Sean Moncrieff - Newstalk

suicide_circus · 08-07-2017 05:25AM

Does anyone else get the impression that Sean is sick of the job now and is just going through the motions? He's still better than 90% of other presenters on irish radio but he's become very sarky and crabby and there's very little effort to have balance with the show having a clear right-on agenda.

Richard Hillman · 08-07-2017 06:36AM

Yeah he is just going through the motions. I reckon his 10 minutes or so the start where he just goes off on one at any story in the day that is remotely conservative, gets him through the day. I forgot to switch off during last week and was given a stark reminder of what he is like. Totally unhinged at anything that doesn't share his viewpoint.

quintana76 · 08-07-2017 11:21AM

It is a pity that an otherwise fine broadcaster can be undermined by a personal flaw. That being his complete intolerance of those who do not share his 'right on' viewpoint.
It is disappointing that an obviously intelligent man can be so blinkered.
It reinforces the point that 'medialand' exists in an alternative reality of its own.

CatFromHue · 08-07-2017 11:30AM

suicide_circus wrote: »

Does anyone else get the impression that Sean is sick of the job now and is just going through the motions? He's still better than 90% of other presenters on irish radio but he's become very sarky and crabby and there's very little effort to have balance with the show having a clear right-on agenda.

Losing that hour, and especially the interview at the start, has made a big difference to his show.

The balance between good chat/interviews and strange/weird interviews is now strongly in the strange/weird side.

jooksavage · 09-07-2017 02:28AM

quintana76 wrote: »

It is a pity that an otherwise fine broadcaster can be undermined by a personal flaw. That being his complete intolerance of those who do not share his 'right on' viewpoint.
It is disappointing that an obviously intelligent man can be so blinkered.
It reinforces the point that 'medialand' exists in an alternative reality of its own.

Every second page on this thread has people going on about Sean's 'right on' liberal agenda. I don't see the same posters complaining about George's lack of balance on the Hook thread. It reinforces the point that when most people complain about "blinkered" viewpoints they generally just mean viewpoints dissimilar to their own.

I don't always agree with Moncrieff (particularly the free rides he's occasionally given guests like Kitty Holland) but he's as entitled to his opinion as George Hook or Dil Wickremasinghe or Ivan Yates. If his politics truly hinder ones enjoyment of the show, that might say more about their own worldview than Sean's.

ballsymchugh · 09-07-2017 02:41AM

jooksavage wrote: »

Every second page on this thread has people going on about Sean's 'right on' liberal agenda. I don't see the same posters complaining about George's lack of balance on the Hook thread. It reinforces the point that when most people complain about "blinkered" viewpoints they generally just mean viewpoints dissimilar to their own.

I don't always agree with Moncrieff (particularly the free rides he's occasionally given guests like Kitty Holland) but he's as entitled to his opinion as George Hook or Dil Wickremasinghe or Ivan Yates. If his politics truly hinder ones enjoyment of the show, that might say more about their own worldview than Sean's.

i think that might be because George hook is brutally upfront about his politics, and couldn't care less what people think. we know exactly what's on the tin, 100%. same with global village, which is almost a parody of itself.
the thing with Sean, is that he comes across with some intelligence 99% of the time. but that 1% he won't engage with criticism, just fluff it off, and the failure to engage with it intelligently just bugs people.

take James O'Brien on LBC who can take on the same arseholes day in and day out and bat them off no bother, only coming across as a better broadcaster every time. any time Sean gets something critical, he just becomes condescending instead of killing it with kindness.

send him a message sometime complaining about the liberal agenda, and he'll no doubt ask you for a copy of that agenda because he's lost his, which he's been saying for the past few years.

btw, Kitty holland should never be let near the show again, after her conversation about the poor kids that died when the balcony collapsed in California a couple of years ago, when she insinuated that there shouldn't be too much time spent grieving as these were middle class kids who could afford to go on a J1. at least at the time, Sean rightly pulled her up on her horsesh1t.

foxtrot101 · 09-07-2017 03:25AM

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i think that might be because George hook is brutally upfront about his politics, and couldn't care less what people think. we know exactly what's on the tin, 100%. same with global village, which is almost a parody of itself.
the thing with Sean, is that he comes across with some intelligence 99% of the time. but that 1% he won't engage with criticism, just fluff it off, and the failure to engage with it intelligently just bugs people.

There has been a change over the past...I'm not sure how long...months anyway. He rarely gets involved with sarky put downs of text messages these days. He doesn't read out the more bone headed ones either. There has definitely been a conscious decision on his part to not engage with the texts the way he used to. I for one miss his old snarkiness, but that's just me.

jooksavage · 09-07-2017 09:10AM

ballsymchugh wrote: »

send him a message sometime complaining about the liberal agenda, and he'll no doubt ask you for a copy of that agenda because he's lost his, which he's been saying for the past few years.

I think I've heard Moncrieff give that response verbatim a couple of times. To be honest, most of the muppets who waste 30c to send in a text withat the words "liberal agenda" don't warrant any kind of reply.

