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What you want to say – 8th June 2016 June 8, 2016

Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.
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As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

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1. Gewerkschaftler - June 8, 2016

Signs of Hope.

(I suggest this blog should have a regular (weekly) slot where people can post happenings at the personal or political level that gives them hope that we’re perhaps not going to hell in a handbasket as quickly as we thought. Or as the phlegmatic Germans put it “hope dies last”.)

I’ll start. After the near miss in the presidential elections – largely due to the collapse of both the conservative and former social democrat parties, the real diverse left in Austria came together to form a broad-based coalition called Aufbruch (=awakening / departure / crack). They aim to provide a left anti-establishment force to counter the influence of the xenophobic, racist and ‘volkish’ FPÖ.

Last weekend 1000 people came together to decide a plan of action in a disused factory on the outskirts of Vienna. They came from feminist and migrant movements, from the Communist Party and Attac, trotskyist and autonomist groups, former members of the social democratic parties and green youth.

As a former member of the Austrian Green’s national council, Christina Heindl, (note the Green-aligned candidate who narrowly defeated the FPÖ is a supporter of TTIP!) put it:

We must finally provide anti-capitalist answers to social questions!

They’re off to a running start with a large number of local groups, and the first campaign is based around the increasingly pertinent slogan:
We can’t afford the rich!

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gendjinn - June 8, 2016

“We can’t afford the rich!” it must be in the air – I’ve been saying that now for most of the primary season here.

Along with “We can’t afford the poor!” and “There’s plenty of money, there always is. Some billionaires will just have to give up their second or third yachts.”

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Joe - June 8, 2016

My daughter just finished college a week or two back. A milestone.
That slogan reminds me of another one I heard on a march in Dublin about 18 years ago. It was a mixed march and the anarchist contingent came up with a chant of “The rich the rich, we gotta get rid of the rich”. (A WP comrade misidentified the group and muttered ‘The Trots the Trots, we gotta get rid or the Trots’). When I got home I gave the missus a full account of the evening and finished with a rendition of “The rich the rich, we gotta get rid of the rich”.
Cue beloved daughter marching around the house chanting “The witch the witch, we gotta get rid of the witch”.

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WorldbyStorm - June 8, 2016

Love that idea Gewerkschaftler. Will do something up each Thursday, starting tomorrow asking for contributions?

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2. Joe - June 8, 2016

What is the attitude(s) of the CLR community to the Northern Ireland team in the Euros?
I have a soft spot for them ever since I saw the banner which read “Castlederg Northern Ireland Supporters Club – We Exist”.
I’d love to see the two Irelands meet in the knock out stages. And I’ll be expecting a fair few RoI fans to turn up at the NI games and cheer on the northern boys in green.

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sonofstan - June 8, 2016

I’m sure Comrade Election Literature will be following the further adventures of Michael O’Neill with interest.

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gendjinn - June 8, 2016

Did I miss the snark tag?

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sonofstan - June 8, 2016

No not really. i suspect like most Rovers fans, he misses the glory days at the turn of the decade under O’Neill

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gendjinn - June 8, 2016

Ahh. I just don’t know jack about sports 🙂

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irishelectionliterature - June 8, 2016

Have a soft spot for Michael O’Neill and it’s great to see them in the finals. I’d like to see the North and indeed other minnows like Iceland and Albania do well.
Would naturally prefer if we went further than the North in the tournament.

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sonofstan - June 8, 2016

I wouldn’t have been able to say it at the time, but O’Neill was one of the best managers ever in the league.

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irishelectionliterature - June 8, 2016

Very much so, the malaise at Rovers is partially due to him not being given enough credit….. had they managed to hold on to him (which was a possibility for a while) Rovers would be in a far better place now.

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gendjinn - June 8, 2016

There was a pub out in Dubilin, CA that had Irish soccer on the TVs. Walked in one Friday evening and there were Shamrock Rovers lashing the ball up the field.

