“As a people, we are excluded from any share in framing the laws by which we are governed. The higher ranks usurped the exclusive exercise of that privilege, as well as many other rights, by force, fraud and fiction.”
When Jemmy was given a present of Eamon Dunphy’s biography he had his doubts, not being a fan of the sometime Fine Gael/Progressive Democrat/Sinn Féin-supporting Ronaldo-hater. However his chapter on the Irish media has some interesting details, particularly about Vincent Browne. Dunphy recalls a press conference in 1982 where Browne, according to legend, interrogated Charles Haughey about his wealth. Dunphy recalls Haughey ‘sat there laughing at the enfant terrible, enjoying nothing more threatening than undergraduate banter. It was a game rather than an exposé.’ Dunphy concludes that for all his bluster, Browne was just a ‘licensed jester at Official Ireland’s court.’
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In January Daily Mail and Newstalkjournalist Matt Cooper visited North Korea to watch a basketball game and research a new book on that country. We’re sure it will be a nuanced examination of the history and politics of that divided peninsula. In the meantime Matt showed us how he keeps his finger on the pulse during an interview with a man who had been the victim of an armed robbery. “We all watch Love/Hate” says Matt, “so we know how gurriers behave”. Keep up the probing research Matt, and Jemmy also anxiously awaits the next season of the RTÉ series. It helps him understand how middle class Ireland thinks ‘gurriers’ behave.
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It is become ever clearer that a deep class hatred, as well as the desire for a quick buck, lies behind the wave of TV shows about diet, obesity and health. Is there not something distasteful about highly-paid presenters with their own personal trainers, doctors who run weight-loss businesses and gym-owners lecturing working people, struggling with health problems?
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Speaking of health, the latest media darling who ‘tells it like it is’ without fear or favour is Dr. Eva Orsmond. She has been very critical of “those women”, as she calls them, who allow their children to overeat. She is somewhat less critical of the svelte Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly- he launched one of her diet books.
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The good people of Newtownabbey Borough Council really know how to launch a play when they decided to ban and then allow the performance to go ahead, of the comedy play The Bible: The Complete Word Of God (Abridged). The move garnered the production, which some DUP members branded an “attack on Christianity”, such international publicity that several dates on its UK tour immediately sold out. God will not be pleased.
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People worried about the incorporation of southern Ireland into the western military machine will have been interested to see that RTÉ captioned the serried ranks of the Reserve Defence Forces (formerly the FCA) as the ‘Royal Defence Forces’ on St. Patrick’s Day.
