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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y42vrk54zo

Heads should be rolling for this. The road should have been built years ago and still had change from that money.

Hahaha

Nothing will be rolling down "the hill" other than its disgustingly obese denizens.

I know. That's why I said, "should", as would happen in a normal, functioning society - though those seem to be getting rarer around the world these days. Accountability is a word that seems to have been consigned to history.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y42vrk54zo

Heads should be rolling for this. The road should have been built years ago and still had change from that money.

Quit blocking RTE would be a start

110%. If there was a will, there would be a way. Might seem like a trivial thing in the grand scheme of things, but it's one of many right things to do.

No new housing developments are getting through planning in the majority of towns in the north at the minute as NI water wont grant a sewage connection. This even applies if you want to do a change of use from offices etc to apartments. I dont think people realise the issues that this is going to cause in the near future.
NI water are calling the shots.

Sounds like an Irish Water style debacle. Basically holding the country to ransom. Give us a tax or else.

There may be legitimate reasons for this tax, but coercion won't help the sell.

Could you trust them to spend extra tax wisely? That's a massive no, north and south. That's the real core issue behind these departments.

So are we happy to take on a water tax to help with the future of our children's ability to get on the property ladder?

I think people would be happy to, but what pisses people off no end is the absolute waste and disregard for how these organisations spend public money. With water companies in England being a prime example of this. The public sector itself needs a major overhaul to streamline it and cut waste. But some of these departments are absolutely massive, and it is one hell of a job to try and cut waste in the NHS, for example; people prefer to take the easier road and throw more money at it. It would take a decade of major transformations if the will was even there in the first place. Given that governments in the UK change with the wind and in the South it's a monopoly for FF/FG, why would they bother? That's all before we even get anywhere near Stormont.

On cold reflection the only highest rank (Ballon D'Or territory) player who joined an EPL team whilst hitting his peak years was Dennis Bergkamp.

Who flopped at Inter and they wanted rid of him. Arsenal didn't swoop.

He *became* a world class player, but he moved as a damaged goods/rebuild his career player. Same with Henry from Juventus

Bergkamp:

1992: 3rd in Ballon D'Or when at Ajax

1993: 2nd in Ballon D'Or when at Inter

1995: joined Arsenal and spent a decade there, finishing 4th and 8th in the Ballon D'or awards.

I'm sure of course you'll have your own criteria for world class. Or you could just admit you got this one wrong.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but you have to finish in the Ballon D'or top 3 every year to be considered
World class?

When you see the state of the rabble behind Bryson outside the court yesterday, it was a who's who of bigots. Many of them were not born or were very young when the GFA was signed. Deplorable people who, if they put as much effort and energy into issues like housing, education, health etc. I don't think they have the knowledge or capability of being proper politicians, so they play to the only thing they know - trying to lord it over them'uns.

Russia, like the US, the best days are behind it.

Both have found out that you can't bully your way around the globe or region anymore.

US debt is $40T and no one is buying their bonds, so what does the commander in chief think will resolve it?

Our Military

China's take on the US financial crisis:

https://x.com/XHNews/status/2090260731560423766/video/1

China hold all the cards now, but we'll see how they respond to Taiwan to see if they're in the mindset of expanding their empire using military means or not.
So far they've been using "soft" power in Africa, investing in energy and infrastructure projects in Africa, they're not doing that out of the goodness of their hearts.

While the US and Russia have been f**king around with each other and other countries spending billions upon billions on senseless wars, China has been busy beavering away with massive economic and technological strides. You can only wonder if the US had put as much effort into their economy as they do into wars, just where it would be.

Why is school year better than calendar year? I've never quite understood that argument. Not sure why being in the same class in school is such a big thing.

Can never understand this logic either. I'd be happy for someone much smarter than me to explain the rationale behind it.

Surely it can only be a good thing if kids are mixing and making new friends rather than being stuck in the same clique all the time.

After this week you can only imagine what the Euro's could have been for Belfast.

It has been an amazing week and two days still to go!

Brings a different type of person onto the streets fuelled by alcohol.

True but still would have been a brilliant event.

Yes, totally different crowd. An probably nowhere near the atmosphere and numbers of people attending the Fleadh but the point I'm making is Belfast is capable of hosting these big events and the Euros would have been another massive positive for the city. Why do we have to compare apples and oranges? Two different events.

After this week you can only imagine what the Euro's could have been for Belfast.

It has been an amazing week and two days still to go!

What has been particularly satisfying about the Fleadh this week has been the likes of Moore, Jamie and Co stewing in their own juices while 10's of thousands are out enjoying a wonderful event without much thought for them.

Glen Hansard, motorbike crash.

That is shocking.

Awful. What a loss. RIP Glen.

I don't mind him to a point but he tries to dig in for some controversy to try and get headlines. Particularly when it's very personal topics I'd rather he didn't do that.

Fair enough, have found some of the personal stuff thats came up a very good listen (don't want to use the word powerful). I'm sure that sort of thing is discussed beforehand and if  the people being interviewed didn't want to go into detail it wouldn't be spoken about

Aye in fairness, I don't think he is putting people on the spot there and then and that'll have been talked about beforehand. It is the reason some of these people go on the podcast to raise awareness of various issues based on their own life experience.

I might be wrong, but it seemed to me like the woman who was presenting for the BBC was at her first ever Hurling match today!

Holly Hamilton...name might give it away

How did she do?

Would she make  a good duo  with Jackie Fullerton?

She was awful. No insight into questions to ask or direction to take the conversation. Kept glancing at her notes. Where was Sarah Mulkairns for the BBC?

Hamilton is married tp that phillips lad who was in the crowd. Bbc love their semi celebs at the finals.
Inswa Sarah presenting on bbc for the Open.

Aye - knew she was married to him. He's a clown. The celeb bit is utter cringe. All too forced and bit paddywhackery. Niall Quinn couldn't even be arsed being there for half time. Got his free ticket and fucked off....lol.

If they dropped that segment and got Sarah Mulkerrins back, the rest of the coverage is pretty decent.  I think Sarah is a very good presenter, but Hamilton was very obviously out of her element. Even made some remark about across the country, referring to the UK at one point (can't remember exactly what it was in reference to).