Snake Plisken · 09-07-2017 07:23PM

Well if you posters can give out about George on his thread we can surely give out about Golden Boy Moncrieff on this thread and call him out when he is unjustifiably rude to Guests!
His show has been on a downward spiral since the Mrs went off to RTE, he has probably upset someone high up in Newstalk why else would they cut down his show by an hour?

foxtrot101 · 09-07-2017 08:53PM

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Well if you posters can give out about George on his thread we can surely give out about Golden Boy Moncrieff on this thread and call him out when he is unjustifiably rude to Guests!

"Golden Boy Moncrieff"...sigh. OK, when was he last time he was unjustifiably rude to a guest. It's a trait of his I've not really noticed. Justifiably rude to dickheads who text in nonsense, yes, but guests - no.

Snake Plisken · 09-07-2017 09:18PM

ballsymchugh wrote: »

there was an interview last week with the toe captain from the yukon, who made a drink with a toe from a corpse in the bottle. at the end of it, the canadian guy said 'go raibh mile maith agat' to which sean replied with something along the lines of "didn't know you could speak serbo-croat"

this bollockology is feckin annoying. this canadian guy went out of his way to get the phrase as good as he could and sean couldn't fkn acknowledge it positively, just had to be a condescending bollox about it.

@foxtrot101 sigh! There you go!

foxtrot101 · 09-07-2017 09:24PM

Snake Plisken wrote: »

@foxtrot101 sigh! There you go!

I read that, but I didn't hear it. Didn't Sean come to Ireland from London old enough to be accused doing Irish in school.

Snake Plisken · 09-07-2017 09:44PM

foxtrot101 wrote: »

I read that, but I didn't hear it. Didn't Sean come to Ireland from London old enough to be accused doing Irish in school.

I didn't do Irish either but I still know what the guest was saying and what Sean said in anyone's books was smart arsed and rude!

foxtrot101 · 09-07-2017 09:50PM

Snake Plisken wrote: »

I didn't do Irish either but I still know what the guest was saying and what Sean said in anyone's books was smart arsed and rude!

Fair enough, I can't really comment on it any further because I didn't hear it.

jooksavage · 09-07-2017 10:52PM

I did it hear it and it stood out as being singularly uncharacteristic of a broadcaster who is generally a very gracious, engaging interviewer.

quintana76 · 10-07-2017 12:20AM

jooksavage wrote: »

I did it hear it and it stood out as being singularly uncharacteristic of a broadcaster who is generally a very gracious, engaging interviewer.

He is that most of the time until certain of his views are contradicted.
He will then express his disapproval with a combination of being downright nasty and sourly patronising.

foxtrot101 · 10-07-2017 01:46AM

quintana76 wrote: »

He is that most of the time until certain of his views are contradicted.
He will then express his disapproval with a combination of being downright nasty and sourly patronising.

Yes, but..as jooksavage pointed out above...your real issue is not concern for some random texter, instead what really annoys you is that he is being
disapproving of and patronising about views you wholeheartedly agree with. That's the nub of it.

quintana76 · 10-07-2017 10:06AM

foxtrot101 wrote: »

Yes, but..as jooksavage pointed out above...your real issue is not concern for some random texter, instead what really annoys you is that he is being
disapproving of and patronising about views you wholeheartedly agree with. That's the nub of it.

Nothing to do with my views. He is intolerant of people he does not agree with.
This is despite the fact he thinks he is very liberal and open-minded himself.
Is it liberal and open-minded to demean and insult people of a different opinion?

kunst nugget · 10-07-2017 10:29AM

quintana76 wrote: »

Nothing to do with my views. He is intolerant of people he does not agree with.
This is despite the fact he thinks he is very liberal and open-minded himself.
Is it liberal and open-minded to demean and insult people of a different opinion?

I've seen this argument a thousand times and it's ridiculous. If people are deemed to be open-minded by others are they not allowed to defend their own viewpoint or argue against another?

From listening to Moncrieff over the years, the messages he gets sarky with are usually the 'pc gone mad, liberal brigade snowflake' ones but if a person puts across an opposing viewpoint in a more nuanced manner, he'll address it in a calmer fashion.

I don't mind him being opinionated just like I don't mind Hook being opinionated - they can both drive you up the wall but at least they are far more interesting than most of the dross that passes for radio in Ireland. It's just a pity that when Moncrieff's show got cut that they decided to get rid of the long interviews at the beginning and concentrate on the outlandish and idiosyncratic news stories from around the world.

foxtrot101 · 10-07-2017 12:14PM

quintana76 wrote: »

Nothing to do with my views.

Then why do you give a damn? I thought been overly concerned about others being offended was the preserve of the PC brigade, a brigade Sean is often accused of been a leading light in. There's a certain degree of irony there.

quintana76 · 10-07-2017 12:56PM

foxtrot101 wrote: »

Then why do you give a damn? I thought been overly concerned about others being offended was the preserve of the PC brigade, a brigade Sean is often accused of been a leading light in. There's a certain degree of irony there.

