Blog

Happy Monday from Manchester where apparently politics is the new stadium rock. Last night, Sunday evening was another sold out show for pal and associate Alastair Campbell with Rory Stewart. The Rest Is Politics Live has now spent three weeks zig-zagging around the UK like a touring boyband, like the good old Ronan Keating days...

Getting media training back in the headlines with the new term “Authenticity.” After surviving Storm Claudia (umbrellas lost, bins and fences airborne, poor dogs traumatised), it feels like the perfect time to talk about another unpredictable force of nature: Authenticity in global and Irish politics. Last week we were media training a group of politicians...

Ireland: The Island That Keeps Getting Busier They say the world beats a path to our door and when you’re an island, that path tends to involve a runway, a helipad, or a rather well-appointed jet. Wonderful to play a role in today’s The Irish Business and General Aviation Association (IBGAA) annual Business Aviation and...

Political paranoia isn’t just UKs Westminster condition it’s a newsroom asset. Look at how the BBC is inflating a routine disagreement between PM Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting into a full-blown leadership psychodrama. Another week of drama about two guys rowing. Another classic moment in media. It’s another minor wobble becomes a major “what if?”...

Good morning Ireland and Gotham! Turn on RTE radio one at 9 bells this morning. “Holy Comeback, Batman! The Caped Communicator Ivan Rises Again” The start of week 3 of the ongoing saga continues. Faster than a spinning headline, slicker than a live studio cross and armed with more comebacks than Bruce Wayne at a...

After a week of headlines, hot takes, and hand wringing over a podcast with 4,000 followers (myself included), I’m not sure how much more of this shocking “scandal” we can all take. Next week’s episode? The Witch Hunt Continues! And I’d imagine there are a few nervous faces and voices in some media houses as...

A Grateful Farewell to a Remarkable Leader Nancy Pelosi It was always a great pleasure to know Nancy Pelosi, a woman of immense conviction, charm, and intellect. On many a Saint Patrick’s Day luncheon on Capitol Hill, after the handshakes and speeches, I would find a quiet corner in her office with her wonderful PA,...

Good morning happy Friday! We are almost a week into this PODGATE story and here is an opinion piece I have written for the Irish Examiner thank you Deirdre O’ Shaughnessy for the invitation and opportunity. Rather than focus on issues of the day, this story rumbles on. Goalhanger

Having listened to things get even sillier this week and it’s only Tuesday. I think it’s time to open a complete can of worms for many media houses. Every newsroom has an agenda like at how the great BBC has become muddled over TRUMP. Thank God every spin doctor has a client or two. And...

Over the years, I’ve become very familiar as a boy broadcaster with rows and ructions in the world of broadcasting from the smoky days of pirate radio to the corridors of RTE, to the quirks of local radio stations across the country. But now, a very modern offshoot, podcasting has proven itself to be just...