Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know before 9am…
1. #PENSIONS: Brendan Howlin has announced plans to increase levies on the pensions of former public servants – but already the measures have been criticised for their weakness. Under the new regime, former Taoisigh like Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen only lose around €80 a week – in a package that will only save around €400,000 a year.
2. #ESRI: The State’s economic think-tank has warned that Ireland could face another Great Depression – arguing that even though we’re complying with the Troika’s demands, problems elsewhere could ruin our export-led recovery. The ESRI says the economy will only grow by 0.9 per cent next year, with unemployment potentially rising to 20 per cent in the coming years.
3. #EUROZONE: There is some good economic news, though – late last night it was confirmed that eurozone finance ministers had signed off on the latest batch of bailout loans to Ireland, while Greece is also getting the long-awaited batch of its bailout loans, averting a catastrophic default. Leaders also agreed to ‘leverage’ the European bailout fund to give it a greater power to lend to struggling countries – but are looking to the IMF to play a larger role, featuring that their own efforts simply aren’t enough.
4. #ABUSE: Six different reports into clerical abuses in Irish Catholic dioceses are to be published today. Chief among them will be a report on abuse in the Diocese of Raphoe, which has garnered much publicity over complaints of how it has handled the reporting of abuse.
5. #HSE: Staff at the HSE have been told that they will not be reimbursed for their usual travel expenses and subsistence costs for the rest of the year – because it simply can’t afford to pay them. The HSE has been informed that it cannot run over Budget for the year but having already spent more than was originally intended, there isn’t enough cash to pay the usual allowances to staff, including carers who help vulnerable people in their homes in rural areas.
6. #STRIKES: The UK is preparing for a day of intense strike action, as millions go on strike in the largest display of industrial action since the 1970s. Those hoping to take public transport to Northern Ireland are warned that alternative transport arrangements are being put in place, as public transport workers in the North are taking part in the anti-austerity action.
7. #BETTER THAN PARIS: Yes, that’s right. Dublin is better than Paris. That’s the finding of a new global survey by Mercer, which has ranked Dublin as the 26th best place in the world to live. Vienna has topped the list; Baghdad, perhaps unsurprisingly, is ranked as the worst city of those involved.
8. #JUDGES PAY: The Dáil has passed legislation imposing a major pay cut in the wages of judges, following last month’s referendum which removed a Constitutional bar on doing so. The Bill now goes to the Seanad next week.
9. #EVERY SIX SECONDS: The old anecdote you know, about how often men think about naughty things? Turns out it’s not true, at all. While men do regularly find their minds straying into matters carnal – contemplating such things, on average, 19 times a day – they only think about it every 50 minutes or so.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Let’s hope these Islamist bullies are routed for good.
For once the French aren’t in retreat.
At Dunkirk the Brits retreated and had to get rescued by fishermen…no mention of that eh.Took America,Britain AND Russia to stop Germany,all this French bashing is British tabloid nonsense.
That’s a ridiculous response. The French capitulated and left britain alone. Anyone who minimises the British effort in the war hasn’t read their history. The British navy and airforce held off the German advance single handedly until the Germans invaded Russia. Had Britain been defeated there would have been a single eastern front and America would have faced a German Europe. Even if you can’t stand the British you can’t ignore their resolution and defiance which, they maintained solely for the preservation of freedom not imperialist ambition. Second World War is a stain on France’s history.
Riobard, anyone who knows history knows about Dunkirk. I learnt about it in school. You must have been asleep.
Joes comment was in relation to a specific incident not the entire war and my comment was the same.If you want an indepth critical analysis go read a book!
A bit ironic. If you had read a book in the first place then this conversation never would happened.
Riobaird, anyone who has learnt about WW2 knows about Dunkirk. It’s mentioned all the time in books, movies etc
Pat, I see your writing idiotic comment out of your a***, some history and perspective would be welcome.
When Germany invaded France they faced two armies that were quickly beaten (one of them was British btw). No other armies would have stand against Germany at that time. The Allies were badly organised and badly commanded (and were faced by very organised and efficient German troops), which doesn’t diminish the valour of the soldiers that lost there live during that battle and they don’t deserve your spit. The remaining of the French army hold seven division in the siege of Lille, just long enough to let the British escape across the channel. THAT channel did more to protect them from a German invasion than anything else.
With more than half a million dead including more than 200,000 soldiers, if stain there is, it’s a huge blood stain that France paid, (like so many others nations in Europe).
@Robert Mangan. What has Dunkirk got to do with Mali? You have a peculiar mindset. Anyway, It must be nice for you each morning as you wake and breathe in the Australian air…as you watch the flag fluttering in the breeze…with the Union Jack in the top corner. Knowing that Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth is your Head of State. Irony much?
My spit? I had no intention of in any point in my argument of disrespecting the lives of the soldiers that fought. I was arguing against undermining the role Britain played in the Second World War and how close the world came to Being under nazi hegemony.
The French do have a stain on their history in this war and through no fault of their men at arms. If memory serves there was an agreement between Great Britain and the French government that neither country would surrender without the other. Even a Anglo franco union was proposed. Churchill was promised that France would never surrender only to do so promptly once things turned ugly. French had the second/third biggest navy in the world and her colonial empire and could have fought in exile like so many other European nations. Instead she surrendered and organised a Vichy government effectively forcing GB to sink her fleet whilst it lay in docks. The stain on French history is not the action of its soldiers but of its government in surrendering.
I agree that Britain’s island isolation was its greatest strategic advantage but to me Germany circumventing the Maginot line was the biggest fundamental co@k up in military history.
I sound like I’m preaching and that was not my intention but Britain’s role in the Second World War should never be marginalised and that comment infuriated me.
Has Dunkirk moved to Mali?
Throughout history the French have actually won the most wars.
That’s true, and Liverpool are historically the most successful team in England. Historically being the key word there.
Viva LA France!
It’s “vive”.
I’m confused as to why the term ‘Islamists’ is used so many times in the article and only at one point ‘Islamists extremists’.
Can we get a definition of Islamist from the author?
It seems the term is too broad in the context that it is being used without being described.
we all know what it means
@Seamus: Go on…
Great to see comedy is alive and well on this site.
Have a friend who was a merc in south america in the 70s and all the shit that is going on in africa is still the same, the old colonial powers are trying to secure the resources (be it gold or oil) so use any excuse to send the army in, then once it leaves the mercs stay on to ensure the agreements are kept, so take a second look at whats happening now in africa, middle east and south america
‘Mali the Musical’.
coming to web site near you!!!
have your say