Will Ireland go Bankrupt - BBC Newsnight at 10.30 Tonight, BBC2

hotmail.com

Newsnight is going to deal with the issue of Ireland's debt problem tonight and as far as I know, Brian Lenihan will be interviewed. I don't know if his interview will be prerecorded or live. It should be interesting viewing.

themadchef

hotmail.com wrote: »

Newsnight is going to deal with the issue of Ireland's debt problem tonight and as far as I know, Brian Lenihan will be interviewed. I don't know if his interview will be prerecorded or live. It should be interesting viewing.

Thanks, going to watch it.

Reputation is everything, and ours is shot to bits so i hope Brian comes across well. If you say someone is broke loudly and for long enough then it doesnt really matter if you are or not as no one will lend to you anyway.

Can only hope that it wont be full of economists wetting themselves at predicting the impending doom and getting it right.

murphaph

He'll get a rough time of it on Newsnight. They aren't RTE with their FF friendly "softly softly" questioning. IIRC Lenihan was already crucified on Newsnight a couple of years ago by that blonde woman (forget her name now).

hotmail.com

murphaph wrote: »

He'll get a rough time of it on Newsnight. They aren't RTE with their FF friendly "softly softly" questioning. IIRC Lenihan was already crucified on Newsnight a couple of years ago by that blonde woman (forget her name now).

Lenihan doesn't accept that.

(I think you may mean Emily Maitless).

flutered

murphaph wrote: »

He'll get a rough time of it on Newsnight. They aren't RTE with their FF friendly "softly softly" questioning. IIRC Lenihan was already crucified on Newsnight a couple of years ago by that blonde woman (forget her name now).

hopefully.

20Cent

If they let Paxman near him start packing your bags.

egan007

hotmail.com wrote: »

It should be interesting viewing.

I doubt it.

ballsymchugh

i thought he did pretty well a couple of years ago. it'll be interesting though, seeing as then no one knew the extent of the shyte the banks were really in. i wonder if he'll mention the UK's problems in an offense as a type of defense approach?

davyjose

Keep us posted on how it goes (no access to a TV).

PeterIanStaker

I hope he gets ridden by the interviewer - wont be like RTE news or the Late Late where its a hearty back-slapping session. I'd like nothing better than to see him with his mouth open like a landed fish, genuinely caught. Far as I'm concerned country's bankrupt anyway, they just havent admitted it yet. Lets see him try to spin this.

20Cent

OMG its Paxman.
Car crash coming.

Liam Byrne

20Cent wrote: »

OMG its Paxman.
Car crash coming.

Hope Tubridy's watching.....

......mind you, Tubridy will probably be abusing his position as usual tomorrow ranting about a "witch-hunt"

btard

The cheese got a mention in the preview.

arybvtcw0eolkf

btard wrote: »

The cheese got a mention in the preview.

Got there before me, I'm cringing.. The bleed'n cheese

ArtSmart

well nothing yet. street lighting seems to dominate at the mo...
did i miss it?

arybvtcw0eolkf

ArtSmart wrote: »

did i miss it?

No.

themadchef

btard wrote: »

The cheese got a mention in the preview.

Scarlet....


Can the British come across as smug in all of this though? In fairness, we always joke about the "last one leaving turn off the lights". It would seem they are turning them off before they leave!

Dirk Gently

themadchef wrote: »

Scarlet....


Can the British come across as smug in all of this though?

of course, its what they do best, especially when reporting on Ireland. Once you get over it though it's actually very entertaining.

ArtSmart

well they got 20 mins.
much as i'm interested, family guy must always come first.

gandalf

themadchef wrote: »

Scarlet....


Can the British come across as smug in all of this though? In fairness, we always joke about the "last one leaving turn off the lights". It would seem they are turning them off before they leave!

TBH at least the BBC have decent interviewers who can nail down a politician and put them under pressure. Compare that with the Montrose Love in our politicians are used to.

Liam Byrne

The lead-in report has already made the mistake of saying "people bought second homes" without clarifying that "SOME people bought second homes".....

.....if that's the sloppy level of their research then I doubt Lenihan will get a proper grilling.

gandalf

Yeah that grated with me as well Liam.

themadchef

gandalf wrote: »

TBH at least the BBC have decent interviewers who can nail down a politician and put them under pressure. Compare that with the Montrose Love in our politicians are used to.

Completly agree. We need an interviewer to force the truth out of them, not turn their electric blankets on.

ei.sdraob

Liam Byrne wrote: »

The lead-in report has already made the mistake of saying "people bought second homes" without clarifying that "SOME people bought second homes".....

.....if that's the sloppy level of their research then I doubt Lenihan will get a proper grilling.

"alot of" people bought second homes
our own central bank produced a report in 2007 saying that a staggering third of mortgages were But-to-let :eek:
tho of course this didnt send alarm bells ringing for whoever wrote that report in the central-bank here :rolleyes:

edit: found some newer figures as of jun 2008
113 billion debt on PPR mortgages
33 billion debt on buy-to-let "investment" mortgages

crazy or what

Liam Byrne

First question "can you guarantee..." and he half-ducked it.

Second question "why don't people believe you...." and he again half-ducked it.

Third question = return to first question and Lenihan came clean (can't guarantee) and then starts pointing out what the UK had to do, as predicted above.

