47 thoughts on “De Saturday Papers

    1. Gabby

      Mad Magazine will soon cease to publish original material, so maybe there is a gap opening in the publishing market. Step up to the blockhead position Alfred E. O’ Neuman.

      1. GiggidyGoo

        I remember in one issue, there were instructions on how to deal with a yacht that got holed. It went something like ‘Firstly identify how big the hole is. Then buy a pole 20’ long. Place said pole in the hole in the yacht. Climb on the pole and place a flag on it which reads “For Sale” ‘
        Kinda like what Kenny, Varadkar Noonan, Hayes and Co. did. Except the sign was their own badge.

    2. eoin

      Wasn’t Brian the junior minister under Noonan in 2011-2014 who defended the banks to the hilt including their payment (using taxpayer money) to repay unsecured unguaranteed junior bondholders in banks like the utterly bust Anglo?

      Brian’s gone from sterling defender of the banks to…… better paid sterling defender of the banks.

      1. martco

        ah yeah @eoin
        but sure that was 5 years ago & don’t you know time has a great capability to heal, or we forget stuff or somethin..

        Brian Hayes – odious slimeball like a version of that character Randall outof Monsters Inc. everpresent on Marian defending the indefensible..

        in different time I imagine he would have happily applied himself to the job as an overseer out on the plantations

  1. shayna

    In the same week that the UK govnt claimed that drinking too much juice can lead to cancer – they now say Ketamine is good for you? I took ketamine few times in Goa – it’s freely available over the counter in pharmacias – it’s not like a wasted 40 years trip – Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac. Yikes -that’s different – it was called “acid”.

    1. SOQ

      On March 5, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first truly new medication for major depression in decades. The drug is a nasal spray called esketamine, derived from ketamine—an anesthetic that has made waves for its surprising antidepressant effect.

      “This is a game changer,” says John Krystal, MD, chief psychiatrist at Yale Medicine and one of the pioneers of ketamine research in the country. The drug works differently than those used previously, he notes, calling ketamine “the anti-medication” medication. “With most medications, like valium, the anti-anxiety effect you get only lasts when it is in your system. When the valium goes away, you can get rebound anxiety. When you take ketamine, it triggers reactions in your cortex that enable brain connections to regrow. It’s the reaction to ketamine, not the presence of ketamine in the body that constitutes its effects,” he says.

      And this is exactly what makes ketamine unique as an antidepressant, says Dr. Krystal.

      https://www.yalemedicine.org/stories/ketamine-depression/

      1. martco

        sounds like we’ll all be in for a dose very soon so. FG might issue some to every household when brexit bites, wha

  2. shayna

    My recollection – it wasn’t in this country – India – so? Anyhoos – had a slam of K – I found myself kneeling before a picture of The Blessed Virgin Mary hanging on a wall in Goa (It’s kinda Catholic -Vasco Da Gama -you know, Portuguese).She spoke to me for a certain time – apparently it was only 3 mins – I didn’t speak – kinda unusual for me – I just listened. Consequences – I go to mass, occasionally – I remember the last mass I attended in was in St. Julienne’s Bay – Malta.

    1. V

      only 4 in it there in the end Shayna
      thought Tyrone were a better side this year than last year’s
      That got ye to an AI

      Not so sure now

  3. shayna

    Mad thing – the mass was in Latin – I knew the responses – in Latin. I have no accounting for this -because I’ve never studied Latin, okay I can bless myself – but the rest of the mass thing? Vatican II was 1965 – it effectively meant that Mass could be said in the language of the natives. In Portugal – they do the mass in Latin – I go there a lot – in Lagos, Santa Maria – maybe that’s the expliqué?

    1. GiggidyGoo

      I’d say that was Abhinc Multas Lunas.
      Latin was taught during the 70’s in secondary school here.

  4. eoin

    €336k, the cost of loss-making RTE’s trip to art-wash Israel in the Eurovision song contest in May, says the Sun.

    “The bill for economy class flights was €21,922 while another €940 went on parking, taxis and tolls.
    Hotel costs came to €48,875, while there was a representation bill of €831 and a food and subsistence tab of €16,384. ..Production costs for kitting out the Clare mum, her entourage, and the stage, came in at €42,763…RTE also had to fork out €84,976 on a participation fee to the European Broadcasting Union.[ on top of the €500,000 a year annual subscription fee]”

    1. v

      which is probably the value of the royalties to the songwriter (s) for the size of the EV audience

      1. eoin

        Not familiar with Eurovision royalties V, but I’d guess a condition of entry entitles the EBU to a free single broadcast for the final. The songwriter is then relying on paid downloads and record sales for some income (I’d guess).I’d be surprised if Ireland’s 2019 effort garners more than low thousands for the writer.

        The €336k isn’t fully analysed in the Sun or Mirror which have the story today, only around €200k of it and even then details are sketchy. Also, it excludes RTE’s own internal costs, like an aportionment of Baldy Whelan’s salary and production and support staff. The Mirror reports these internal costs won’t be available until the 2019 accounts are signed off.

