Joe has more intelligence in his little toe than there would be in 10 Sports Gemmas.
But at the same time, youâd worry a wee bit about him, you really would. Youâd worry he might turn into a GAA version of âformer British ambassadorâ Craig Murray or John Pilger. Heâs teetering close to a tipping point.
Attention is a drug, and drugs are dangerous. Joe is a user.
He hasnât so far given any indication that heâs capable of pulling back.
While I enjoy him, he could leave the RTE thing go at this stage.
Joe is very much his own man in fairness, and he has many views that the awkward squad would run a mile from
Heâs incredibly bitter about RTĂ and like Ewan he can be very personal in his attacks, heâll find himself with a lot of followers that he doesnât want
Thatâs a great line.
Craig was a pain in the hole in Warsaw nearly thirty years ago.
I thought this was a badly misjudged tweet by Joe. Thereâs a serious touch of the Ewans about it.
Understanding the context of why itâs badly judged depends on watching the video which is quote tweeted.
Youâll excuse me for not understanding the context, why Rwanda etc?
Itâs a dig at the Toriesâ policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. Yes Joe, we get it, youâre against this policy, as any decent person should be. Well done.
But itâs simultaneously a resentful and indeed hateful cheap shot against British people in general as a response to a video in which three seemingly very decent British tourists in Greece praise the Greek response to the fires, how they have been treated by the local community, and express worry for the Greek people themselves.
I remember at the time thinking Joe was totally wronged there as everything he was saying was true. Having heard him talk endlessly over the top of Dion fanning on the podcast though maybe Clare Byrne did have to be firm with him there to stop him taking over completely even if her tone and manner was a bit cuntish.
Did Joe leave the discussion of his own accord after that or did RTE kick him out of it?
Saw that referenced loads of times, first time seeing it. Byrne was heavy-handed but brolly was out of line. In any event hia intervention up to then was a load of rambling auld stuff that anyone could come up with dressed up Brollyâs self regard. How long did he think he should be allowed to drone on for I wonder.
His contribution is pointless. He just says the same old shite that everyone knows and agrees with on the DUP. He follows that up with a barbed statement on Unionists generally and how the Tories donât like them (something we again all know). It pans to Andrew Trimbleâs face who you can see is turned right off.
Brolly mostly just screams the low hanging fruit stuff to get kudos from lads who are easily pleased. He claims to not really care for a UI, this might actually be the case because what he does is counterproductive. I donât believe that for a minute mind, I think he has been well and truly conditioned to thinking that this advances the cause.
I would say heâs far more interested in winning an argument and putting the boot in and looking smart than advancing any cause.
I think youâre wrong on your first point. I had watched most of that show and I think he was the first one on it to call the DUP out for what they are. It was the total elephant in the room. Itâs probably not ideal language if you are looking to build bridges but itâs still the truth and he was just there to call it as he sees it.
Iâm not sure who he was arguing with there though. It was just a long winded rant with everyone else going âokaaaayâ until Byrne stepped in.
How is it the elephant in the room?
Iâd say youâd struggle to get more than a couple of people out of 100 in the south who defends the DUP. Who is he arguing with?
It is a show on RTĂ, not BBC.
The DUP need to be called out on their bullshit for the sake of NI society rather than for the sake of a united Ireland.
I cannot believe that ordinary Protestants/Unionists are by definition more conservative in all aspects of their worldview than ordinary Catholics.
Protestant women need abortions at the same rate as Catholic women, Protestant women are beaten up by abusive partners at the same rate as Catholic women, there is the same rate of gay Protestants as gay Catholics.
Protestants need healthcare and welfare and education the same as Catholics do. Protestants need jobs and need to put to put bread on the table the same as Catholics do.
The DUP are a right wing culture war party and always have been. Itâs all they have. Like all right wing culture parties, theyâre full of shit.
Strangely enough, Iâm the opposite to you. I thought at the time Byrne was right to cut him off, but I think she should maybe have given him another 40 seconds or a minute. Brollyâs displeasure at finally being interrupted - heâd given the floor for two minutes without interruption - was the most telling thing about where his attitude has gone. I donât know how long he expected, the programme wasnât supposed to be his personal monologue. What he said about the DUP was not wrong but he neither was he making a particularly constructive contribution to the programme.
On that show it was the elephant in the room. Nobody else had said any of the stuff he said which you would imagine is fairly fundamental to a discussion on the north. Sure if it was as obvious as you make out why did Clare think it was so controversial and cut him off.
I agree. I think ânot doing business with the DUPâ & the regular suspensions of the executive up north was often used as a stick to punishment beat SF representatives in bogstandard radio & TV interviews back then on RTE. It was probably the DUPâs complete intransigence around Brexit in the last 5-6 years & the inability of either the Irish or british government to get them to engage honestly around it that neutered that line of questioning over time. Brolly was labouring his point though, even though his comments were accurate.
How is it an elephant in the room?
Nobody expects the DUP to be on board. There isnât a discussion to be had on RTĂ on the merits of the DUP. It seems awfully like how some SF lads seem to think that saying they want a United Ireland is a revelation in the south when that is as mainstream as it gets. Brolly often says that southerners donât get Nordies but it seems to be the opposite.
In terms of that discussion, Brolly starts off slating the DUP but over time the rants escalate to throwing barbs at Unionism. Whatâs the point of telling a moderate Unionist like Andrew Trimble that the Tories donât care about him? What does that achieve?
His contributions are also all over the shop. On the one hand the peace process is the greatest peace process ever but on the other itâs a failure. He continues by saying kids are still segregated and how shameful that is but on another itâs how the young Protestants donât care about the Orange Order and triumphalism (donât mention the old Up the Ra stuff with young Catholics though).
He basically says a whole load of nothing. It gets the endorphins going for some lads slating the DUP and Orange Order but itâs pretty irrelevant. What Brolly has is a barristers delivery which has been even more well honed from two decades of being on the television. What he actually says is rarely that interesting or insightful.
His entire RTĂ rant is about himself and the people he is attacking personally just so happen not to be his friend (like a Pat Spillane). I pointed out his nonsense over âpay tvâ but heading to Eir once he got the boot by RTĂ. His excuse was laughable but had the usual self aggrandisement.