55 thoughts on “Thursday’s Papers

  1. some old queen

    Who is that annoying woman with the dolly hair presenting Newsnight?

    Never seen her before- hopefully never again.

      1. some old queen

        No I don’t- and less with that wan on it- biased doesn’t even begin to describe her interview technique.

        Is that a wig?

          1. some old queen

            Did she arrive on a bike? Anyways, her interview technique made Claire Byrne look professional.

  2. eoin

    Outrageous Daily Telegraph front page, claiming at the top that 25 Labour MPs have joined in support Bojo’s latest idea. Read down through the article though and it says “Stephen Kinnock, the Labour MP who speaks for around 25 colleagues ready to back a deal said the EU27 should be given the time to assess the proposals [Bojo’s plan] “but if Dublin and Brussels are happy, then we’re happy”

    I don’t know about Brussels, the mood music isn’t great but Leo is deffo NOT happy. That being the case, Bojo is not getting the support of 25 Labour MPs.

    It’s self-evidently inaccurate reporting by the political editor of the Telegraph.

    1. Formerly known as @ireland.com

      The poor quality of the British press has a lot to answer for. At least the Independent gets it right. One of the many things that disappoints me, is how obvious the Tory plan to put up a unworkable solution and then blame the EU/Ireland, when it is rejected. The whole “We’ve been flexible but the EU hasn’t” trope is so lame. It is sad that so many Brits will swallow it. Boris is playing with fire in the north of Ireland. I suppose if they are willing to destroy the British economy, destroying peace in Ireland is not beyond them.

      1. some old queen

        But that is the whole game- they know rightly that the EU won’t agree to a temporary backstop but after the supreme court forces him to apply for anther extension- it creates great internal Brexit optics going into an election.

        People vs Parliament and EU is the strategy after all.

    1. Bodger

      We were giving them comradely plugs until recently when, in a short, pretty nasty hatchet piece on Broadsheet, they managed to squeeze in seven basic, factual errors.

        1. Bodger

          The editor Paddy Prendeville. has hated the ‘sheet‘s John Ryan stretching back 25 years. Mr Prendeville’s old boss, the late John Mulcahy, had it in for John’s dad also (again for no discernible reason) and the cosmic ballet continues. Good times.

          1. Bodger

            eoin is a valued contributor and The Phoenix can often be miserably petty and vindictive. How’s that?

        1. Bodger

          It was ostensibly about Gemma O’Doherty (let’s not go there). We have people on Broadsheet who also work with Mr Prendeville so a simple email would have cleared a few things up. But the consuming hatred kicked in obviously. A sad and nasty state of affairs but there you go.

          1. Bodger

            She is (and hates us too), but Ms O’Doherty doesn’t have the same kind of influential platform Mr Prendeville has, in fairness. An influence much diminished since the advent of the internet (bless its cotton circuits).

      1. Lilly

        Why on earth have you been giving them comradely plugs if their editor hates JR? What did the hatchet job say? It would be too easy to do a retaliatory demolition job if one could be bothered.

        Oh ignore that, I’ve just seen what it was about. GO’D, ungrateful madam. BS gave her more chances than most.

  3. eoin

    There’s some shady stuff happening with a Northern Ireland industrial basket cases, Harland and Wolff shipyard which went into administration on 5 August.

    A London company called Infrastrata, which had zero revenues in 2017 and 2018 is buying H&W for £6 million. Where is the company getting the money? It’s coming from a London investment company and a Cayman Islands company. The London company is called “Riverfort Capital” and it says

    “To fund the purchase InfraStrata have entered into an agreement for £2.2million with RiverFort Global Opportunities PCC arranged by RiverFort Global Capital. The loan is unsecured and interest free on the first tranche of £700,000The £1.5 million balance of the Loan is available for drawdown by the Company [Infrastrata] at its request as to £500,000 within two months from now at a fixed interest rate [sic] of £40,000 and £1 million at the Company’s discretion within the next 24 months at an interest rate to be agreed. The Company is under no obligation to utilise the entire Loan except for the First Draw of £700,000 in order to fund the Deposit.”

    http://riverfortcapital.net/infrastrata/

    Not only is this gibberish, but it’s also questionable not to have so many details tied down on what is, apparently, unsecured lending. I wonder if Riverfort in London is at all connected to an organisation which is based in a fortress or “fort” on the banks of the “river” Thames, an organisation whose name begins with an “M” and ends with a “6”? As for the Cayman Islands company, where do you even start. One thing’s for sure Dorothy, we’re not borrowing from well-known British banks!

