Intellectual radio and air-head radio

Andy O'Mahony remains one of RTÉ's best broadcasters. Correction, one of radio's best broadcasters. A wonderfully mellifluous voice, great intelligence, coherence and fluency. His Off the Shelf programmes on Saturday evenings are one of the joys of radio. His programme of 6 May, was a particular delight. It was a discussion of Postwar: A History of Europe by Tony Judt and the participants were Alan Dukes and two historians, Judith Devlin and Michael Laffan.

The book is a history of Europe since 1945 and all participants were knowledgeable about the period and engaged in a lively and illuminating conversation, adroitly steered by O'Mahony. Perhaps it's because of our jaded perception of politicians that it was a surprise to hear Alan Dukes speak eruditely about the book and compare it with biographies recently published of Mao and Stalin. The guy is an intellectual, almost a freakish presence in politics, from which he is now departed (coincidence?).

One of the interesting points made in the discussion was that the regeneration of Western Europe after the war was greatly aided by the division of Europe by the Cold War. Had that division not occurred, the regeneration of all of Europe simply could not have been afforded.

Other recent discussions on Off the Shelf have had to do with Get a Life by Nadine Gordimer, recent political memoirs, Darwin's Legacy by John Dupré and Conor Brady's Up With The Times. The programmes are always reflective, intelligent, usually calm, invariably challenging.

Amid the clamour of blather and twitter on radio nowadays, serious, intelligent considered conversation is so welcome. Andy O'Mahony is the only intellectual on radio nowadays. There should be more of him. Not that his Sunday Show of several years ago was a success. It was a blather-fest, as all variants of same have been, but his Off the Shelf is a rare asylum from the chaotic madness of what is known as "talk radio".

There was another piece of intelligent radio on offer on the morning of Tuesday, 9 May on Morning Ireland. I am not a fan of the programme nor of the presenter, Cathal MacCiolla, who talks too much, interrupts too much and is prissy too much. But his calm, forensic, measured interview with the US State Department legal adviser, John Bellinger, was a superb piece of radio. MacCiolla asked simply straightforward questions, such as: did he accept that holding the heads of suspects underwater until they almost drowned was torture? Bellinger refused to answer. Was sleep deprivation torture? Bellinger again would not answer.

There was just one disappointment. He pushed Bellinger on the renditions issue (the kidnapping and transportation of terrorist suspects either to the US or to other countries), and at one stage Bellinger said the US would regard the inspection of aircraft at Shannon suspected of being involved in renditions, as inappropriate. The question "why" (ie why would the US regard it as "inappropriate" for a sovereign state to inspect aircraft on its own territory to be assured nobody was being illegally detailed and transported) screamed to be asked. MacCiolla didn't ask it. This perhaps is a carping reflection on an interview that otherwise was superb.

Eamon Dunphy should be required to listen to tapes of that interview. His interview with Michael McDowell on Wednesday 2 May was a shambles. Poor Eamo just doesn't have the smarts or the knowledge for such encounters. McDowell made mince meat of him. Superb radio some may claim. Airhead radio, I say. Eamo might also be required to listen to Andy O'Mahony but, come to think of it, there would be no point. Still I like him, in part because he is such a head-banger. p