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    Reality as mad as TV

    ‘24’ and ‘Homeland’ predicted a a female President and more or less Obama, but not Trump whose world seems to feature in Designated Survivor

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    The other P O’Neill

    The new editor of the Irish Times, Paul O’Neill, was brought up an only child in Waterford where his late father, Paddy, was editor of the ‘News and Star’. His mother Josie’s family, the Larkins, owned the well-known bar and grocery at The Duffry in Enniscorthy, now Donohoe’s/Pettitt’s. Paul started his career at that newspaper […]

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    National narrowcaster

    RTÉ’s Claire Byrne show sells short epic issues like the merits of veganism. In order to fulfil adequately its anointed role, a state broadcaster must be courageous, at times running counter to prevailing sentiments.

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    Facebook owns you

    Around 25% of the population of the earth use Facebook. Its latest accounts, presenting figures up to December 31st 2016, reveal that, at peak, there were 1.83 billion active users, 1.74 billion of those connecting from a mobile device. Figures for Ireland are less clear-cut, but 65% to 78% of the adult population is estimated […]

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    Saving the Cat

    ‘The Night Of’ complicates conventional scriptwriting formulas. The lawyer saves the cat, but the cat saves him. When Naz gets his saviour back all characters are freed to empathise, and survive.

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