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Ivorthorne - June 8, 2016

Happy to cheer them on. I’d prefer them to win over Scotland or Wales (England it goes without saying!),

Can’t say I’d blame nationalists in the North for having a rather more ambivalent attitude toward the team given the associations with loyalism in the past but at the end of the day, in the context of an international tournament, they’re a bunch of lads from up the road.

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3. roddy - June 8, 2016

Anybody who thinks that the “Northern Ireland” team is a force for uniting people up here would be gravely mistaken.

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gendjinn - June 8, 2016

I haven’t seen a column recently demanding that all nationalists support the NI team because they are born in NI. So that’s a sign of improvement, right?

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6to5against - June 8, 2016

actually Roddy, I’d be interested in your feeling towards them. I understand that they haven’t been a uniting force in the past, but would you actually like to see them lose? What if they were playing England?

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4. roddy - June 8, 2016

I have no time for them at all.They portray a totally “british” image with “god save the queen”,the loyalist “ulster” flag and the union jack. Despite all the hype soccer in the North is very poorly supported.There would be more people at a G.A.A.club chamionship match in Derry or Tyrone than would be at all the “Irish league” matches combined any Saturday. The Nationalist community support the Republic team.

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sonofstan - June 8, 2016

That would be true in ‘the south’ just as much with regard to attendances at football in comparison with the GAA – but there’s probably as many Irish people from all traditions travelling to watch Celtic – Rangers – Man Utd – Liverpool or arsenal every weekend as at all Irish league and league of Ireland games combined. I’ve had many a chat, online and at games, with supporters of IL teams about the common enemy of big football.

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Joe - June 8, 2016

Yeah but. Whatever about attendance at soccer matches, nationalists in the cities – Belfast and Derry – always played soccer. Derry city has little or no GAA tradition. Bobby Sands was a very good soccer player. Eh, Martin and Michael O’Neill.

Anyway what got me thinking of the NI team was a piece in the Guardian today by an ex-stick journalist whose name I genuinely can’t recall now. He was talking to soccer supporters from Newry – NI an RoI supporters. The NI lads said that a good indication of how things have changed for the better in recent years is that young lads these days can wear their NI jerseys on the streets of Newry openly and without being in danger of getting a box. That’s Newry and I’m sure there’s plenty of places where an RoI supporter wouldn’t feel safe wearing their jersey. Small steps.
And the NI lads from Newry reckoned that if the sides meet in France , all would be cool between the fans – banter but nothing worse. All good. Football unites the world.

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5. Brian Hanley - June 8, 2016

Some of my earliest and best World Cup memories are of Northern Ireland in 1982, Armstrong, O’Neill, Jennings, Donaghy and the rest; and Roddy, An Phoblacht supported them at the time! This was soured by later events of course but fair play to them, they have got to France with a squad that is almost entirely composed of players born in the North, which is not a huge pool to draw from.

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Joe - June 8, 2016

Yep. Great achievements by those teams in 82 and 86.

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6. roddy - June 8, 2016

nationalists in Derry support Derry city in the league of Ireland, those in Belfast support Cliftonville in the “Irish league” but VIRTUALLY NONE of them have any truck with the NI team.Michael O’Neill is from Ballymena ,the buckle of the North Antrim bible belt where catholics to quote Bernadette Devlin “keep their heads as low as a Larne taig”. Martin O’Neill is from Kilrea and is the holder of an O.B.E. and as far as I can see is able to make homophobic “jokes” without censure.As for “an phoblacht” ,I can recall some mild “good wishes ” in 1982 to what they termed “the team called Northern Ireland”.Anyone who wants a realistic portrayal of the Northern team ‘s place in society should check out Marie Jones’play “a night in November”.Lest anyone think I am anti soccer, my childhood heroes were Best,Charlton and Law and my room was decorated with “red devil” memorabilia sent over from my Manchester cousins.Joe ,”football unites the world” but the NI team definitely does not unite “our wee province” as their supporters describe this shithole up here that never should have come into being.

