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IRISH SINGER AND sax player Paddy Cole has died, aged 85.
The Co Monaghan native was a showband veteran, joining his first band at the age of 15 before moving onto the Capitol Showband in the 1960s.
The ‘King of the Swingers’ had a lengthy career in broadcasting, hosting a weekly music programme on Sunshine Radio, often playing much of the same music he performed live.
Cole played in many showbands throughout the 1960s into the early 2020s as a solo act. He published his memoirs, ‘King of the Swingers’, in 2020.
Cole was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2022. He continued to host his radio programme and recently told The Sunday World that he was under the care of a hospice.
He was a frequent performer on RTÉ television and on stages around the country, playing a range of pop, country, swing, jazz and Dixieland – a style that Cole encapsulated.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said he was saddened to learn of the death of Paddy Cole, describing him as an exceptional music talent, gifted performer and a warm-spirited person.
Monaghan Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy has paid tribute to the singer, describing him as a musical legend and proud Monaghan man.
“He will sadly be missed,” he said, sending his condolences to his family and loved ones.
Steven Travers, of the Miami Showband, has expressed sorrow at the loss of his peer.
“I’m very sorry to learn that my friend and great Showband superstar, Paddy Cole, has passed away. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis,” he said in a post online.
President Michael D Higgins has also paid tribute in a statement this evening.
“The loss of Paddy Cole is the loss of one of the founding icons of the great period of the Irish showbands,” Higgins said.
“From the Capitol Showband to the great brass sound, what Paddy Cole did for music and for jazz will be remembered across generations.”
President Higgins added that though the showband era is “perhaps one of the insufficiently recognised” aspects of the Irish music history, many places became famous for the artists they produced.
“Castleblayney, always known as ‘Blayney’, is one such place for producing Paddy.”
“Paddy Cole’s music was first class, with jazz of international quality, and Sabina and I knew and admired him as a friend. May I send our condolences to Paddy’s wife, Helen, to his children Pat, Pearse and Karen, and to all of his family, fellow musicians and many friends.”
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Climate change is natural it has always happened when the politicians and media and the so called scientists keep saying were causing the earth’s climate to change and the people who say it’s not the name calling and the cancelling starts.
@brendan C5: sure, but now its happening much faster and at a rate that will make it impossible for us (and nature that we depend on) to adapt.
@brendan C5: natural. Wake up Brendan.
@brendan C5: You are correct, it has always happened. But if you check, every historical climate change has had a cause: volcanic activity, meteor strike, etc. There’s no catastrophic natural explanation for the current climate change, all the evidence points to human activities. However human behaviour will not change quickly enough to address the looming crisis, for a variety or reasons. Events rather than government decisions will eventually force it on us.
@brendan C5: I’m just curious, why would you think they’re doing that and what would they gain from it. And also, what exactly is the issue with reducing pollution anyway?
@brendan C5: What’s the difference in your opinion of a “climate change” or epoch that occurs every 100,000-500,000 years, and this current one that has been accelerating in an exponential fashion in the last 70 years directly in line with economic growth=oil consumption.
Or is that just woke DEI PC CRT ABC nonsense to ya?
@Rui Firmino: reducing pollution means reducing their sense of manhood . Terrifying!
A load of bollox and I mean it, the thoughts of handing billions in fines to Europe is nauseating. And to think we signed up for this.
@Eric Gaffney: Well, if you mean it, it must be serious. You seem like a guy who really knows his stuff and has the evidence to prove it.
@Name: OK “Name”.
@Eric Gaffney: god you’re a laugh
@Be Low Below: Just call me Eric
Climate change is caused by the sun, which is on its way to becoming a red giant.
@Thomas O’Brien: It has been on its way to becoming a red giant since it became a yellow dwarf. Some climate change is caused by the sun, not all.
@Diarmuid Hunt:
It was never a yellow dwarf.
@Thomas O’Brien: give this guy the Nobel Prize. He has all the answers.
@Name:
Which guy.
@Thomas O’Brien: The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star, also known as a yellow dwarf or G dwarf. Other examples of a yellow dwarf are Alpha-Centauri and Tau-Ceti, for example.
@Michael Grimes (Mike):
Yes I know, but thanks for staying up late to explain that to everyone.
@Thomas O’Brien: You said that it wasn’t… well done on contradicting yourself and proving you haven’t a clue.
@Thomas O’Brien: So why did you say it was never a yellow dwarf if you knew it was? And what does it matter time of the day or night that I choose to post a comment?
@Diarmuid Hunt:
I knew it would get some people worked up, just like you.
@Thomas O’Brien: I’m not worked up, I just think you’re an eejit, no emotional reaction or attachment associated with that statement.
@Diarmuid Hunt:
Try not to be so angry.
Well, we had a shot……& we ( I certainly) voted for the GREENS in 2020′—- thought ‘ mmm, these are the bucks that’ll address the climate crisis with equality, fairness & common sense to the forefront ‘…….what a let down….self serving idiots only interested feathering their own nests…… that spell of the greenies being at the top table will cosy us dearly in the long run
@Mary Linton: You really ought to quit your multi-account fakery.
@Mary Linton: How many votes did you get to cast or do they not give each of your Journal accounts a vote?
@Brendan O’Brien: one account = one VOTE, certainly HAD learned my lesson— nothing for the greenies back in Nov, delighted at their annihilation
@Mary Linton: You continuously ridicule climate action in your other trolling profiles. You are fibbing as usual.
