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The Last Questions and Answers, 29th June

Simon McGarr — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:31:23 +0000

John Bowman

Questions and Answers, 1st December 2008

Simon McGarr — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:27:54 +0000

12:32 PM Simon McGarr - And we’re out.
12:32 PM Simon McGarr - Is it just me or does even the theme music sound tired?
11:38 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - you know the story about the pilots? they borrowed money to buy aer lingus shares at 2.90.
11:37 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - just watching this news about aer lingus.
11:33 PM Suzy Byrne - another boffin in audience talks pensions and money and the programme expires like the usual damp squib..
11:33 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - you should have to get legal advice before you enter a pension scheme. i’ve always said that.
11:32 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - jay advised all his employees to go into the self-administered schemes.
11:31 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - it works for vhi i suppose, so why not stretch the concept? these guys are good.
11:31 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - yes. allow companies to trade insolvent. that’s a brilliant idea.
11:30 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - batt seems quite interested.
11:30 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - let’s hope everyone doesn’t retire today;.
11:30 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - the bruni effect was the real cause of the PD downfall.
11:29 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - it’s easy to see why michael was so anxious to get out of politics.
11:29 PM Suzy Byrne - and cyclicals..
11:29 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - i love a good discussion about annuities.
11:27 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - indeed. the sound stack on my pc seems to have caved in.
11:26 PM Simon McGarr - Half way to the ideal.
11:26 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - i can see them but i can’t hear them.
11:25 PM Simon McGarr - Pension Timebomb? Nobody told me.
11:25 PM Simon McGarr - Tellingly, that ad break prompted more interesting discussion than the programme.
11:25 PM Simon McGarr - And we’re back.
11:24 PM Simon McGarr - Just noticed they’ve got one of those State Swirl logos.
11:24 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - bowman would have to take the show on tour if he wanted to have him on though. What with the injunction and all.
11:24 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - Stri eaming
11:23 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - that guy on the pat kenny show had the right idea.
11:23 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - there must have been too many people watching it. no point spending licence money on something like that.
11:23 PM Suzy Byrne - Sounds like it be another while before you watch again Antoin! But one night if you stick with it you might see a govt minister assaulted or take flight or something!
11:22 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - do rte not have any streaming at all on their site now?
11:22 PM Simon McGarr - Goodnight Valerie. Check in to find out tomorrow how it ends. My money`s on a twist ending where Matt Cooper kills Batt O’Keefe with a jigsaw.
11:22 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - still it’s good to see the government committing itself to competition in the transport sector.
11:21 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - i don’t know how i made that mistake.
11:21 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - sorry, since i watched.
11:21 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - i suppose it’s a while since I lost.
11:21 PM Suzy Byrne - definitely only middling boring this one…
11:21 PM Valerie Woods - I’m up at 6 bells in the am and have a gig tomorrow night and the following night, so I’m going to say goodnight to you all now. Goodnight!
11:20 PM Simon McGarr - That still puts it somewhere beyond reading a black and white pamphlet about someone else’s expreiences watching paint dry.
11:19 PM Valerie Woods - Don’t forget Bertie’s make up allowance….I don’t think Biffo spends that much in the auld tonsorial parlour
11:19 PM Simon McGarr - Antoin, those of us who carry the scars of boredom from previous liveblogs will attest that this is only middling boring.
11:18 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - all these people are very boring if you ask me.