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7. Brian Hanley - June 8, 2016

I take you won’t be supporting them then?

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8. Brian Hanley - June 8, 2016

And AP/RN gave them far more than ‘mild good wishes’ in 1982 and carried reports from packed Dublin pubs of people cheering them on. It also suggested that there should be a united Irish team managed by Billy Bingham! I know Catholics from Belfast who would have supported them until the early – mid 80s and then were completely alienated from Windsor Park by Loyalism and sectarianism. But the team always had a mix of players from various backgrounds. As for Martin O’Neill, yes I think he is not as clever or funny as he thinks he is, but Today FM and Matt Cooper also deserve censure for covering up that remark initially.

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9. roddy - June 8, 2016

Any player on the Northern team who would have dared to represent the views of the Nationalist community would have been run out of town pretty sharpish.There were never any James McCleans who stood by the bloody Sunday dead and would never wear the emblem of British imperialism.Both O’Neills are uncle Toms but I will still support the Republic team in spite of the poppy wearing, OBE accepting ,teller of homophobic and anti women “jokes”

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6to5against - June 8, 2016

Thanks Roddy. There’s something very interesting about the teams we all support in football and why. I remember in the US during the 94 world cup trying to explain to people that I was supporting Mexico over Norway in a game because the Mexicans were Catholic. I then had to explain that I wasn’t at all religious. It all made perfect sense to me….

And what about if NI play England, and you were forced to watch. Would there be a small part of you wanting an NI win?

And what of the Irish CLR regulars living in England and/ or Germany. Any divided loyalties?

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Brian Hanley - June 8, 2016

McClean is unique in that regard. In 1972 only Eamon Dunphy, of all the Irish players in England or Scotland, made any sort of protest about Bloody Sunday.
As for players representing the views of the nationalist community, I suspect that those who played for NI from nationalist backgrounds represented a cross-section of views; I can think of at least one who was a republican.

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10. Brian Hanley - June 8, 2016
11. roddy - June 8, 2016

That’s great. No doubt Eamon’s collleague Gerry Carroll will now fly the Northern flag in West Belfast and maybe Robin Livingstone would have more reason than Eamon not to fully embrace Northern Ireland.You see Eamon emerged from the troubles relatively unscathed and is now the darling of the right wing media he once feigned to despise.So subversive is our Eamon that O’Briens rags gave him his own column.Livingstone had a young sister murdered by the RUC and a brother framed for murder so he perhaps would have a more jaundiced view of the “great wee country” where everything was “just grand”

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12. Jemmyhope - June 8, 2016

James Connolly supported Germany and so do I.
There can be any amount of reasons to support or not support certain teams. These can be historic,xenophobic,personal or even political.
Association Football has been hijacked by the rich elites and removed from its working class base in parts of Europe but especially in its birthplace England as it is now used to build vast fortunes for media moguls and vulture capitalists. It exists now as a mostly upper/middle class ‘sport’ in a kind of parallel world where reality can be suspended and meaning and identity changed at will. Look at the fans living hundreds of miles away from the home stadia of ‘English’ teams who refer to the team they follow as ‘we’ while the remnants of the local working class communities that supported and loved those teams for a hundred years can’t afford to pay exorbitant prices to attend games.
Sir Martin O Neill’s homophobic and partly misogynistic remarks can be ignored or laughed off as the Media whip up support for the cash cows heading for the Euros..all good for business don’t you know ..and God forbid RTE and the privately owned media outlets would act as anything but cheerleaders for the so-called ‘national’ teams from this island or the 2 Irelands as they were referred to earlier. The only possibility of them meeting will be at the airport on the way home early. Ah sure it’s only a bit of fun… except around the 12th when we show who’s really boss.

