Death Notices

[deiseach]

Won an All Ireland and on a plane that night to continue his studies at Loughborough. No more needs to be said. Legend. RIP.

Didn't he say on that BBC documentary about the team that he didn't think there would be much of a fuss and it was only as he was getting near the plane that he was told about the sceitimíní áthas that was unfolding back home? He made sure he was about for the celebrations the following year! Ah, the sweet naivety made me want to weep with joy. Truly among the very best of humanity. RIP.

[seafoid]

Good healthcare given the circumstances and high literacy (though this is exaggerated too). Castro made sure no one got too far ahead of their peers in acquiring wealth, so that removed a lot of the associated problems.
However if the revolutionaries were that confident in themselves, then why weren't people allowed to freely leave the country, or show any disatisfaction with their rulers? The same goes for the restricting the internet and the press for example. I'd say the locals got sick of reading their one newspaper which did little beyond harping on about the greatness of the revolution. 50 something years later.

The man was well intentioned but his flaw was that he didn't trust his own people enough to decide their own.destiny for themselves.

You can't judge Castro without the Miami Cubans.
And while the locals got sick about reading the same crap how different is Fox? Is Sean Hannity any different? How good is the Late Late Show? Dustin always said there are only 3 things RTE are bad at. Radio, TV and orchestras. 

Cuba is a better version of Eastern Europe under communism. That produced Stueua Bucharest in 86 and Red Star Belgrade in 91. Ni bheidh à leitheid aris ann. Having a team from the East winning the CL is unimaginable now.

If capital takes over Cuba again it will need a big  underclass and a small elite.  And people won't need so much education. And medicine will need to turn a profit. And ordinary people will be downgraded 

In thé economic system Cuba would have a similar status to somewhere like Serbia. Serbs are free to travel but Serbia is ruled by kleptocrats. Most people with talent emigrate  . There are high levels of alcoholism and obesity. It was bombed by the Yanks nearly 20 years ago.

It is interesting that Castro died after Brexit and Trump. For years he looked like a relic of a no longer relevant past. But the West is now struggling with its own Batistas and in  some of the comparisons Cuba looks OK.  American workers havent gotten payrises since the 70s. As Lenny Bruce said there is just what is. What could be is a dirty lie 

No power system trusts the people. That is why Brexit is such a mess. The ECB operates behind closed doors .

Cuba didnt have any bailouts in 2010. It probably doesn't  owe  €200 bn to the capital markets.

[laoislad]

Won an All Ireland and on a plane that night to continue his studies at Loughborough. No more needs to be said. Legend. RIP.

Didn't he say on that BBC documentary about the team that he didn't think there would be much of a fuss and it was only as he was getting near the plane that he was told about the sceitimíní áthas that was unfolding back home? He made sure he was about for the celebrations the following year! Ah, the sweet naivety made me want to weep with joy. Truly among the very best of humanity. RIP.

Welcome back!

[deiseach]

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.

[ziggy90]

Farewell to Fidel. It's a long way from the jungles of the Sierra Maestre.
Maybe not the wisest of men but a man nonetheless and one who made his mark

Well said MS.

[seafoid]

a lovely tribute to Joe Lennon

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2016/1124/834083-joe-lennon/

Peter McCawille · 14 hours ago
Joe's sudden death robs us of another member (Brian Morgan, Jarlath Carey, Pat Rice and Patsy O'Hagan have already left us) of that history-making team of 1960, first team from the Six Counties to win a final. What magical moments the memories of that side still evoke nearly 60 years later, more memorable in that they overcame the mighty Kingdom in the final. Joe played a pivotal role in ensuring that after 1960 there were no more mysteries of the Kingdom as far as the Down team was concerned. I still have an autographed copy of his coaching manual. May he rest in perfect peace. Amen. Peter McCawille SMA

In the early 70s before the Golden Years team won their first AI in 75 Mickey Ned took Micko up to Gormanstown to speak with Joe..

