With Championship games coming thick and fast and the World Cup about to get underway, we’re all reading our papers back-to-front.
The Front Pages
An odd mix of medical and social care issues have popped up on the front pages of the broadsheets today for some unknown reason. Here’s how some of the main headlines read:
‘Mired in scandals, disgraced doctors and misdiagnoses’ – The Irish Independent.
‘Some children in care not seen by social workers in 10 years’ – The Irish Times.
‘Two million swine flu jabs went unused’ – The Irish Examiner.
The Irish Independent reports on how Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has been ‘mired in a series of high-profile scandals and controversies in recent years, many of which have centred on the standard of care given to pregnant women’. You can hear the sound of brown stuff splattering against the fan. Quite a vivid mental image there. Especially for this hour of the morning.
The paper runs a second story on the issue which points to out-of-date scanners, basic equipment not being up to standard and how ‘startlingly poor work practices’ almost led to the death of an unborn baby. They seriously need to screw the nut in that place by the sounds of it.
The Irish Times’ main story does what it says on the tin – apparently there are kids in care who haven’t had a meeting with a social worker in a decade. Bit of a scandal that one.
The paper of record also runs a story entitled, ‘Ex bank chief queries regulator’s role in €7bn Anglo funds’. Apparently the former chief executive of Irish Life & Permanent has questioned the role of the Department of Finance, Financial Regulator and Central Bank in the reporting of his company’s €7.45bn transaction with Anglo Irish Bank. The story goes that ILP’s deposits falsely bolstered the bank’s financial health in the run-up to its disastrous collapse.
The Examiner smells a rat in the whole swine flu vaccine fiasco. They reckon that the rush to stock up jabs came as a result of information provided by dodgy experts who had links to pharmaceutical companies.
The paper runs a second bad news medical-related story on its front page, this one with an all the more immediate threat to well-being. Apparently hundreds of pharma jobs Glaxosmithkline could be under threat as the medical giant, which employs thousands of Irish workers, is about to restructure its operations.
Tales from the Tabs
Like a drunk eight pints into a binge, the tabloids are not focusing on anything in particular – the stories are a pick n’ mix.
The Irish Sun leads with, ‘Thug held over Costa killing’. The story goes that an Irish chap is being quizzed by Spanish cops over the shooting dead of a British gangster in the Costa del Sol. I’m hearing good things about that place.
The Irish Sun has also followed up on that shocker of a story about how a fox crept into a house in London and savaged a pair of infant twin sisters. The mother of the kids gives an account of how the whole thing went down.
The Irish Daily Mail is unimpressed with efforts to secure the doors on our ambulance fleet in the wake of the death of a paramedic who fell through them while on duty. The HSE is apparently using duct tape to keep the emergency doors on its ambulances out of use after the accident – and health staff are seriously underwhelmed by the effort.
Page two treats us to a Leaving Cert story. ‘As top marks soar, is the Leaving Cert becoming too easy?’ reads the headline. Having done mine 10 years ago and not looked at any papers since, I would have to say yes. Yes of course it is.
The Mirror meanwhile carries a story about the tragic death of former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable (pictured). The memorable musician, notable for his larger-than-life character and mop of curly hair, was found dead after a 48-hour drinking binge.
The Daily Express, a paper which we are still waiting to see someone actually read, is leading with the fox story. ‘Fox attack was like a horror movie’ reads the headline. It follows the account given by tearful mother of the twins, Paulin Koupparis.
The Sports Pages
Hurling is the big winner on the back pages of the papers this morning with several leading with accounts of the action from Thurles in the Waterford v Clare match. The other main story is Wayne Rooney and his foul-mouthed tirade. Footballers cursing? Now that is news!
Here are some of the excitable and rather ambiguous headlines:
‘Water relief!’ – The Irish Sun
‘Take that!’ – The Irish Daily Mail
‘Wayne Warned over his f-word rant’– Daily Express
The Irish Sun’s headline relates to the hurling, although like the Irish Daily Mail’s, you would never guess without the assistance of a picture. The Mail focuses on super-sub Declan Prendergast who delivered the perfect response to his critics with a match-winning second-half show for his county.
The Sun meanwhile highlights quotes from Waterford boss Davy Fitzgerald who spoke of his relief to have secured a win against Clare.
The Sun has also reserved some back page real estate for the story of how Marcello Lippi, set to finish up as Italy coach after the World Cup, will not be stepping into the Liverpool post. The news has pushed Hodgson firmly into the favourate spot.
The Irish Sun also carries a delightful story of how Capello is apparently giving his players a rough time of it after their poor result against what the paper describes as ‘a bunch of locals’. That would be the Platinum Stars.
The Irish Daily Mail has another decent GAA story on page 75 – ‘This is our final shot at big one – Clerkin’ reads the headline. Apparently Monaghan’s stunning victory over Armagh was driven by the belief that this is their last shot at winning the Ulster title.
The Irish Independent highlights Kerry’s injury concerns. Paul Galvin may have done the business when he came off the bench last Sunday but the wing-forward may still not be ready to start in Sunday’s Munster SFC replay.
