Myself, Richard, and Mick did a podcast this morning. We discussed a range of issues – but please bare in mind my following of recent events has been as lacklustre as my recent blogging, exams tend to affect things.
But download it here, if you dare. (39Mb)
Comments are welcome, but please go easy! 😉
Comments
2 responses to “Podcast”
Good stuff. Not too sure if what Majella Holohan said in her victim impact statement was libellous though. She asked eight questions (as detailed by the Indo). To my mind, none of her questions even amount to libel by innuendo.
Why was semen found on Robert’s body?
Why did Robert make 999 calls on his mobile phone, including one on the day he died?
Why were no finger prints found on the that phone, not even Robert’s?
Why did Wayne O’Donoghue fail to alert anyone about Robert’s death?
Why were both of Robert’s runners off just after he died?
Why didn’t forensic examination of O’Donoghue’s car verify his story that Robert threw stones at it?
Why were images cleared from Robert’s mobile phone?
Why did Wayne O’Donoghue call Robert at 6am?
An interesting issue arises in the context of our filleted Freedom of Information Act, robust libel laws and the Official Secrets Act.
I might be wrong but the fact that all of this information has been in the public domain (as Gavin says around Middleton) for so long points to a breach of the Official Secrets Act by a signatory or signatories thereto. This is precisely the sort of breach which is regularly permitted by what one might call the establishment and it is precisely the sort of information the Act is supposed to prevent getting out. We can see the consequences for ourselves in tabloid hysteria and the physical danger to someone who has not been convicted of murder in due course of law.
Meanwhile, in areas where the public good actually demands transparency about their behaviour and oversight of Exchequer spending, servants of the State seem to have no problem applying FoI as rigorously as possible, to protect themselves from their clients as it were.
Official secrecy and freedom of information function exactly the wrong way around in this country. That this isn’t seen as a significant election plank by the opposition is a pretty sad state of affairs (because they are aware of it on one level) and shows that it is obviously not the sort of thing we consider important as a people; ‘sort of thing’ being democracy.