11:17 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - Most of the panel, together with all of the audience believe that the decision of a state to own an airline is sort of a fashion or lifestyle decision, a little like a FAS CEO deciding whether to fly first class or privately, or a government minister deciding whether or not to have the aul’ nails done.
11:16 PM Suzy Byrne - Roy Keane and Sunderland – how long more will it last… Niamh Brennan knows nothing..
11:16 PM Valerie Woods - Management is management
11:16 PM Valerie Woods - I didn’t know that they had a tiff!
11:15 PM Valerie Woods - ?
11:15 PM Valerie Woods - Our Education minister can’t say million…how many millon is he realistically hoping to save
11:14 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - if that is how that word is indeed spelt.
11:14 PM Antoin O Lachtnain - I was not going to come, but i saw a bit of the discussion on aer lingus and i just had to pillory these nincumpoops.
11:14 PM Valerie Woods - If politicians and senior civil servants took meaningful pay cuts for a few years it would be a lot easier for people to listen to them telling them to “take the pain”
11:13 PM Simon McGarr - All the scoops here.
11:13 PM Simon McGarr - Inside info here: Batt O’Keefe once scolded his daughter for doing a jigsaw which encroached on his papers.
11:12 PM Valerie Woods - Solution found
11:12 PM Suzy Byrne - Matt Cooper is very quiet tonight! thankfully.
11:12 PM Simon McGarr - We just get Jay Bourke’s Daddy to pay for 3rd level fees.
11:11 PM Suzy Byrne - and bashes teachers for absenteeism….
11:11 PM Valerie Woods - That’s a comfort to know
11:11 PM Simon McGarr - And tells us that his Daddy used to top up the fees. Problem solved.
11:11 PM Valerie Woods - A large part of the problem is that senior public servants are grossly overpaid and out of touch with reality
11:11 PM Simon McGarr - Jay Bourke assures us that he’s a university graduate.
11:11 PM Suzy Byrne - she’s looking for more work/private contracts in change management…possibly..
11:11 PM Simon McGarr - Again, we’re told the government needs to live within its means. The spirit of Hubert Hoover is alive and well in Ireland.
11:10 PM Valerie Woods - It isn’t in the long term interest of the country for our labour force to have it’s quality eroded
11:10 PM Simon McGarr - Struggling though life.
11:09 PM Suzy Byrne - Prof. Brennan is a public sector worker herself! (And then some…)
11:09 PM Simon McGarr - I reject Niamh Brennan’s initial position. She opens with the conventional wisdom that the government will have to live within its means. Like most conventional wisdom, this is mostly wrong.
11:08 PM Suzy Byrne - Niamh Brennan – management professor and ex PD leader spouse…
11:08 PM Simon McGarr - Rival man in a suit defends the teachers from Men In Suits.
11:08 PM Suzy Byrne - Grannies are concerned
11:08 PM Simon McGarr - Man in suit says he regrets that these cuts had to be made. I regret he has not been cut from society.
11:07 PM Valerie Woods - I’ll be there in a mo
11:07 PM Suzy Byrne - FFer in audience! complaining about pupils being used to campaign…
11:06 PM Suzy Byrne - and here come the pupils!
11:06 PM Simon McGarr - Valerie, the diehard Liveblogger tunes into the live stream from RTE.
11:05 PM Valerie Woods - I can’t watch O’Keefe anyway this close to bed time
11:05 PM Simon McGarr - Oh, god. Do I really have to listen to Batt O’Keefe?
11:04 PM Valerie Woods - My TV has been hijacked
11:04 PM Suzy Byrne - and is poorly prepared…prepare to fail
11:04 PM Simon McGarr - They’re like backing dancers. You won’t know they’re teachers without some kids nearby.
11:03 PM Suzy Byrne - TUI member brings his pupils
11:03 PM Simon McGarr - The first since the Summer.
11:03 PM Simon McGarr - School students have been let into the audience. I fear their questioning.
11:03 PM Suzy Byrne - Is that the first cabinet minister other than O’Cuiv we’ve see on Q&A in a while?
11:02 PM Simon McGarr - Where do teachers buy their jackets?
11:02 PM Suzy Byrne - Labour party member agrees with Roisin Shorthall…
11:02 PM Simon McGarr - Batt O’Keefe seemingly has been talking endlessly.
11:01 PM Suzy Byrne - Batt O’Keefe lies about disadvantaged schools and disadvantaged pupils not being touched…
10:50 PM Simon McGarr - Anyone know who else we have?
10:47 PM Simon McGarr - Roisin Shorthall,
10:46 PM Simon McGarr - Matt Cooper, Batt O’Keefe, Jay Bourke,
10:45 PM Simon McGarr - And the Panel is…
12:27 AM Simon McGarr - Now with one of those Facebook Pages all to itself, it’s Ireland’s most Liveblogged show.