    You’ll recall that the workforce at Harland and Wolff is 88% Protestant (almost identical to Wrightbus!) and it is based in a loyalist area of east Belfast. Sinn Fein didn’t issue a single press statement in support of the blue-collar workers at H&W who were facing redundancy. These are the DUP’s children, make no mistake about it.

    What’s particularly odd about the acquisition is, Infrastrata says it is building a gas storage facility off the coast of Antrim (which it is) and that is the reason it’s buying H&W, to build infrastructure for the storage facility, but Infrastrata is being funded by grants from the European Commission as part of the EU quest for energy security. Which is fine, but isn’t the UK about to leave the EU?

    This acquisition smells, its funding smells, its rationale smells and its future, with the UK outside the EU, stinks to high heaven.

    1. eoin

      Meanwhile, at the other Northern Ireland industrial basketcase with an 88% Protestant workforce, it has emerged the British govt-backed Invest NI ploughed £2.5m into Wrightbus three months ago as difficulties were disclosed. Now it’s trying to get the money back. Good luck!

      https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-49910281

      Still no sign of the Wrightbus accounts for 2018. A fine of £750 is winging its way to the company. The 2018 accounts should have been signed off two months ago and may show us why the company has deteriorated so rapidly after a solid set of accounts in 2017.

      In the UK, the Chancellor announced earlier this week £220m of new spending on buses in the UK. However, neither the speech at the Tory conference nor the references to the speech by the NI secretary in the Commons is specific about a share of the £220m being spent in Northern Ireland. Hasn’t stopped Ian Paisley junior claiming, according to the BBC yesterday “Mr Paisley also said that a sizeable amount of a £220m government fund to buy buses will be earmarked for a Northern Ireland company.”

      1. some old queen

        Did London bus not pull their orders from Wright? Is the rivalry between Khan and Johnson that bitter?

  4. martco

    I say fupp them, I’m dead serious. This is a war & we’re in danger of losing it. No deals. Isolate them & see how that goes. When little Allegra & Alaisdair’s mama & papa cant get to the chateau anymore in Bordeaux, the rioting starts & Sterling disintegrates the tune might change. Pay attention to your history! and just maybe Perfidious Albion might finally rid itself of the cancer of Tory & aristocratic nonsense once and for all.

    This whole chaos play is their deliberate doing and yet we’re all playing ball?! Like it’s a game or something. Where are all the normal people gone? the normal English people? most English people I know aren’t Jeremy Clarkson or that Hopkins nut job. where are the 3/4 of norniron people for whom the Ulster Taliban don’t represent? where’s the protest? barely a peep out of any of them…silent as a group of conniving lying toff opportunists lead them to some kind of new paradise. so I say fupp them & how that goes.

    1. some old queen

      It is ONLY The Taliban who are in favour of this deal in NI and for the first time, the difference between the UUP and DUP is stark. That the only party who would not sign and do not support the Good Friday Agreement are of importance- says it all.

      Alliance Naomi Long said “The idea the Assembly, which hasn’t sat for nearly three years, would be able to come back and take on the responsibility for an international treaty which is between heads of sovereign Governments, is a ludicrous proposition.”

      An extension will be granted- a general election will be held- and unfortunately, if Johnson can hover up the Leave vote he will be back in again because Corybn is bloody useless.

      1. martco

        “It is ONLY The Taliban who are in favour of this deal in NI….”

        then cut them out, them and SF.

        you’re looking at the cancer right there.

        that Us & Them Assembly doesn’t work.

        1. bisted

          …pity you don’t have a vote in the imminent UK elections because you could vote to ‘cut them out’…that is, if your democratically expressed wishes aren’t ignored…

          1. martco

            so Bisto, let’s get straight to the endgame for a mo instead of discussing the poker play afoot.

