social and moral values have barely moved on since the Middle Ages.

          8. ReproBertie

            “asylum seekers are essentially economic migrants looking for a better lifestyle”

            In your opinion.

          9. Nigel

            You mean the sort of people who would be targeted for forced conscription into armies or militias? Or else tend to be the demographic rounded up for punishment and reprisals? Or preemptively killed to.prevent their recruitment? Yeah I can’t understand why they might be sent out of the way by their families either

  5. Ollie Cromwell

    Sacre Bleu !

    89,000 police officers – up from the initial figure of 65,000 – will now be on duty across France on Saturday, 8,000 in Paris, where 12 armoured vehicles will also be deployed.

    Gotta love the plumbers,carpenters and all the other blue collar workers sticking it up to that strutting martinet Macron.

    Is there a French word for Schadenfreude ?

    * puts popcorn on the shopping list *

    1. Ollie Cromwell

      To put old garlic breath into context Trump’s approval rating is currently at 50%.
      Macron XVI hovers around the 18% mark.
      Still,he’ll ” look after ” Ireland.

      * sniggers.

  6. Ollie Cromwell

    Is this the start of the European Spring ?

    Merkel on her last legs in Germany,Macron a busted flush in France with the Front National on the march again,the rise of the Far Right in Andalusia elections,Italians flexing their political muscles.

    The EU project is creaking at the seams.Blighty has chosen the right moment to jump ship.

  7. Ollie Cromwell

    I hope everyone took my advice to buy on the dip yesterday afternoon.
    I horsed into BARC,ITV and NTG and just unloaded the lot for another wheelbarrow of moolah.
    Greed is good.

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