Questions and Answers 10th Nov 2008

Simon McGarr — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:21:01 +0000

A God-Bothering Special!

Questions and Answers 3rd Nov 08

Simon McGarr — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:05:47 +0000

10:53 PM Simon McGarr - Just a little half hearted about this evening’s liveblogging. The panel features Dr. Aldous from UCD’s history dept. I feel badly towards Richard Aldous, as he was on staff in UCD when I was an undergraduate and now looks younger than me.
10:55 PM Simon McGarr - The first question is a follow on from the Bertie documentary. Is he Ireland’s luckiest politician?
10:55 PM Simon McGarr - From an FFer.
10:56 PM Suzy Byrne - that harry mcgee?
10:57 PM Simon McGarr - Richard Curran, Editor of the Sunday Business Post is a new figure to me. He appears to have an unusually high head.
10:57 PM Simon McGarr - Harry Magee has given us his opinion on Bertie’s opacity.
10:58 PM Simon McGarr - This topic is wearing on me.
10:58 PM Alexia Golez - The old graveside anecdote thrown in for good measure
10:59 PM Alexia Golez - Open shirted FGer… Very casual
11:00 PM Simon McGarr - Bertie is an enigma. I don’t see how any documentary could hope to try to crack him open now.
11:00 PM Suzy Byrne - Tomorrow night there is a bit of history in the making over the pond, the country is in a dire state financially and here’s Q&A talking about anorak man.
11:01 PM Simon McGarr - I see the government has continued its policy of sending out anonymous backbench cyphers, for fear that we may actually find a minister to hold responsible for their decisions.
11:02 PM Alexia Golez - Ooo… Big Q
11:02 PM Simon McGarr - Hooray, a new question! Boo! It’s about Enda Kenny.
11:04 PM Alexia Golez - I wonder what kind of conditioner Olwym Enright uses.. All those teased tresses look in fine
| condition
11:05 PM Simon McGarr - Olywn Enright has just advanced the theory that the government has lost 2 TDs in a month and that therefore ‘if this trend continues’ the government will have lost its majority by next year.
11:05 PM Simon McGarr - I am reminded of Disco Stu in the Simpsons.
11:08 PM Simon McGarr - FFer is a marvellous bundle of cliches. We’ve had people on the doorsteps and the need not to govern by opinion polls.
11:09 PM Alexia Golez - My God… zzz
11:10 PM Simon McGarr - Oh dear. FFer knows he’s just stepped in a potentially deep hole. He’s just told us that that there was clear knowledge of a construction crash coming on the part of the government. They just didn’t mention it at the last election.
11:10 PM Alexia Golez - I see so many candidates for Extreme Makeovers in the audience
11:10 PM Simon McGarr - I said I was feeling half-hearted at the start. I’m not sure what fraction is small enough to reflect how I feel now.
11:11 PM Suzy Byrne - Oh look a Green councilor beside a FFer…
11:11 PM Alexia Golez - “Podge and Rodge have a better chance than Enda Kenny”
11:11 PM Simon McGarr - FFer in the audience says she thinks the nation has the best brains in charge.
11:11 PM Simon McGarr - We are doomed.
11:11 PM Suzy Byrne - This is a hackathon of an audience.
11:14 PM Alexia Golez - Harry is praying for a juicy topic
11:14 PM Simon McGarr - Dr. Aldous back again on my screen, taunting me with his youth. How does he do it?
11:14 PM Simon McGarr - OK, that’s it. They’ve just pulled out a question on Brand/Ross in the UK. This programme is offically a dud.
11:15 PM Suzy Byrne - Can I go wash the dishes now without be slagged for abandoning ship?
11:15 PM Simon McGarr - Bear in mind, there is something of an interesting event planned for the US this week.
11:15 PM Alexia Golez - Go Suzy
11:16 PM Alexia Golez - Sorry I bullied ye into this!
11:16 PM Alexia Golez - Feckers!