Why shouldn't I give a damn. PC concerns about other people being offended is very selective.
Outside certain favoured groups causing offence is seen as a virtue.

Sean reflects this with his tendency to be intolerant of difference to his opinions. FACT!!

You are correct, he is a leading light of the PC brigade.

ballsymchugh · 10-07-2017 01:00PM

kunst nugget wrote: »

I've seen this argument a thousand times and it's ridiculous. If people are deemed to be open-minded by others are they not allowed to defend their own viewpoint or argue against another?

From listening to Moncrieff over the years, the messages he gets sarky with are usually the 'pc gone mad, liberal brigade snowflake' ones but if a person puts across an opposing viewpoint in a more nuanced manner, he'll address it in a calmer fashion.

I don't mind him being opinionated just like I don't mind Hook being opinionated - they can both drive you up the wall but at least they are far more interesting than most of the dross that passes for radio in Ireland. It's just a pity that when Moncrieff's show got cut that they decided to get rid of the long interviews at the beginning and concentrate on the outlandish and idiosyncratic news stories from around the world.

heard this guy calling into LBC this morning,

http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/caller-james-obrien-proof-brexiteers-reason/

i would seriously doubt Moncrieff would be able to deal with this clown as well as James O'Brien did. it doesn't matter how daft the text or tweet may be, there's a level of professionalism involved in batting them away.
while deep down i'd agree with it, it still sounds shyte the way he handles it.

100% agree with you on the poor start to the show nowadays though.

foxtrot101 · 10-07-2017 01:25PM

quintana76 wrote: »

Why shouldn't I give a damn. PC concerns about other people being offended is very selective.
Outside certain favoured groups causing offence is seen as a virtue.

Sean reflects this with his tendency to be intolerant of difference to his opinions. FACT!!

You are correct, he is a leading light of the PC brigade.

And you think you're not been selective in what you are getting offended by? As I said already, I think you are being intolerant of Sean's intolerance of views simply because he is begin intolerant of views that you share and I think that's a FACT!!.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 10-07-2017 02:53PM

Think he handled that interview with the woman from BPAS very well, in fairness to him. Though seeing as the issue is so much on the radar now and seeing as recent events have shown some of the pro-life crowd are not trigger shy when it comes to lodging complaints I'd say he was briefed to mind his Ps and Qs.

I do find him too snarky when dealing with the 'PC gone mad hur der dur' tweets and texts and I'd agree with him on pretty much every issue.

The reduced running time doesn't suit him and by all accounts he's had a big upheaval in his personal life, I've been listening to the show for years and think he's one of the best presenters on radio but I agree his heart isn't in it any more. If he moved to another station I'd definitely follow him, but I'm less and less bothered listening to this show tbh.

foxtrot101 · 10-07-2017 03:07PM

I can't say I haven't noticed this "his heart isn't in it any more" thing. I do agree the wacky clips bit is a poor way to start the show, it's not very engaging and is a bit lacklustre.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 10-07-2017 03:16PM

foxtrot101 wrote: »

I can't say I haven't noticed this "his heart isn't in it any more" thing. I do agree the wacky clips bit is a poor way to start the show, it's not very engaging and is a bit lacklustre.

He just doesn't seem as engaged, the interviews aren't as good and it's not purely because of the content being so weighted toward the wacky. Remember when the amount of times he was told 'that's a great question' was a running joke? Listen out for that now, those days are gone.

And God I don't even bother with the first ten minutes of the show, it's dreadful.

davef1000 · 10-07-2017 03:19PM

Oh god. Henry's back.

EDIT - AND THE CURRENT INTERVIEWEE KEEPS SAYING NUCULAR AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHHG

Say Your Number · 10-07-2017 04:01PM

Was funny at the end there "Jonathan Healy and Sarah McInerney will be presenting Drive today, so listen out for the sexual tension"

Patser · 10-07-2017 10:46PM

What the show is now really missing is the 30 minute random chat he'd have to start the old longer show. Yes it was a who's who of Irish wantabes - Brunker, Ian Doherty frequently - but they'd go on great rambling chats about whatever, with Seán happy to engage with opposite view points. He had a great chat 1 day with Baz about vasectomies.

Now it's just rush, rush, rush. 10 minute thing of weird stuff, ads, random mad topic rushed, ad, news break, fact of day and suddenly here's Esther with things to do tonight.....

All to a time limit, no 30 minutes with 1 guest to go off on random tangents.

Edit: what's equally annoying is that George Hook gets 2 hours to have long chats about whatever, and squanders it on long rambling preambles about him, his opinions, his recollections, his ideas, him, him, him.

While Seán, who could genuinely show interest and engage with a guest, is pigeon holed into alien lizard men discovered Sir Stanley Livingston in Africa in 1872 with Mairéad Lavery from the Farmers journal for a 5 minute slot, that he'll still make interesting while George Hook would still be slobbering through his question while mentioning the lovely Ingrid....

foxtrot101 · 12-07-2017 03:44PM

davef1000 wrote: »

Oh god. Henry's back.

Ah no, looks like he's back for good.

Sean Moncrieff - Newstalk

Comments