Bad beat/Moaning/Venting thread - Mammy told me not to come.

[Guest]

Mary Lou continues to answer to the men behind the curtain. When a minister in the North wants to act on policy he must clear it with an unelected backroom committee that still controls SF. If MaryLou goes into coalition talks its them that will tell her what she can and cannot concede.

Look, I know most of ye are kids and don't know or remember who these people are and what they represent. Ignore the past if you want to and just look at how they deal with dissent in their own party and how they deal with the media. Observe what is going on in the US and UK and ask yourself if a vote for SF brings us closer to or further away from that kind of authoritarian control of parliament and media?

Newton Emerson was covering this today, now I know he's a self described liberal unionist but his view is that

If other parties in the Republic believe Sinn Féin is run by a backroom Belfast cabal, northern precedent suggests it would not pursue subversion or extremism once in southern office.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/newton-emerson-sinn-f%C3%A9in-is-not-a-radical-party-1.4162859

[Raoul Duke III]

Sold out already? Can't get anythingn ticketmaster

No, there's definitely tickets.

Although the ticketmaster algo sucks beyond belief.

Why can't I just click on the exact seats I want? Like any normal site

[mcnugget]

Don't understand the pricing model. €25 a month for a few part-time journos.

They’re overpriced compared to their competition certainly. Obviously mainly looking for corporate support. At the same time I don’t begrudge a fiver a week when there are 2-3 articles per week that are top notch.

[Solksjaer!]

Im agreeing with Lord Strewelpeter on Irish politics .

[Lao Lao]

just got mine!! C'mon Sarries!

you'll be cheering sarries as well no?

Politicians answers - I'll be looking forward to an entertaining game and may the best team win

No, there's definitely tickets.

Although the ticketmaster algo sucks beyond belief.

Why can't I just click on the exact seats I want? Like any normal site

Managed to get a family ticket, two adults and two kids. It was the only thing that came up after about 20 minutes of refreshing so paniced and took it.

[Goodluck2me]

Reading Paschal’s interview in The Currency this morning, he is clearly on a different level of ability to any minister of finance in recent times and any likely candidates this time round. It’s a pity himself, Leo and Coveney all share a charisma deficit.

I think I’d prefer a minister for finance without charisma, a steady hand on the tiller so to speak.

[Dice75]

That's a bit unfair, in fact it was Lynn Boylan's pathetic performance on the radio last weekend whinging that 'stuff like this' is only brought up at election time that really got the story legs in the media.
The fact is it's the lads Mother and family who are bringing it up and have been doggedly fighting his corner every day of their lives since he was murdered having been literally pulverised by SF / IRA people and then in death smeared by the man who is now Sinn Fein Minister for Justice in Northern Ireland and who continues to refuse to name to the police the people he knows were involved. You'll find countless mentions of the story in the media outside election time, I remember mentioning here a piece Newsnight did on it regarding brexit and the border not too long ago.

Mary Lou continues to answer to the men behind the curtain. When a minister in the North wants to act on policy he must clear it with an unelected backroom committee that still controls SF. If MaryLou goes into coalition talks its them that will tell her what she can and cannot concede.

Look, I know most of ye are kids and don't know or remember who these people are and what they represent. Ignore the past if you want to and just look at how they deal with dissent in their own party and how they deal with the media. Observe what is going on in the US and UK and ask yourself if a vote for SF brings us closer to or further away from that kind of authoritarian control of parliament and media?

Alas I'm far from a kid anymore and am well aware of SF and how they operate. In fact I spent a few years living beside the border pre-ceasefire and we were physically removed from a house by a certain group and told not to return. I'm also not disputing the familys right to an apology and their ongoing battle to get one. I just think there are more important things need highlighting and discussing in the short time available pre-election I guess.

[Raoul Duke III]

Managed to get a family ticket, two adults and two kids. It was the only thing that came up after about 20 minutes of refreshing so paniced and took it.

Eventually worked out that you can pick your seats using the app. Got 2 tickets in Upper West on halfway, €50 each.

Been blinded by sun too many teams in the East Stand.

[shrapnel]

Eventually worked out that you can pick your seats using the app. Got 2 tickets in Upper West on halfway, €50 each.

Been blinded by sun too many teams in the East Stand.

website works fine for that also.

[DeadParrot]

We booked a cleaner for a deep clean and they left all of out belongings in another room.
Is it out of line to assume they would move all the items back once finished?

