David Maddox is the political editor of Express Online. ***** Kevin and myself always appreciate feedback from listeners, we try to reply when we can, but Aengus Ryan send in a sound file, which is great cos I can include it in the podcast. I think this is an important question, and I think that […]

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn is Sinn Féin’s chief whip. *****

Mario Rosenstock is a comedian and impressionist, and creator of TodayFM’s Gift Grub. ***** Here’s something about the Chinese economy. China’s ‘investment’ in real estate makes Ireland’s property obsession seem breezy and carefree. Just before our crash, 12 per cent of our economy was house-building. Even if Chinese GDP figures are true, then their reliance […]

Ben Habib is one of the deputy leaders of Reform UK, the new name for The Brexit Party founded by Nigel Farage.

I misspoke during the interview, I wrongly said that Reginald Dyer, the butcher of Amritsar, was Jewish. I should have said that Edwin Montagu, the Liberal MP and Secretary for India, who did not support Dyre, was Jewish, and the resulting campaign against him by Conservative MPs (in support of Dyre) had a strong and explicit antisemitic element.

Ben’s claim that the then Brexit Party, for which he was an MEP, provided a majority of the non-white or ethnic minority members of the 2019 European Parliament doesn’t seem to be correct; a Reform Party spokesperson clarified that they meant that all British MEPs provided a majority of ethnic minority members of the EP. The EP told us that they don’t collect this information, but reporting here and here indicates that isn’t the case, and the Brexit Party had the lowest proportion of ethnic minorities among its MEPs, of all Britain-wide parties although that isn’t a really valid comparison given the small numbers involved.

Notwithstanding all that, I think Ben’s wider point is valid, that while it is imperfect like any country, the UK has a relatively good record on race relations compared to many continental European countries.

*****

John will be 40 next April, or he would be, if he lived. But he didn’t.

He died.

He died of 28 stab wounds, which he suffered shortly after his birth in 1984. Neither John’s parents nor his murderer have ever been identified, though we can guess that there may be some overlap there given that, a short time later, his newborn body, partially decomposed, was washed ashore, with 28 stab wounds, near Cahersiveen.

But the fact that his parents and/or murderers were never identified didn’t stop some people from jumping to conclusions.

At about the same time, 80 km to the north-east in Abbeydorney, also in Kerry, there was a woman who had what was known at the time – this was the 1980s – she had a reputation.

What that meant was she came from a poor farming family, they didn’t have much education, and she had a boyfriend. Who was married. To someone else. That sort of thing that would get you a reputation in rural Ireland at the time, and not a reputation that would do you any good.

It certainly didn’t do Joanne Hayes any good and, when it was observed locally that she was pregnant, I think we can conclude that congratulations and best wishes were not the first things that came to the minds, or the lips, of many of her neighbours.

When it was evident that Joanne was no longer pregnant, and there was no sign of a baby, that surely drew attention. When the John’s tiny, murdered body was washed ashore, 80 km down the coast, it was probably reasonable to ask questions. Confirmation bias is a powerful thing. The gardaí arrested Joanne and her entire family.

Aubrey McCarthy is the founder and chairman of Tiglin, a charity that provides services to homeless people. ***** I listen to podcasts quite a bit in arrears. I’m not too worried about being current, I suppose, and I was just listening to a David McWilliams podcast from August, he was talking about the banks, not […]

James Ker-Lindsay is Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. His research focuses on conflict, peace and security in South East Europe (Western Balkans, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus), European Union enlargement, and secession and recognition in international politics. ***** Donald Trump is going to jail. That’s a whole big story in itself, the reason why Donald […]

Janie Lazar is the chair of End of Life Ireland. ***** Some people have said some things about my level of political insight, thanks to them, even if I don’treally think it’s that impressive most of the time. Actually, whatever level of insight that I do have, Ithink is just down to two habits. One […]

Josie Appleton is the director of the Manifesto Club. ***** You might think that you’re not familiar with the CE symbol, but you probably are, I’m sure you’ve seen it thousands of times. I can’t show you a picture of it in audio format, but the symbol is two semi-circles, the first one making a […]

Pauline O’Reilly is the Green Party spokesperson on Education and Higher Education and Senator and the cathaoirleach of the Green Party. ***** I heard Mark O’Halloran on an old episode the Mario Rosenstock Podcast recently, he talked very articulately about how the housing crisis affects him, how he as a man in his 50s has […]

Repeats on podcasts don’t always make a lot of sense, but if you are subscribed, you’ll know that I put up a podcast from 2019 into the feed again last week; the podcast was an investigation into RTÉ and their relationship with the AA which supplied them with AA Roadwatch, the erstwhile traffic news segments. […]