Journalism and Cycling 2: the difficult second album

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761445#Comment_117761445

i think his point about bike theft was (and i'm not joking); 'the middle classes in portobello are clearly worried about bike theft, because they have expensive bikes. but because we all know that middle class people are not bike thieves, this is actually not a fear of bike theft, but an expression of dislike of the working classes, insert comment about dog whistles'.

if someone can come up with a more coherent explanation, i'd be grateful.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761482#Comment_117761482

Yeah, that's definitely possible, and it's the interpretation I've seen on Twitter anyway.

Heraclius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761476#Comment_117761476

There's definitely a good argument for maybe reading one good Sunday newspaper (if such a thing exists) and ignoring the news for the other 6 days unless there's some major world/national event.

magicbastarder

someone expert enough at being a writer that he wrangled an aosdana membership out of it, knows the power of and is skilled enough with words that he knows what he's saying, and he knows how his words come across.

so either he didn't mean that and he's **** with language (but as per the above he's not); or else he didn't realise how his words would be interpreted (see previous point); or he did actually mean it that way.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761476#Comment_117761476

I mostly listen to podcasts. I need to listen to more Irish current affairs-based ones, but the dinner-party chat format often used on Irish talk-based radio makes me feel I'm eavesdropping on a bunch of people with no self-awareness, and the phone-ins are mostly gibberish and ranting.

magicbastarder

any you'd recommend? i have a narrow enough selection i listen to (mainly due to time/opportunity constraints); i've been listening to some michael lewis ones recently.

Heraclius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761513#Comment_117761513

Gibberish and ranting you say...sounds like a lot of boards contributions:)

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761521#Comment_117761521

Well, the "new infrastructure" threads, certainly.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761517#Comment_117761517

I'm enjoying the Fascinating? podcast, where two Scottish guys discuss every episode of Star Trek -- The Original Series. I find them funny. One of them hasn't watched it, and the other is a fan. They did one on Columbo as well, where the roles were reversed. They're not very reverential about either.

Other than that, I like a few of the NPR ones (Planet Money, Word Matters, Radio Ambulante (though that's in Spanish)), and some BBC ones (In Our Time, The Forum), though the BBC ones are mostly repackaged radio shows, sometimes with extra material.

I quite liked a few episodes of Motherfócloir (not sure about some of their fact checking, but it can be interesting) but it's closing down now. The Black and Irish podcast from RTÉ is interesting, even if just to give me some insight into a world I don't get much exposure to.

99% Invisible can be very good.

tomasrojo

Not familiar with Michael Lewis. I'll check him out.

magicbastarder

he's the chap who wrote 'the big short'. he's done two series with malcolm gladwell's podcast company, one about the decline of the referee in american life (not necessarily in a sports context) and one about the rise of coaching (again, not just sports coaching).

cletus

I listen to Podcasts too. I never miss the Eugene S Robinson Showstomper, the Care/Don't Care Preview, the If The Shoe Fits podcast, Heavy Hands, and in between times I've found one on Spotify called Philosophise This (none of these are Irish, or current affairs)

magicbastarder

there are a couple of irish podcasts i do listen to, both on a theme - the critter shed (about animals) and the broad leaf (about woodlands)

tomasrojo

Here's How is Irish and about current affairs. I seem to remember people found William Campbell's dogged style unfair and annoying though. He probably did as much as anyone to get AA Roadwatch off the air.

tomasrojo

The Bike Show (Jack Thurston) is a decent podcast about cycling in general (not much about sports, as such, that I recall), but it's extremely occasional.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761510#Comment_117761510

It's quite hard to imagine the editorial discussion;

q) Who can we get to stand up for the working classes, and what would be a good topic?

a) Let's get an Aosdana poet from Portobello to talk about how cycling discriminates against working class people.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761684#Comment_117761684

actually, i know the woman who killed AA roadwatch - the presenter. she decided to leave, and that promulgated its demise AFAIK. in that her decision to leave prompted the decision to kill it, rather than the converse.

tomasrojo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761731#Comment_117761731

Oh yeah, I don't think he was the proximate cause, and his case to the BAI failed, but it did draw a lot of attention to the inconsistency in the story of what the show was supposed to be.

Has a car manufacturer stepped into the breach of doing pointless traffic reports? I saw people tweeting about it, but I haven't heard it.

tomasrojo

Thanks for the insider insight!

Rechuchote

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117760390#Comment_117760390

Clickbait.

magicbastarder

worth mentioning that if they killed it so quickly after the presenter left, that it was almost certainly for the chopping block anyway i suspect.

buffalo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761476#Comment_117761476

There are days when Morning Ireland fits this sketch so perfectly that I switch over to Marty in the Morning on Lyric.

https://twitter.com/killersundymann/status/1288440419580366848

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117762943#Comment_117762943

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Larbre34

Owen Keegan being interviewed on Newstalk as we speak.

Responding to a question about the legitimate concerns of non-hospitality businesses about restricting streets and consequent documentes drops in trade, Keegan said

"I think so far we've largely ignored them and I think that's right."

So, next time you're on this forum and you wonder what is driving distrust, divisiveness, a feeling of despair and disenfranchisement about certain policies and processes, maybe pause and think about who is the most powerful position in this town.

tomasrojo

Edit at 0.05 is great

downtheroad

Mannix Flynn was on the Pat Kenny show this morning talking about Dublin city and mentioned something along the lines of how frustrating it is to drive in to the city centre with the traffic levels. Unfortunately Pat didn't read out my text that Mannix was contradicting himself by objecting to cycle lanes around the city which may result in less traffic.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763100#Comment_117763100

Why not give the full context.

He said; "They have a legitimate concern, and they're perfectly entitled to express that concern." He broadly agreed with the presenter that many of those businesses had challenges to their business models before the pandemic and that they see pedestrianisation as the problem when really the problem is much deeper than that. He said "While I think they have a legitimate complaint, it's not something I'd totally just reverse the measures.". He said "The issue is to what extent the City Council should take cognisance of them, and we've largely had to ignore them".

When you're making decisions on public policy, it is not unusual that you have to 'ignore' on or other side of the debate when it comes to a final decision. That's the nature of public policy - you can't be all things to all people.

To be honest, I've seen a lot more driving of distrust, divisiveness and despair in these discussions that I've seen from Keegan, including this particular selective, out of context quoting.

Seth Brundle

Sub-standard parking for bicycles has stymied plans for a 428-unit build to rent apartment scheme at the Sandyford Industrial Estate in south Dublin.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/construction/sub-standard-bicycle-parking-stymies-144m-sandyford-apartment-scheme-1.4648576?mode=amp

magicbastarder

https://twitter.com/phlaimeaux/status/1427381079946706944

./

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764412#Comment_117764412

Interesting, there is a development in Drogheda which got the go ahead with a mad number of bike spaces vs car spaces so must me a new thing. Now I'd usually welcome that of course but your post got me to thinking they are just going to install toaster racks aren't they.

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/news/scotch-hall-apartment-block-plan-40192006.html

Also either heading to that or from it to town is possibly one of my least favorite junctions either on the bike or in the car I know.