Ireland: Socialist Fintan O'Toole's flawed political agenda laid bare on Late Late Show

Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole along with Nell McCafferty and Dr John Crown- appeared on tonight's Late Late show and attacked deficiencies in the Irish political system. Present in the audience were politicians from FF, FG, Labour, Sinn Fein and Greens.

O'Toole criticized the parish pump mentality and lambasted cute hoorism. He savaged the clinic system and demanded an end to multi-seat constituencies and a fundamental realignment in party politics.
Undoubtedly he is correct in some respects but in reality he is an elitist and a theoretician. The clinic system keeps politicians in touch with the requirements of the electorate. This is something which Fintan would not understand. Ending mult-seat constituencies would be undemocratic and would skew the results of elections in a manner similar to the UK. There the Lib Dems can secure 20% of the vote and yet end up with a very low proportion of seats. O'Toole has a leftist political agenda-something which he failed to declare. He took a cheap shot at FG leader Enda Kenny. O'Toole wants a left wing government. He has contempt for an electorate which in the main votes for centre right parties. We must do Fintan's bidding apparently. Tonight Fintan hectored and lectured not alone the politicians but also the electorate.

Spain and Britain have political systems polarized on a left right basis so beloved of O'Toole. The Spanish and British economies have been run into the ground by their Socialist governments. Fintan O'Toole needs to divest himself of his Socialist dogma and go back to the drawing board. He is out of touch on many issues.

Ireland:The Priests-On The Late Late Show

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"The bookies reckon that The Priests will be the number one album for Christmas. They are completely unknown, this is their first release, they cite Debbie Harry and Bruce Springsteen as their influences. They share their record label with Britney Spears, AC/DC and Beyonce. The Priests are brothers Fr. Eugene O'Hagan and Fr. Martin O'Hagan and Fr. David Delargy".

Ireland-Late Late Show decision to drop Dr. John Crown is a huge own goal

On Friday night last consultant medical oncologist Professor John Crown was due to appear on the Late Late to discuss the Irish Health Service. Professor Crown has been a strong critic of PD policy on the basis that it will create a two tiered health service. In this he is correct. He was also strongly criticized in the Dail by the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach claimed that consultants were paid more than himself. Mr Ahern said that Professor Crown had a huge private practice along with his public practice. Mr Ahern stated that he wasn't saying every thing that was in his briefing document. Dr Crown has interpreted this as a threat.

The Sunday Independent carries the heading "I was the victim of a McCarthyite campaign". The Sunday Tribune states that John Crown believes that his exclusion was "censorship by proxy." He told the Mail on Sunday that the decision to drop him "smacks of McCarthyism". He told Newstalk that he feared for his position after remarks made by the Taoiseach.
Some interesting questions arise:

• Who made the decision to drop Dr. Crown?
• Why was this decision made?
• Was there political pressure to drop John Crown?

So far there has been a chorus of denials from Government and RTE circles. The decision to silence John Crown has created a storm of controversy and paradoxically has now given greater prominence to his views. The fall out has tarnished not alone RTE and the Late Late Show but also the Government. There is now a strong perception of Government interference in this decision-whether true or not.

The Late Late was the subject of major political controversy prior to the last General Election. A panel consisting of John Waters, Eoghan Harris and Eamonn Dunphy discussed the General Election campaign. Harris and Waters took a pronounced pro FF line. This helped sway the outcome of the General Election. It damaged the credibility of the Late Late Show.

The Late Late is now on the slippery slope.