The Weekend On One With Brendan O'Connor

Alfred123

Alfred123 wrote: »

A bit the same as asking why some people complain about people who complain. Aren't there more positive things to be doing etc

Well it's not really. This Forum is more for discussion — criticism of a negative and positive kind, than pure criticism. People come here to give a fair reaction; your post would only make sense if this place were here as a forum for drudging criticism.

It would be a bit tedious if everyone here loved every item, just as it can be if someone hates everything. I don't know who said it, but there was a comment earlier that described this programme-series as light, weekend fluff. Was that poster a regular listener? It would make you wonder about their listening habits, if so.

It isn't allowed to tell someone to "switch off if you don't like it" if someone criticises a piece or a perceived downward trend in programme standards – that would leave this place a very boring den of exhausting positivity.

But the pendulum can also swing too far in the opposite direction, where a whole series is derided as pure dross. In which case, it is fair to ask the question everyone must be thinking — why annoy yourself with it then? It's a reasonable question.

Alfred123

A Lamb Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Well it's not really. This Forum is more for discussion — criticism of a negative and positive kind, than pure criticism. People come here to give a fair reaction; your post would only make sense if this place were here as a forum for drudging criticism.

It would be a bit tedious if everyone here loved every item, just as it can be if someone hates everything. I don't know who said it, but there was a comment earlier that described this programme-series as light, weekend fluff. Was that poster a regular listener? It would make you wonder about their listening habits, if so.

It isn't allowed to tell someone to "switch off if you don't like it" if someone criticises a piece or a perceived downward trend in programme standards – that would leave this place a very boring den of exhausting positivity.

But the pendulum can also swing too far in the opposite direction, where a whole series is derided as pure dross. In which case, it is fair to ask the question everyone must be thinking — why annoy yourself with it then? It's a reasonable question.

I'm not really sure what you are trying to say above. It appears quite confused.
I was replying to a poster who asked why listen to a programne if one simply complains about it afterwards

My point is that the BOC show is not just about BOC (though one wonders if BOC might imagine it is) - it covers current affairs and includes several guests offering differing points of view

I am not going to stop listening to the programne just because BOC might not be up to the job. If it were solely BOC talking, then I would have no problem switching off - and it would be pointless 'complaining'

Do you see the difference ?

Bellbottoms

Jesus, Miriam calling the Dawkins interview brilliant.

"Just so you know, you being so scientific and logical. I expected a scientific and logical answer".

archfi

Is the Adrian guy an IT expert as I missed his intro?
He simplified the thing to just using 'outdated Windows 7' is the cause but it is well known the HSE pays a lot of money to Microsoft for extended security support for Win7 which BO'C at least mentioned
Isn't it a fact, many many huge companies/utilities do not just 'upgrade' to the latest and greatest like someone at home who likes the new logo?

EmmetSpiceland

Bellbottoms wrote: »

Jesus, Miriam calling the Dawkins interview brilliant.

"Just so you know, you being so scientific and logical. I expected a scientific and logical answer".

If that interview had been between Ben Shapiro and some liberal leftie dweeb there would be clips of it everywhere with “DESTROYED” and “OWND” all over it.

But because it was with Brendan O’Connor on Irish radio it won’t create too many “ripples” outside of a forum such as this.

Bellbottoms

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

If that interview had been between Ben Shapiro and some liberal leftie dweeb there would be clips of it everywhere with “DESTROYED” and “OWND” all over it.

But because it was with Brendan O’Connor on Irish radio it won’t create too many “ripples” outside of a forum such as this.

You think it was a good interview?

Beechwoodspark

archfi wrote: »

Is the Adrian guy an IT expert as I missed his intro?
He simplified the thing to just using 'outdated Windows 7' is the cause but it is well known the HSE pays a lot of money to Microsoft for extended security support for Win7 which BO'C at least mentioned
Isn't it a fact, many many huge companies/utilities do not just 'upgrade' to the latest and greatest like someone at home who likes the new logo?

Adrian weckler is the technology editor for the Irish indo

Most of his articles are reviews of mobile phones etc

Infoanon

Adrian Weckler also agreed with BOCS statement of 'this shows the risk of working from home and why we need people back in the office' ......

Simple IT education as opposed to broad inaccurate assertions would be helpful.

archfi

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Adrian weckler is the technology editor for the Irish indo

Most of his articles are reviews of mobile phones etc

All the actual experts must be off trying to fix the shítfest.

That guy pays 150euro + per month on subscription services, so yeah

Bellbottoms

archfi wrote: »

All the actual experts must be off trying to fix the shítfest.

That guy pays 150euro + per month on subscription services, so yeah

On what? Like magazines? Netfix?

archfi

Bellbottoms wrote: »

On what? Like magazines? Netfix?

