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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
8 October-November
shifty politically opportunistic billionaires
tightening the spigot on what blinkered
Americans get to know.
Me Speech
Donald Trump, ever the litigious apprentice
of Kincora-tracking paedophile Roy Cohn,
once sued an architecture critic for $500m
because he mocked a 150-storey tower. CBS
forked over $16m after a spat about Kamala
Harris’s coherence on 60 — convenient
grease for merger wheels — and ABC paid
the same when George Stephanopoulos
mixed up “sexual abuse” with “rape.” The
Wall Street Journal was targeted for Epstein-
le birthday wishes Trump insists weren’t
his. Now he’s back at it, hurling a lawsuit at
the New York Times — not for libel, but for
existing…trying to damage his “business,
personal and political reputation”. Trump’s
defamation crusades remain less about
law than about authoritarian performance
art. Meanwhile he’s clearly arranged for the
indictment of nemesis James Comey, on
charges related to his 2020 congressional
testimony and indeed is “taking on the
liberals” in general, a target which hopefully
will have no end just as it has no beginnings.
Suits you, sir
It is bad to be lookist or fattist, but Donald
Trump is both and deserves any antagonism
that undermines his support: so it’s
interesting to note that his personal hostility
to exercise is manifesting itself as pastiness
and physical grossness (it’s Village so please
accept we don’t mean that in a judgemental
way) but mainly Villager wanted to note how
horrible are Trump’s suit legs.
Gilty as charged
Presidents have always like refashioning the
Oval Oce. It makes them feel like their taste
is relevant: Kennedy reinstated the Resolute
Desk; Nixon installed the so-called Wilson
desk, sely thinking it had been Woodrow
Wilson’s; Reagan introduced a sunburst
rug; Clinton favoured blue carpeting and
gold drapery; George W. Bush redesigned
the rug; Obama adopted taupe tones and
a quotation-woven carpet. In 2017, Donald
Trump restored gold curtains, brought back
Reagan’s rug and Bush-era sofas, returned
the Churchill bust, hung Andrew Jackson’s
portrait, kept the MLK bust, and replaced
Donnelly Mistery
Stephen Donnelly has opened a healthcare
consultancy based in his home in Delgany, Co
Wicklow, called SD Advisory, presumably after
the Social Democrats. Its agenda is Business
and Other Management Consultancy
Activities, so the former Health Minister’s
Harvard and McKinsey backgrounds will help,
and its principal is ‘Mr Donnelly’[sic] lest
anyone nd out too much.
Legoinnaires bound for
Ukraine
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen addressed
Denmark in a grave speech in late September
following a series of drone incidents targeting
vital infrastructure. She cited drones
spotted near North Sea gas platforms,
suspicious ights over Copenhagen
Airport, and attempted interference with
power substations. She linked them to a
wider pattern of drones, cyberattacks, and
sabotage, with Russia as the likely threat.
Denmark has strengthened anti-drone
defences and will send unarmed troops
to Ukraine for drone training, legitimate
targets according to its Russian ambassador.
Denmark has given €9bn in military aid and
€1bn in civic support as well as some F16s to
Ukraine since its war started. By comparison,
Ireland has committed €350 million in non-
lethal military support though it has taken in
about twice as many Ukrainians as Denmark.
WARped
Donald Trump claims to have ended “six or
seven wars,” presenting himself as a singular
peacemaker. Independent analysis is far less
denitive. Israel–Iran did see a US-backed
ceasere, but rocket re and covert attacks
continue. Rwanda and the DRC agreed to
negotiations, yet rebel militias still operate
across the border. Thailand–Cambodia
accepted a ceasere after clashes, though
territorial grievances persist. India explicitly
denies American mediation in Kashmir,
dismissing Trump’s account. Serbia–
Kosovo, long unsettled, had no active war
to end during his term. Egypt–Ethiopia is a
hydro-political dispute over the Nile dam,
never a shooting war. Armenia–Azerbaan
reached a provisional truce, but violations
remain frequent. So... Trump’s interventions
may have facilitated pauses or talks, but
his sweeping claim to have “ended wars”
considerably overstates fragile, contested
outcomes.
Right wingnuts
There have been 391 deaths caused by right-
wing attacks in the US since 1975, compared
to 65 deaths from left-wing attacks, according
to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank.
Trump’s tramps
We need to be tough on those in Ireland who
made little of what Trump was always going
to do to democracy. Since none of them are
repentant, it is probable they are trying to do
the same to Ireland.
Magalomania
America’s media
barons are
repainting the
newsrooms MAGA
red with liberals
getting sliced.
Kimmel’s returned
after suspension
by ABC, which
is owned by
publicly-traded post-fairy-tale Disney, for
saying Charlie Kirk’s doomed killer was
MAGA. Since Trump’s re-election, Disney
has erased a queer-coded character from
the Latino-driven Pixar lm Elio; eaced
all references to a transgender character’s
identity from a Pixar streaming series and
made Mickey Mouse weakenings of its
diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Stephen Colbert will leave once-Cronkite
Paramount-owned CBS, next year — for
purely “nancial” reasons we’re told; but
there’s a pattern.
Trumper Larry Ellison’s family has clinched
control of Paramount from Sumner
Redstone’s family. Paramount even yanked
a South Park episode lampooning slain
inuencer Charlie Kirk and is reportedly
sning around a purchase of Warner Bros
Discovery, home of CNN, which would tuck
the rabidly Democrat network inside a deep
red conglomerate. CBS also vowed to stop
editing interviews after Trump and then
Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem cried
bias. Ellison junior (David) is said to be
courting the “anti-woke” Free Press owned
by former NYT op-ed editor Bari Weiss to help
paralyse CBS’s editorial spine. Meanwhile,
the Murdoch succession soap ended with
Lachlan empowered to keep Fox on its ultra-
right grievance diet until 2050; the other
siblings left with $1.1bn consolation prizes.