        Altogether, it’s a lot of moolah for a loss-making company like RTE to spend an event which this year was unashamedly designed to portray Israel as a normal western country.

  5. eoin

    Moody’s credit rating agency downgrades the “main source of wealth” of Ireland’s (former) richest man. And it confirms what’s been said in BS for weeks, that the debt:EBITDA at the end of March 2019 is > 7 while the Irish Times and Indo have been reporting 6.7.

    “Digicel has continued to report declining earnings, negative free cash flow and increasing leverage (gross debt/EBITDA, including Moody’s adjustments) which was in excess of 7x at the end of March 2019. A return to sustained revenue and earnings growth has not materialized and any improvement to the company’s financial profile will only be very gradual, resulting in Digicel still facing high refinancing risk.”

    https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-downgrades-Digicels-CFR-to-Caa2-negative-outlook–PR_404932?WT.mc_id=AM~RmluYW56ZW4ubmV0X1JTQl9SYXRpbmdzX05ld3NfTm9fVHJhbnNsYXRpb25z~20190712_PR_404932

    Can someone summon Richard Bruton back from his holliers and order him to sign that €3 billion National Broadband Plan contract NOW.

    1. GiggidyGoo

      I somehow suspect it’s probably signed already. Traveling through the hills of Carlow yesterday, there were various roadworks and preparations for cables. And signs with ‘Actavo – working with…… (some telecom business’s name i can’t remember).

  6. fez

    That couple on the front of the indo, not paid a cent in 9 years, and we wonder why our interest rates are so high…

    1. eoin

      Not really. The president of the ECB says our interest rates are so high because we have a monopolistic banking sector. Or at least, that;s what Mario Draghi told the Dail finance committee when asked about our high interest rates.

      1. Cian

        And why do we have a monopolistic banking sector?
        Why aren’t all the European banks offering mortgages here?

    2. newsjustin

      I read that. If that’s true – that they haven’t paid a cent in 9 years – then fook them, quite honestly. I stress about what might happen if I ever miss a payment. They need to return that house. It’s not theirs and other people paying mortgages are paying theirs.

      1. GiggidyGoo

        Im sure a favor or two will be called in by this ‘celebrity’ couple. Sure god only knows who he cooked for.or who she soft interviewed.

        1. V

          It won’t matter a jot to Judge Jackie Linnane
          Whose ruling he has defied

          This isn’t going to end well

    1. SOQ

      Meanwhile Dundalk FC march in Dublin pride because Dundalk Pride is where?

      Tea and biscuits down the Outcomers centre- bring your own nappies.

  7. GiggidyGoo

    How can one describe a nine month failure by Quest, HSE, and the Minister as a ‘glitch’? A glitch?
    The Banks have glitches – lasting a couple of hours. Nine months is not a glitch. It’s a failure.

  8. eoin

    Front page of the Telegraph, MPs are saying Britain is turning into a “police state” because the police have warned the press not to publish details from leaked diplomatic documents (like say, the UK ambassador to the US calling Trump names).

    “turning” into a police state? This is the country which allows any number of agencies to look at your internet browsing or phone records. This is the country which has face recognition public CCTV and if you try to disguise your face, you can be arrested for a public order offence. This is the country where the PM is driven at speed around London with a convoy of heavily armed police. The ship has long since sailed on the UK “turning” into a police state.

  9. eoin

    You have to love the media’s war mongering for action against Iran. First, there’s the questionable attack on the Japanese tanker which bore the hallmarks of Saudi Arabia (see Khashoggi murder), then you have the Brits seizing an Iranian tanker accused of bringing oil to Syria, the tanker was detained in Gibraltar. But just take a look at the map, at Iran, Syria and the Suez Canal. Last week, a British tanker deliberately sailed beside an island in disputed waters off the coast of Iran and Iranian boats approached. Now you have Britain sending a second warship to Iran. And remember it was the US which tore up the nuclear agreement with Iran, because Trump said it was a “bad deal” like he was talking about some mundane Manhattan real estate deal. The deal stopped Iran making nuclear weapons in return for the lifting of sanctions on things like medicines.

    So, now you have the US leaning on little countries like Ireland to portray the Iranians as the bad guys. And there’s no-one better than the Washington-beholden RTE to spin it.

  10. GiggidyGoo

    Clue in crossword in Dutch newspaper today.
    ‘Postman buries bags of mail’

    (How many letters you ask?………All of them)

  11. eoin

    Wow, judging by the lack of opposition to the motion in the Seanad last week that the government “immediately instigate a programme of expansion of screening for genetic disorders in Ireland.”, that chap on #Marian last Saturday did a great job altogether, despite there being serious commercial and privacy concerns about the company at the centre of the govt’s program.

    Every senator who spoke on the matter was positive (even Ronan Mullen who was concerned about the potential for abortions based on genetic screening was overall positive). Practically no concerns raised about privacy or the bona fides of the company.

    https://www.kildarestreet.com/sendebates/?id=2019-07-10a.579&s=genomics#g587

    Media and democracy at work ladies and gentlemen!

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