Social media, as we know, is a cruel and unsparing place.
There is no shortage of people willing to poke fun and make merry at the expense of others, as the three presidential candidates are finding out.
Following the first TV debate last Monday, poor Heather Humphreys got the treatment from an enterprising wag on Reddit.
The said commentator managed to edit down her entire appearance on The Tonight Show to demonstrate that she had said ‘ehh’ 188 times – lining up each utterance of the verbal hesitation back to back.
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The 57-second compilation video earned the Fine Gael nominee the unfortunate moniker ‘Ehhther Humphreys’.
Speaking of Fine Gael, it has been brought to Overheard’s attention that Humphrey’s official campaign website makes absolutely no mention of her affiliation.
It chronicles her 10 years at Cabinet and the political achievements in that time – such as having to manage three different Government departments when Helen McEntee took maternity leave – but curiously not which party she belongs to.
“They say, If you want something done, ask a busy woman,” declares the website as it lauds Humphrey’s work ethic.
Hopefully she is too busy to pay much attention to the sniping online – or this column.
Watchdog shines light on unspent millions collected from power companies
Reports by the State’s spending watchdog Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) into State spending rarely disappoint – and this year’s annual offering was no different.
The headlines were taken up by the big overspend on Garda hotel rooms for last year’s Europa League Final – and the millions in euro of overpayments to providers of International Protection accommodation.
As always, however, there were plenty of nuggets buried among its many pages.
They include the finding that almost €190 million in levies collected from electricity companies during the energy crisis is still to be spent. That money was taken from the windfall profits the big providers enjoyed at the time – and was meant to help customers deal with high prices.
The report finds that only €3.9 million has been allocated so far – to fund solar installation grants.
The C&AG notes that EirGrid collected and holds the levies – and is still awaiting instruction on what to do with the money from the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment.
At the much lower end of the scale, but still intriguing, is the fact that money was still being spent on the Morris Tribunal last year, even though the inquiry into complaints against Donegal gardaí completed its work and published its final report in 2008.
Some €3,000 is listed as being spent on the tribunal in 2024. Admittedly this amounts to a fraction of the total €68.8 million, but the sum is odd nonetheless. A note says the expense relates “to minor administrative costs”.
Concerned about a recession? Watch football jersey sales
In economics, leading indicators aren’t always on target. Sometimes it is only with hindsight that we can point to the tactical shift that pointed the way to a particular result.
According to former Lifestyle Sports chief executive Eoin McGettigan, we should be keeping an eye on sales of Chelsea football jerseys in Britain.
McGettigan took control of Lifestyle in late 2006 after stints with Musgraves and Dunnes Stores – just as the economy was about to fall through the relegation trapdoor.
He says the recent results published by JD Sports show “there will be an economic crash [in the UK] in April or May next year”.
[ Lifestyle Sports seen returning to profit this yearOpens in new window ]
Looking back to 2007, he says growth stalled at Lifestyle outlets, even though other retail categories were still growing. As Lifestyle went into negative territory the following year, other retailers were still experiencing growth. And then the great recession hit.
He points to a weakening in UK sales at JD Sports and reckons the same thing might be happening there. He says this is because its shoppers tend to be “working-class men under 25″ whose economic fortunes are usually the first to take a hit in a downturn.
The Kerryman, who stepped away from his role as chief executive of the Port of Cork Company last year, now offers economic analysis on Instagram where he asks followers to check back in at the end of the football season to see if he was right.
Planes, trains and buses for Vikings and Steelers fans
Despite the well-publicised scepticism abroad surrounding climate change, we are still being encouraged on to public transport at home – in an effort to cut emissions and hit those all important national targets.
After an inauspicious start, the expansion of the Enterprise rail service between Dublin and Belfast is now well up and running.
Departing at hourly intervals, it carries many a commuter, day-tripper and tourist to and fro between the island’s two largest cities.
But what were the scores of American visitors over for the NFL football match in Dublin on board last weekend to think on Monday as they heard their driver announce in Dundalk that a train had broken down in advance of him and he wasn’t sure what was happening?
A short time later the Vikings and Steelers fans were bundled on to much less accommodating coaches and driven the rest of the way up the M1 to Belfast’s Grand Central. They had enjoyed the razzamatazz of the NFL in Croke Park the day previous and were making the most of their time here.
The breakdown had a knock-on impact throughout the day and unfortunately wasn’t the first incident of its kind over recent weeks.
Many an American visitor found themselves bussed from Belfast to Newry last month due to a similar holdup.
The new upgraded service has been lauded for boosting connectivity and promoting cross-Border travel, but it seems parts of our rolling stock are letting it down.
The 1920s Irish developer of boomtime Manhattan
Irish property developers continue to benefit from rising house prices – with the average three-bed semidetached now listed at more than €600,000.
However, they still have a way to go before realising the sort of prices being commanded by the houses built by one of their forebears.
The New York Post excitedly reported this week, that after years of little to no movement, three properties on the famed Pomander Walk are now on the market.
Built by Irish emigrant Thomas J Healy in 1921, the quaint Tudor-style cottages are described as being in one of the city’s most ‘secretive enclaves’. Overlooked by West 94th and 95th streets, the paper observed that the 27 properties appear “more English village than Manhattan block”.
A one-bed, marketed as a “storybook retreat”, is going for $895,000 (€765,000). Another, slightly larger duplex, was recently listed at $1.39 million. The cottages are advertised with ‘small kitchens’ and ‘modest bathrooms’ – not giving much room to swing the proverbial cat.
The secluded curio of a street has played home to Hollywood legends such as Humphrey Bogart and Rosalind Russell.
As for Healy, he is reputed to have left Ireland as a boy in the late 1800s before making a name for himself as a nightclub and hotel impresario in Manhattan. He ultimately intended on building a hotel on the site – and Pomander Walk was meant to be only an “interim improvement”.
Healy never got to build his hotel. He died in 1927, leaving behind an estate worth $3 million. An eye-watering fortune in those days – not so much now, it seems.
