:lol:
That fractional reserve speech has been used in pretty much every conspiracy nut video I’ve ever seen.
I actually remember that piece for some reason. The bit with the bath triggered my memory. All too accurate in the end.
Diarmuid Ferriter gave it loads on radio 1 at lunchtime. Brendan Smith the Minister for Agriculture was spinning the usual shite, when our leading historian rounded on him. Shameful … Worst government … Worst Taoiseach … no leadership… Lies . If this keeps up no minister will appear in public again.
That be online anywhere you think? I was thinking the night of the Rabbitte rant that a lot of pundits would be jumping on the righteous indignation dollar alright. In fairness to Ferriter he’s fairly genuine as I mentioned somewhere during the week he’s made the comparison before between the current slime and the politicians of the past. Wille O’Dea must be delighted he got the chop when he did, he’d normally be sent out into the firing lines for this stuff.
Devastating critique of how we got where we are from Michael Somers.
I am intrigued though why Ireland’s highest paid public servant did not say any of this while he was in office.
[quote=“Fagan O, post: 518795”]
Plenty of ways of reading it. In any institution spilling the beans to people outside out of it normally means you’re finished. He may well have been addressing these issues from the inside as best he could for all we know. On the other hand this could be just to save his own arse.
Saturday view. I think Ferriter’s outburst should be around 10 minutes in.
Utter shite of a letter on todayss IT from the governments favourite loon
Madam, – Your declamatory Editorial (November 18th) regarding the visit to Dublin of representatives from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, contains literary and historical allusions to all the struggles of the last 200 years, which are not as apt as might be assumed.
Probably neither the 1916 Rising nor the 1798 Rebellion would have taken place without the leaders being able to hold out some prospect of foreign military assistance (“gallant allies in Europe”, “the French are on the sea”). Indeed, Tone was captured off the Donegal coast wearing a French officer’s uniform. Both times, there was some speculation about the political price that might be exacted, a German prince, a French pro-consul.
“Was it for this the wild geese spread”, asked Yeats, the “wild geese” being those who served in continental armies with the hope of eventually and triumphantly recovering their lands and their freedom at home. In the final lines of the September 1913 poem, which are equally famous: “Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone. It’s with O’Leary in the grave”, Yeats arguably misread the situation, only three years before the 1916 Rising, though its leaders shared his fears.
We have taken our place amongst the nations, entered new forms of co-operation, and shared sovereignty, such as in the European Union and the euro zone. While all of us are deeply concerned about the extremely difficult economic situation in which the country finds itself, we have to be pragmatic and practical in our nationalism and republicanism.
We are not and never could be an isolated republic, and in an interdependent world sovereignty and self-determination are relative not absolute concepts. As such, they have neither been nor will be abandoned. If we are to secure them, we are likely to have to battle for them politically in every generation. As you point out, self-determination was a crucial element in the achievement of a constitutional settlement in 1998, but it was not a term in use in the time of the United Irishmen.
As the present experience particularly highlights, we have as a society to adopt a discipline that may not come easily to any of us, if we are to thrive as a democratic nation state within both the European Union and the euro zone. Despite some understandable hesitations, we should welcome the interest, assistance and solidarity of our partners and of other international organisations we belong to, and be glad of the friends that we now have, few enough of which existed or were genuinely able to help those who struggled in earlier times. Yours etc
Dr Martin Mansergh
Jesus Christ. I can hardly believe the stuff Smith was saying there. “There’s no bailout” - “There’s no external assistance” - who does he think believes this bullshit?
Does he even believe it himself? Absolutely astonishing performance. Shameful in fact. They are the lowest of the low these cunts.
The end for Fianna Fail.
I see there’s still a rump of 17% voting Fianna Fail in the latest poll. I suppose there’ll always be the lunatic fringe in any country.
Only 6% ahead of Sinn Fein now. The way the ministers have conducted themselves this week has been incredible though. The SBP has a list of quotes from the week that would make your blood boil with rage. As recently as Wednesday, Cowen was still denying that anything was happening when the whole world knew what was coming.
