There was a big fuss when John Kelly lost his Mystery Train, a good bit of noise about Mary Wilson hosting a new evening radio show, tears from Tubridy (apparently) when he lost his production team earlier in the summer, but not a whisper about what happened to those 45 minutes of news (or was it an hour?) on Saturday lunchtimes on RTÉ Radio 1.
The front pages on Tuesday 22 August announced that British police had charged 11 people with offences relating to the recent alleged bomb plot. The statement issued by the police described the discovery of "bomb-making equipment... chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide, electrical components, documents and other items... a number of video recordings – these are sometimes referred to as martyrdom videos".
Meejit criticised US foreign policy towards Israel.
It was the sort of morning you'd already like to put a curfew on, to say go no further, this is enough, rest your sorry heat here.
Commentators complain about public disengagement from politics, but the holiday antics of the main opposition parties and the equally risible response of the government show all too clearly why people have a point when they say they can't be bothered.
The "silly season" is thus called because of an alleged dearth of news, but very often this makes little sense. Wars, disasters and calamities proceed regardless of the season, and there are plenty of additional events – sporting, cultural etc – to compensate for the closedown of parliamentary and jurisprudential activity.
RTÉ's Townlands provides a glimpse of a new way of living through sustainable housing, while Three 60 gives is a refreshing insight into the life of wheelchair-bound farmer
No, Tina, it is not everybody's dream to have a personal shopper in Brown Thomas who encourages you to buy that "must-have little black dress" for €1500, or that Louis Vuitton luggage set for thousands of euro, or to join the waiting list for that Hermes handbag. Nor those knee-high boots with a sheepskin rim, or whatever other ridiculous things that were suggested in the opening half of the SSIA-themed How to spend It, on RTE Radio 1.
The announcement by the British government on 10 August that it had foiled an alleged terrorist plot against transatlantic aircraft provided the perfect occasion for a counter-attack by the supporters of the so-called "war on terror". The genuinely terrifying prospect of a small group of fanatical terrorists committing mass murder in the skies provided more comfortable terrain for the US cheerleaders than had the pulverisation of Lebanon and the murder of hundreds of civilians by the high-tech weaponry of the Israeli army, supplied and tacitly endorsed by the US.
The defamation of the Muslim community in Ireland by the Sunday Independent and the Sunday Tribune. By Scott Millar