Here’s a message and a half for Leo Varadkar – watch till the end @IrishTimes @harrymcgee #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/6CZeEWNJgg
— Jennifer Bray (@Jennifer_Bray) February 6, 2020
This afternoon.
This afternoon.
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Social Democrats co-leaders Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shorthall speaking to the media outside Leinster House on the second last day of the canvass before polls open in General Election 2020. The party is pitching itself as a ‘genuine alternative’ .
Meanwhile..
How did the FAI issues get onto the agenda in the first place? I raised sporting governance. I’d been around the sport long enough to know there were issues. I pursued it, I insisted on bringing the FAI specifically into the sports committee. The rest snowballed from there…. pic.twitter.com/GI8NnkpBUW
— Catherine Murphy (@CathMurphyTD) February 6, 2020
The votes are in.
Last week, with a Golden Discs voucher worth a blooming €25 on offer, I asked for your favourite song about or mentioning Spring.
You entered in your dozens.
But there could be only one winner.
Third Place:
Poisoning Pigeons In The Park by Tom Lehrer
Glat1 writes:
When I think of Spring, my mind turns to Tom Lehrer’s song about the delightful pastimes that Spring affords us all. This makes me smile every time I hear it. I’m sad that he gave up performing back in the 70’s, claiming that satire was dead once Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. On the other hand, he is still alive (aged 91), so there is still hope that he’ll do a retirement World Tour in the near future. I’ll be at the front of the line for tickets…
Runner up:
The Rain Song By Led Zeppelin
Rosette of Sirius writes:
I love the folksy ballad like feel to the start of the song that builds with intensity as Plant’s pitch and volume increases as does Page’s orchestral melody. A gorgeous and powerful song.
Winner:
Go Down Easy by John Martyn
Eamonn writes:
‘Curl around me like a fern in spring…..’
All I can say is , what an image…. oh my love. I know people judge the man – fair enough. But could he pen a tune?
Nick says: Thanks all.
Last week: Win Nick’s Voucher
Last night.
Con’s (!), Mullingar, County Westmeath.
An unnamed parent approached Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael Longford–Westmeath TD Peter Burke to ask about the ongoing delays in the building of Curraghmore National School (top).
Work started in September 2017 as a 12 month contract.
Cathy McGann writes:
“”We are doing our best”…”We are working really hard on this”…11 missed deadlines, your best is not good enough! We need an answer, we need CERTAINTY.”
Video: Mullingar News and Views Facebook page
Previously: Yes. Still No School
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald at the RTÉ Prime Time debate on Tuesday night
This afternoon.
British market research agency Survation has announced the results of an online poll it conducted on behalf of Sinn Féin between January 27-February 2.
A total of 1,074 people aged 18+ living in the Republic of Ireland were quizzed on their General Election 2020 voting intentions.
It found the distribution of first preference votes as follows:
Sinn Féin 25%
Fianna Fáil 22%
Fine Gael 17%
Green Party 9%
Labour Party 6%
Solidarity–People Before Profit 5%
Social Democrats 3%
Independent Alliance 1%
Independent candidate 10%
Another Party 2%
G’wan ‘Another Party’.
FIGHT!
Survation 2020 Irish General Election Voting Intention Poll (Survation)
On the Eve of the General Election.
who else would you go see but…
…The Unelectables
In The Wild Duck, beside The Olympia, Dame Street, Dublin 2 tomorrow Friday, February 7 at 8pm.
Barry Hartigan writes
Taking full advantage of the 24-hour pre-poll moratorium, Ireland’s finest down and going band present their own radical manifesto of mayhem to a noise-deprived and tune-hungry electorate.
Crowned Best Dressed Performers at The Electric Picnic (Irish Times), The Unelectables are an unlikely collection of former future rock stars, united only in their belief that punk is wasted on the young….
Check out the band’s debut single, Hair Trigger here
Includes Nick Kelly (not me).
This afternoon.
Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2.
A live blogathon organised by Grace Dyas (above left) of Amnesty International Ireland to raise awareness of the plight of Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khair.
Raif was jailed for 10 years and publicly flogged in 2012 after starting a website for social and political debate in Saudi Arabia while Waleed, a human rights lawyer, was arrested in 2014. Both men are on hunger strike.
Supporters and bloggers, including Broadsheet on the Telly‘s Vanessa Foran (above right) and middle pic from left: Kieran Clifford, Louise Conway and Valentina Lops called on King Salman and Saudi authorities to free Raif and Waleed “immediately and unconditionally”.
Previously: Where Blogging Is A Crime
D Cullen – The Rising Tide
O he does like to be beside the seaside…
Dubliner Darragh Cullen (top) is a 25-year-old singer/songwriter who is adept at crafting epic windswept ballads tailor-made for radio playlists.
The Rising Tide is the title track of Darragh’s new EP, which was produced by Boo Hewerdine. The video was directed by Ian Whelan.
Darragh says:
“I live near a lovely little beach in Shankill, Dublin, and The Rising Tide’s lyrics came from an evening walk down there when the sea was particularly wild. I wrote the lyrics then and there and quickly ran home to put some music to it.
“We ended up filming the music video on that very same beach, about 2 and a half years after writing the song, so we got a lovely full circle moment out of it!”
D Cullen plays Upstairs at Whelan’s, Dublin, on March 28.
Nick says: A shore thing.
Am I the only person who sees a rabbit giving Ireland a shoulder massage? pic.twitter.com/mUNw8OZs21
— Angry People in Local Newspapers (@angrypiln) February 6, 2020
Stop that.
Only after one thing, that fella.
Hot Wheels
at
Behold: the 1929 Mercedes Benz 710 SS Sport Tourer – capable of 200km/h, it was the undisputed supercar of its day and remains one of the most sought-after vehicles in the world.
With a massive 7.1 litre supercharged inline six engine capable of 200km/h this car was shipped to New York before returning to Paris, where it received bodywork from the firm Fernandez & Darrin, run by American coachbuilder Howard “Dutch” Darrin.
Yours for a trifling €8,000,000 (if you’re lucky).