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13. sonofstan - June 9, 2016

It’s probably osmosis, and the fact that I work with mostly english people but I find myself modestly interested in the fortunes of the England team, quite like Hodgson’s approach, and think they have a few outstanding players at the minute. Wouldn’t support them against us, or the North, or Italy, but find myself feeling that, in an England – Germany final I might be humming ‘2 world wars and I world cup’ sotto voce.

Really though, and relevant to what Roddy was saying about the NI team, national teams attract the worst and bring out the worst in football fans. The ‘best fans in the world’ who follow Delaney’s cash cow can be appallingly ignorant and dismissive of the league and of those who follow it or play in it, and England fans tend to embody the sort of attitudes that disappeared at club level,a generation ago.

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14. roddy - June 9, 2016

Have to say that when England play Germany,I find it highly amusing and cannot suppress a laugh when I hear “the great escape” (one of my favourite films by the way) emanating from the England stands!

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GW - June 9, 2016

The current massive NATO war games in Poland are featuring Polish militia forces which have been thoroughly infiltrated by Nazi inclined football hooligans.

There’s no such thing as apolitical sport.

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Dr. X - June 9, 2016

Got anymore on that, a link maybe?

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gendjinn - June 9, 2016

tomclancy.com ?

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Gewerkschaftler - June 10, 2016

Originally read in Neues Deutschland but here it is on an English-language website.

The right-wing regime in Poland is in particular using Operation Anaconda to inaugurate the 35,000-strong nationalist territorial militias it has set up after cashiering a quarter of the country’s generals since it came to power last October. There are numerous reports that the territorial militias, drawn from Polish gun clubs and paramilitary groups, are linked to racist Polish football hooligan groups.

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Dr. X - June 10, 2016

OK, it’s all too plausible, but A) Neues Deutschland is an old GDR paper (I read it occasionally, and its sister paper Junge Welt myself, but always bearing in mind that it’s by tankies for tankies), and B) WSWS are the kind of Trots other Trots think are mad.

That’s like having Keith Richards come up to you and say “you alright, mate? you don’t look so good”.

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Gewerkschaftler - June 10, 2016

Junge Welt is a bit grim, agreed. I haven’t read it enough to judge it’s tankieness.

But Neues Deutschland is certainly not a tankie paper. Sceptical about NATO certainly. But so are many people here.

WSWS I can’t comment on, not being familiar with the various sects involved.

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15. Alibaba - June 9, 2016

The Labour Party motion on workers’ rights. Story?

AAA/PBP requested Independents 4 Change support in putting their amendment to the Labour motion. They needed 10 TDs support to allow it to go to the floor and be voted on. There are six AAA/PBP TDs and all the I4C TDs supported their right to press the vote. Despite this, Clare Daly along with Catherine Connolly, Joan Collins, Mick Wallace and Thomas Pringle abstained on the actual amendment vote, whereas AAA/PBP, Seamus Healy and Tommy Broughan voted for it. I won”t make a call on these actions because I can’t access the relevant motion and amendment(s).

Should I4C achieve seven members (although Maureen O’Sullivan has not formally signed up yet) they could be on par with the Labour Party and ahead of AAA/PPP on speaking time etc. Word has it that AAA/PBP in the Dail Reform Committee sided with the establishment parties and initiated an amendment that put parties as precedence for speaking time over TDs joining parties after the general election.

I4C put an amendment today to delete this from the Dail reform proposal. As I figure it, they sought to secure the basic democratic right of elected TDs to join and/or leave parties as they see fit and that the numbers would dictate speaking time and so forth. AAA/PBP voted with FG/FF/LP in maintaining party precedence; repeat voted with FG/FF/LP. Instead, the I4C, Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, Green Party and some of the rural TDs voted to delete it.

Some may think abstention or precedence is merely a tactical issue. Interesting, but wrong.