[DeadParrot]

Alas I'm far from a kid anymore and am well aware of SF and how they operate. In fact I spent a few years living beside the border pre-ceasefire and we were physically removed from a house by a certain group and told not to return. I'm also not disputing the familys right to an apology and their ongoing battle to get one. I just think there are more important things need highlighting and discussing in the short time available pre-election I guess.

Can you imagine if Paschal Donoghue had concrete information about a vicious murder and instead of telling the Garda, he accuses the victim of deserving it.

And after all that Leo decides still does not fire him.


It's staggering that a tag of blueshirts/posh and Leo's lack of common touch is causing them to fall so far.

[Keane]

Cliff Taylor says in his IT article today there only around 100,000 individuals or jointly assessed couples earning over 100k pa - what proportion of the workforce would that be?

I would have been off by several multiples if I had to guess how many there would be on that kind of money.

[dobby]

We booked a cleaner for a deep clean and they left all of out belongings in another room.
Is it out of line to assume they would move all the items back once finished?

Shes a cleaner, not an interior decorator. Probably didnt even pay attention to what was where. Put yer own shite back ya lazy prick

[Keane]

Can you imagine if Paschal Donoghue had concrete information about a vicious murder and instead of telling the Garda, he accuses the victim of deserving it.

And after all that Leo decides still does not fire him.


It's staggering that a tag of blueshirts/posh and Leo's lack of common touch is causing them to fall so far.

Tbf, housing and services are a thing as well.

[Raoul Duke III]

Cliff Taylor says in his IT article today there only around 100,000 individuals or jointly assessed couples earning over 100k pa - what proportion of the workforce would that be?

I would have been off by several multiples if I had to guess how many there would be on that kind of money.

And that 5% are the ones that pay over 55% of income tax.....

Not surprised really. There aren't that many 100k+ jobs out there and they tend to be narrowly concentrated.

[Raoul Duke III]

Alas I'm far from a kid anymore and am well aware of SF and how they operate. In fact I spent a few years living beside the border pre-ceasefire and we were physically removed from a house by a certain group and told not to return. I'm also not disputing the familys right to an apology and their ongoing battle to get one. I just think there are more important things need highlighting and discussing in the short time available pre-election I guess.

Why do you care, not like you'll be voting SF anyway.

[DeadParrot]

Tbf, housing and services are a thing as well.

I get that, I do. But we have almost 100% employment, I dunno who is gonna build all the houses.
There seems to be zero nuance or thought behind any plans apart from the idea that there is this one simple thing that the government hasn't done and if they do, all problems are solved.

[Lazare]

Is it mad that I'd never heard of nor seen that SF northern minister before, a top govt minister?

Such a cultural divide between North and South, am guessing I'm not alone in that. Miles away from a united Ireland imo.

[DeadParrot]

Shes a cleaner, not an interior decorator. Probably didnt even pay attention to what was where. Put yer own shite back ya lazy prick

It's why I asked. I just would have assumed if you pay someone a few hundred quid to clean, they put the pots back.

[Raoul Duke III]

Is it mad that I'd never heard of nor seen that SF northern minister before, a top govt minister?.

Might have something to do with the fact that SF went on strike for the last 3 years and refused to govern.

Hard to see 'top government ministers' when there is no government.

[dobby]

It's why I asked. I just would have assumed if you pay someone a few hundred quid to clean, they put the pots back.

Paid em to clean imo. Tell em you'll chuck a few quid extra to put the stuff back next time.

[Raoul Duke III]

You do have to love the fact that 99% of election debate about governmental resource allocation focuses on the spending of our money.

There's hardly ever any discussion of where that money magically appears from.

[Dice75]

Why do you care, not like you'll be voting SF anyway.

I'd prefer it to be fought on who we should be voting on and why, not on why the other guys are cunts, people should be able to figure that out for themselves based on their own beliefs. Feels like been treated like a 12yo. A bit like if I was having a discussion about the banking crisis and someone uttered the phrase "fat cats", i'd probably puck them in the face and walk away for insulting my intelligence.

Surely Elections should be intelligent Candidates and Parties trying to get to the top and not racing to the bottom, or is the electorate so bad they have to go the second route every time?

PS, you are correct I wont be voting SF.

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[Keane]

And that 5% are the ones that pay over 55% of income tax.....

Not surprised really. There aren't that many 100k+ jobs out there and they tend to be narrowly concentrated.