Yeah, all the usual - streaming video, music, newspaper subs etc
I'm sure there's a sub to Computer Active in there somewhere.:pac:

archfi

archfi wrote: »

I'm sure there's a sub to Computer Active in there somewhere.:pac:

Or Web Advisor

Don't forget both the current issues of computer active or Web Advisor can be skimmed through in ten minutes before going into any "techy" chat with the rte presenter and their audience will be none the windering

southstar

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

If that interview had been between Ben Shapiro and some liberal leftie dweeb there would be clips of it everywhere with “DESTROYED” and “OWND” all over it.

But because it was with Brendan O’Connor on Irish radio it won’t create too many “ripples” outside of a forum such as this.

Correct ....but Miriam much as I like her...it's absolute dross...I mean BOC is positively high brow...like I say some folk will whinge..and whinge...I tried painting the house...it works

archfi

Michael D in studio, loive.

ednwireland

archfi wrote: »

Michael D in studio, loive.

thanks for the warning

Beechwoodspark

Waffle waffle waffle

How many countries have a head of state who can quote Hannah Arendt in conversation, or was invited backstage at a Leonard Cohen gig?

You don't have to agree with his politics to agree that we need more leaders with some kind of curiosity about the world beyond party politics.

Beechwoodspark

Michael d was very much indulged by BOC

I found his interminable warblings very hard to follow logically, he made a number of statements that just petered out ...

Maybe I’m the fool for giving him the time and effort.

It says a lot that a huge proportion of the population completely ignore MDH ramblings

Pelvis Parsley

Ah, I'm no fan of MDH, I find his political opinions, as comparted to his own situation somewhat hypocritical to say the least.

But, he's a warm, endearing, and convivial fella, and we'll miss him a little when he's gone I think.

That aside, imagine if we had elected that other shaved ape instead of him.

RandomViewer

Pelvis Parsley wrote: »

Ah, I'm no fan of MDH, I find his political opinions, as comparted to his own situation somewhat hypocritical to say the least.

But, he's a warm, endearing, and convivial fella, and we'll miss him a little when he's gone I think.

That aside, imagine if we had elected that other shaved ape instead of him.

Gallagher?

Pelvis Parsley

RandomViewer wrote: »

Gallagher?

Yes sir/ma'am.

DrSerious3

I think my idea of hell would be listening to an RTE lovie endlessly indulging Michael D. Higgins.

Cole

DrSerious3 wrote: »

I think my idea of hell would be listening to an RTE lovie endlessly indulging Michael D. Higgins.

Tommy Tiernan interviewing Michael D immediately springs to mind. Two great modern Irish philosophers fawning over each other and giving us all the answers to those existential questions that we're all searching for...and the always rational and sensible echo chamber of social media proclaiming that Michael D should be President for life and Tiernan is the greatest interviewer ever blah, blah, blah...

NIMAN

Also find MDH a bit of a waffler.
He tends to start talking about something then heads off on a tangent and never gets back on course.

But as said, he's not the worst and had a decent heart.

And we will miss him when he's gone......and Joe Duffy is the pres!

Del.Monte

NIMAN wrote: »

Also find MDH a bit of a waffler.
He tends to start talking about something then heads off on a tangent and never gets back on course.

But as said, he's not the worst and had a decent heart.

And we will miss him when he's gone......and Joe Duffy is the pres!

Joe will have to join the queue behind Miriam O'Callaghan, and Bertie 'No bank account' Ahern who is being rehabilitated by his supporters in the media as the great Statesman.

southstar

He's our posh ****..,and deadly at it..g'wan Mick

Bellbottoms

Del.Monte wrote: »

Joe will have to join the queue behind Miriam O'Callaghan, and Bertie 'No bank account' Ahern who is being rehabilitated by his supporters in the media as the great Statesman.

I have always wonder about the whole Miriam for President thing. I certainly wouldn't vote for her. Would anyone here? Does anyone really think she is a credible candidate. Is she one of Noel Kelly's posse. Is that were all the president stories are coming from.

Bellbottoms

Bellbottoms wrote: »

I have always wonder about the whole Miriam for President thing. I certainly wouldn't vote for her. Would anyone here? Does anyone really think she is a credible candidate. Is she one of Noel Kelly's posse. Is that were all the president stories are coming from.

This Noel Kelly stuff... he's just an agent. Obviously he wouldn't get a cut of a Presidential salary — he'd lose a valuable client.

I agree with you though, I think this Miriam O'Callaghan presìdential bid is no longer relevant. O'Callaghan looked like a good candidate during the fairly insipid double-terms of the previous incumbent, McAleese.

History will judge that Higgins has changed the presidency., more so even than Mary Robinson did. Robinson made the President visible, Higgins became a President-philosopher, it will be very hard to return to celebrity candidates and party hacks, after this.

I'd say Miriam O'Callaghan will end her very impressive broadcasting career as a broadcaster. An RTE celebrity president would be a regressive step.

