I enjoyed that one. There’s no harm in embellishing or plain making up stuff in the name of an entertaining tale. The problem is that Joe has become addicted to throwing in untruths, lies and fake facts no matter what sort of article it is. Fact checking is anathema to him. You can’t do that if you want to be taken seriously as a writer on serious subjects, and he does want to be taken seriously.
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Did he make stuff up in his serious articles?
What did brolly say about fossa ?
Brolly’s Tommy Martin interview on again there now
It’s brilliant well worth a watch.
Did anyone read Joe’s article in last week’s Sindo?
An absolutely brilliant anecdote about the Derry boys fist fighting at a random wedding in 2011.
Check the TNH thread
The Tories are delighted with Gary Lineker — he has helped their hatred go mainstream
Get people at each other’s throats and you’ve got democracy under attack
Gary Lineker outside his home in London yesterday. Photo: James Manning/PA Wire
March 12 2023 02:30 AM
As visitors enter BBC Broadcasting House, they pass a statue of George Orwell, with the inscription: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” They may take it down now.
The Tories have adopted the US Republican Party playbook. The Murdoch press, the Mail, GB News et al help them spread lies and create division. It is a proven and effective way to distract people from the facts. Instead of building a humane, lawful system for processing asylum claimants, the British government has chosen to demonise and dehumanise them.
There is no such thing as an illegal immigrant. There are only asylum-claimants. If their claim is legally valid, they stay. If not, they don’t. It is a fundamental principle of international law.
Our basic humanity is under attack. Our sense of goodness and integrity. Our instinct to help and empathise. The aim of this propaganda is to turn us towards hate and fear, to manipulate our emotions so we see others as “the enemy” or “an invasion” or “child molesters” or “criminals”.
Examined rationally, this is moronic. But it works. It would be a mistake to think the Tory party and its cheerleaders are annoyed by Gary Lineker’s contributions, which are merely a statement of the obvious.
They are thrilled by them. It has given them the perfect opportunity to spread hatred and division into every living room in the country, turning friend against friend, neighbour against neighbour.
Lineker has helped them to go mainstream. It is no surprise the DUP have piled on to this. Creationist Edwin Poots tweeted: “I seldom watch BBC, but will tune into MOTD tonight. It used to be my favourite programme.” To be fair to Edwin, he lasted 21 days as DUP leader — a full 15 days longer than it took to create the universe.
What we are seeing now in Britain, like America, is civil war without the guns. The Americans are just farther down the road. A crucial part of this war is to silence critics. So the BBC has been systematically taken over by the Tories. It is now the media arm of the Conservative government, led by a Tory chairman who donated £400,000 to the Conservative party and arranged an £800,000 loan facility for Boris Johnson.
The director general is Tim Davie, former chairman of Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Association. The director of news is John McAndrew, former director of news at the right-wing GB News (English cousin of Fox News), which features shows hosted by Tory, UKIP, DUP politicians and assorted right-wing shock jocks.
It emerged last week through leaks from senior BBC sources that the channel has decided not to broadcast an episode of David Attenborough’s new series. Why? Because its themes of the destruction of nature might anger Tory politicians and the right-wing press.
On Thursday night, when a contributor on BBC’s Question Time described Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, as “a wife-beater” (Boris has nominated his dear old dad for a knighthood), anchor Fiona Bruce immediately interrupted to excuse it as a single incident where “her nose was broken and she was hospitalised” but it was “a one-off”.
The impartiality argument is a non-starter. It was OK for Lineker to devote much of the BBC’s World Cup opener to criticisms of Qatar’s human rights record. But not to criticise his own government’s record on human rights. Free speech is only free if you agree with them. This is a deliberate attack on democracy. Go after lawyers, civil servants, call anyone objecting to their plans “enemies of the state” (the Nazis did all of the above). Get people at each other’s throats over trans folk and displaced children in overloaded boats drowning and frightened asylum-seekers in motels. Repeat simple slogans over and over until the truth is lost.
The Twitterati have jokingly drawn comparisons with my sacking by RTÉ. At least Lineker was suspended for speaking out about grave injustice. I got the chop for questioning a yellow card and patting Pat Spillane’s knee. In fairness, I only got sacked. Spare a thought for poor Colm O’Rourke, who ended up managing Meath.
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One of Joe’s better efforts, as tends to happen when he writes on non-GAA matters.
Joe’s got his own podcast now.
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Box office
I’ve already given it a 5 star review
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This will drive lads on here demented
Ooh. Looks more politics than sport from that pic. Hope its not just Dion licking his hole and he challenges him a bit or they get guests on who’ll argue with him. Would be proper bosca na hoifig then.
Not my GAA
That story about the fellas ayahuasca trip was pure fiction. I’ve a lot of time for a well told lie but that was a poor effort
You’re new to Joe’s work?
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Hardly
Some great lines in that. Joe is great, until he’s a bollox. Which is a lot lately.
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