Fox stock soars; Fox ratings dominate; Trump
is fruitlessly suing the Wall Street for a
tedious €15bn Journal anyway even though
Rupert Murdoch attended the Windsor Castle
dinner with the Pres and his kinglet. The
once magisterial Bezos-owned Washington
Post is looking for new opinions editors
to preach “free markets”. And dumped
a Kirk-sceptical, and uncoincidentally
Black, contributor. The net eect: market
consolidation, political intimidation, and
Presidential pants
October-November 9
wallpaper.In 2025 he turned the Oval Oce
into a gilt reliquary —gold-lipped mouldings,
brighter drapes, a crush of gilt-framed
portraits—what aides grandly dubbed a
“Golden Oce for the Golden Age”. Andrew
Jackson was rehung, the all-determining
Churchill bust wheeled back post-Biden,
and the Diet Coke button resurrected, while
service-branch ags crowded the scene like
set dressing for power. Trump has paved
Jackie Kennedy’s Rose garden. And there will
be a ballroom. Mar-a-Lago is the taste model
though the White House is more than twice
its age.
Hu?
Founded in 1823,
the Royal Hibernian
Academy evolved
into a conservative
institution with
a home on Ely
Place and, since
2009, upgraded
galleries and a
School. A recent
Village exposé
discovered that the ‘Academy’’s governance
is brittle: short tenures, vague bylaws,
blurred accountability and excessive power
concentrated in retiring Director/Curator
Patrick T Murphy (c.€120k). President Abigail
O’Brien, sister of Denis, allied with him
though she too is o now. Into this culture
blew whirlwind Sandra Hu, rapidly promoted
and credited with strong sales and Chinese
networks. A Being trip she organised
exposed loose oversight and conict-of-
interest risks. After Hu’s formal complaints
about Murphy, mediation collapsed; she
was suspended and a c€100k settlement
agreed without proper Council authority, Hu
argues. After that all is a public subsidy and
an unreportable legal blur. It all reminds
Villager of the Abbey. And the RIAI. And the
Arts Council.
Fair Plae
A Village magazine article from April detailed
a formal complaint to the Standards in Public
Oce Commission (SIPO) concerning Kerry
Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae. The
complaint alleges his government deal was
unlawful and breached ethical standards.
According to the piece, “Healy-Rae should
have resigned from several company
directorships on appointment as a junior
minister” — a legal obligation designed to
prevent conicts of interest. Instead, Village
argues, he maintained roles in private
rms while exercising ministerial power,
“acting in both private and public capacities
simultaneously”. Together with a complaint
that Michael
Healy-Rae remains a Director of Ml Healy-
Rae Properties Ltd, which registered its
annual return for 2023 on 31 January 2025
but for which the Companies Registration
Oie shows no sign of the necessary B10
form indicating there has been a change of
director. Section 2.2.4 of The 2003 Code of
Conduct for Oce Holders also states that
“Oce holders should not hold company
directorships carrying remuneration. Even if
remuneration is not paid, it is regarded as
undesirable for them to hold directorships”.
Healy-Rae is also a Director of Roughty Plant
Hire Limited, Roughty Properties Limited and
Black Cap & Co Limited. So low is the repower
of SIPO that Healy-Rae hasn’t even bothered
resigning his directorships, six months after
the complaint was lodged.
Hegarty’s demolition job on
Browne
A devastating article by Orla Hegarty of
UCD’s school of architecture, on RTE.ie in
September, warned that the government’s
foolish plans to reduce minimum apartment
sizes to 32 sq m will mean “more units
but fewer people housed”. A building with
100 standard apartments might house 275
people, she noted, but if converted to studios
only 178. She argued small units suit single
occupants, undermining family housing
supply. She called claims of major cost savings
“overstated”, since kitchens, bathrooms and
services cost the same regardless of size.
Hegarty also highlighted health and social
harms of “living, cooking and sleeping in one
room”, warning reforms prioritise short-term
unit numbers over liveability, equity, and
long-term community needs. For Villager the
criticism is denitive and any Minister who
pushes the reductions through despite the
criticism should resign. The Minister is James
Browne.
Courting controversy
Village’s editor has been in legal
correspondence with Leo Varadkar and
his publishers about his (Varadkar’s) me
moirs which state that counterclaims in
the #LeotheLeak aair led to him being
investigated by the Garda which isn’t
true. Michael Smith is already two years
into legal proceedings against the Sunday
Times and Varadkar for an article where he
was quoted saying
Smith, as one of the
people who instigated
the investigation of
the former Taoiseach
over his leaking
of a ‘condential’
document, was a
Putinite and a Shinner
which he is not.
Raise the VAT rate
Someone’s been and gone and put plastic
letters all over the fascia of the restaurant
under the Village oce. Without permission.
It follows a name change to ‘La Brasa
Steakhouse’ and an upsurge in Brazilian
waiters brandishing barbecue machetes
precariously for intimidating use in slicing
barbecue meat.
Steady on
Village is ratcheting up. We’ve applied for
Coimisiún na Meán funding, are overhauling
our online coverage to include daily
features and are trying to increase Steady
memberships online (www.village.ie) to
shift away from shop purchases in a world
where there are almost no more newsagents.
We’re also going to do a podcast and hold
occasional talks. The magazine is committing
to coming out ve times a year with a more
solid cover. The editor has even employed a
head of growth who might deliver some paid
advertising.
Magaine editors
AI is not just arriving like Blucher to the aid of
maga(z)ine editors, Villager need never need
panic nishing o his piece at 4 am, with the
magazine due to the printer before 9. Just
whistle and AI will wrap it up. Thank you.
RHA go to wall of China