There is surely only one way for the Left to make some progress in the Dáil. Together. I say together on the issues where there should be agreement. Else fall apart in the shambles we witnessed last time round.

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16. Tomboktu - June 9, 2016

Seems like it’s a book to look forward to:
http://bostonreview.net/books-ideas/martin-oneill-tm-scanlon-inequality

And a paper that seems like it’s worth reading:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2557409

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17. Tomboktu - June 9, 2016
18. Paddy Healy - June 10, 2016

Conviction of 3 Leading Bankers For a Conspiracy to Mislead Investors
More http://wp.me/pKzXa-kL
Thousands of Retired People Lost Their Life Savings!!!
The Role of The Governor of the Central Bank and The Financial Regulator in The Fraud Committed by the Convicted—- Will These Also be Called to Account?

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19. Alibaba - June 10, 2016

Michael Moore’s new film is out for viewing today. Well, it might not tick all the class struggle boxes of his brilliant pic ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’. But it will be good for a night out. See the Guardian review below:

Where to Invade Next review – Moore’s upbeat socialism is a welcome corrective

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Michael Carley - June 10, 2016

Off to see it in an hour, with a satellite Q+A afterwards.

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20. Paddy Healy - June 10, 2016

Conviction of Bankers http://wp.me/pKzXa-kL
“Judge Nolan, in his February ruling, said he found Casey’s testimony to be believable and that in his view Central Bank governor John Hurley and the Financial Regulator, Pat Neary, were very “hands on” in relation to the “green jersey” agenda. The two men “knew exactly what they were up to” and exactly what the problem was.” C Keena, IRISH TIMES
Will these now be charged also?

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21. paulculloty82 - June 10, 2016

Looks like David de Gea’s professional career is over – reports in the Spanish press claim he was embroiled in a prostitution ring while with the Spanish under-21s.

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Joe - June 10, 2016

And this will end his professional career? I doubt it.

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22. Paddy Healy - June 11, 2016

Acquitted ILP Finance Director told Gardai:
“He said that prior to January 2009, ILP never received any request for clarification from Anglo or its auditors, the then financial regulator Patrick Neary or the then Central Bank governor John Hurley

UPDATE:David Begg must explain Role of Central Bank


“I believe that the actions of the [financial] regulator post 30 September 2008 effectively shows [sic] that he tacitly if not explicitly approved such actions. Without this understanding the transaction would have in all certainty not have taken place,” Irish Times-Declan Brennan,May 5, 2016, 18:07

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23. Paddy Healy - June 11, 2016

Discussed Just Now on RTE-The Business

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24. sonofstan - June 11, 2016

England fans doing their best to reconcile the rest of the EU to losing them.

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WorldbyStorm - June 11, 2016

A carnival of reaction.

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Tomboktu - June 11, 2016
Gerryboy - June 12, 2016

In Indian and Arab culture, letting your trousers down means that you wish to practise personal hygiene according to religious norms. In English soccer culture, showing your bare ass to other fans means that you think your team is better than theirs.

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Jim Monaghan - June 13, 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/euro-2016-england-fans-chant-about-brexit-at-violent-clashes-in-marseille_uk_575bd566e4b041514369c5cb I figure tehre is a connection between rising Zenophobia and football violence. Possibly increased by the rightwing Brexit main themes of blaming the migrant for everything.

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25. irishelectionliterature - June 12, 2016

Russians not a particularly nice crowd either. Grim stuff watching some of the scenes before and after the match.

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Gerryboy - June 12, 2016

The combined nations of Arabia will have to mobilise a peace keeping force to intervene and keep apart these warring Christian factions in Marseille and elsewhere.

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26. Tomboktu - June 12, 2016

And then there’s this:

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27. Paddy Healy - June 12, 2016

SMALL SHAREHOLDERS DEFRAUDED WITH APPROVAL OF REGULATOR??
The trial heard how Anglo’s then head of capital markets, John Bowe, had openly discussed the Anglo/ILP deal with Mary Elizabeth Donoghue of the Financial Regulator’s office in October 2008.

