Tont O'Reilly's political party - Irish Times report

[mollox]

If one is to believe last Tuesday’s Irish Times, Sir Anthony may now have his own political party!
Reporting on an ESB refund for overcharging following a review of customer accounts, the IT said that it arose “as a result of a complaint made in 2007 by Independent Senator Shane Ross”.

ESB to pay rebates on 100,000 overcharged bills - The Irish Times - Tue, Jan 06, 2009

The report makes no mention of the other Independent Senator, Eoghan Harris.

This means O’Reilly’s Independent Party now matches the Greens and the (soon to be defunct) PDs in the Seanad and exceeds the Shinners. In fact, O’Reilly can claim a greater democratic mandate than either the Greens or the PDS as 50% of his members were actually elected!

Mind you, (old joke coming) that’s where Trinity College has surpassed ancient Rome. For while it’s only a myth that the emperor Caligula made his horse a Roman Consul, it’s a fact that Trinity College sent a complete horse’s arse to the Irish Senate.

Where will O’Reilly’s political ambitions end – President Sir Anthony O’Reilly in 2011? I know I said I’ll vote for ABBA (anyone but Bertie Ahern), but this would be a stretch too far, much too far.

As for the soon-to-be-defunct PD senators Cannon & O’Malley, presumably they’ll follow the honourable example of Bev and stop taking their easy “walking around money” from the state?
I presume it’ll have to be voluntary, as someone said of Cannon – you couldn’t fire that man.

[Thranduil]

In our type of political system power comes from persuasion and the media is 'free', in addition it is a capitalist system. The result is that media moguls grow to enormous stature in terms of the influence they can wield - they own the means of persuasion and the 'free' part gives them the ability to do with it what they want, in reality it represents a clear and present danger to what democracy is supposed to be as these Media middlemen become parasites, feeding on the flows in the channels between politicians and the public in the democracy. Eventually when they get big enough politics becomes a means by which they go about their business, using this power to punish or reward politicians based on how they react to what the mogul wants, look at the arrogance of R Murdoch, he had a hobby of eurosceptic politics and pursues it in his publications. When he held a meeting in the Carribean it was the leaders of powerful nations who travelled to meet him, it's too much power if you ask me. I have a strong feeling Bertie was O'Reilly's creature.

Media ownership should be regulated to ensure no single person can have more than a certain level of control in a nation's entire list of media publications. More voices = always better.

[lostexpectation]

huh?


......

[BodyofEvidence]

Whatever one might think of Shane Ross, a horses ass he aint. And he has a mandate (as do the other university senators) vastly , infiniitly, greater than the majority of the senate. Were all the senators to work as hard as he does as a gadfly then it might be worth saving. Could anyone name the 11 other Harris-ite senators?

[Thranduil]

Where will O’Reilly’s political ambitions end – President Sir Anthony O’Reilly in 2011? I know I said I’ve vote for ABBA (anyone but Bertie Ahern), but this would be a stretch too far, much too far.

To answer your question, no. Media moguls derive their political power indirectly, as owners of media they offer a service and the politicians buy it, trading goodies for good reviews, they don't have to get their hands dirty. An exception would be Silvio Berlusconi, how Italian laws allow somebody with such vast media interests to run for office i do not know, that after corruption scandals they let him do it again (and he won) says it all.

The Senate should have a strong 'Guardian' element, to defend the country against other strongly weighted interests like O'Reilly or even the present government, that's the only excuse for it's existence, because of it's makeup i don't think it can fulfill that criteria.

[CookieMonster]

What? [COLOR=white]......[/COLOR]

[Oppenheimer]

Should we tell him this is the Political Humour section?

[Thranduil]

Should we tell him this is the Political Humour section?

Ah, i only noticed.

Must be the way the locations of the fora have all been switched around...

[mollox]

Apologies for the obvious typo, my two-fingered typing style (and, sometimes, content) doesn't lend itself to looking at the screen as I type.

2 questions:
1. How do I change the typo in the title? I've gone into "edit" but it doesn't seem to allow me access to the title line.
2. Is there a spell-checker function on p.ie?

[Oppenheimer]

Apologies for the obvious typo, my two-fingered typing style (and, sometimes, content) doesn't lend itself to looking at the screen as I type.

2 questions:
1. How do I change the typo in the title? I've gone into "edit" but it doesn't seem to allow me access to the title line.
2. Is there a spell-checker function on p.ie?

I like Tonto as a name for him though - who does that make the Lone Ranger, Denis O'Brien?