There’s a lot to be said for cheap meat
If you’re looking for a nice treat
But try to avoid
Any cops you’ve annoyed
And shop somewhere far from their beat.
John Moynes
Pic: Press Association
Tom writes:
Picture taken in Waterford hospital recently, never mind the new lab Mr Halligan. Check out how long these poor chairs have been waiting for repair.
Previously: ‘They’ve Been Dishonourable With Me’
Herman – an exotic shorthair kitten from Denmark – born with unusually large eyes, causing him to (a) look perpetually concerned and (b) have an Instagram account.
MORE to folly.
Geoffraffe writes:
A huge number of teachers were not paid today. When the payroll sector was contacted they said it was due to a backlog in processing appointments over the summer. Some teachers may not be paid for 6 weeks!!! It’s not as if they didn’t know that teachers would be appointed. This happens every year. This is the public sector that we work in.
Anyone?
From top: 1911 Canadian dollar; Luke Flanagan
Did you know about ‘Dublin’s Newsboy Millionaire’?
Read all about it.
Esteemed historical blogger Sibling of Daedalus writes:
Young Luke Flanagan (no relation), summoned before the Dublin Children’s Court on February 8, 1911 looked just like any other Dublin tenement boy – undersized – looking 4 years younger than his actual 15 years.
Without a shirt and with a threadbare coat pinned across his chest, his crime was also typical of many tenement boys – that of selling newspapers without a licence.
But Luke differed from the average such boy in one important respect.
According to Police Constable 86C (one of Dublin’s famous Tall Constables), who had summoned him to court, he was generally known as the ‘Dublin Millionaire Newsboy’, having inherited a large sum of money from a relative in Canada, which he would come into when he reached the age of 21 years.
Giving evidence in court, Luke’s mother, Mrs Rooney, said that she had married Frank Flanagan, the son of a Dublin solicitor who had subsequently emigrated to Canada. Frank was now dead, and she had remarried.
Luke, their only surviving child, lived with his mother, her new husband, and a ‘foster brother’, also a newsboy, in a tenement flat off O’Connell Street.
Some years before, her deceased brother-in-law, John, who had gone to Canada with his father, returned bringing news of Luke’s grandfather’s death, and a legacy of £1500 (a substantial sum in 1911) left to Frank and passing to Luke as his surviving heir.
The question was, where was the money?
Mrs Rooney – described by all sources as a woman of excellent character – thought perhaps it might have been paid into the Court of Chancery in Ireland.
This caused consternation among Dublin citizens, who were outraged at the thought of a young man of such expectant fortune – described by one paper as a thin, weakly youngster with a wistful face – being neglected by the Court and left to fend for himself on the streets of Dublin.
British newspapers took up the cry of outrage, and soon the story spread as far as Canada itself, and San Diego, Texas. In fact, Luke’s was perhaps the first Irish news story to go viral.
Matters quietened down however, when the Irish Court of Chancery released a statement saying that no money had ever been lodged with it on behalf of either Luke Flanagan or his grandfather’s estate.
Luke Flanagan was convicted of trading without a licence and obliged to pay 2s 6d to the poor box. It is not clear whether he ever got his legacy.
Was the Court of Chancery being entirely honest? Did wicked Uncle John make off with the money? What happened to Luke’s newspaper business in the Rising of 1916?
Anyone?
Luke Flanagan pic: Evening Herald
Earlier today.
Kildare FM reported that a gay couple, Jacinta O’Donnell and Geraldine Flanagan, have stepped down from the church choir at the Catholic parish church, St Michael’s, in Athy, Co. Kildare (top).
The station reported:
Jacinta O’Donnell and Geraldine Flanagan, who married in July, have stepped down from the church choir and other church music activities, due to what they say is the level of pressure placed upon them and the church by a local church activist Anthony Murphy [of newspaper Catholic Voice].
Mr Murphy is strongly opposed to gay people being active in the Catholic church in what he calls leadership roles.
Mr Murphy has also conveyed his views to parish priest Canon Frank McEvoy, whom the couple says has been supportive of them.
Kildare FM also reported that, a few days after Ms O’Donnell and Ms Flanagan got married, Mr Murphy sent Ms O’Donnell the following text:
Jacinta, I hope you will now have the decency to resign from the church choir and as a eucharistic minister, following the events of last Wednesday [their wedding day].
Further to this, in an interview with Shane Beatty, on Kildare FM, Jacinta O’Donnell told Mr Beatty:
“Well, we’ve been mulling over [the decision to leave] it all summer. When we were made aware of Anthony Murphy’s feelings and when we saw some of the very negative and, I suppose, hateful stuff really that was on his Facebook page, etc, and then when I got the personal text message from him.”
“Geraldine and I, you know, we, the only thing we’ve ever tried to do is provide a music ministry and the whole idea behind that was to enhance the eucharist and we felt that, bringing this trouble to the church door would be really futile and negate anything that we were trying to do.”
“So we thought about it long and hard and it was, and still is, a very difficult decision that we came to. We’re both very upset by it.”
“…we understood that there were going to be protests or some form of demonstrations, you know, to basically encourage us to leave, shall I say. And we felt that the ordinary people, that were just going along to their weekly mass, you know, didn’t need to be subjected to this.”
“And it was going to defeat the entire purpose of our whole reason to be there in the first place and I think we felt we had more respect for the house of God then to have that brought to its door or because of us and we felt that the easier thing to do would be just to walk away.”
Meanwhile, Mr Murphy told Mr Beatty:
“This is not about personalities. Well clearly, you know, the way the choir operates in Athy, Jacinta and Geraldine are positioned on the altar, in the sanctuary, you know, on a stage almost, sharing the stage with the parish priest.”
“You can not have a contradiction where the church teaches one thing and people who are right next to the tabernacle, the blessed sacrament, contradict all of that teaching.”
AUDIO: Controversy In Athy As Gay Couple Step Down From Church Music Activities (Kildare FM)
Pic: Flickr
UPDATE: EXCLUSIVE: Athy Couple At Centre Of Choir Controversy Make Their Return Tomorrow Saturday (KFM)
Corner Boys
at
This afternoon.
Con Kennedy tweetz:
Paddies spotted at the ‘Irish Corner’ at La Vuelta.
Any excuse.
Name that man in black, anyone?
Horinouchi House in Tokyo, Japan, a very modestly sized (56 m³) house that makes the most of its tiny footprint, designed by Mizuishi Architect Atelier. To wit:
Slightly reminiscent of a submarine’s periscope, the Horinouchi House’s triangular-shaped exterior allows it to fit snugly into its modest plot of land. Inside, the home is spacious and incredibly well lit, succeeding in making it feel much larger than it actually is. Its lower level houses a master bedroom and bathroom, along with a kitchen and dining room, while the upstairs quarters are primarily reserved for communal activities — think a den or living room.