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Virgin trains faced accusations of censorship by not stocking the pro-Brexit paper. Rui Vieira

Virgin Trains to resume selling Daily Mail after strong criticism

“We must not ever be seen to be censoring what our customers read and influencing their freedom of choice,” he has said.

VIRGIN BOSS RICHARD Branson said today he would resume offering the right-wing tabloid the Daily Mail on his trains in Britain after a decision not to stock them sparked accusations of censorship last week.

Branson, who supports Britain staying in the EU, had come under fire after Virgin Trains decided to stop offering the pro-Brexit paper.

“Freedom of speech, freedom of choice and tolerance for differing views are the core principles of any free and open society,” Branson said in a statement.

“While Virgin Trains has always said that their passengers are free to read whatever newspaper they choose on board West Coast trains, it is clear that on this occasion the decision to no longer sell The Mail has not been seen to live up to these principles.

“We must not ever be seen to be censoring what our customers read and influencing their freedom of choice. Nor must we be seen to be moralising on behalf of others,” he wrote on the company website.

Virgin Trains had told staff in a memo that it would no longer stock the Daily Mail because of the paper’s “editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights and unemployment”.

It said the paper was “not at all compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs”.

The Daily Mail responded that it had been informed that the company was restricting sales to just three newspapers – the Daily Mirror, Financial Times and the Times – “to save space”.

It added: “They gave no other reason, but it may be no coincidence that all those titles, like Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, are pro-Remain,” meaning they all opposed Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit campaigner, had also weighed into the row, tweeting: “Absurd ban on Daily Mail by Virgin! Pompous, censorious and wrong #virginontheridiculous”.

© AFP 2018 

Read: ‘The boss of Irish Rail is quitting and moving to Australia’

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    Mute TheTrustedChalice
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    Mar 29th 2019, 12:16 AM

    Delaney OUT

    134
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    Mute Shane Murphy
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    Mar 29th 2019, 8:13 AM

    @TheTrustedChalice: boycott the match we have already won on tenth June against Gibraltar! Take control. Stand up and don’t bE counted as an aviva statistic! Stop being a cash cow. #delaneyout

    22
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    Mute Barra O Brien
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    Mar 29th 2019, 2:27 AM

    The 4 year option was to placate Ranelagh residents who didn’t want to lose their rat run for a few months. Good to see us repeating our transport mistakes over and over

    121
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    Mute Shane Murphy
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    Mar 29th 2019, 8:17 AM

    @Barra O Brien: The plan is now for a tram to cross dunville avenue every minute at peak time. It will be the Berlin Wall of trams, effectively shutting dunville Avenue. It’s the length of closure on parts of he green line and cost to go further out by tunnel , that has brought us to where we are! The cost of this is astronomical by Irish standards for an infrastructure project ;we will be lucky if this proposed scheme even gets built. If they won’t tunnel a little further due to cost, they are never, EVER! Tunneling to some pipe dream location of eamon Ryan’s. Now hurry up and get the tbm in the ground before the next recession, I can see this project being canned , like metro north, when economic circumstances change again! Which they probably will before the tbm is in the ground …

    21
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    Mute Chicinho
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    Mar 29th 2019, 12:31 PM

    @Barra O Brien: as basket case as Australia is, rarely, check out Melbourne’s rail intersections project!
    Nightly disruption but long term solution! Zero daily impact other than through off peak day times…eg Xmas etc. Pay staff more but get shit done us the goal. Making that palatable for voters is secondary. And planning for live inception is weeks not years…just do it, like Puma Smith said …or was it Greek victors Nike Murpholopos

    5
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    Mute Ruairi Hickey
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    Mar 29th 2019, 6:39 AM

    I lived in Japan for a few years in the 90s and while we were there our local train station was moved from a 2 platform, 2 line overground station to a 4 platform underground station without a single interruption to the service. They were then able to build on top of this.
    4 years is a joke.

    Ruairi

    69
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    Mute Shane Murphy
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    Mar 29th 2019, 8:16 AM

    @Ruairi Hickey: that’s what happens when they have four supervisors and one worker!