Cole

A Lamb Named Miltiades! wrote: »

This Noel Kelly stuff... he's just an agent. Obviously he wouldn't get a cut of a Presidential salary — he'd lose a valuable client.

I agree with you though, I think this Miriam O'Callaghan presìdential bid is no longer relevant. O'Callaghan looked like a good candidate during the fairly insipid double-terms of the previous incumbent, McAleese.

History will judge that Higgins has changed the presidency., more so even than Mary Robinson did. Robinson made the President visible, Higgins became a President-philosopher, it will be very hard to return to celebrity candidates and party hacks, after this.

I'd say Miriam O'Callaghan will end her very impressive broadcasting career as a broadcaster. An RTE celebrity president would be a regressive step.

Are you taking the p1ss?

Beechwoodspark

Not sure if the MDH fans are aware that in “the real world” he is completely ignored and held in disdain by SO many

Yes ....I grant you, he has his fans

but so many are either indifferent to him or have open hostility towards him.

Bellbottoms

A Lamb Named Miltiades! wrote: »

This Noel Kelly stuff... he's just an agent. Obviously he wouldn't get a cut of a Presidential salary — he'd lose a valuable client.

My reason for asking, is that it strikes me more as a story to keep someone in the tabloids and ensure they remain relevant.

But you are right. It is probably nonsense.

Ahwell

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Not sure if the MDH fans are aware that in “the real world” he is completely ignored and held in disdain by SO many

And you're basing this on....? He got the largest number of votes in presidential election history in the last election and the last time there was a poll of his approval rating it was 70%.

Cole

Cole wrote: »

Are you taking the p1ss?

I'm absolutely serious. Ireland has achieved something that even the French were unable to create after 3 revolutions and whole dungheaps of royal heads. Higgins is no Robespierre, but he makes for a good Rousseau. A philosopher as president is a strange and terrific thing.

All of this was achieved with barely a drop of blood spilled, our wars were mild insurrections.

It is something to be happy about. It is a singular achievement that goes against the grain of contemporary European politics since WW2.

Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves. We have a national broadcaster, and a thinking president who can use it to speak to the country about the ethical and moral challenges of the day. This doesn't happen everywhere else, and none of this happened by accident. This is a civilised country.

CrabRevolution

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Not sure if the MDH fans are aware that in “the real world” he is completely ignored and held in disdain by SO many

Yes ....I grant you, he has his fans

but so many are either indifferent to him or have open hostility towards him.

I heard this a lot prior to the last election, people claiming that everyone they know hates Michael D and that he was at risk of becoming the first ever President to fail re-election.

Yet the polls all indicated such big support for him that the other parties bar Sinn Féin didn't even bother running a candidate as it was a waste of time, and he was the first presidential candidate to win in the first round of counting since there was 2 candidate races prior to the 70s.

While I know a good few people who roll their eyes and don't really care to listen to him, I've yet to see this supposed widespread seething hatred of him that people online claim exists.

Cole

A Lamb Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I'm absolutely serious. Ireland has achieved something that even the French were unable to create after 3 revolutions and whole dungheaps of royal heads. Higgins is no Robespierre, but he makes for a good Rousseau. A philosopher as president is a strange and terrific thing.

All of this was achieved with barely a drop of blood spilled, our wars were mild insurrections.

It is something to be happy about. It is a singular achievement that goes against the grain of contemporary European politics since WW2.

Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves. We have a national broadcaster, and a thinking president who can use it to speak to the country about the ethical and moral challenges of the day. This doesn't happen everywhere else, and none of this happened by accident. This is a civilised country.

My first response to this would be that it absolutely has to be a p1sstake, but seeing as it is in response to my earlier question, I'll obviously take you at your word that you believe this.

I really can't this seriously and don't want to be the smart arse who rips the p1ss out of it, so I'll leave it there.

Fann Linn

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Not sure if the MDH fans are aware that in “the real world” he is completely ignored and held in disdain by SO many

Yes ....I grant you, he has his fans

but so many are either indifferent to him or have open hostility towards him.

Any links from 'the real world' regarding your claims?

elperello

I thought it was gas to hear BOC saying "listen" at the start of his sentences talking to Salman Rushdie like you'd hear a fella talking in a pub in Cork.

Didn't seem to phase SR anyway because at the end he said "it was great fun".

Good interview.

Beechwoodspark

A Lamb Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I'm absolutely serious. Ireland has achieved something that even the French were unable to create after 3 revolutions and whole dungheaps of royal heads. Higgins is no Robespierre, but he makes for a good Rousseau. A philosopher as president is a strange and terrific thing.

All of this was achieved with barely a drop of blood spilled, our wars were mild insurrections.

It is something to be happy about. It is a singular achievement that goes against the grain of contemporary European politics since WW2.

Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves. We have a national broadcaster, and a thinking president who can use it to speak to the country about the ethical and moral challenges of the day. This doesn't happen everywhere else, and none of this happened by accident. This is a civilised country.

Not sure if you are being serious or not. But thank god he is not a “Robespierre” given what he got up to.

As for MDHs cod philosophy, it makes little sense, his party trick is to ramble on and on and name check a few theories. Aul guff.

For proof of this listen back to his appearance on sat and try to decipher the riddles he winds himself up in. I doubt he knew himself what he was saying...

It got so bad that BOC gave up and started talking to him about pina colados and the dogs....and then tittle tattle about what did MDH and Leonard Cohen talk about when he met him....

Government buildings

Can anybody let us know of any piece of wisdom that he has dispensed to us over the years?

jippo nolan

Government buildings wrote: »

Can anybody let us know of any piece of wisdom that he has dispensed to us over the years?

Nil!

sligojoek

Someone wiser than me said It suited the exchequer better to pay him for 7 yrs than to pay his pension and another president's salary side by side.

Beechwoodspark

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Not sure if you are being serious or not. But thank god he is not a “Robespierre” given what he got up to.

As for MDHs cod philosophy, it makes little sense, his party trick is to ramble on and on and name check a few theories. Aul guff.

For proof of this listen back to his appearance on sat and try to decipher the riddles he winds himself up in. I doubt he knew himself what he was saying...

It got so bad that BOC gave up and started talking to him about pina colados and the dogs....and then tittle tattle about what did MDH and Leonard Cohen talk about when he met him....

It's quite normal for an interview to end on a lighter note, but I didn't hear the discussion about piña coladas (O'Connor mentioned it, Higgins seemed a bit dumbfounded) or dogs. Are you sure you were listening to the Brendan O'Connor interview?

I thought Higgins's television interview with Ryan Tubridy was very weak, pretty incoherent, and lacked value. But not this one.

The conversation focused on the President's book, and on contemporary thought in economics – e.g. the works of Mariana Muzzacato and Ian Gough — even straying into diacritical hermeneutics, whatever that is.

None of this is "cod philosophy", though, it is contemporary thought, and it's impressive that an octogenarian (let alone a Head of State) would be aware of these emerging philosophies.

It strikes me that we are in the midst of an Elizabethan era in Irish political, artistic and social life. We have a president who quotes Paul Ricœur and Richard Carney, we have a thriving artistic and intellectual life, a healthy economy, and a great deal of social cohesion.

This won't last forever. States rise and fall, shine and grow dim. Philosophers are replaced by pig-ignorant pickpockets. I think history will judge this epoch as being something of a golden era for the development of Ireland as an important European state. Maybe even an example to other states who seem to be regressing.

Enjoy it while it lasts. I thought it was a very illuminating interview.

shtpEdthePlum

elperello wrote: »

I thought it was gas to hear BOC saying "listen" at the start of his sentences talking to Salman Rushdie like you'd hear a fella talking in a pub in Cork.

Oh i thought it was so embarrassing and rude. To do it once would be an interjection you could forgive, to do it that many times was very cringey. I kept thinking "he doesn't want to listen to you, you're not interesting, he's the interesting one!"

Also the way he handles sensitive topics with a mallet is very RTÉ. "i know you probably don't want to talk about it but your granda was a paedo, was he?" paraphrasing

Didn't seem to phase SR anyway because at the end he said "it was great fun".

I'm convinced it was a figure of speech, one which he nearly forgot to add!

sligojoek

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

Oh i thought it was so embarrassing and rude. To do it once would be an interjection you could forgive, to do it that many times was very cringey. I kept thinking "he doesn't want to listen to you, you're not interesting, he's the interesting one!"

Also the way he handles sensitive topics with a mallet is very RTÉ. "i know you probably don't want to talk about it but your granda was a paedo, was he?" paraphrasing


I'm convinced it was a figure of speech, one which he nearly forgot to add!

When Brendan says "C'mere" you know the interview is coming to a close.

A Lamb Named Miltiades!

A Lamb Named Miltiades! wrote: »

The conversation focused on the President's book, and on contemporary thought in economics – e.g. the works of Mariana Muzzacato and Ian Gough — even straying into diacritical hermeneutics, whatever that is.

Pity he didn't ask him about the advantages of property investment, the advantages and difficulties of being a landlord and the ease or otherwise of evicting tenants.

ShamNNspace

M Ds letter to Bob on his 80th

Beechwoodspark

Radio on

BOC interviewing sinead o connor

Radio off

Furze99

Beechwoodspark wrote: »

Radio on

BOC interviewing sinead o connor

Radio off

She comes across as some airhead. Herself and the other O'Connor are well met for sure!

archfi

Was enjoying it until she mentioned singing a song in her head to George Floyd.
I mean.
Come on.

archfi

Some singing voice though