Author Archives: Bodger

Michael Stone killed three people at an IRA funeral in Milltown Cemetery in 1988 (above)

This afternoon.

Further to the surprise release earlier this week of Michael Stone…..

A judge has ordered the disclosure of reasons why notorious loyalist killer Michael Stone was freed from prison.

Stone killed three people in a gun and grenade attack at Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast following an IRA funeral in 1988. Stone was freed under the Good Friday Agreement, but returned to prison six years later for trying to kill Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

Stone had been serving a 30-year jail term.

His lawyer said his life would be in danger if details were made public so the summary document will be shared with legal representatives, but kept confidential on a temporary basis….

Anyone?

Judge orders disclosure of reasons for Michael Stone release (RTÉ)

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Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Anything good in the liberal press?

Via George Monbiot in The Guardian:

Why do we value lies more than lives? We know that certain falsehoods kill people. Some of those who believe such claims as “coronavirus doesn’t exist”, “it’s not the virus that makes people ill but 5G”, or “vaccines are used to inject us with microchips” fail to take precautions or refuse to be vaccinated, then contract and spread the virus. Yet we allow these lies to proliferate.

We have a right to speak freely. We also have a right to life. When malicious disinformation – claims that are known to be both false and dangerous – can spread without restraint, these two values collide head-on. One of them must give way, and the one we have chosen to sacrifice is human life. We treat free speech as sacred, but life as negotiable. When governments fail to ban outright lies that endanger people’s lives, I believe they make the wrong choice….

…I believe that spreading only the most dangerous falsehoods, like those mentioned in the first paragraph, should be prohibited. A possible template is the Cancer Act, which bans people from advertising cures or treatments for cancer. A ban on the worst Covid lies should be time-limited, running for perhaps six months. I would like to see an expert committee, similar to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), identifying claims that present a genuine danger to life and proposing their temporary prohibition to parliament.

Oh.

Covid lies cost lives – we have a duty to clamp down on them (George Monbiot, The Guardian)

Meanwhile…

Fight!

This afternoon.

Ballymun, Dublin 11.

Balloons are released by family members, neighbours and friends of Josh Dunne in Coultry Green near his home in Coultry Park.

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

Earlier…

This morning.

East Wall Dublin.

Tributes left at the scene on East Wall Road where teenager Josh Dunne was fatally stabbed on Tuesday evening. Members of the public have left flowers, balloons, football paraphernalia and photographs to honour the promising football star.

RollingNews

Yesterday: In East Wall

HSE CEO Paul Reid at Dr Steevens’ Hospital for the weekly HSE operational update on the response to Covid-19.

This afternoon.

Dr Steevens’ Hospital, Dublin.

Meanwhile…

NPHET has told the Government that it will become increasingly difficult to maintain the level of suppression of Covid-19 that has been achieved since the New Year.

Dr Tony Holohan advised the Minister for Health that NPHET expects a large number of additional deaths from the virus in the coming weeks.

In its letter to Stephen Donnelly on 21 January, NPHET said the country remains in a very vulnerable position despite great progress in recent weeks.

It warned that “we will all find it challenging to maintain the very low levels of social contact and adherence to social distancing and hygiene measures required to maintain suppression“.

NPHET concerns over maintaining level of virus suppression (RTÉ)

RollingNews

Nathan Evans

On The Late Late Show…

Jennifer O’Brien writes:

This week, Vicky Phelan underwent her first week of treatment in Maryland, for what she hopes will be a process that will prolong her life and afford her more time with her family. Vicky joins Ryan from the US to give an update on her journey so far.

RTÉ’s Northern Editor Tommie Gorman will be joining Ryan to discuss Covid-19 and the border issue, and the standout moments from the four decades he has spent bringing news reports to Irish viewers and listeners.

Wellerman singer and TikTok sea shanty star Nathan Evans will speak about his meteoric rise to fame…

…The Late Late Show will honour this year’s Axa Community Heroes…

…big things were expected of footballer Shane Carthy when he was called up by Jim Gavin to the Dublin senior team aged just 18. What people did not know was that since 5th year in school, Shane had been battling with his mental health and experiencing suicidal thoughts. Shane will speak to Ryan about how he got through the darkest of days.

Music on the show will be from Niamh Regan, the RTÉ Choice Music Prize nominee from Galway…

The Late Late Show on RTÉ One at 9.35pm.

Jo Hanley/Rolling Stone

This afternoon.

Further to yesterday’s Astrazeneca/EU shenanigans…

…and with the Anglo/Swedish pharma giant having denied claims that its’ vaccine was substantially less effective among the over-65s…

…via AP:

A draft recommendation from Germany’s vaccination advisory committee calls for offering the AstraZeneca vaccine only to people aged 18-64 for now, citing what it says is insufficient data to judge its effectiveness for older people.

The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine for use in the 27-nation European Union on Friday.

…Germany’s permanent vaccination commission said that “there currently is not sufficient data to assess the vaccination effectiveness from 65 years.”

German draft doesn’t recommend AstraZeneca jab for over-65s (WBNG)

Yesterday: Vial Behaviour

Earlier: Zero Sum Game

Boo, hiss.

This afternoon.

Where’s a surface to air missile system when you need one?

Billy H writes:

If we build it, they will come. If we fly there, they will travel. Lanzarote on a grey January afternoon! Let’s get airborne!

FIGHT!

Yesterday: The Tans

Oh.

This afternoon.

Jacinda Ardern declares 2021 ‘the year of the vaccine; (Stuff.co.nz)

Meanwhile…

…in Ireland…

…Since last August, the Solidarity-People Before Profit and Rise group have been enthusiastically pursuing this approach [Zero Covid Strategy].

Hot on the heels of the committee presentation in August, Richard Boyd Barrett was the first to raise it in the Dáil, saying the strategy was needed to replace the “rollercoaster strategy going up and down with nobody quite knowing where it ends”.

The Social Democrats have, for some time, been advocating for much stronger restrictions on travel into the country, and have called for a Zero Covid or elimination strategy, which it says is supported by the public.

The Labour Party has avoided the term Zero Covid, and is instead advocating what its party leader Alan Kelly calls a “national aggressive suppression strategy” (he has even come up with the acronym NASS), which essentially amounts to the same thing: mandatory hotel quarantining for all those arriving into the country, rapid antigen testing in the community and serial PCR testing at health care facilities.

Sinn Féin now says it agrees with most of the premise of the Zero Covid approach, but does not believe it is possible without the political will to pursue the same strategy in Northern Ireland.

There is some support among Government TDs and senators for this approach. Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan said he was “disappointed” that the Cabinet stopped short of the kind of mandatory quarantine measures in place in New Zealand and Australia…

Um.

Hints of Government inching towards Zero Covid approach (RTÉ)

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Meanwhile…