UPDATE:David Begg must explain Role of Central Bank


When Donoghue suggested that the transaction was designed to look like an asset manager had placed money with Anglo, Bowe replied, “exactly”, to which Donoghue in turn said: “That’s fine; that’s grand.”

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Paddy Healy - June 14, 2016

ANYBODY WHO LOST MONEY WHEN ANGLO SHARE PRICE COLLAPSED WISH TO SUE ANGLO, Irish Life and Permanent (PTSB), the Central Bank, The Financial Regulator , the State ? http://wp.me/pKzXa-kL
Former Senior Executives of ILP and Anglo Were recently Convicted for conspiracy to defraud investors. The Judge accepted that the FINANCIAL REGULATOR KNEW ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSFER OF FUNDS in ADVANCE

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28. Gewerkschaftler - June 12, 2016

I also expect everyone of even faintly English or Russian background or indeed those who have at any time in the past expressed empathy or appreciation of English or indeed Russian culture to wholeheartedly and unequivocally condemn the events in Marseille.

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29. Gewerkschaftler - June 12, 2016

Meanwhile, would-be Sultan Erdoğan has accused members of the German parliament of being puppets of the PKK.

German parliamentarians have been warned not to travel in Turkey. I kid you not.

This is all on foot of the German parliament’s recognition of the massacre of the Armenians by Turkish forces as being a genocide, while recognising the role imperial Germany played in it.

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30. Gewerkschaftler - June 12, 2016

Just seen the news from Orlando. Awful.

A concentrated example of the murderous hompophobia that continues to plague us.

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31. ThalmannBrigadier - June 12, 2016

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-36498226

Jayne Senior, a youth worker, who repeatedly raised the issue of wide scale sexual abuse of underage girls in Rotherham and deservedly been made an MBE.

This abuse was famously covered up and ignored for reasons of political correctness.

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Michael Carley - June 12, 2016

So you believe SY police (Orgreave, Hillsborough) were very sensitive to ethnic minorities?

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ThalmannBrigadier - June 13, 2016

Get your head out of the sand. Even reading through the wiki page, highlights repeated refusals by council workers and other agencies (not just the police) to even acknieledge this issue. The reason is best described by Ian McShane as “not wanting to rock the multicultural community boat”.

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WorldbyStorm - June 13, 2016

Way too simplistic an analysis Thalmann Brigadier. Yes in some instances a criminal over sensitivity to supposed ‘cultutal’ aspects was evident but even more so was an unwillingness to believe young girls and women, to classify them as troublemakers, in some instances to corruptly and again criminally collude or participate, and just to be clear for all the stuff about political correctness when these events first came to light in the 1990s in regard of the police etc being first informed the idea that political correctness was high on the list if priorities if the police is risible. Don’t know how old you are but a quarter of a century ago as Michael notes sensitivity wasn’t a particularly evident characteristic of UK policing and I can recite chapter and verse on examples if that then and after. None if which is to condone or wave through instances where institutions or individuals within them were prey to that criminal oversensitivity noted above b- they should feel the full rigour of the law but to paint this in such simplistic terms does no one any good

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RosencrantzisDead - June 13, 2016

best described by Ian McShane

What does Lovejoy have to do with any of this?

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ThalmannBrigadier - June 13, 2016

RD – Yeah bit of a slip on my part.

Meant Dennis McShane, the expenses fiddler, not Al Swearengen.

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Michael Carley - June 13, 2016

A couple of years ago, in a different connection, I met one of the solicitors who acted for the criminals in that case. His opinion, which was backed by his clients, was that South Yorkshire Police took no serious action because they saw the girls as `slags’ who were `asking for it’.

Given that that force committed mass organized perjury over Orgreave and Hillsborough, and was prepared to smear the Hillsborough victims right to the end of the inquest, do you really think it credible that they worried about the delicate feelings of minority ethnic people?