    24
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    Mute 8kyPERIe
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    Mar 29th 2019, 9:46 AM

    @Ruairi Hickey: Look at any other major city in tbe developed world & you will see a better model. If I remember correctly, Dublin is used as a sample of how not to build a city due to our urban sprawl and over emphasis on car travel over city trams etc

    26
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    Mute Cllr. Shay Brennan
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    Mar 29th 2019, 9:19 AM

    So options are:

    1) Close minor rd in Ranelagh, disrupt Luas for 3mts, have full metro to Sandyford

    2) Keep minor rd in Ranelagh open, increase costs to lengthen tunnel, disrupt Luas for 4yrs, have full Metro

    3) Keep minor rd in Ranelagh open, increase costs to lengthen tunnel, disrupt Luas for 8mts – 12 mts to lengthen platforms for longer trams, have no Metro

    Looks like we’re heading for option 3!!!

    41
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    Mute Tom
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    Mar 29th 2019, 9:27 AM

    @Cllr. Shay Brennan:
    Indeed.

    This fact check is BS anyway because the four years plan was one they were forced to prepare only for those demanding it to then turn around and beat the planners over the head with it.

    This tactic will be rolled out for every future infrastructure project!

    Invent a worse case scenario and then point at it with the ‘dailymail sad face’!

    18
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    Mute Shane Murphy
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    Mar 29th 2019, 10:09 AM

    @Cllr. Shay Brennan: you have my vote shay! I’ll see you on Wednesday!

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    Mute Shane Murphy
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    Mar 29th 2019, 10:10 AM

    @Cllr. Shay Brennan: you have my vote shay! I’ll see you on Wednesday! The time lines for all this work seem ridiculous, I’d like to know what they have been in other countries with similar projects!

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    Mute joe
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    Mar 29th 2019, 10:11 AM

    @Cllr. Shay Brennan: nail on the head!

    2
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    Mute joe
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    Mar 29th 2019, 10:14 AM

    @Tom: 100% agree. Don’t know what the Journal’s agenda is on this (does someone on their team live near beechwood?) but the 4 years thing is a complete fallacy!

    5
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    Mute Brigid Ní Raghallaigh
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    Mar 29th 2019, 1:50 PM

    @Cllr. Shay Brennan: Surely the residents of the minor road were in favour of closing it or turning it into a cul de sac..? Isn’t that the dream, or am I missing something?

    1
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    Mute Dublin YIMBY
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    Mar 29th 2019, 2:01 PM

    @Cllr. Shay Brennan: Not quite – option 3 will also eventually result in the closure of that minor road to cars due to the increased frequency of Luas trams crossing it!

    The short-sightedness of these locals astounds me!

    3
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    Mute Shane Murphy
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    Mar 29th 2019, 4:53 PM

    @Dublin YIMBY: the locals aren’t making the decisions. It’s the spineless politicians on cost and with an eye on the elections. Hopefully they lose more votes than they win from this farce !

    1
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    Mute Cormac McKay Dublin
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    Mar 29th 2019, 12:42 AM

    Listen what ever the NTA’s plan is delivering 20th century transport infrastructure in 8 years time in 2027 is going to be obsolete destructive primitive outdated overpriced transport infrastructure not fit for purpose in the 21st century unless you’re in a time warp in 2027 transport infrastructure technology is going to be so advanced that delivering MetroLink or busconnects is going to be so primative that it’s number goal to convince people to use public transport has no chance of being achieved who the f wants to use a bus or train with self driving cars you can pay by the journey or subscription

    33
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    Mute Al Madzer
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    Mar 29th 2019, 1:15 AM

    @Cormac McKay Dublin: what now? In English with punctuation please, if possible?