@Brendan O’Brien: oh, the knuckle dragging neanderthal is in full cry….. ‘ ridicule’ climate change & global warming till the the cows come home….I’m waiting for for some homophonic juvenile insults now….. cmon. Get at it son
@Mary Linton: you’re so easy to wind up lol. All of you
Can anyone tell us, who is underwriting John Gibbons?.
@Donal Ronan: I always laugh at these comments. If climate advocacy is some type of racket, please let me know where I can cash in. Meanwhile, gullible idiots lap up the actual propaganda paid for with hundreds of millions by the fossil fuel industry.
@Name: You didn’t answer what was a genuine question.
Nowhere can I find any qualifications for the author.
For your information, the EU court of auditors, have serious doubts about the EU funding NGO’s that help to push/facilitate the Commission agenda.
@Donal Ronan: It’s an opinion piece, ‘Underwritten’?… have you been asleep since the advent of social media or something… we’re all experts now.
For posterity: “he is not underwritten in the traditional sense, rather supported by The Journal, Advertising revenue and an upcoming book release with Penguin”… So today (for me anyway) he’s being paid by Pandora / Dominos pizza, as a direct result of our readership and activity, I do enjoy the equality of commerce in this respect, that no matter how much someone seethes at egotistical offence (not saying you) they still contribute : )
Christ all mighty, Europe gets hot in the summer every year.
I have been to southern and eastern Europe for the last 50 years and it was 40 degrees plus all that time ago as well
@Max: well done Max. The data must be wrong so, scientists also. They don’t know what they’re talking about surely.
@Max: the difference now is the duration and frequency of extreme weather events, but sure keep your head in the sand and listen to the fossil industry propaganda, If you have kids and if they manage to reach your age they’ll wish they were never born, that’s the reality
@Mike B: Max is illiterate
Southern Europe has always hit the 40′s in June and July, don’t go there if you don’t like it.
@Eric Gaffney: What about the people who live there: should they leave?
Record temperatures in Serbia, Slovenia and Spain in the past few days. Maybe if you keep denying them they will go away?
@Brendan O’Brien: Digital thermometer sensors in poorly sited locations influenced by artificial surfaces does not make for record temperatures. At the current rate of desperation for record setting after record setting, the average joe with a €69 Lidl weather station will be able to ‘claim a national record’ on their roof. It’s becoming a joke at this stage.
We can only account for ourselves and our own behaviour- in that regard we are never powerless.
@Tess Carr: It’s pointless having control of one’s own decisions and resources when they’re equivalent to a bucket of water in an ocean and there are countless others who don’t care but are in control of the equivalent of swimming pools and entire river flows.
@Stephen Wallis: well, you forget the simple fact that a sheer minority of people are in possession of said resources
The only mistake the author is possibly making here is assuming people will be phased by all the stark warnings. I suppose this is what appeasement to the threat feels like; we are all marching with our eyes wide open into the abyss.
@Name: heat records broken again in Europe . Decades of data pointing to global warming . It seems people don’t believe in climate change because they don’t want to believe – maybe its consequences are too intimidating . Also it has been politicalized , associated with woke , the Left and tax increases . Then you have DiCaprio celebrity types , who use the cause to raise their profile , while simultaneously making use of jets and super yachts . Science is neither Left nor Right , it is the objective truth . Scientists are not infallible , but they don’t get things continuously wrong . If man – made climate change is true , the evidence will become painfully harder to ignore in the coming years .
@The Rossie: stop bursting their little bubbles
It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that humans are incapable of cooperating sufficiently to make the necessary changes. Economic, political, and social chaos are the risks.
@Joseph Lenihan: Look at the title photograph – a thermometer exposed directly to the sun as some sort of “see, 40C is the new normal” gotcha. Anyone who knows anything about recording climate is that you NEVER expose thermometers to the sun. The ones running around screeching the sky is falling down are an embarrassment to look at.
Surely a tax on private jets landing in airports would have a major effect
@pat malone: and investments of all kinds in fossil fuel assets, infrastructure, futures, stocks, advertising, lobbyists, think tanks, dividends, etc.
Take me to the time line where Al gore won the presidency.
We can only account for ourselves and our own behaviour- in that regard we are never powerless.
@Tess Carr: Bravo. Sense at last. That is the truth.
Time to tax the people to hell while doing with feck all other than to do some self congratulatory back pats as if we’re making a difference.
Here’s a ‘tip’ John… Stop publishing physical copies of your lecture to us mere ‘homosapiens’ and also, it might be an idea to know your audience in this ‘lunatic asylum’ [*footnote please refer to the bibliography *GBS]
This is possibly the most pretentious article that I have ever had the misfortune to read on this forum.
@Donna Fallon: Why does he need to tailor anything? He’s paid based on activity here, regardless of ones opinion
@Thesaltyurchin: John is a hysterical activist. He had to give up Twitter when most of the climate claims he made were easily debunked. A 30°C recorded in January was apparently a new record and John was saying yet more proof of Climate Change. When it was pointed out that the 30C was recorded over a Fire Station Car Park in southern Spain he then lashes back with climate change denier and other tropes. John is a student union politics level of debater – not able or willing to accept any pushback or counterance.
@Laois Weather: Fair enough, dunno much about him tbh, largely I put any human made circumstances (toward ourselves or the planet) down to cause and effect, and follow logic from there, as opposed to taking information as fact from opinion pieces OR chatrooms. lots of right wing hacks get paid doing similar on the other side of the coin.
@Thesaltyurchin: bingo
.
The ham fisted gammons in the comments airing their thick disingenuous ignorance says it all
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