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Ed - June 13, 2016

+1. What do you think would be a more comfortable line to peddle if you were a cop who had allowed children to be abused? To admit that you didn’t bust a gut to stop it because the girls were poor and marginal and nobody important really gave a toss about them, or to claim that your hands were tied by ‘political correctness gone mad’? I know which line would play better with the British press. Those cops must be laughing their heads off at the gullible fools who have allowed them to divert attention from their own culpability.

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Michael Carley - June 13, 2016

I don’t think gullibility comes into it: there are broad sections of the media and many politicians who are quite happy to be given another stick to beat `political correctness’ with.

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32. Tomboktu - June 13, 2016

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Michael Carley - June 13, 2016

Fair play to Jones, that was ignorant treatment, though he’s wrong at the point where he says “you don’t understand this because you’re not gay”. The presenter doesn’t understand because he’s making a strenuous effort to avoid calling it a hate crime against LGBT people.

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33. sonofstan - June 13, 2016

It’s fair to say that Kevin Rowland has rarely been afraid to walk the line between the ridiculous and the magnificent. Dexys’ reformation has been characterised, not by a fond revival of past glories, but by a renewed and accomplished creativity. The new record, Let the Record Show*: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul is quite remarkable – as much for the country soul element, where they do a brilliant take on the Muscle Shoals/ American Studios deep soul template…..and then apply it to some of the more dangerously corny Irish songs in the repertoire. Anyway, this version of “the Curragh of Kildare “has been on constant repeat for the last week – I suspect some of you may hate it, but I think it’s brilliant. Skip to 3.30, unless you really need to hear some guff from the ambassador:

* The echo of Aids activism doc of the same name can hardly be an accident. KR never does anything by accident.

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34. ejh - June 13, 2016

The Wexford TD said he raised his concerns with the troika in private, but did not speak out publicly because the Fine Gael-Labour coalition needed to rebuild international confidence in Ireland and bring public opinion with them.

Brendan Howlin

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Ed - June 13, 2016

JFC. The phrase ‘what a f**king repulsive, hypocritical, scumbag of a weasel’ is thrown around a lot these days, but in this case it’s right on the money.

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WorldbyStorm - June 13, 2016

And its not just that, bad and all as it is, there’s also the jibes LP people threw about Greece etc. And note how his concern is in the ” hollowing out of politics” rather than the impacts on citizens.

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Ed - June 13, 2016

‘Who speaks now of Syriza?’ A certain B. Howlin, esq.

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WorldbyStorm - June 13, 2016

I wasn’t sure it was him. Says it all.

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fergal - June 13, 2016

I think 90% of the Dail voting in a unilateral and crazy bank guarantee in October 08 did for EU ‘solidarity’- we’re all in it together, europe has been so good to us etc etc- shit hits the fan- we’re not in this together, sod europe and let’s bring in our own unique bank guarantee..must have played very well in Brussels!

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35. roddy - June 13, 2016

I wonder what are dexys’ views on the “national question”? It’s just that their headgear seems to reflect the republican movement’s attire from flying column right through to “operation harvest” and beyond to the more recent black beret! However with regard to the actual song,its not bad but I would much prefer the version of Brian Kennedy and Aidrian Dunbar (the latter being renowned for very “sound” views indeed on the “national question”!)

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sonofstan - June 13, 2016

I remember having a rather heated discussion with a few Dexys members – not KR – in the Imperial (sic) Hotel in Dundalk in 1980 on their first Irish tour. Thet were, you’ll be pleased to hear, as I wasn’t at the time, strongly (provisional) republican – and very well informed.
Still to this day, among the most intelligent bunch of musos I’ve ever met

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36. quiver - June 14, 2016

are prisoners brought to Court now in Group4 vans???
is there a stealth privatisation now to Gardai?

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