Fourth question : SCORE PAXMAN [ I actually cheered!!!! ]

Fifth question : SCORE PAXMAN

Paxman knows his stuff and I hope to god someone from RTE is watching!!!!!!

muletide

That bloody cheese announcement will haunt us for years to come.

No wonder we are a laughing stock in Europe

btard

It's ok. Brian just guaranteed we won't go bankrupt. Relax everybody. :cool:

baldbear

Lenihan squirms with the guarantee question. Fook. Paxman is going to go for the kill..

Professey Chin

Paxman doesn't look at all convinced

gandalf

Right Hook from Paxman there !!! Incompetence!

mal1

'a very sad end'. That hurt Jeremy.

ronaneire

Thank you

Mr.Micro

themadchef wrote: »

Completly agree. We need an interviewer to force the truth out of them, not turn their electric blankets on.

I don't think that any of them know the truth.....just that the country is F***ed. Cowen being interviewed by Dobbo's wobbling chin is akin to a cosy chat with the vicar.

Liam Byrne

ei.sdraob wrote: »

"alot of" people bought second homes
our own central bank produced a report in 2007 saying that a staggering third of mortgages were But-to-let :eek:

Point 1 : "buy-to-let" implies that lots of people didn't even buy FIRST homes
Point 2 : yes, "a lot of" people were stupid....I've never argued that point. I do think it's important not to even remotely imply that "everyone" was, and the phrasing as "people" was lazy and could give that incorrect impression.

Dirk Gently

in all fairness lenihan more than held his own there. nothing hard hitting in that interview.

muletide

Kills me to say it but he was well able for Paxman unlike many a British politician

Sand

We've got Lenihans personal guarantee Ireland will not go into the bailout fund, so employing the Lenihan principle (100% wrong, 100% of the time) its confirmed we will be in the bailout fund next Spring.

AnnyHallsal

Lenihan always reassures me in the moment. Until the abrupt disillusionment of ever spiralling figures. In all seriousness, I can't imagine how he manages to do that job and cope with his illness. Either one of them would be enough to cripple a person.

ei.sdraob

gandalf wrote: »

Right Hook from Paxman there !!! Incompetence!

It takes media from another country to display the incompetence of our "chosen ones"

why are we paying for RTE again? can i give my tv license money to the BBC they even make nice documentaries to add insult to injury :P

punchdrunk

on a completely human level I Feel sorry for Brian,he looks like an extra on "the walking dead"

but yeah...we're ****ed!

Professey Chin

I wanna see how big biff would do there

fudgez

"Incompetence".... Love it At least the BBC has some decent Journos

hotmail.com

Paxman couldn't exactly go for it, when he's not Irish and isn't full briefed on all the history and issues. He kept his questions pretty general.

strandroad

AnnyHallsal wrote: »

Lenihan always reassures me in the moment. Until the abrupt disillusionment of ever spiralling figures. In all seriousness, I can't imagine how he manages to do that job and cope with his illness. Either one of them would be enough to cripple a person.

He's a solicitor. He can talk. It's just facts and calculations he has problems with.

Liam Byrne

clown bag wrote: »

in all fairness lenihan more than held his own there. nothing hard hitting in that interview.

Lenihan "held his own" by bull****ting and avoiding the facts.

I'll grant you that Paxman's questions were direct and scored points but didn't follow up enough to expose Lenihan's stock lies and cock-ups; it's possible that a more subtle (or, given the intro laziness, more informed) interviewer could have exposed the bull**** more - e.g. Lenihan said "Ireland will pay our debts", which should have led to Paxman asking "But they're not YOUR debts, they're private debts - WHY did you choose to take them on and screw the country ?"

AnnyHallsal

mhge wrote: »

He's a solicitor. He can talk. It's just facts and calculations he has problems with.

And the truth? One wonders. One hopes. But one fears.

gandalf

Lenihan did better than I expected him to do. I can only imagine what Paxman would do to Cowen though.

You would never see any of the "journalists" in this country say those things to the face of a FF Minister in an interview.

Liam Byrne

AnnyHallsal wrote: »

Lenihan always reassures me in the moment. Until the abrupt disillusionment of ever spiralling figures. In all seriousness, I can't imagine how he manages to do that job and cope with his illness. Either one of them would be enough to cripple a person.

His illness shouldn't even be raised in discussion.

He's either capable of doing his job or he's not. We're paying him to do it, and we need it done properly.

Enough of the pathetic attempts to raise pathos. :mad:

ArtSmart

he did ok lenihan, though not sure if he'd have survived a longer interview.

however it's the usual 'nothing to see here folks, move along' line - which i suppose he has no choice but to do so, although the mkt no longer believes - and who could blame it?

nonetheless, despite the rhetoric he seemd confident - i get the feeling monies were promised or given by europe somewhere, somehow...

A Dub in Glasgo

I actually thought Lenihan done OK. Paxman was just toying with him though and if that was a General Election type of interview, Leniahan would have been beyond saving

Mr.Micro

The EU sent their heavy in the form of Rehn to make sure Ireland toes the line. Lenihan will say whatever it takes lies I will bet even to make sure that there is not a run on the euro with any negative statements. He does not have a clue no matter how he stares without blinking at his interviewer. He has been wrong, wrong, wrong up to now and his guarantee is pure BS, I can smell it from here.