17 thoughts on “De Thursday Papers

  1. Dub Spot

    Reported in the “Independent”: Microsoft warns users ‘Daily Mail’ UK site ‘an unreliable news source’

    https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/microsoft-warns-users-daily-mail-uk-site-an-unreliable-news-source-37743997.html

    How do you do the ironics font face again?

    As for the Daily Star with this daily tittle tattle of footballers wives, “snowflakes”, Una Healy and friends, and outrage over memorial upgrades to cops and the military in Brexit land, who cares?

  2. Giggidygoo

    Mammoth draft of brexit law?
    Remember Paschal Donohue and his rushed laws?
    Remember Septic Phil and his rushed laws?
    Remember Coveney had to be corrected by SF in one of his laws?

    Doesn’t inspire confidence now does it?

  3. Ron

    National Children’s Hospital budget cost over run out of control.
    10,000 homeless with almost 4000 children.
    A broadband tender plan worth millions tainted with impropriety and backhand dealings.
    Hundreds of thousands on waiting lists, some of them waiting for years.
    Management of Brexit in a shambles with a hard border and a return to trouble in the North most likely.
    Women dying and more at risk now due to the cervical test scandal.

    Industrial relations at an all time low, with nurses to be the first to strike in 2019.

    Tribunal after tribunal. Inquiry after inquiry that only serves to fill the pockets of the legal profession.

    Lies, incompetence and ineptitude of the political class in this country being the root cause.

    When does enough become enough? Is there any red lines anymore for people or are we just expected to put up with it? At what point do the Irish people say this isn’t good enough or do we ever? Does the electorate of this country that continues to vote for FF/FG have any integrity? Do people accept that what’s going on in this country is not normal?

    1. Cian

      Yes, there are problems in Ireland.
      Yes, we need to expose them, and do our best to fix them.

      We also need to be consistent. (a) the government can’t be trusted to run major construction projects (hospital/broadband). (b) why isn’t the government building 10,000s of houses?

      But this is not restricted to Ireland. Does any country have everything right?

  4. bisted

    …and so the brexit fudge gets into top gear and the will of the majority is about to be ignored…

  5. Eoin

    Sterling has had a significant bounce over the last few days on hopes, according to the FT today, of the UK seeking an extension to Article 50. Labour is pushing for it says the Telegraph. But Theresa May has been adamant it won’t be extended, mind you, she’s been adamant about a lot of things that have come to pass.

    Thing is, even if the UK does request an extension, it’s not cost-free nor 100% certain. Brexiteers will suspect their vote is being undermined, how will they react, more zany outfits on whacky protesters outside parliament or will they up the ante?

    And will the EU greenlight the extension? The UK will need show that it has a prospect of passing some deal and at this stage, that doesn’t look likely. Remember what some Germans are saying “Lieber ein Ende mit Schrecken als ein Schrecken ohne Ende” which translates as “Better a horrifying ending than an horror without end”

    1. SOQ

      The self interest of the EU will take priority. The supply chains are a spiders web right across the EU and Britain crashing out would be damaging to all those who trade with it.

  6. Eoin

    Fantastic story in the London Times today about a group of (Irish according to some, British according to others) travellers who are accused of wrecking havoc across New Zealand in the past fortnight. The Doran/Cash family have been travelling around NZ in “a battered green Honda Odyssey People Mover” and they’re accused of scamming, shoplifting, littering and abusing people. There’s a Facebook page “Gypsy Scammers in NZ” set up with thousands of followers who track the movements of the group which is apparently on a £10k holiday of a lifetime, there’s a change.org petition to have them thrown out. It’s headline news across NZ, it made it into the London Times today.

    One of the travellers responded to comments by the mayor of Auckland “He turned around and started calling us pigs, Irish this that and the other, we’re garbage. And I don’t think he should actually be the mayor and running any town or city what he’s running – I’m not sure what he’s running. But I believe that you should lose your job for that reason because he should not be shite-talking about other people.”

    Here’s the story from the local NZ media.
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/01/rowdy-tourists-groups-splits-four-flee-country-report.html

    Here’s a petition set up to have them thrown out
    https://www.change.org/p/immigration-nz-kick-the-scammers-out-of-nz

  7. Eoin

    Have the Shinners responded to the latest unrest in Venezuela (front page of Irish Times)? They attended the disputed election last May and the inauguration of Maduro a fortnight ago. The economy is in free-fall but is still managing to provide hundreds of millions of dollars of free/cheap oil to Cuba, a long-time ally of the Shinners.
    Or, are the Shinners chasing their latest obsession of issuing press statements, a handful in the past week, for the release of the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan. Mr Ocalan has been imprisoned by the Turks for many years for leading the PKK which is engaged in an armed struggle with Turkey for an independent Kurd country. Europol says the PKK is responsible for the trafficking of most of Europe’s heroin.

    If the Shinners ever get into govt, their foreign policy will be interesting….

    1. Jake38

      If the Shinners ever get their hands on the Irish economy, Venezuela will look like Switzerland by comparison.

      1. bisted

        …I think the biggest difference will be that Pearse Doherty will be harder for Oliver Callan to mimic than Paschal…

    2. f_lawless

      By “disputed elections” you mean according to the neo-liberal consensus? It’s no secret that since Chavez came to power, there’s been a US-led policy to overthrow the Venezuelan government there by destroying the economy with crippling sanctions; funding and coordinating closely with opposition groups; skewing the public narrative via corporate media. From what I’ve read he elections were held according to best international standards. The opposition, knowing that it didn’t have popular support, decided to boycott as a tactic to try and delegitimise Maduro. What we are seeing now is the next step of the US-led policy – the US doing what they’ve done time and time again: orchestrating a coup attempt on a government which has popular support of the majority.

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