Needless to say, I’m yet to see an article highlighting how the media facilitated the entire collapse. Administrators, politicians, bankers all get the boot. Not a word about the years of fawning interviews and profiles of gangsters who were wrecking the state. Nothing about the media’s role in inflating the property boom. The tribune was sold out of everywhere I went this morning so I hold out hope Michael Clifford has said something about it. Fianna Fail are going to be destroyed, but what’s the mandate going to be for the crowd who replace them? That’s the big question from now on.
Regardless of how weak the opposition is, it is pretty pathetic that 17% of people in the 26 counties admit to choosing Fianna Fáil as their first preference vote. Add in another couple of % for those who will end up voting for them in a coming general election also and it gets even more disheartening.
The media have had a part to play in our current shambolic state and it is something I would like to see explored more. Take RTE this week alone for instance. On their highest rating television show this week they had the editors of The Star, The Sunday Independent and The Sunday Times on to discuss the state we were in and the goings on of the past week. All of those newspapers are centre right in their outlook and no attempt was made to have anyone from a different political perspective. The discussion focused on public anger and we were given the usual few minutes on the hope we had for the future. Essential to this hope of course is keeping our corporation tax at 12.5% and this was afforded air time but little attention was paid to the devastating impact cuts will have on public services and people’s ability to pay their mortgages etc.
Today meanwhile Marion Finnucane had Colm Barrington of Aer Lingus on. We were told by Barrington how great Terminal 2 was and the brilliant impact it will have for the next 40 years. Finnucane didn’t think it worthwhile to mention that Barrington was on the board of the DAA until Shane Ross demanded this be disclosed. She had told us this when Barrington was on previous programmes apparently and sure most people knew this according to Marion. In the week when the IMF have arrived and every cent is up for negotiation I think it is extraordinary that she didn’t press a little harder on a project that is costing the state directly or indirectly an absolute fortune.
Looking through the newspapers this week and we have an article in the Sindo from Harris warning us that we must watch out for the “nationalist bourgeoisie”. While in the same paper the champion of champions Celia Larkin argues that we should be fearful of Sinn Fein’s economic policy. That’s right Celia who knows what sort of damaged their lefty politics could do to the economy. The barefaced cheek of her. Their sister paper and biggest selling daily on Friday meanwhile had on its frontpage how the IMF will surely now at last look at public sector pay. It was desperately looking to create the impression that this is central to their arrival. Muddy the waters enough and people will start to believe. Orwell couldn’t have made it up.
Some individuals in the Irish media have much to answer for, in the way they have behaved over past few years. Depressing thing is that no lessons seem to have been learned.
Smashing post Lawrence. 
yawn
give it a rest FFS- for some reason you have a smug told you so attitude for all this but one things for sure your hackneyed analysis of all this is reactionary & idiotic
Good points all Larry. Ultimately the same pipers are being paid by the same people and no new narrative is going to make into the debate unless there’s major political pressure from somewhere else. Where’s it going to come from though? The campaign against the ‘public sector’ and the unions will be ramped up again the second any sort of resistance is even contemplated. The student unions rally was met with howls of derision and the usual suspects are already condemning people for not despising Pearse Doherty. I saw five or six ‘welfare cheat’ stories on the front pages during the week, and as you say the ultimate national priority, above and beyond any hardship to be endured by the worst off, is the “sacrosanct” corporation tax. The main hope lies in Labour and Fine Gael trying to outdo each other from the left in the coming campaign. Nothing could guarantee that more than a surging Sinn Fein. Otherwise the Sindo and the cheerleading squad of the last ten years will lead us down a very different path.
Announcement tonight or is it just a bullshit rumour?
No there will be an annoucement tonight. Lenihan said as much on News At One. Don’t think it will say much other than a loan is being sought/taken up.
Heard Cowen/Coughlan was to address the nation. I don’t know which would be worse to be honest.
he will say they have the option on a loan when needs be
Oh dear. As much as I dislike her Coughlan would be my choice. A bit of Ulster efficiency is what is needed!