Fair enough for individuals making 100k+ but would have thought there would be shitloads of 60k + 40k couples out there.

Is it mad that I'd never heard of nor seen that SF northern minister before, a top govt minister?

Such a cultural divide between North and South, am guessing I'm not alone in that. Miles away from a united Ireland imo.

I thought the exact same thing.

I get that, I do. But we have almost 100% employment, I dunno who is gonna build all the houses.
There seems to be zero nuance or thought behind any plans apart from the idea that there is this one simple thing that the government hasn't done and if they do, all problems are solved.

I think ignoring the fact that there are GOAT levels of shit situations in health, congestion, housing, homelessness, child care, insurance etc is as bad as expecting someone to fix everything with a magic money tree.

FG have done some great stuff but so many important parts of peoples' daily lives are in absolute bits.

Their big election promise last time was to scrap the USC and they got tanked. They're talking about tax cuts across the board this time and it looks like they're going to get tanked again. I really think people are finding it hard to trust them to reverse the downward trends in services in a timely manner. It's pretty clear in the last bunch of years people care a lot more about fixing public services than tax cuts.

[Raoul Duke III]

I'd prefer it to be fought on who we should be voting on and why, not on why the other guys are cunts, people should be able to figure that out for themselves based on their own beliefs. Feels like been treated like a 12yo. A bit like if I was having a discussion about the banking crisis and someone uttered the phrase "fat cats", i'd probably puck them in the face and walk away for insulting my intelligence.

Surely Elections should be intelligent Candidates and Parties trying to get to the top and not racing to the bottom, or is the electorate so bad they have to go the second route every time?

PS, you are correct I wont be voting SF.

Have you annoyed yourself into voting FF?

[Raoul Duke III]

Keane: the key phrase was 'jointly assessed'

[Solksjaer!]

In light of the spending required in health , childcare and housing. Where will that money magically appear from. Whilst on the subject where did the promissory notes money magically from ?

[Keane]

Don't know where he got that number. There's 200,000 who earn over 100k. That's from 2m who work full-time (those earning over 18k a year), so its 1 in 10.

Plus there's way more households earning over 100k as no-one would choose to be joint-assessed in a decently high double-income family, as individual assessment gives better tax treatment (that's still right, yeah?), so very decent proportion of the 300,000 earning 60-99k will be in 100k households.

I would say 15-20% of the population are in 100k plus households, with it more likely to be towards the upper end of that range.

Median income for full-time workers is €37k, so a median family by default is on around €75k. Doesn't need too much of a stretch to get over 100k.

Thanks a lot for that, very interesting. Didn't actually realise the bolded bit, good to know in light of recent life milestones!

Keane: the key phrase was 'jointly assessed'

Yeah I had no idea it was better to be individually assessed above €X

[Dice75]

Have you annoyed yourself into voting FF?

My first preference is likely to miss out by one or two spots so I have to think long and hard about number 2 down.

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[Solksjaer!]

Can someone point out the benefits of being assessed separately?

[Dice75]

Thanks a lot for that, very interesting. Didn't actually realise the bolded bit, good to know in light of recent life milestones!

Probably saw it and have forgotten, but?

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[Guest]

Yeah I had no idea it was better to be individually assessed above €X

Me either. How is this the case?

[Denny Crane]

individual assessment gives better tax treatment

I can't see how that's true?

[elbows]

I can't see how that's true?

It’s not

[balfejohn]

This weeks news
Next weeks chip paper

Sadly for the Quinn family they will go on looking for answers while our media and politicians will forget the barbaric murder
We didn’t hear much unless the family reminded us around the yearly anniversary
Safe to say it’s politically motivated and the poor family are the pawns been put forward

[Strewelpeter]

I thought it was that jointly assessed was better where you have one large and one small income

[Raoul Duke III]

Fair enough for individuals making 100k+ but would have thought there would be shitloads of 60k + 40k couples out there.



I thought the exact same thing.



I think ignoring the fact that there are GOAT levels of shit situations in health, congestion, housing, homelessness, child care, insurance etc is as bad as expecting someone to fix everything with a magic money tree.

FG have done some great stuff but so many important parts of peoples' daily lives are in absolute bits.

Their big election promise last time was to scrap the USC and they got tanked. They're talking about tax cuts across the board this time and it looks like they're going to get tanked again. I really think people are finding it hard to trust them to reverse the downward trends in services in a timely manner. It's pretty clear in the last bunch of years people care a lot more about fixing public services than tax cuts.

