Newstalk Megathread 22/08/16 to date

Alicano wrote: »

You've very clearly got something against Mark. Like him or not it is not correct to call him 'useless'. I caught the repeat this morning and was pleasantly surprised to hear him. He has a very good clear voice and has his topic researched. Yes he has opinions but I like that in a presenter, whether I agree or not. I think he's quite suited to NT. Perhaps you're listening to the wrong station for your personal taste? I have zero time for over energised super positive younger presenters. So I don't listen to them. Plenty of room for all tastes.

Do you know him personally with your glowing reference for him. And for the record i prefer the older presenters myself, the likes of Pat Kenny and Ivan Yates. The same Cagney had not much to say when his work colleagues got the boot from TV3.

I thought I stumbled into someone else's room with the New look here!!


Well I was never a fan of Mark
Cagney, I thought he was a bit smarmy. Having said that,if Ivan ever fecks off (hopefully not) then I could possibly listen to him. It's not exactly a glowing reference, but the previous stand ins are worse and I tend to drift away from them when they are on.

Cagney is the blandest radio presenter I've ever heard.
Might be the low monotone voice,but totally uninteresting.

kneemos wrote: »

Cagney is the blandest radio presenter I've ever heard.
Might be the low monotone voice,but totally uninteresting.

I thought he was really good.

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I'm really enjoying his stint. As I said above, I disagree with a lot of his views, but I like the fact that he's respectful whilst managing to be very forthright (completely disagree that he's bland. He's the kind of man who calls a spade a little fùcking shovel, and that's probably one of the best traits in a journalist -- Well, in anyone actually. No bullshït.

But different strokes, of course.

Wouldn't be his greatest fan and would hope that when Ivan does eventually leave, Joe Molloy be given a stint. Off all the recent stand-ins Joe came across the best, although i think it was for only one or two evenings that he filled in for, so small sample size and all.

A couple of weeks ago or was it during the summer, anyhow I thought he did very well discussing current affairs.

There was a ridiculous outbreak of 'woke' politics in the newspaper review slot of "On the Record" yesterday morning. In an interview with journalists, Leo Varadker said that he had encountered racism in Ireland. As the Sunday Independent reported it:

The Taoiseach said he was surprised by the amount of people who asked him if he was “going back to India” after it emerged his family would spend some time in his father Ashok Varadkar’s native country during the Christmas recess. “They don't mean it that way but it is a way of thinking,” he said. “I was born in the Rotunda. I'm not from India. People don't hear what they're saying sometimes but I've also never been somebody who goes on about it,” he added.

The guests reviewing the newspapers were Gráinne Ní Aodha, a reporter with thejournal.ie, Fergus Finlay, former CEO of Bernardos, and Síona Cahill, who describes herself on Twitter as an "Activist, feminist, rabble-rouser, [and] gas ticket".

Cahill didn't like Varadker's comment that he has "never been somebody who goes on about" the racism he experiences. While she agreed with Gavin Reilly, the host, that this comment could be construed as Varadker "checking his privilege", i.e. modestly realising that the racism he had experienced is probably a lot less than that experienced by other people, she accused him of having an ulterior motive, of downplaying racism in Ireland because the racists "are his voters". "People who are casually racist are voting Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil," she declared.

Think about that. She accused the Taoiseach of playing down racism in Ireland because he didn't want to alienate racist Fine Gael voters. She cited no evidence to back up this claim that casual racists vote Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Given the massive change in demographics Ireland has experienced in a relatively short period of time, say thirty years, the amazing thing is that there is so little racism here, something we can be proud of. Thankfully, Fergus Finlay challenged Cahill's conspiracy-mongering, arguing that racists were not Fine Gael voters.

You can't win with hyper woke people like Cahill. If Varadker had played up the abuse he had experienced, she would probably accuse him of failing to "check his privilege". When he plays it down or tries to put it in context, she accuses him of making excuses for racists and failing to support victims of racism. The mind boggles at the way the wokerati twist and turn facts to suit their agenda.

Tell me how wrote: »

Seems like you've twisted and turned a panel discussion to suit your agenda of just complaining about an imaginary subset of society.

It's the season of goodwill, let's give the faux outrage a break for a week or so.

I haven't twisted or turned anything. I listened carefully to the show again on podcast tonight before I wrote my post so I could quote exactly what was said. You should dispense with the patronising advice-giving and use the season of goodwill to listen to the show and point out any misrepresentation I made.

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

With all the “listen back” functions and podcasts it truly is a golden age for the crank.

More argumentum ad hominem. Listen back functions and podcasts are useful for critiquing silly thing heard on the radio. Can you not engage with the substance of my post?

Ahwell wrote: »

Maybe your post just isn't that engaging. I gave up reading after 'woke'.

If the little of my post you read didn't engage you, why did you respond to it? Why are you trolling?

Ahwell wrote: »

My point being, in my experience posts where posters try to shoehorn American political terms, like woke, into an Irish context are invariably not worth reading. Having now read your whole post, I think my first instinct was the correct one - but I'm sure you would disagree.

Yes, I do disagree. 'Woke' is indeed an American term, but the concept has crossed the Atlantic and has become quite prevalent here in Ireland. Therefore, I haven't shoehorned it into an Irish context. The substance of my post stands.

WARNING:

Jonathan Healy is in for Pat Kenny.

As if early January back to work wasn't depressing enough.

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

They’re useful for listening back to something “interesting” or something you may have missed.

I don’t, for a second, believe they were created for malcontents to go over with a fine tooth comb, note pad in hand, scribbling away frantically at all the things they find “disagreeable”.

Someone on a national radio programme said something quite stupid about racism in Ireland. I listened back to the show on podcast to make sure I had heard her correctly. Rather than showing me to be a "malcontent", it shows I am quite a fair person. It was quite a reasonable use of a podcast.

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

You must be greatly “put out” over the last couple of days when the content is all pre-recorded, drama or documentary.

I do hope you don’t ever listen to Dr. Ciara Kelly’s show in the afternoon. I really don’t think that would be good for your “health” or you might simply burst a bollock from all the excitement of not knowing where to start with ejaculating all your rage and disgust.

I don't listen to Lunchtime Live with Ciara Kelly. But if I was listening and heard a guest saying something as stupid as Cahill did on On the Record, I might re-listen to the show via the podcast, think about it and decide whether to write a post about it here.

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

As for engaging with the “substance” of your post, that’s a hard pass from me. Mainly because the substance is overly sensitive, snowflake, nonsense. Go back to yelling at clouds, old man.

While you're taking your "hard pass" from engaging with the substance of my post, you should learn some manners and avoid resorting to name-calling, tiresome sarcasm, and personal abuse; they're childish tactics.