    97
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    Mute Vocal Outrage
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    Mar 29th 2019, 1:44 AM

    @Cormac McKay Dublin: firstly, can we have some punctuation please, for a man who has run for election twice for DDI it’s not too much to ask.
    Secondly, if I have deciphered your code correctly your proposal is to dispense with public transport and have us all using low occupancy vehicles, irrelevant if they are self drive or not, I’d have though all the roads that will have to be built to service such an inefficient means of transport would also be considered primitive

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    Mute Barra O Brien
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    Mar 29th 2019, 2:22 AM

    @Cormac McKay Dublin: Are you suggesting a Dublin loop or do you think self driving cars eliminate traffic?

    23
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    Mute Ian McNally
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    Mar 29th 2019, 7:51 AM

    @Cormac McKay Dublin: ahh cormac DDI never disappoint with their raving conspiracy theories and magical unicorn solutions

    13
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    Mute Mushy Peas
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    Mar 29th 2019, 8:43 AM

    @Cormac McKay Dublin: in all seriousness, I would never vote for someone using English in that fashion. Cormac, if you wish to run for public office, I suggest you present yourself better to the electorate.

    12
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    Mute Fr. Fintan Stack
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    Mar 29th 2019, 9:09 AM

    @Cormac McKay Dublin: cormacyourtheorymaybecorrectorpieintheskybuticantfullyunderstandit

    10
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    Mute Cormac McKay Dublin
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    Mar 29th 2019, 4:02 PM

    @Fr. Fintan Stack: As someone who is dyslexic English writing is not my strength.

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    Mute Cormac McKay Dublin
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    Mar 29th 2019, 4:03 PM

    @Vocal Outrage: as someone who is dyslexic English writing is not my strength!

    1
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    Mute Wreck Tangle
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    Mar 29th 2019, 4:21 PM

    @Cormac McKay Dublin:

    Try spellcheck. It’s one of the many 20th century solutions that’s fit for purpose in the 21st century!

    4
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    Mute Fr. Fintan Stack
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    Mar 29th 2019, 6:31 PM

    @Cormac McKay Dublin: OK appologiies . I put my foot in it didn’t I.

    1
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    Mute steve white
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    Mar 29th 2019, 12:15 AM

    the question should be was disrupting the luas for 4 years the only way to the metro all the way?

    21
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    Mute joe
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    Mar 29th 2019, 9:04 AM

    It is completely false! Four years was only to keep nimbys in Ranelagh happy. The plan was 3 months and they should have stuck by it!

    22
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    Mute Dublin Commuter Coalition
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    Mar 29th 2019, 10:18 AM

    The Green Line is 19km long.
    The section between Charlemont and Sandyford is 7.5km long and was the only section to be effected.

    For a Fact Check article to state that 39% of the Green Line being disrupted means that the entire line would be closed is amateurish.

    16
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    Mute Wreck Tangle
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    Mar 29th 2019, 1:45 PM

    These stories drive me crazy. Dublin is a capital city with too many people forced to drive private vehicles because the transport system is substandard. In order to improve this, people have to accept that they will face inconvenience! If everyone says not near my house, then nothing can change.

    I’m lucky to live in Zurich where I can travel anywhere in the city by public transport. It’s normally less convenient to travel by car! It’s true some streets are divided by tram lines etc. but it benefits the overall population living here.

    11
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    Mute Shane Murphy
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    Mar 29th 2019, 8:11 AM

    The plan is now for a tram to cross dunville avenue every minute at peak time. It will be the Berlin Wall of trams, effectively shutting dunville Avenue. It’s the length of closure on parts of he green line and cost to go further out by tunnel , that has brought us to where we are! The cost of this is astronomical by Irish standards for an infrastructure project ;we will be lucky if this proposed scheme even gets built. If they won’t tunnel a little further due to cost, they are never, EVER! Tunneling to some pipe dream location of eamon Ryan’s. Now hurry up and get the tbm in the ground before the next recession, I can see this project being canned , like metro north, when economic circumstances change again! Which they probably will before the tbm is in the ground …

    10
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    Mute paul kelly
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    Mar 29th 2019, 3:04 PM

    I wonder is the billion plus overrun on the NCH anything to do with it?

    4
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