            32 counties Y/N?

          2. bisted

            …a very big ‘Y’ …surprised you even have to ask Marty…we’ve both been commenting here for a long time and both been consistent…unlike so me…

          3. martco

            and I’ll be voting NO in the vote I have

            so there y go

            you’ll win though because it’ll be shoved down our throats

            best find somewhere to hide yer savings, wha?

          4. martco

            (sorry Bisto ‘‘twas just a vehicle question)

            I’ll respect your view but hold onto what cash & possessions I have if it’s all the same with you ;)

          5. bisted

            …no worries Marty, you won’t be alone in your vote…last I heard, two of the most radical voices in the north – Eamon McCann and Bernadette Devlin – have both expressed no wish to join with you either…

        2. some old queen

          But Johnson is proposing that the main party who was opposed to the GFA is put in charge of it?

          1. martco

            was that to me @soq?

            lookit you have a scenario up there where two dysfunctional corrupt diametrically opposed extremist sectarian parties who would argue over what shade of Black is Black and take the gravy all day long for it are jointly in control of the process that no one else gets a say on when it comes to the real decisions. The ordinary reasonable middle bloke just getting on with it gets no say.

            It’s failed because, well, it’s a bad design & what else do you expect? ffs the NI Assembly isn’t even representative of NI?!? now one side of the pair of dickheads get a veto on border matters into the bargain. 2x Dysfunctional.

            the only solution (from my perspective) is to erase & reboot the whole show OR keep it as far away from me as possible.

          2. some old queen

            It’s a country not an operating system- there is no way to reboot but I do agree that the extremes have hijacked it for their own purposes. But there is change on the way- demographics for a start and a growing moderate voice in the form of the Alliance.

            If a vote was won tomorrow it would be surprising how quickly some would adopt- more so than some compadres down Mexico way I might add.

            1.6 million people joining ROI is going to shake things up for sure and not necessarily in a bad way- for example- both social housing and an NHS are a way of life up there and all parties are socially much more left of center.

          3. martco

            yes @soq
            it could be transformative…in time

            it’s aspirational however

            if it happened every man woman & child would pay now for a future generation to enjoy the fruits sometime in the late 22nd century.

            forgive my selfishness but fupp off

            and btw regards a reboot…the only way even that would work is if the Taliban & Tiocfaidhs are somehow clipped & levelled out with the others…and as you well know they haven’t gone away you know.

  5. eoin

    Did Paschal Donohue provide FF’s Barry Cowen with the penalty costs payable to the consortium featuring Denis O’Brien if the €5 (five) National Broadband Plan isn’t imminently signed? On Tuesday, in the Dail, Paschal apologised to Barry for not providing the information, and he promised to provide it the next day (yesterday, 2 October). What’s the damage boys and will the shady Richard Bruton come under pressure to explain why he signed a preferred bidder agreement just a couple of months ago which gave rise to the penalties.

    HOW MUCH Paschal.

    1. Papi

      “….Denis O’Brien if the €5 (five) National Broadband Plan….”

      Billion? Fixed that for ya. Hate to see you get a fact wrong.

  6. eoin

    I’m already sick to death hearing from the celebrity weather forecasters on RTE.

    Like the GAA/RTE relationship, the Met Eireann/RTE relationship is predictable. Here you have one organisation with €25m of annual funding [from us!] which won’t disclose salaries and details of costs. Then, you have Met Eireann providing extensive services to RTE, the weather forecasts after the news and during these special weather events, talking heads to fill the RTE airwaves. How much does RTE pay Met Eireann for these services. RTE refuses to say, saying that it’s part of the commercial business of making programmes so it’s none of our business. Is the sum charged by Met Eireann to RTE “commercial”? Who knows.

    Put it this way, just like you’ll never see a “Prime Times Investigates the GAA”, you’ll deffo never see a “Prime Times Investigates Met Eireann”.

    1. Rob_G

      You will probably never see any of these things because no-one other than you could give the remotest flying poo.

      1. Rob_G

        I even glossed over the “celebrity weather forecasters” (read: qualified meteorologists) …

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