11:17 PM Simon McGarr - Oh, please Suzy. We all need to call this one a dead end. We’ve just had the Editor of the Sunday Business Post give his opinion on what constitutes good comedy.
11:17 PM Suzy Byrne - lol – I know that tomorrow nights pickings will be oh so much richer – and I bagged some company on the sofa too as herself will be sleeping!
11:17 PM Simon McGarr - Pulling the plug here too. Reader, I had to do it.
11:18 PM Suzy Byrne - Ok Cul de Sac it is!
11:18 PM Alexia Golez - Well, I can’t find the remote. I’ll suffer through.
11:18 PM Simon McGarr - Bowman comments on Aldous’ youth. He’s burning up inside too. I can tell.
11:19 PM Alexia Golez - The young have wide wrists.. just look at his!
11:22 PM Alexia Golez - Oh, FFS.. Dougal press the big red button
11:22 PM Simon McGarr -
11:23 PM Simon McGarr - See!
11:24 PM Alexia Golez - He buys the suits big so he can grow into them, eh?
11:24 PM Simon McGarr - FFer not familiar with Johnathan Ross. He wishes we had more responsible comedians.
11:24 PM Simon McGarr - Much good that will do him, seeing as he doesn’t seem to age.
11:25 PM Alexia Golez - Ads.. yay
11:25 PM Simon McGarr - Holy GOD! There’s still a Part Two to get through!
11:26 PM Simon McGarr - Guinness.
11:27 PM Simon McGarr - An ad for electric toothbrushes. With a strangly threatening voiceover. Suggests that ownership of same may confer superior powers on those that wield them.
11:28 PM Alexia Golez - I may have to turn to beer to get through Pt 2
11:29 PM Suzy Byrne - What about the people at home? What about the good decent folk without liveblog duties to keep them going?
11:30 PM Simon McGarr - Think of the… well, not the children. The 50+ somethings.
11:30 PM Alexia Golez - brb
11:31 PM Simon McGarr - Help! I’ve been left with the SBP’s editor’s views on the US election. And there is nobody here to keep me alive.
11:32 PM Alexia Golez - back
11:32 PM Simon McGarr - Harry McGee has the decency to give us a useful liveblog tip- Virgina declares at 4am tomorrow.
11:33 PM Alexia Golez - Harry reminds me of a priest addressing his lil lambs..
11:33 PM Suzy Byrne - That’s not what the Sunday Tribune said …declares or voting ends?
11:33 PM Suzy Byrne - What’s the black tie in aid of?
11:34 PM Simon McGarr - Recession chic. Note the increasingly skinny ties and narrow lapels amongst the chattering classes.
11:35 PM Alexia Golez - If Bowman’s hair was a cloud, what kind of fluffy massed object| would it be.. ?
11:35 PM Simon McGarr - David McWilliams instantly switched to them as soon as the markets fell. Threw all his wide ties to the back of the cupboard as Lehman Bros collapsed.
11:36 PM Suzy Byrne - Poll closing time list in Tribune
11:36 PM Simon McGarr - American on the Telly in the audience!
11:37 PM Suzy Byrne - …saying rubbish stuff about woman in whitehouse..
11:37 PM Simon McGarr - She’s explaining the meaning of the Executive Branch
11:37 PM Simon McGarr - To the little people.
11:37 PM Suzy Byrne - disabled person alert…
11:38 PM Suzy Byrne - Irish student of American politics gets a chance to revise for exams
11:39 PM Alexia Golez - Olwyn does kaboose hands better than anyone else here tonight
11:39 PM Simon McGarr - Sigh. Student fears lack of checks and balances. Has been haunted by this terrible spectre ever since he read about it on the web this afternoon.
11:39 PM Alexia Golez - Made it !
11:40 PM Simon McGarr - That’s it folks. Let’s drag the carcass of this donkey out the door and throw it on the bonfire.
11:40 PM Suzy Byrne - oh no john bowman tomorrow too.. I bags CNN!!
11:40 PM Alexia Golez - Shitey.. I’d watch Fox but SmellTL don’t offer it !
11:41 PM Simon McGarr - Quick, switch to the US Election Liveblog to carry on this important discussion.

Questions and Answers, 7th Oct 08

Simon McGarr — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:07:23 +0000