Fragments 07-12-06

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the would-be owner of Liverpool FC, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, ruler of Dubai, the 23rd richest person in the world with a fortune of €12bn, husband of two wives – one of whom is the half-sister of the king of Jordan – father of 16 children, seven sons and nine daughters, is affectionately known as “Sheikh Mo”.Enslavement of boys and Liverpool FC

Sheikh Mohammed is a horse-racing enthusiast and also a fan of camel-racing. In September 2006, he and his brother, Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, were sued in a US court for the enslavement of 30,000 boys for use as jockeys for camel-racing. Later that month, the UAE removed all the child jockeys and sent them back to their home countries, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan.
He became the ruler of Dubai on 4 January 2006 upon the death of his elder brother, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
It's nice that some of the world's most notorious criminals are now privatising English football.

How Roman made his billions

Another high-profile owner of an English football club is Roman Abramovich (pictured) a 40-year-old Russian oil billionaire, the richest person in Russia (which is saying something) and the 11th richest person in the world.
Abramovich had an unhappy childhood. While an infant he lost his mother and father, he was raised partly by uncles but also in orphanages. He later served in the Soviet army. His business opportunity arose in the late 1980s when the then Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, introduced reforms permitting the opening of small private businesses. Through that, Abramovich got involved in the trading of oil and oil products.
In 1992, he was accused of stealing diesel fuel from the state of Ukhta but he was later cleared. He made his fortune, then bought a number of state companies when Boris Yeltsin started a series of privitisations. In association with Boris Berezovsky, who is suspected of major criminality in Russia and who is now in asylum in Britain, he became the majority shareholder in Sibneft, a major oil company, in a strange arrangement which involved loans from the state.
In 1999 he was elected to the State Duma (parliament) and in December 2000 was elected governor of Chukotk. He used Chukotka as a tax haven for Sibneft.
He has invested about €700m in Chelsea football club, thereby buying the Premiership two years in a row.
He married his first wife, Olga, in 1987. They divorced in 1989. In 1991, he married Irina, who worked as a stewardess for Aeroflot and met him when he was a passenger on one of her flights. They have five children but there are signs he is about to divorce her also.
He has three luxury yachts, a private jet and several helicopters.

RTÉ Christmas cheer

The highlight of RTÉ's Christmas fare is a new episode of Killinaskully to be broadcast on Christmas Day, Killinaskully: The Christmas Concert. Following hot on the heels of that triumph is Winning Streak's Win A Million, which begins on Wednesday 27 December and runs every night until New Year's Eve when, we are told, “One lucky player will win a million euro.” 
Other comedy will include  Aprés Match Christmas Special. This, regrettably, is just a rehash of their World Cup Aprés Match items. Then there is the final programme in the four-part series Jokerman: Tommy Tiernan Takes on America, which will be broadcast on 27 December.
There is a documentary on Micháel Ó Muircheartaigh (pictured) to be shown on Christmas Day, and we are told, “No Christmas movie schedule would be complete without a range of [film] classics, family movies and musicals and RTÉ Television will broadcast favourites such as Gone with the Wind, Mutiny on the Bounty, ET, The Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Sound of Music.”
And if all that doesn't test the nation, on New Year's Day, Miriam O'Callaghan and Craig Doyle present Test The Nation – The National IQ.

Questions and no answers

The following exchanges took place during Leaders Questions in the Dáil on Tuesday 5 December:

Joe Higgins: At the main discussions, or in any of the side meetings, did the Taoiseach discuss with the EU heads of state the practice which disturbed many people in the EU in recent times of the CIA and US intelligence agencies kidnapping individuals and bringing them to the Guantanamo gulag or other places to be tortured? Recently, the Taoiseach was quoted in the Irish press as stating that last St Patrick's Day, “I was sat closer to him than you are to me now,” in reference to President Bush.
He also stated, “I looked at the great –”
An Ceann Comhairle: It does not arise out of these questions. The deputy is making a statement. Does he have a question relevant to these questions?
JH: The question is clear. The Taoiseach stated, “I looked at the great President Bush –”
An CC: It does not arise. The deputy is making a statement. It is not appropriate.
JH: I agree. I object to any attempt to thrust greatness on President Bush, the man responsible for one of the biggest disasters in our time.
An CC: I ask the deputy to return to the questions before us.
JH: The question is that the Taoiseach stated he looked at President Bush, and asked him whether he could be sure to be sure that so-called “extraordinary renditions” did not involve this country. He was assured this was the case.
An CC: The question is on Europe.
JH: Yes. Ireland was part of the European Union the last time I looked. It is –
An CC: Yes, deputy. Does the deputy have a question that is relevant?
JH: This must be one of the most meaningful glances in the history of the state in the sense that an entire abuse of civil rights, which involved the European Union –
An CC: Does the deputy have a question relative to the questions before us? The questions deal with a meeting of European heads of state. If the deputy has a question I will hear it. If not, I ask him to resume his seat and allow Deputy Ó Caoláin to contribute.
JH: That is really intolerable.
An CC: It may well be. However, the Standing Orders –
JH: I am sorry. The Ceann Comhairle is intruding into the body of my question which is relevant, appropriate and in order. I asked the –
An CC: The chair will decide whether it is in order.
JH: It is in order. I can read Standing Orders for myself. I asked the Taoiseach whether he discussed with EU leaders at the meeting the involvement of countries of the European Union in extraordinary renditions. Is that in order?
An CC: That part of the question is in order. Going on to make a Second Stage speech is not.
JH: I did not make a Second Stage speech.
An CC: The deputy began one.
JH: I might as well come in with an algebraic formula and put it in front of the Taoiseach if we are not allowed to utter a single word outside of the Ceann Comhairle's extremely narrow definition of what is in order.
Does the Taoiseach think, and is there any suggestion, that within the European Union, which claims to be a zone where human rights are respected, there should be a common position in absolute opposition to this so-called “extraordinary rendition”? What is the view of other leaders in the European Union with regard to certain countries cooperating with the kidnapping of individuals and facilitating it?...
The Taoiseach: In respect of ... extraordinary rendition was not discussed at the recent meetings. It was raised this time last year by the Minister for Foreign Affairs at the General Affairs and External Affairs Council. The EU wrote to the Americans. Following this, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, visited Europe and gave assurances. I reported on the previous meeting on St Patrick's Day to the House at the time.

On this day: 7 December 521
Birth of Saint Columba

Columba was born in Donegal into the Uí Néill clan, a great-great grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages. He became a monk around 560. Shortly afterwards he became involved in a dispute over a manuscript with another saint, St Finnian. This led to the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561, which caused the death of many men. As a penance for this, Columba went to Scotland as a missionary, along with 12 companions. He was given land on the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. For reasons that are not clear, given his earlier depredations, he won acclaim as a diplomat and politician. He founded several churches, converted many people to Christianity, returned to Ireland just once to fund the monastery at Durrow, restored a man to life who had been killed by the Lough Ness Monster and died in Iona in 597, aged 76.