Micko played in the 1960 final . There is a phrase in German for when you want to know something. Geh zum Hans. Nicht zum Hansi. Go to Hans. Not to Hans Og.
I read Dan McCartan's autobiography. They had hassle from B Specials going to and from training. Arseholes who had no idea who they were.

http://tullylish.com/photos/down-memory-lane/1081-1960-down-team

It's funny that the only team to beat Down in an all Ireland final is Cork . Usually for other counties Kerry have the upper hand.

[T Fearon]

It isn't all that funny.As Spillane says often if Down had run into Kerry during the Golden years (1975 to 1986) there would only have been one winner

[seafoid]

It isn't all that funny.As Spillane says often if Down had run into Kerry during the Golden years (1975 to 1986) there would only have been one winner

Didn't they run into Down in 91?  But Kerry had no succession planning. Tsk tsk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0l6imDx2No

What keeps Kerry people like Spillane awake at night  is Throne in the case of the younger lads and Down in the case of the older fellas.


Is fada liom oíche fhírfhliuch gan suan, gan srann,
gan ceathra, gan maoin caoire ná buaibh na mbeann;
anfa ar toinn taoibh liom do bhuair mo cheann,
is nár chleachtas im naíon, fiogaigh ná ruacain abhann

And there is no comfort in beating Cork or Mayo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8kPqAV_74M

[Bord na Mona man]

Our equivalent of Castro might be something like Eamon De Valera permanently installing himself as leader for half a century and maintaining an economic war with Britain all that time.

And why wouldn't his people not want to enjoy a rural peasant existence without ever having to read the Sindo.

[seafoid]

Our equivalent of Castro might be something like Eamon De Valera permanently installing himself as leader for half a century and maintaining an economic war with Britain all that time.

And why wouldn't his people not want to enjoy a rural peasant existence without ever having to read the Sindo.

Michael Collins could have been a Castro

Le Monde said he was an icon and a tyrant

The NZZ am Sonntag called him "the Left's favourite dictator" and on the same page asked "Is Trump a fascist"

You couldn't make it up

I think a lot of people are still thinking the US is the beacon of the free world
I don't know if Cuba has solitary confinement
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/12/08/solitary-confinement-americas-invisible-inferno/

Ireland is very lucky in the big economic picture to be in the EU and relatively prosperous.
You would have to ask people in a second division non OECD country which they would prefer. Cuba or Serbia.
It's a big decison in a town called malice. 

[BennyCake]

In the EU or out, the big banks will rule a country. That's why independence for Ireland will mean very little. UK voted out of EU, but it'll be fcuked over economically. It wouldve been the same had they stayed. We're all puppets on a string, controlled and manipulated.

De Valera, Collins, Kenny: don't matter who's running the country, because they're not really in charge.

[Main Street]

Won an All Ireland and on a plane that night to continue his studies at Loughborough. No more needs to be said. Legend. RIP.

Would even the Dub player of today be gifted such lavish mode of transport
I don't know if it has been conveyed yet in the tributes to Joe Lennon, but just how much esteem that Down team of the 1960's were held in by the public, a bit below Greek God status, but close enough.
My first Ulster championship memory was when Down came  to Ballybay to play Monaghan, a throng of us kids on the sideline were just totally awestruck as the Down players, all gaa giants, ran out onto the pitch.

[Tony Baloney]

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.

Welcome back.

[seafoid]

Another comment re Joe Lennon from RTE

johndonnelly · 2 days ago
Just a little fact that I heard once from McGuirk on the rugby panel during a rugby game,
he regaled the story of Joe being invited to a rugby training session. Joe asked the assembled players to kick the ball from their hands, Joe blocked the ball GAA style each time, the players were unaware of the concept of blocking the ball up to that point..........Great man, R.I.P Joe

Noel Mannion did it in some style against Wales one year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCCN2ouFp5M

[mrdeeds]

Manuel