Haven’t the foggiest.

Stop shouting.

The European Union and the US are to begin negotiations for the BIGGEST bilateral trade agreement ever.

“The EU and US have decided to take their economic relationship to a higher level by agreeing to launch negotiations for a comprehensive trade and investment agreement. When negotiations are completed, this EU-US agreement would be the biggest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated – and it could add 0.5% to the EU’s annual economic output.

 

In a joint statement (MEMO/13/94), President of the United States of America Barack Obama, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy stressed that through this negotiation, the United States and the European Union will have the opportunity not only to expand trade and investment across the Atlantic, but also to contribute to the development of global rules that can strengthen the multilateral trading system.

 

“The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will aim to go beyond the classic approach of removing tariffs and opening markets on investment, services and public procurement. In addition, it will focus on aligning rules and technical product standards which currently form the most important barrier to transatlantic trade. Studies show that the additional cost burden due to such regulatory differences is equivalent to a tariff of more than 10%, and even 20% for some sectors, whereas classic tariffs are at around 4%.”

This is a good thing, right?

Anyone?

More here

RTE 1’s Inside Nationwide on Monday traced Irish Nationwide’s meteoric rise in profits from IR£12,000 in 1975 to €391million in 2007.

Richard Curran (above) and Tom Lyons (2nd pic) reported how Ernst and Young and solicitors McCann Fitzgerald were hired to carry out an investigation into the building society, following Michael Fingleton’s resignation in April 2009.

Mr Lyons and Mr Curran reported how the information contained in the subsequent report is so sensitive, successive governments have refused to publish it.

The report catalogues dire lending practices, disastrous risk management records and a virtually non-existent practice of keeping a coherent trail of documentation or records. And Mr Fingleton didn’t use a computer.

The documentary also briefly mentioned how Mr Fingleton courted the Press in the mid-1970s, with Paul Drury, from the Irish Daily Mail, recounting how he first met Fingers at one of his Christmas parties.

Later, Mr Curran says:

“Back then Michael Fingleton often made himself available to journalists. They came to his parties. He was available for quotes and comment. And, on top of that, he was happy to advance them money to buy their first homes. Irish Nationwide began building a profitable business providing savings accounts and mortgages and Michael Fingleton became the go-to man of the financial industry. His journalist contacts knew they could give him a call when doing a piece on banking.”

 

The documentary also heard from Olivia Greene, who was employed at INBS, but didn’t  mention that Ms Greene told a  2011 employment tribunal that, when it came to lending, there were certain criteria for the general public and a different set of criteria for people in certain social circles – including members of the government, media and close friends.

So why didn’t the documentary examine the role of a mortgaged-up media in Irish Nationwide’s rise?

You might have dropped these.

Philip O’Gorman writes:

I know you don’t normally do this but I found this pair of glasses outside the Trinity Capital Hotel on Pearse Street [Dublin] at lunchtime….I’ll leave them into Pearse Steet Garda station later on. In the meantime they can be collected from where I work on Pearse St if the owner recognises them. Just drop me a mail with the phone number and I’ll get in touch.

 

Damn absent-minded, ironically severe designer eye-wear wearing hipster.

No new trailers today, so…

What you may need to know:

1. Skyfall made a BILLION dollars at the box-office.

2. Back in the ’60s, Thunderball nearly got an X rating in the UK.

3. Daniel Craig’s other franchise is apparently in limbo.

4. They’re having a special Bond tribute at the Oscars. Shirley Bassey will be in the house.

5. Negotiations with Sean Connery are ongoing – they’re trying to gather all six Bonds. George Lazenby is available.

“Think Tom Waits followed by Dutch Uncles followed by The Blades at lunchtime.”

Crikey.

8Radio.com

Brainchild of Simon Maher, formerly general manager of Phantom 105.2.

He writes:

I’ve been asking people what they listen to for a year now and so many people have deserted traditional radio altogether which is a great shame.

People still love music though so they have replaced their terrestrial radio listening with online radio/spotify/deezer and their own playlists which are by their nature a bit less structured than traditional radio.

So, when we started putting the music for 8Radio together, we have gone for a much more random selection.

The 8Radio philosophy is simple – we play the music we like. Everything from 80s synth pop to brand new Irish and international gems to 70s post-punk. If the song is good, we will play it

 

8Radio.com

 

No cash, favours, ‘slow song requests were given for this post
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