So then be honest and say "we'll spend 10bn p.a. extra on health and housing but USC goes to 15% and you'll pay property tax at 5k a year on the average home'.

Let's see how that goes down.

[Denny Crane]

Where's that data from Hitch, would be interesting to chart up?

[Raoul Duke III]

My first preference is likely to miss out by one or two spots so I have to think long and hard about number 2 down.

Which constituency are you? We can play 'spot Dice's No 1'.

I'm Dublin Bay North but my first preference is blindingly obvious. Probably the best performing Minister of the last decade.

[Guest]

I thought it was that jointly assessed was better where you have one large and one small income

I think this.

It only becomes advantageous to move tax credits between individuals in the event that one person is not fully using them so when one income is below 16.5k?

Perhaps wrong, curious what Hitch says too.

[DeadParrot]

I've seen insurance being mentioned a few times as part of government failings.
I'm not entirely sure I know what they are talking about?

[Dice75]

Which constituency are you? We can play 'spot Dice's No 1'.

I'm Dublin Bay North but my first preference is blindingly obvious. Probably the best performing Minister of the last decade.

Dublin SW - bit of a pain since they moved around the constituencies

[DeadParrot]

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[Lazare]

Hitch, I saw you tweeted the other day doubting Nike's claims re Vapourflys.

It's definitely insanely clever marketing alright with their timing launching during the Olympic qualifying window, but their claims are true. This is a great article on the subject.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2408971/nike-vaporfly-controversy#close

Can't see myself racing in them, wouldn't feel right.

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[Dice75]

oh that is a bit of a dodgy one.

Yeah, they moved the borders and shifted constituencies so have gone from historically strong (like 'em or not) TD's like Brennan, Kitt, Shatter, Liz O'Donnell, Olivia Mitchell, Ryan & Ross to Sean Crowe & Paul Murphy.

[Keane]

Which constituency are you? We can play 'spot Dice's No 1'.

I'm Dublin Bay North but my first preference is blindingly obvious. Probably the best performing Minister of the last decade.

Presume Richard Bruton? I actually haven't paid much attention to what's been going on in education over the last few years bar that he removed the Catholic requirement which is great. Any other cliffnote highlights? I don't recall anything he did on environment.

So then be honest and say "we'll spend 10bn p.a. extra on health and housing but USC goes to 15% and you'll pay property tax at 5k a year on the average home'.

Let's see how that goes down.

I absolutely agree with you. I think all three of FF, FG & SF have engaged in auction stuff during this campaign and I'm pretty reticent about voting for any of them for that reason.

In fairness, the Greens, Soc Dems and Labour all seem to be fairly honest that if we want to improve services we can't cut taxes but the Greens are a bit nuts, the Soc Dems are a bit irrelevant and Labour are a bit meh.

I think the good old grand coalition might be the best thing for the short term but how that would play out over 20 years is up for grabs.

Probably saw it and have forgotten, but?

I got engaged!

[ionapaul]

Anyone have any idea, however rough, on the size of the different poker rooms around Ireland?

How many tables possible in the Macau in Cork, in Fitzpatricks in Limerick, the Eglinton in Galway, 4 Kings in Santry, etc...?

[Lao Lao]

I work with some a lot of bat shit crazy people but two of the best lines I've heard in the last few days are


'I'm cold, don't know why, it's like 12 degrees outside and the Air Con is set to 22 degrees in the office, don't know how I can be cold at almost 35 degrees!'

AND


'When I eat out, I always pick something I couldn't cook at home myself, like steak'

[mcnugget]

I think I’d prefer a minister for finance without charisma, a steady hand on the tiller so to speak.

Yes, me too.

But it’s not so good for general elections, certainly not when combined with Harris, Coveney and Leo. With the benefit of hindsight it seems obvious now that such a lineup would really struggle to resonate with the Plain People of Ireland.

[Denny Crane]

Going to be away this weekend but I'd be surprised if my good blue blooded neighbours installed Chris Andrews.

[Raoul Duke III]

Yes, me too.

But it’s not so good for general elections, certainly not when combined with Harris, Coveney and Leo. With the benefit of hindsight it seems obvious now that such a lineup would really struggle to resonate with the Plain People of Ireland.

People liked Bertie, let's bring him back.

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[Raoul Duke III]

oh that is a bit of a dodgy one.

Struggling to identify Dice's pick so will just assume it's Paul Murphy.